Cinnamon, Ground

Ground cinnamon smells sweet and woody, with a warm bite at the back. The flavor is part sugar, part heat: a dry, slightly astringent sweetness that turns rounder once it hits butter, milk or fat. Taste a pinch on its own and you get the tannic edge. Bake it into a crumb topping and that edge reads as depth.

Use it in oatmeal, rice pudding, French toast batter, apple pie, banana bread and coffee cake. Stir it into cocoa or into the grounds before you brew coffee. It works just as well in savory cooking, where a quarter teaspoon rounds out lamb meatballs, braised beef, chickpea stews, tomato sauces and rice pilaf. Add it to a dry rub with cumin and black pepper for pork shoulder or chicken thighs. A little in a carrot soup or a pot of black beans is hard to place but easy to miss once it is gone.

Measure carefully. Half a teaspoon flavors a single loaf of quick bread or a bowl of porridge for two. A teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half is plenty for a nine-inch pie of sliced apples. In savory dishes, start at a quarter teaspoon for four servings and taste before adding more. Too much turns dusty and dries out the back of the mouth.

Keep the jar closed tight, away from the stove and out of direct light. A cupboard shelf is fine. Ground cinnamon fades rather than spoils, so smell it before a big bake and use a heavier hand if it has gone quiet.

• 1.5 oz jar: for the cook who bakes a few times a year and wants a jar that stays lively.
• 15 oz jar: weekly oatmeal, regular baking, a household that uses it in both sweet and savory cooking.
• 56 oz jar: bakeries, large families, holiday baking marathons, or anyone refilling smaller shakers.
• Decant bulk quantities into a smaller jar for daily use and keep the rest sealed.
• Label the jar with the month you opened it.