Serial Sin

... or Cinnabon Cereal.

Here's a novelty: novel to me, at least.

My son was visiting from the US last weekend, and this packet was one of "visiting presents". Wow, this is not a cereal that I have seen in our British supermarkets. I'm not so sure that it is very good for Type-II diabetics, but it looks set to make a very fine impression if eaten in moderation (which will be hard to achieve).

Cinnabons (for the very few readers of this entry who have not yet found out) are delicious creamy cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately (maybe fortunately) we don't have a source near here. There are stores in London, Cambridge and at the Lakeside shopping complex (where I first tasted them).

The cinnamon they use is evidently a particularly fine variety, with a pungent aroma. Cinnabon refer to it as "Makara Cinnamon", but that is probably just a marketing name. It is said that Cinnabon's cinnamon is actually cassia cinnamon, and is a likely to be a high-grade Korintje Cinnamon, which comes from Mt. Korintje in Sumatra, Indonesia. I have been given bottles of Makara cinnamon (bought from Cinnabon) in the past, and they were certainly really excellent.

In fact, Cassia cinnamon is sometimes referred to as "bastard" cinnamon. Cinnamomum zeylanicum (Ceylon cinnamon) is considered to be the true cinnamon. A few years back, my son's wife (then fiancée) brought me from the US a whole collection of cinnamons as a Christmas present, and it has been very interesting to see what a range of flavours and aromas they encompass, and how different culinary purposes are best served by specific types.

Why does Cambridge have a Cinnabon store while Oxford does not? Light-blue discrimination? (I have degrees from both places, so I am allowed to say things like that.) At the very least, it's fun to watch the Cinnabons being made, even if one can avoid the temptation to eat one (or more).