# Good Cinnamon vs. Evil Cinnamon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680 "2002-10-10T14:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/1 "2002-10-10T14:27:32Z")
Good Cinnamon is brown. It is used to flavor cinnamon rolls, cereals, cinnamon toast, and various other yummy baked goods. While not quite The Food Of The Gods, it is a welcome addition to the world’s rainbow of flavors. Evil Cinnamon is red. It is used to flavor gum, breath mints, and candy (red hots, jelly beans, etc). It smells vile and tastes even worse. I can’t see any similarity between them, but they’re both called cinnamon. What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/2 "2002-10-10T15:44:20Z")
I’ve felt the same way for quite some time. I’ve never understood, especially, the places which claim to sell cinnamon rolls and instead sell pastries with lots of gooey frosting, nice tender dough and flavoring courtesy that fakey candy cinnamon crap instead of the real, delicious thing. It’s an evil which should be abolished. ---
**Author:** ![Kn\_ckers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@Kn\_ckers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kn_ckers)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/3 "2002-10-10T17:04:14Z")
An excellent point!! On a related note: Good grapes are lovely, whether made into raisins, grape juice, wine, or simply eaten fresh. Evil grapes are used to flavor cough syrup, bubble gum, popsicles and hard candy, and they have a sickening, skunky taste. Also, they turn your mouth purple. It is perplexing situation, and one that may also be observed in orange, watermellon, lime, and various other natural ingredients that have somehow taken on evil doppelgangers. Very sad. Kn(And NOW there’s a thread about everything!)ckers ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/4 "2002-10-10T17:18:42Z")
My WAG: It is cheaper to mix up vats of chemicals to produce artificial flavours (esters?) than it is to use the real stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/5 "2002-10-10T17:31:40Z")
I like good and evil cinnamon. I am going to have to disagree with **Kn\*ckers**. Good grapes are lovely, whether made into grape juice, wine, cough syrup, bubblegum, popsicles, hard candy or simply eaten fresh. Evil grapes are also known as raisins. **YUCK! BLECH! PTUI!** Good cherries can be picked directy from the tree and consumed. Evil cherries are called “Maraschinos” and taste like cherry-flavored plastic. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/6 "2002-10-10T18:30:23Z")
Good vanilla is 100% pure vanilla extract. Evil vanilla (and it’s truly _eeeevil_…) is the artificial vanilla flavoring that they put into instant vanilla pudding. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/7 "2002-10-11T05:35:59Z")
Good chocolate is real chocolate (dark, milk, or white). Evil chocolate is carob. **WARNING: UNPOPULAR OPINION AHEAD** I have nothing against good brown cinnamon. I like on toast, in apple pie, and in Austrian coffee. It’s a nice and decent spice. BUT over the last few years I’ve become uncontrollably drawn to evil red cinnamon. Whether it’s Red Hots, Hot Tamales, or (especially) red candy corn, my resistance disappears. And you know what? I don’t care! IF EVIL RED CINNAMON IS WRONG, I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT! ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/8 "2002-10-11T06:39:25Z")
I love both kinds of cinnamon. The cinnamon that’s used to flavor candy, aka “evil red”, is actually the oil made from the cinnamon tree/plant. The brown cinnamon is the ground bark. What I don’t understand, is how candy manufacturers came up with watermelon flavor. It taste nothing like the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/9 "2002-10-11T06:46:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hillbilly queen \* > \*\*I love both kinds of cinnamon. > The cinnamon that’s used to flavor candy, aka “evil red”, is actually the oil made from the cinnamon tree/plant. The brown cinnamon is the ground bark. > > What I don’t understand, is how candy manufacturers came up with watermelon flavor. It taste nothing like the real thing. \*\* I think it came from the fact that the liked the idea of making a candy green on the outsidem but red on the inside. Then, they realized watermelon has a very mild flavor, and is more like sugar water, so they made up a flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-cinnamon-vs-evil-cinnamon/131680/10 "2002-10-11T06:59:38Z")
Actually, I’m remembering back to an organic chemistry lab, where we extracted cinnamaldehyde (IIRC) from regular (brown) cinnamon. I didn’t taste it, since I’m not real fond of whatever solvent we had it in, but the smell was very reminiscent of the evil cinnamon. FWIW.