Raw cinnamon marshmallow mousse

It is a red seaweed from the coasts of the North Atlantic, Chondrus crispus, also known as carrageen or sea moss. Dried, it comes as small pale, brittle fronds. Rinsed and then soaked for several hours, it blends with water into a gel with a neutral taste, which thickens and stabilises cold preparations. It belongs to the same family of gelling molecules as the carrageenans used by the food industry, but here it is used whole rather than extracted.

They are two distinct species. Ceylon cinnamon, Cinnamomum verum, comes from Sri Lanka: its bark is thin, pale, rolled in several layers like a cigar, and its scent is sweet, floral, almost sugary. The cinnamon usually sold as ordinary is most often cassia, Cinnamomum cassia, from China or Indonesia: thick, dark red bark, curled from one side only, with a sharper taste. Cassia contains far more coumarin, a molecule whose daily intake European health authorities recommend keeping limited.

It depends entirely on the use. For a raw dessert like this mousse, where cinnamon is used generously and never cooked, Ceylon cinnamon is the better choice: its delicate scent does not take over and its coumarin content is very low. Cassia, sharper and cheaper, holds its own in a hot, heavily sweetened preparation where you are after character. If you cook with cinnamon every day, Ceylon is the sensible reflex.

Rarely in a supermarket spice aisle, where the label often says nothing more than cinnamon. Look instead in organic shops, delicatessens or specialist suppliers, and check that the label states Cinnamomum verum or Cinnamomum zeylanicum, with Sri Lanka or southern India as the origin. In sticks, the visual clue is unmistakable: Ceylon is pale, thin and layered, and crumbles between your fingers, whereas cassia forms a hard, single-piece tube.