Cinnamon bark? How to use?

[joshuawbb]

Sorry for this utterly random, short post. I've really tried doing my research but I can't find an answer to my question. Since this is bought in China I figured its preparation method may be different in China.

Please see attached image If anyone cannot see it, let me know and I'll find somewhere else to upload it.

Basically, I'm making some mulled wine out of an old red my girlfriend and I didn't finish on time. I bought some cinnamon today but as you can see from the picture below, it's not the same kind of cinnamon stick common in the UK, and I can find little information on what to do with it - I presume I use it the same way as a normal stick, but I don't know for certain. A normal cinnamon stick found in the UK is a tube-shaped stick of relatively uniform brown-red colour cinnamon. It's curled into that shape from a drying process. It's smooth and can be put straight into any recipe you like.

My cinnamon is curled and dry too, and smells about right, but as you can see it has a rough, dry outer bark which is not present on your average cinnamon stick. It's grey, looks exactly like bark taken right off a tree, and I don't know how to use it and am a bit worried to just throw it in the wine. My short questions:

-Can I use this in just the same way as a 'normal' cinnamon stick (i.e. a stick without the rough grey outer bark)? Or do I need to process it first?

-Given the look of the bark, do I need to wash this first?

Sorry for the strangely random question. I've looked for a while on the internet but can only find information mentioning standard, brown and uniform sticks. The only references to this particular bark style have been about herbal medicine.

Many thanks! Sorry for being a pain in the butt

[abcdefg]

I've used that kind of "unprocessed" Chinese bark cinnamon. Just rinse it off with hot water to remove dust and put it in your recipe.

The amount you need may vary, so try a little bit first before committing the whole bottle of wine. Use less than you think you need first time; you can always add more to taste.

Were you able to find cloves?

[joshuawbb]

Thanks a lot clearing that up for me I'll make sure to do that before usage.

I made a shopping list yesterday along with some Chinese translations, and went out to Tesco, Walmart and a local Chinese brand supermarket to look for some things. I was looking for cinnamon, nutmeg, bay leaf, some more fruit and a zester to peel orange zest/rind - the only thing I missed off were cloves, and I am going to go shopping to find them today. The cinnamon and bay leaf was easy to find, though I couldn't find nutmeg - I asked both supermarket staff and my girlfriend if they had heard of 肉豆蔻 (the translation I had written), but they'd not heard of it before. As an alternative to nutmeg I'm going to try and find some allspice if I can (using the translation 多香果粉). My girlfriend hadn't heard of it before, but we could find it on Taobao when searching, so maybe I'll have some success in the supermarket.

I'll look for some cloves today and write back, it was a bit silly of me to miss them off yesterday. I remember using them back in secondary school cooking class to flavour a curry. Oh, and I didn't find a zester either but it doesn't matter since any cheese grater will do the trick.

Thanks for the tips too

[HedgePig]

I think that what you have is cassia bark , not cinnamon. Cassia is a lot thicker and coarser than cinnamon, just as you describe. In some countries it is is often sold as cinnamon but it's a different plant. It has a less refined taste and isn't quite as desirable for cooking - but could still do as a substitute in a pinch.

I think I've bought proper cinnamon here before (An Australian brand if I recall correctly, at Pines supoermarket.) I've definitely seen cloves in "local" packaging. Not sure about nutmeg.

[liuzhou]

Cloves should be easy to find. All my local (Chinese) supermarket chains have them. But nutmeg? I've never met anyone who knows what it is.

I also second HedgePig's comment re cassia bark.

[joshuawbb]

Thanks again for clearing up the facts about the cassia bark. I did some research too after reading here and it is indeed cassia bark, not the 'true' cinnamon. Still, I don't mind though as it seems fragrant enough to be a good substitute - logically I guess that's why it's used as a substitute anyway. I tried infusing it in some hot milk this morning and it tasted as good as I hoped, though took considerably longer to infuse than a traditional cinnamon stick.

Really? That's good, it seems I may still be in luck with the cloves. Could you give me the translation/name of the cloves you can find in your supermarkets? I tried NCIKU for a translation and got 克洛维斯 and 丁香, both of which I wrote down to search for. Curiously, I've been unable to find it but it may be that I'm just not looking hard enough. Asking the staff in Tesco today to help me was an funny experience I'll remember for a while. After the first kind staff lady didn't recognise my translations and thus didn't know what the cloves were, it ended in no less than 5 staff ladies including a manager talking together (and with me) enthusiastically, trying to find out what these cloves were, and asking me to explain the fascinating tradition of mulled wine and how we made it. My attempts to put together the best Chinese I could to describe were at the least funny, and everyone had a laugh. In our humourous conversations we didn't get any further in finding the cloves, but managed to have an enjoyable chat that ended in me learning how to make Chinese tequila (two parts Erguotou to one part Sprite).

I've talked with these staff before no less than thrice now, looking for black rice and other spices, etc. I am now probably known among these ladies as that Laowai with the fantasy spice list; they look out for me

[liuzhou]

The pack I have in my cupboard is labelled 丁香.

I have found in the past that supermarket staff are often not au fait with the "exotic" ingredients they sell.

[abcdefg]

丁香 it is. But the confusion at the store may be coming from the fact that 丁香花 means "lilac" and often gets shortened to 丁香。 The store clerks may be thinking of the flower instead of of the spice. Or of some product scented with lilac, like bath soap, etc.

Maybe adding that you want the 丁香香料 and not 丁香花 would help. They could at least point you to the spice and condiment section 香料区 and you could continue to hunt from that starting point.

If all else fails, print out the attached picture and take it along.

Cloves.doc