A few years back, I stopped in at Fantasy Candies (on Mayfield Road, for any Clevelanders out there!) to pick up some cashew bark, and to say thank you for the confections. Back when Fantasy Candies’ Dark Chocolate-Chia Seed-Cinnamon bar first came out, I went through a phase of eating a piece every day. This went on for weeks. Also, unrelated, I once ate a piece of leftover cashew bark for breakfast, and then polished off the last bits of a bar of almond bark with my lunch the same day. According to me, Fantasy Candies’ blueberry bark is in the running for one of the great inventions of the 21st century. Of course, there are many other bark flavors at the counter and, yes, I’ve worked my way through quite a few of them. Not just me. Sometimes, dessert consists of a plate of berries sprinkled with bites of dark chocolate. Continue reading
Category Archives: Cinnamon
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Grain Bowls, Your Way
I figured I would share some strategies for grain bowls.
Start by choosing a grain. It could be something as simple as rolled oats, but it might also be something slightly more adventurous—like steel-cut oats or millet or even the brown rice left over from last night’s dinner. I happen to be a fan of kasha, a nutty tasting grain also known as buckwheat groats, and which my family ate often when I was growing up. Continue reading
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Tsimmes
Preparing for the holidays with my mom was a major highlight of my childhood. Although my father was the main cook in our family, my mother took over the kitchen on the holidays, and dad’s primary responsibility was to make the brisket.
Like many other special dishes that we ate on dedicated holidays throughout the calendar, my mother made tsimmes twice a year, in the fall for Rosh Hashanah (it is traditional to eat sweet foods on Rosh Hashanah), and in the spring, for Passover. She never used recipes, preferring instead to combine ingredients as her grandmother and mother-in-law did. Truthfully, though, tsimmes is one of those dishes that probably doesn’t really need much of a recipe anyway. Continue reading
Is Cinnamon Still Safe?
Recent Awareness of Cinnamon Contamination
A few weeks ago a reader wrote in to ask specifically about whether it is still safe, in light of recent events, to eat cinnamon. I spent some time researching the issue.
In October 2023, lead and chromium poisoning was diagnosed in 519 children. It was traced to consumption of specific brands of cinnamon apple puree and applesauce, and a major recall was initiated. The cases were traced to the cinnamon, which was found to have originated in Ecuador, from where it had been supplied to the apple puree and applesauce manufacturer. Continue reading