The season for holiday baking is upon us, and before you spice up your cookies and pies, you’ll probably want to know: is most of the cinnamon on grocery store shelves actually fake? That’s one question we’re investigating this week on behalf of you, dear listeners, in the latest installment of our popular Ask Gastropod series! This episode, we've got the scoop on what's real when it comes to cinnamon—because your buns deserve the truth. We're also putting our detective hats on to figure out where in the world kefir comes from, in an epic tale that involves mummies, a prince, and a potential kidnapping. Finally, if you look at almost any label, from jam to ice cream to soda to sausage, you'll find one shared ingredient: citric acid. What on Earth is this additive doing in everything, how is its spread connected to a technology that has saved millions of lives—and is it safe to eat? Listen in for a festive feast of listener curiosity, and keep your awesome questions coming our way! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dan Saladino explores culinary cultures and world religions to find out how the date became one of the earliest, most revered, and diverse of all cultivated fruits, and also a feature of Christmas. Some of the world's historically important date palm oases have survived in the south of Tunisia. Dan travels to the ancient cities of Gafsa and Tozeur to visit two of them and watches the date harvest underway. There he tastes Tunisia's most prized date, the Deglet Nour, which translates as 'fingers of light' because of it's amber colour and almost translucent appearance. In Tozeur he also explores Eden Palm, the site of of a museum dedicated to dates and date palm, where he hears how the date has been an important food and source of trade for thousands of years. Featuring food historian Ivan Day, food writers Yasmin Khan, Itamar Srulovich and Nawal Nasrallah, archeobotanist Professor Dorian Fuller, and scientist Shahina Ghazanfar. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.