Substitution for a Cinnamon Hater?

[Kim Shook]

I am trying to come up with a food gift for my FIL.  He loves sweets, but is a diabetic and very, very careful about sugar (not so much about carbs).  He likes honey roasted nuts.  Every year for Christmas I make Cinnamon Pecans and I've had success in the past making them with Splenda instead of sugar.  The issue is that he doesn't care for cinnamon.  I was thinking that I could sub something in for the cinnamon.  I was thinking a mixture of bacon salt and cayenne.  I think that would play well with the sweet pecans.  Any other ideas?  He is NOT a very adventuresome eater, so I think that anything like curried nuts is probably out, but he does like a little heat.  In case it helps, the method is whipping an egg white until frothy, tossing with the nuts, adding the sugar/cinnamon/salt mixture and tossing more.  They they are spread on a baking sheet and roasted until crisp.  

[Duvel]

I strongly suggest "quattre epices", a classic French mixtures of cloves, macis or nutmeg, dried ginger and pepper. From my perspective it has the same earthy, warm qualities as cinnamon, albeit with a little different overall profile. Works great as a cinnamon substitute in cream catalana, which actually passed the mother-in-law test (and she is a stout traditionalist when it comes to Catalan cooking)

[gfweb]

I do candied pecans with allspice. You could get the spice to stick using eggwhite rather than sugar and perhaps dust with a sugar substitute to get the sweetness.

[Darienne]

Cardamom.  Love it!

[Kim Shook]

Thank you all!  I think I'm going to take a bit from each of you and see what I come up with!

[Deryn]

It's too bad he doesn't care for cinnamon since it is supposed to be useful in lowering blood sugar. Perhaps, if you are doing a spicy nut, you might throw in a bit of turmeric - which also would be good for him I believe. Good luck with finding the right combo for him.

[andiesenji]

I have found that a combination of allspice, cardamom and star anise, about equal parts of the first two and a bit less of the allspice, ground very fine and allowed to "bloom" in a very small amount of sugar syrup, before drizzling over nuts (or adding to hot drinks) is a very nice sub for cinnamon - some people are allergic to a specific component of "true" cinnamon so I needed a substitute.

[jmacnaughtan]

I strongly suggest "quattre epices", a classic French mixtures of cloves, macis or nutmeg, dried ginger and pepper. From my perspective it has the same earthy, warm qualities as cinnamon, albeit with a little different overall profile. Works great as a cinnamon substitute in cream catalana, which actually passed the mother-in-law test (and she is a stout traditionalist when it comes to Catalan cooking)

 

While I love this, it almost always contains cinnamon (either the pepper or the ginger are not included).  You could try it without, but it wouldn't have that great quatre épices aroma.

[MelissaH]

Does the dislike of cinnamon extend to all varieties? If you have a Penzey's or other spice store nearby, you can smell the difference between the various kinds, which carries through to the taste and overall impression. There's a huge difference between the traditional "hot" cinnamon of Red Hots or Atomic Fireballs and the gentler flavor of Ceylon cinnamon.

[Duvel]

While I love this, it almost always contains cinnamon (either the pepper or the ginger are not included).  You could try it without, but it wouldn't have that great quatre épices aroma.

Yes, Some of the more realdily available French brands (e.g. Ducros) do fold in some cinnamon. I'd stick to the classic mix, which - if fresh - does have quite the quatre epices aroma to me.

[Kim Shook]

The quattre epices recipe I found included white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.  I used that and Splenda on some pecans and it was perfect.  

 

Melissa - I was actually at Penzeys yesterday and they had 3 different types of cinnamon.  They really are different, too.  Since I was using just a tiny little amount in another candied nut that I was making for him, I didn't bother buying the less fragrant kind, but it was a good idea that I'll remember!

[paulraphael]

Cardamom.  Love it!

 

Yeah, me too. I like cinnamon, but my girlfriend hates it. I've found cardamom substitutes well in every context, and I often like the new version better than the original.