Pensey's Tung Hing Cinnamon

Stopped by our local Penzey's Spices store here in Portland (out by Clackamas Mall) and my nose and I browsed through the spice wonderland.

The usual wonderful stuff here---noticed they are going in for several more rubs and spice blends these days---but one thing caught my nose.

They had diferent sniffing jars out for the various cinnamons/cassia they sell, so I did a sniff test. We normally buy the Vietnamese cassia because of its richness and pungency. But I smelled the Chinese Tung Hin----and it blew me away!!!

Sweet, rich, deep, intense, spicy, pungent, all in one blast. Gorgeous deep lively cinnamon smell, even more so than the Vietnamese.

If you haven't had it, get some. If you're a cinnamon lover, you'll probably be smitten by this one.

Ok, I'll have to go over to Montgomery Village.
I'm in heaven here in Santa Rosa. There's a small new artisan-type spice store downtown, and a new Penzey's store in the Village.

John

Yep, smitten is the right word...wonderful stuff! Love it on my grapefruit &
cottage cheese in the morning. Excellent with smoothies, French toast, salad dressing.....however I love all their cinnamon.

Cool! We have three other cinnamon/cassia products of theirs, with the Vietnamese being my current favorite. We'll have to throw this one in the mix as well.

We're a big Vietnamese cassia house here. I'll have to see if they've got Tung Hin at the shop in Grand Central Station. (Yes, my closest -- only -- Penzey's is a stall in the food market in one of the biggest transportation hubs in the country.)

I've got both the Penzey's extra fancy Vietnamese cinnamon and the Tung Hing.

The Tung Hing is a lot closer to what we grew up with -- cinnamon toast, with cinnamon in the tin from McCormick with the sliding metal lid.

It is rich and sort of soothing.

The Vietnamese is stronger but more in the direction of those "red hots" -- remember the candy?

[Jenise]

Frank, interesting comparison. I haven't had the Tung Hing yet (thanks Hoke, I'll put some on my next order) but that's what I've said about the Vietnamese, that it reminds me of what I grew up with. But of course the comparison has only been to the Cassia. And oh my, cinnamon toast. Talk about instant comfort food!

Better than the Vietnamese? I dunno, this stuff might be dangerous. I already have anyone going to SE Asia bringing me back cinnamon bark at every turn. Fabulous stuff! I'm going to order some of this for sure.

We've been sticking with their Indonesian. Must be our age or something.