Greek Cooking-- Cinnamon Question

[Caarina]

Recently, I have been cooking a lot of recipes from Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean and cinnamon has been used in several recipes. (Been cooking out of Diane Kochilas' wonderful books)

After cooking almost exclusively Latin American, particularly Mexican food over the past 10 years, I almost exclusively use Ceylon Cinnamon as opposed to Cassia in my recipes. However, I'm not sure which is authentic in a Greek context.

Anyone know?

Caarina

[Pille]

Recently, I have been cooking a lot of recipes from Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean and cinnamon has been used in several recipes.  (Been cooking out of Diane Kochilas' wonderful books)

After cooking almost exclusively Latin American, particularly Mexican food over the past 10 years, I almost exclusively use Ceylon Cinnamon as opposed to Cassia in my recipes.  However, I'm not sure which is authentic in a Greek context.

Anyone know?

Caarina

←

This is not an answer to your question, Caarina, but there is a wonderful Greek/Turkish movie called The Touch of Spice (2003, available at Amazon), where there is a lovely scene or two discussing the use of cinnamon (or not:) with meat.

It's just that your question brought this scene vividly into my head:) Great movie about spices and life in general.

Sorry for the diversion

[John DePaula]

Your question piqued my interest so I did a quick web search, which led me to the following site: That's Greece: Following Cinnamon's Scent

Hope this helps to shed some light on the question. Be sure to check out some of the interesting recipes that follow.

[Caarina]

Thanks for the link! I guess both are authentic. I prefer Ceylon cinnamon for most foods because it is not so harsh. Cassia can be overpowering to my taste. I used cassia in the Greek recipes I have tried, so now I will experiment with Ceylon.

However, I do like cassia in baked goods i.e.... those wonderful quickbreads and cookies made by my mom and grandmas when I was a girl... sigh...

Caarina

[John DePaula]

However, I do like cassia in baked goods i.e.... those wonderful quickbreads and cookies made by my mom and grandmas when I was a girl... sigh...

Caarina

←

Stop, Stop! You're making my mouth water!

Good luck with the cinnamon experiments and please let us know how your trials turn out!

[Adam Balic]

Oddly enough I assumed it would be Ceylon cinnamon, but on a recent trip all the quills I came across were cassia. This is from one sample only.