So while I was writing up this blog post I started becoming concerned with the renewable-ness of cinnamon. This lead me to a longer than usual perusal of Wikipedia because cinnamon is fascinating! For instance, of course it is the bark of a tree, but I always assumed it was like a birch tree, where you peel off a strip to harvest it. It’s not. It is actually the inner bark of the tree, so they remove the outer layer and scrape down the tree to extract the inner cinnamon bark. This process (thankfully) does not kill the tree. It seems (for a New England reference) similar to maple tapping, which to me always seemed like it would harm the tree.
The most interesting part of the Wikipedia page mentioned that in the Middle Ages the western world had NO IDEA where cinnamon came from. They thought it was fished out of the Nile or mined from the nests of giant cinnamon birds. Just imagining giant cinnamon birds every time I eat cinnamon really brightens my day.
Speaking of cinnamon birds, I think it is finally springtime in New England. And by that I mean, we’ve survived fool’s spring, second winter, spring of deception, third winter and mud season. Now it’s just full on spring for 2 weeks until we hit summer. The sad news is that the bees did not survive. And due to my serious lack of time (aka Julius), I’ve decided to go on a beekeeping hiatus for a while. But I promise that the lady beekeeper will keep providing you with lots of content, albeit even lighter on the bees, until she returns to her calling. If this saddens you, just try your hand at one of the nifty candles below, and think of cinnamon birds every time you burn it! I made them for Erin’s shower and I think they looked quite cute! They cost around $2.50 a piece to make.
Cinnamon Stick Votives
What you’ll need:
- 2 – 1.5 oz jars of cinnamon sticks
- one small glass votive candle approx 2 inches high and 1.5″ diameter
- twine
- glue gun and glue sticks
- Place your glass votive on a table or other flat surface. Find a relatively straight cinnamon stick. Cover one side of the cinnamon stick with a good amount of hot glue and press it onto the side of the glass votive, perpendicular to the table, making sure one end of the cinnamon stick meets the table.
Glue cinnamon sticks around votive, keeping sticks flush to one another.
- Choose another cinnamon stick and line it up on one side of the first cinnamon stick (without glue) positioning it so there is very little gap between sticks and the bottom of the stick meets the table. After you are satified with the positioning, apply glue to the glass and glue in place.
- Repeat step 2 until you reach the place you started. Here, place your last stick as best you can, and use a thin cinnamon stick to cover up the remaining gap between your first and last stick.
- Wrap twine around the center of the candle, tying in a bow to secure.
Cinnamon votives flank a floral arrangement at the cinnamon bun themed shower
