Cinnamon.

My best 'savoury' recipe is Kleftiko (sp) lamb. Rub cinnamon, lots of oregano and crushed bayleaves into a leg of lamb studded with garlic cloves. Double wrap in foil and roast on a rack over boiling water for 4/5 hours (long and slow). Too much for one, sorry Greatnan but could you adapt this.... hope you're not vegetarian

We took Langdales Cinnamon Essence every day last Winter and did not get one cold .

It had been going for about a 100 years and is a marvellous product , during WW11 they used to give it to the Armed Forces and policmen , on a daily basis .

We like the taste of it .

Greatnan vegetarian? I tell you, ogm there is no chance of that!

The greeks use cinnamon a lot in savoury dishes. I like a little mixed into meat balls or a moussaka.

I like cinnamon in apple pies, fruit cakes etc....but would not dream of tasting it neat! Like all spices it is something you add to enrich the flavour of something else. And yes, its good in ragus for lasagne etc.

Yum..cinnamon is a favourite of mine... with meats and sweets! see the other food thread..much use of cinnamon in middle eastern cooking!

Cinnamon is good in Middle Eastern dishes but I like to use it in apple dishes. For breakfast I often have stewed apple with cinnamon in yoghurt. Like most spices it's for flavouring, not eating by itself. Having said that, when we were children, a penny would buy us a cinnamon stick to chew on the way to school.

Apple pie has to have cinnamon in it. One of the few things that I'm good at cooking wise is apple pie which I make in the most unhealthy way using white flour made with lard .

I use it a lot as well. Very nice in a Moroccan tagine along with pickled lemons!

Galen now i am really hungry!

I don't eat pies but I love baked apples with raisins and I think I could use some cinnamon in that.
I could be vegetarian as I love fruit, vegetables, salads, fish, cheese, eggs - so I wouldn't like to be a vegan. When anno stays with me, I find it good to have to think outside my usual meals as she is vegetarian.
I have started using powdered ginger in my savoury meals too.
I never have colds, but I put that down to living such an isolated life and living in a totally unpolluted atmosphere. I wonder if the altitude has anything to do with it - my flat is at 1100 metres - about the height of Snowdon - and I walk much higher most days.

You can probably use a little ground cinnamon in any of the dishes you prepare with ground ginger as a flavouring as they go well together. For a truly Middle Eastern/North African flavour, add the third of the warm spices - ground cumin. Very tasty with with lamb or chicken.

The problem is that I am not a great lover of spicy food - I prefer Mediterranean cooking, with herbs and garlic. I found the food in Egypt a bit too spicy, but I have too good an appetite to leave food! I was on full board basis, and it included four course dinners - I did enjoy some of the vegetable tarts and the soup was delicious, but I found some of the meat dishes a bit like tinned dog food! And the desserts were far too sweet, so it was ice cream every night.

Greatnan when I was a child (one parent family - mum - and 3 children in SA in the 1950s) - we were always very well fed despite there not being much money, and one of my favourite childhood desserts (and I wouldn't be surprised if it was one my mother devised herself) were light, fluffy boiled dumplings swimming in a cinnamon and sugar and butter sauce (way before yellow margarine came on to the market, we always had butter somehow).

On another note, husband and I started on turmeric tablets earlier this year because he had been told would help for his stiff finger joints and lo and behold they are much better. I take them just because! (preventative). . Sometimes I open the capsules and make a tea of turmeric and fresh ginger. I'm pretty sure I have seen some cinnamon flavoured tea on the shelves - cinnamon + other stuff.

I hasten to add I know I can simply buy powdered turmeric but the capsules are not expensive at H&B, and makes it easier to take.

Spicy food isn't necessarily hot food. I try to avoid chilli type spices but cumin, coriander and cinnamon aren't hot. I love the flavour of saffron.

For each teaspoon of cinnamon have four teaspoons of honey. Stir well and use a teaspoon of this mixture for persistent coughs. Only use for three days at three teaspoons a day. You can add a little lemon juice to taste.

I too enjoy 'spicy' foods but do not like the heat. So when making them I just leave out the chillies but still use the spices. I dry roast the spices whole and then grind them in a pestle, only takes a couple of mins and I know what went into the mix!

I put a teaspoon in my porridge this morning and it was delicious. I am going to have a baked apple tonight, with sultanas and cinnamon. I don't eat cakes or biscuits.Tomorrow, I will make big pan of chicken stew and I will use both ginger and cinnamon. I am getting there! Thanks for your suggestions.

Grannyknot.... you've reminded me.... a famous estalishment in Bath offers their buns with the topping you describe! That or jam and cream.... what a choice. I think they do savoury versions too but I head straight for the sweet stuff

Some years ago I had a Greek friend and she made tea ( normal builder's style) with cinnamon in it. Delicious. X

Chuck a cinnamon stick in your stew, Greatnan instead of ground cinnamon - it's more subtle. Oh and take it out before you eat the stew! Fresh ginger, grated, is also quite different from the ground variety. Yummy. I adore crystallised ginger but daren't have it in the house. I can easily demolish a jar of it in a short time.

Anno, I will expect you to make us a delicious vegetarian stew with various spices!

I love cinnamon and sugar with French toast (or eggy bread or pain perdu depending on where you come from!) Spread a mixture of sugar and cinnamon on a plate and put the lightly fried eggy bread on top, press it down to get the mixture into the toast, then turn it over and press it into the other side. Wonderful! Try cinnamon sprinkled over Weetabix with hot milk, or added to porridge.
I always have one jar on the go and another spare.