Thread: Softening cinnamon sticks

On Sun, 4 Sep 2011 11:04:28 +0100, "john east"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Have found some cinnamon sticks still in a new packet at the back of the
>cupboard. They are very hard but still full of flavour when i scrape some
>off with a sharp knife. Any idea on how i might be able to soften them?

What a great straight line... I'll be good. hehe

You don't soften cinnamon sticks, they're used whole as a flavoring
garnish. However they can be ground and used same as powdered
cinnnamon.

"john east" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:j3vifi$etj$[email protected]..
> Have found some cinnamon sticks still in a new packet at the back of the
> cupboard. They are very hard but still full of flavour when i scrape some
> off with a sharp knife. Any idea on how i might be able to soften them?

Why would you need to soften them? Aren't they supposed to be hard? Mine
always are.

On Sep 4, 6:04*am, "john east" <planet...@mail.invalid> wrote:
> Have found some cinnamon sticks still in a new packet at the back of the
> cupboard. They are very hard but still full of flavour when i scrape some
> off with a sharp knife. * Any idea on how i might be able to soften them?

I've been boiling and boiling these eggs and there's no sign of them
softening up. :-)

People use them as stirrers; tasty, but wasteful. I put them in a
sturdy bag, bash them to flakes, and grind them in an old burr-style
coffee mill. Don't grind much more than you'll use soon. They keep
much better whole.

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.

In article <8741347c-59ba-450e-af92-f7501c9c5a94
@t29g2000vby.googlegroups.com>, [email protected] says...
>
> On Sep 4, 6:04*am, "john east" <planet...@mail.invalid> wrote:
> > Have found some cinnamon sticks still in a new packet at the back of the
> > cupboard. They are very hard but still full of flavour when i scrape some
> > off with a sharp knife. * Any idea on how i might be able to soften them?
>
> I've been boiling and boiling these eggs and there's no sign of them
> softening up. :-)
>
> People use them as stirrers; tasty, but wasteful. I put them in a
> sturdy bag, bash them to flakes, and grind them in an old burr-style
> coffee mill. Don't grind much more than you'll use soon. They keep
> much better whole.

Before attempting to grind, read the wikipedia entry--while one must of
course take wiki with a large dose of salt, they point out that there is
one variation of a cinnamon stick that can damage grinders--one would
want to make sure that one does not have that variant.