Nov 09 2007
Cinnamon Tooth Pic of the Week
Regular toothpick offends cinnamons everywhere by putting on face makeup.*
(click to enlarge and “sharpen”)
Popping open a miniature can of Cinnamon Altoids last week, I remembered cinnamon toothpicks. You ever have those as a kid?
If you’re thinking of the dry, paper-wrapped mint toothpicks at a restaurant, then you’re nowhere close. These picks were sopping wet and served no purpose but to deliver hot, cinnamony goodness directly to the tongue.
I remember kids bringing cinnamon toothpicks they made at home. Some carried around the bottle of cinnamon oil with the toothpicks soaking inside, peddling the little sticks of wet fire for between a dime and a quarter each. Sometimes kids could earn more taking wagers on how long they could hold them in their mouths.
They were almost addictive, and it would have been easy for an unscrupulous kid to get us all hooked by lacing the oil with something sinister. Of course, these wouldn’t last for one day at today’s schools. I’m sure there’s already a rule banning having them, not to mention selling them. Any effort to make a profit within school walls, regardless of its safety, is quashed pretty quickly now.
I’ve never tried commercially available varieties, but they’re available online and at old-time candy stores. In fact, on Halloween at downtown’s “Scare on the Square,” I asked the owners of Mom and Pop Corn if they sold them. They do, but they weren’t giving them out. Can you imagine the controversy you’d stir up if you tried to give out packets of cinnamon toothpicks to Trick-or-Treaters? “But they’re still factory sealed. Just don’t stick’em in your eye.” Yeah, right.
I found a recipe (on, would you believe, cinnamon-toothpicks.com), but in addition to marinating the picks, it instructs to allow them to dry before using. I suppose they would pack in some flavor, but nothing like what we experienced. Probably would result in far fewer blood-curdling screams when the user later casually wipes his or her eye.
The Web page linked above also reports that chewing cinnamon toothpicks (or other sources of cinnamon flavoring) may boost brain activity, and they cite a source and a few bullet points. Of course, they’re selling cinnamon and cinnamon products, so take that for what you will.
I was thinking of introducing our son to the joys of cinnamon toast. Now, as a responsible parent, how can I not?
Why must I research these little missives? Now I found out on Wikipedia that, “most of the spice sold as cinnamon in the United States and Canada (where true cinnamon is still generally unknown) is actually cassia,” and that cinnamon tastes better. Some call cassia “bastard cinnamon.” Now I have a new quest.
This was just supposed to be about toothpicks. I’m really finished now. I promise.
* Note: Regular toothpick scanned in at 600 dpi and altered to look reddish.
Ah, the star at the bottom explained the top caption. I thought you were saying that cinnamon toothpicks in general were an offense to cinnamon. I kept waiting for you to go on a tyrade about this, but you just kept right on singing their praises. It all clicked in the end.
If our school had these soggy toothpicks, I was not invited to join in the mouth burning fun. I remember kids selling candy…but apparently none of our students were industrious enough to make their own.
You should track down one of those new Cinnamon Coffee Crisp bars, Mark. I hear they’re made with real cinnamon and can easily be obtained in a storm drain on your way to work. I think your mission is clear ;)
This brought back memories… not only of the cinnamon toothpicks, but when you mentioned selling things in school.
One Easter, my grandfather bought me and my brother 4 foot tall Easter Bunnies (all chocolate, SOLID too!)
I was selling “nickel bags” of chocolate at school for weeks.. *LOL*
I’d never heard of them ’til you mentioned them one day a while back - totally foreign to me. I guess in the big town of LR, the kids weren’t as creative - I dunno. Actually, those probably weren’t hard core enough for some of the gang bangers I went to school with. That wasn’t very uplifting, huh? Sorry ’bout that.
I’m not familiar with the homemade variety but I remember display boxes of them by cash registers in stores and diners… They were in little waxed paper bags with diagonal red stripes, maybe 5 or 10 in a pack. My grandfather always had them and would share if I asked. I remember the numb sensation of my tongue. I liked them but not nearly as much as Sen-Sen or however it’s spelled.
You reminded me of walking in the woods with my dad when I was small when he found a tea berry bush and broke off a piece and let me taste the bark.
I always buy cinnamon sticks this time of year to garnish cups of hot cider. They always get pushed back in the cupboard and forgotten about. Then they come in handy for Christmas decorations, tied with gingham ribbon and a jingle bell or something. I’m now craving a hot cup of cider with a cinnamon twist :-)
Oh man, it’s been far too long since I last had any cinnamon toast. Not to take away from the merits of cinnamon toothpicks (which I’ve never had, I don’t think - just the minty, paper-wrapped ones you mentioned), but cinnamon toast is a sugary, tasty treat that’s not to be missed. I really like it on raisin toast!
I love cinnamon toast and sadly I remember those sticks. Boy am I showing my age now.
Oh yeah, I remember those things. It used to be a competition to see who could make the hottest, most painful cinammon toothpicks and who could cope with them best. Something I haven’t thought about in years!
Came to your site for WW and am really enjoying it. Check mine out if you have the time and if you like we can exchange links. All the best.
Try real Cinnamon Toothpicks made of real Cinnamon wood.Click the below link to view the toothpicks.
http://www.cinnamon-toothpicks.com
The cinnamon toothpicks which we buy in the US is made of Cassia oil. Cassia has a chemical called coumarin which could be toxic.
Please click the below link to read more.
http://www.bfr.bund.de/cd/8487