Tag Archives: Culinary

Sweet Chilli Sauce

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Sweet Chilli Sauce

These facts are both sweet and hot, like sweet chilli sauce.

  • Sweet chilli sauce is a sauce popular among Asian communities, particularly in Thai and Malaysian cultures, and is also commonly used in western countries, like Australia.
  • Sweet chilli sauce is usually a thick, lumpy sauce that is red or orange in colour.
  • Sweet chilli sauce is typically made with chilli and sweet fruit or sugar.
  • Sweet chilli sauce is typically available in supermarkets and restaurants due to high popularity, and is generally purchased in a bottle, although there are many recipes for the condiment.
  • Sweet chilli sauce is commonly used with Asian spring rolls as a dipping sauce, and is added to various meat and vegetable dishes to add flavour.

Sweet chilli sauce, red, liquid, splotch, plat, blob, Orange, Mae Ploy, Ten Random Facts, Food

  • Sweet chilli sauce sometimes includes extra spices and liquid, like vinegar or water, to add flavour and to create volume.
  • Sweet chilli sauce is a good source of antioxidants, manganese, vitamin A and vitamin C.
  • Sweet chilli sauce is often used as a replacement in western diets, for sauces such as tomato or barbeque.
  • Sweet chilli sauce may contain vegetables, particularly tomato, to reduce the heat of the chilli and thicken the sauce.
  • Sweet chilli sauce is usually made with mild chilli peppers, like Jalapeño or Serrano.

 

Bibliography:
Sweet Chilli Sauce, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_chilli_sauce
Sweet Chilli Sauce, n.d, Tarladalal.com, http://www.tarladalal.com/glossary-sweet-chilli-sauce-1306i
What is Sweet Chilli Sauce?, 2014, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sweet-chilli-sauce.htm

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Poppy Seed

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Poppy Seed

Do not eat your poppy seed bagel before a drug test.

  • Poppy seeds are small seeds of Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy, used primarily in cooking.
  • Poppy seeds are a kidney shape, and have a length of around 1 millimetre.
  • Poppy seeds have been historically used in medicine and there have been superstitions associated with the seeds, like turning oneself invisible.
  • A gram of poppy seeds is approximately 3,300 seeds, and an ounce of the seeds is approximately 93,500 seeds.
  • In 2011, Turkey was the leader in poppy seed production, with 45,077 tonnes (49,689 tons) in 2011, of the world production of 106,419 tonnes (117,307 tons).

Poppy seeds, many, lots, black, grey, white, bowl, Ten Random Facts, whole spice

  • Poppy seeds are used as a paste, oil, thickener, spice and decoration, particularly in baked items, although they are used in other dishes.
  • Consumption of poppy seeds can cause drug tests to be false positive due to the content of opium alkaloids, that are also present in the illegal drug opium.
  • Selling, eating or holding poppy seeds in some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Singapore, will result in punishments or arrests.
  • Poppy seeds have a flavour of nuts and are typically blue-black in colour, although white or grey poppy seeds are sometimes used.
  • Poppy seeds are a good source of manganese and calcium, and rarely cause allergies among people.
Bibliography:
Poppy seed, 2010, Olde Thompson, http://www.oldethompson.com/spice-details.aspx?SpiceID=27
Poppy seed, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppy_seed

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Salt and Pepper Shakers

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Salt and Pepper Shakers

What do stamps, shells and salt and pepper shakers have in common? They are all collectables.

  • Salt and pepper shakers are small containers that hold powdered food seasonings, typically in Western countries.
  • Salt and pepper shakers typically contain ground pepper and salt, and are generally tipped upside down over a meal and gently shaken to release some of their contents.
  • ‘Salt and pepper shakers’ are also known as ‘salt and pepper pots’.
  • Salt and pepper shakers are made in many different materials, such as ceramics, plastic, glass, metal or timber.
  • It is believed that a salt shaker was first invented in 1858, by John Mason, a tinsmith from America, but it wasn’t until the 1920’s that sets of salt and pepper shakers were commonly manufactured, and later they became even more popular due to cost effectiveness of ceramic production.

Salt and Pepper Shakers, Chicken, Three, Six, Pairs, Collection, Pretty, Blue Interesting, Red

Photo courtesy of Val Laird
  • Salt and pepper shakers are commonly a set of two, sporting many different colours, shapes and sizes.
  • Salt and pepper shakers may include a grinding function to grind peppercorns and large salt crystals.
  • Salt and pepper shakers grew in popularity in the 1920s due to the addition of magnesium carbonate to the salt to prevent lumps and clumping caused by moisture, which was added by the Morton Salt company in Chicago, in the United States, making it easy to pour.
  • Salt and pepper shakers are popularly collected due to their unique shapes and historical significance and large collections exist, some of which have as many as 40,000 sets.
  • Salt and pepper shakers generally have small holes to restrict the amount of seasoning released, with salt shakers typically having the least number of holes.
Bibliography:
Bulls D, Collectable Kitchenware: Salt & Pepper Shakers, 2013, Kings River Lite Magazine, http://kingsriverlife.com/03/23/collectible-kitchenware-salt-pepper-shakers/
History of Shakers, n.d, Kim’s Salt and Pepper Shaker page, http://kimmykay.tripod.com/snppage/id1.html
Salt and Pepper Shakers, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_and_pepper_shakers

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Vanilla Extract

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Vanilla Extract

Do you use pure or imitation vanilla extract.

  • Vanilla extract is a flavouring mixture that largely contains vanillin, which generally comes from the vanilla bean that grows on an orchid plant called Vanilla planifolia.
  • Pure vanilla extract is made be steeping 100 grams of vanilla beans in a litre of water mixed with 35% alcohol, (for each gallon of liquid, 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans) and the final liquid is usually purchased in a small bottle.
  • Vanilla extract is the most frequently used type of vanilla flavouring and is typically dark brown in colour, and pure vanilla extract has a more distinct smell and flavour than the more bitter imitations.
  • ‘Vanilla extract’ is also known as ‘vanilla essence’ and unnatural or synthetic vanilla flavouring extract or essence is known as ‘imitation’ vanilla.
  • Some people are allergic to vanilla extract and can develop migraines from it due to its vanillin content.

Vanilla Extract, Vanilla Essence, Queens, pure, Ten Random Facts, Flavour, Lid

  • Vanilla extract is popularly used in flavouring baked wheat products, sweets and desserts, particularly custard and ice cream.
  • Vanilla extract can be expensive, particularly when typhoons hit the main producing countries, causing significant losses.
  • The main producer of vanilla extract is Africa’s Madagascar, an island in the Indian Ocean, although the plant is native to Mexico.
  • Vanilla extract may vaporise when heated as a liquid, due to its alcohol content, and will generally result in the loss of some vanilla flavour.
  • Vanilla extract was first developed as a commercial liquid product in the 1847s in the United States by an American chemist Joseph Burnett, after a request from a customer.
Bibliography:
History of Vanilla, n.d, Plain Vanilla, http://www.indepthinfo.com/vanilla/history.shtml
Martinez C, What is the Origin of Vanilla Extract, n.d, http://www.ehow.com/info_12012268_origin-vanilla-extract.html
Vanilla, 2014, Joy of Baking, http://www.joyofbaking.com/Vanilla.html
Vanilla Extract, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_extract

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Prune

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Prune

Soft and squishy prunes.

  • Prunes are the dried fruit of primarily the European plum species, although other species of plum are sometimes used, and they have a dark, sweet flavour, are sticky and a little chewy.
  • The scientific name of the fresh fruit, referred to as ‘fresh prunes’ or ‘plums’ is Prunus domestica, that belong to the family rosaceae, the family of roses.
  • Prunes generally come from fruits with easily removable pits and are sold either with or without the seed.
  • ‘Prunes’ are also known as ‘dried plums’, and this has become the more favoured term in recent years to avoid the stigma associated with the term ‘prune’.
  • There are over 1000 different varieties of plum fruit that are dried and packaged as prunes.

Prune, Black, Juicy, Sticky, Fruit, Plum, Dried, Ten Random Facts. Food, Angas Park

  • Prunes are popularly eaten in desserts, cooked in main meal dishes, eaten as a snack or as a fresh fruit, and can be made into juice or an alcohol beverage.
  • Prunes contain laxatives and sorbitol, which can be used to treat digestive related problems, and have been historically used to treat constipation.
  • Prunes are very high in vitamin K, and have a significant amount of potassium, copper, manganese, vitamin A and fibre.
  • Prunes have a high quantity of phenols that have significant antioxidant properties, that are beneficial to one’s health.
  • The process of drying plums to make prunes is said to be thousands of years old, and possibly began in the Caspian Sea area, in Europe, where the European plums are native.

 

Bibliography:
Prune, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prune
Prunes, 2014, The World’s Healthiest Foods, http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=103&tname=foodspice

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Bran

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Bran

These facts are not discarded like bran.

  • Bran is the outside layer of unprocessed grains that are often used in cereals.
  • ‘Bran’ is also known as ‘miller’s bran’.
  • Bran is often removed from grains when processed, and later discarded, used in other products or sold as a separate item.
  • Bran is typically used in cereals for breakfast, bread items, and baked goods, and can be used to make alcoholic beverages, cooking oil and can be pickled.
  • Wheat bran is historically a common colouring ingredient in leather tanning solutions.

Bran, sticks, processed, wheat, homebrand, cereal, Ten Random Facts

  • Bran typically comes from wheat, rye, rice, barley, corn, millet and oat grains.
  • Bran is usually purchased from supermarkets as a coarse powder, however, with the addition of a few more ingredients, it can be bought in the form of small sticks known as ‘processed bran’, and as flakes known as ‘bran flakes’, that are typically used as a breakfast cereal.
  • Bran is commonly used in packaged animal food, in both pet and agricultural feeds.
  • Depending on the grain, bran can have a nutty or sweet flavour, and a dry, coarse texture.
  • Bran is very high in dietary fibre and high in a variety of vitamins and minerals depending on the grain.
Bibliography:
Bran, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran
What is Bran?, 2014, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-bran.htm

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