Category Archives: Ingredients

Descriptions of popular cooking ingredients

Peppers

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Peppers come in a range from mild green to the hottest vegetables on the planet. The source of the heat are capsaicinoids: flavourless, odourless alkaloids that set off pain receptors in the mouth and throat; that is, they are spicey. Of the 5 known acting ingredients, 3 produce a rapid biting sensation in the back of the mouth and 2 produce a lingering burn. A secondary response is the release of endorphins to the brain, making us feel good.

The primary capsaicinoid in peppers is capsaicin, which concentrates in the pepper while it is growing. The hottest part is the white membrane that attaches the seeds to the flesh. The seeds are also hot.

Generally, the smaller the pepper the hotter it will be. Bell peppers including green, red and yellow peppers are sweet by comparison. Jalapeno, wax, serrano and habanero peppers are some of the hottest available. They are bright coloured with smooth skins and a strong stem.

Hot peppers are damaged by moisture so store hot peppers wrapped in paper towels. Wear gloves when working with seeds and membranes as the oils can burn your skin.

Apples

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Apples come in a profusion of varieties but the only ones that are native to North America are crab apples. Domesticated apples were imported originally from France when Champlain established his first colonies. By 1698 there were 1584 apple trees in New France. They are now Canada’s leading fruit crop from trees with most grown in B.C. or Ontario. Two-thirds are sold fresh and the rest find their way into cider, juice, sauce, and baked goods.

There are about 10,000 types of apple in the world although over the past century we have come to depend on fewer and fewer varieties. In grocery stores you will find about 40 varieties, if you are lucky. That variety ranges from tiny green crabs to large red fruit. In between there is a range of colour, sweetness and texture.

Apple trees can be purchased from garden centers but they can be tricky to grow. They like a well-sheltered site with well-drained soil, warm days and cool nights. Growing your own apples is worthwhile since the flowers are pretty, the tree is attractive, the wood can be burned, and the fruit is versatile. Commercially grown apples are usually sprayed  with pesticides on a regular basis and there is no promise that they are not pesticide free when purchased.

Selecting Ripe Fruit

Choose apples that are firm, smooth-skinned with the skin intact, and no bruises. Bruised sections of the apple can be sliced off but the bruised area itself loses texture, colour and taste. The flesh should be a pale greenish or golden white colour.

Even though it has been picked, the apple continues to live, breathing in oxygen and giving off carbon dioxide. Keeping them in cool storage will slow down their ripening process so they stay fresh longer. Root cellars used to be the common place to store apples. They can be piled up together but should not be washed until they are to be eaten when they should be rinsed thoroughly.

Store apples in the fridge. They will ripen 10 times faster at room temperature.

Eating Apples

An apple a day . . . Apples are rich in antioxidants, especially the skins which also contain a number of other compounds that are beneficial to your health beyond the vitamins and minerals they contain.

Varieties

Given there are about 10000, this is a short short list of popular varieties that are readily available in stores.

  • Ambrosia – do not last long and are great in salads
  • Braeburn – cooking apple
  • Cortland – the applesauce apple, and good for baking.
  • Empire – great raw
  • Gala – sweet and perfect blending with cheese
  • Golden delicious – eating apples, very sweet
  • Granny smith – a tart apple that is terrific in pies, with cheddar cheese, in salads and eaten raw
  • Ida red: pies and applesauce
  • Mcintosh – eating or sauce. Good in pies. Good baked apples
  • Northern Spy – Lovely eating, pies, applesauce, baking
  • Red Delicious – pleasant eating apple
  • Royal Gala – salads and sauces, baking.
  • Russet – baking
  • Spartan – salads, eating raw, baked, pies

Oysters

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Oysters grow in many parts of the world so fresh oysters are available most of the year – winter months excepted.

A perfect oyster is opaque and creamy with a firm texture. They can be eaten raw, steamed, or turned into stews. When buying, look for them to be sold in their shells which should be tightly closed. It should feel heavy in the hand, for it’s size, because it contains seawater along with the oyster.

Pork and Ham

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Ham

True ham is the hind leg of a hog that has been cured. However, pork shoulder may also be cured and called ham, though it will have more fat. Use true hams for slicing and picnic hams for stews and casseroles.

Curing

Most hams are cured in salt or salt water, sometimes with sugar added. Traditionally in North America, cured hams are also smoked. In Europe they may be dried and eaten raw.

Selecting and Handling

Most grocery store purchased hams are fully cooked and can be eaten cold from the package or heated. Check the label for more information about how the ham has been cured and how it should be prepared for eating. These hams can be stored unopened in the original package for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Baking

  • Fully cooked ham should be reheated at 325F until the internal temperature reaches 140F. Leftovers and raw hams should be heated to 160F.
  • To prevent drying, score the top of the ham in a decorative patter and baste it with a sweet sauce (such as pineapple juice and maple syrup) or a mustard paste.
  • Ham dries quickly so when you slice it for serving, cut thickly and only what you need. Thin slices will dry out in a few hours

Tea

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When people speak of tea they may be referring to either Camellia sinensis or herbal tea. What these 2 share in common is the method of preparation. Both are an infusion — plant parts are steeped in hot water.

Black tea, called red tea in Asia is the most popular drink after water and comes in 6 varieties: white, oolong, black, green, yellow, and post-fermented.

  • White tea is made from the immature tea buds and young leaves, hand picked before the buds open. The leaves are withered and dried slowly at low temperatures. The tea brewed is straw coloured with a silky texture and a mellow flavour.
  • Green tea is steamed, rolled and oxidized. The tisane has a leafy flavour.
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Raspberries

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Raspberries are easy to grow and a treat picked from the cane. Genetically they are part of the Rose family, related to strawberries, but mostly when one thinks of raspberries, one thinks of brambles. Bramble canes are covered in prickles and are painful to hold so if you decide to grow them, be careful how you trim and harvest them. Raspberries send out runners and spread quickly in the yard. They aren’t something you want the kids to step on or fall into.  Overall, the leaves are attractive and the plants are compact, and they attract small animals and birds, so they make a visually pleasant hedge along a fence while deterring people from climbing into your yard.

Brambles (the genus is Rubus) are a diverse crowd with a wide distribution around the planet, consisting of 100s of varieties. The only places where Rubus doesn’t grow natively is Australia and Antarctica.

Many brambles have edible fruit formed by clusters of “drupelets” that close up, resemble their cousins: plums, cherries and apricots. In other words, a raspberry is a bit like a cluster of tiny plums with tiny pits in the center, all bonded to a fibrous core called the receptacle.

Selecting the Best Raspberries

To get the best aroma and flavour, raspberries should be picked when ripe. The receptacle will pull away during picking, leaving a dent across the top where it attached to the cane. The drupelets should be a consistent bright red, firm and plump.

Handling and Storage

Raspberries are very delicate and highly perishable. They should be eaten the same day they are picked but can be kept in a cool place for up to 2 days. Past that and you are likely to find fungus growing between the drupelets.

Store raspberries loosely, in a cool dry place, away from sunlight. A lightly covered container lined with dry paper towels will work, or a colander covered with plastic.  Don’t wash them until you intend to eat them and pat them dry since damp is another way to spoil this delicate fruit. One moldy raspberry will quickly infect the others.

Freezing

This is one fruit that freezes well. Wash the fruit quickly in cold water and pat dry. Lay them out loosely on a cookie sheet, no more than one layer thick, and place them in the freezer. As soon as they are frozen, transfer them to a heavy plastic bag and seal them in. They will keep in the freezer for up to a year.

Milk

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Milk

All female mammals lactate but humans enjoy the milk of only a handful: cows, goats, and camels among them. Dairy cattle are probably the most familiar source of milk for people but we require an enzyme that breaks down the natural lactose. Many people are lactose intolerant and other types of milk can sometimes be a substitute.The average healthy dairy cow produces milk that is almost 4% butterfat.

Dairy cows produce 35 litres of milk on average per day and are milked twice a day, at dawn and dusk. To keep them productive, their are artificially inseminated every 13 months. This stimulates lactation. In the last 2 months of the pregnancy, the cow is not milked and is allowed to rest. After the birth, the calf is taken away and fed milk for 2 months, then weaned. Males are sent to slaughter and the females are raised to join the herd. They have their first pregnancy at about age 2.

Cows prefer quiet routine in their lives and lots of food including hay, alfalfa, corn, wheat, or soybeans. They usually also receive vitamins and minerals in their feed. They weigh in at just under 1 ton.

Modern industrial farms use milking machines to milk the animals. The milk is filtered and pumped into a stainless steel tank where is it kept refrigerated until the tankers arrive to pump it out and ship it to the dairy. The machinery itself is cleaned frequently by being flushed with water, an acid solution, and detergent.

Dairies take in milk from local farms and try to use it the same day as it arrives. The milk is pasteurized by heating to 73C for 16 seconds, then separated according to how it will be used.  Cream is churned into butter or turned into whipping cream. Skim milk may be heated to boil off excess water and turned into dry skim milk powder which is a popular export.

Raw Milk

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized. Pasteurization is a process where milk is heated to 72C (close to boiling) for about 16 seconds. This reduces bacteria counts and create a safe drink. Pasteurization was invented by Louis Pasteur and is known to have reduced illness arising from drinking contaminated milk.

However, there is a growing movement in favour of raw milk. Many believe that pasteurization is unnecessary as long as the cattle are healthy, milking stations are clean, and people store and use the milk safely. After all, we have been drinking raw milk for centuries.  Advocates are asking for choice: anyone should be allowed to buy raw milk if they please.

Advocates claim that raw milk is easier to digest because it contains friendly bacteria and enzymes that boost the immune system. Children exposed to raw milk may also develop an immunity to some bacteria.

Obviously, dairy farmers and buyers need to be cautious about raw milk.

Raw milk should be purchased from dairy farms where the herds are obviously healthy and their living conditions are clean. Buyers should also be aware that even under these circumstances, milk can become contaminated. If you are buying from a bulk supplier and providing your own jar, make sure the jars are thoroughly cleaned after using. Raw milk needs to be stored in a cool place and used soon after milking. My mother remembers using raw milk on the farm in Somerset which she would collect in the morning. It was used the same day and had usually gone off by mid afternoon. If you are in any doubt, heat the milk before using it.

Raw Milk Cheese

Another use for raw milk is in cheese. Emmenthal and old cheddar are just two popular types of cheese that are traditionally made from raw milk. Instead or pasteurizing the milk the process begins by heating the milk to about 55-65C. This kills many, but not all, bacteria. More bacteria die while the curds cook and later as the cheese ages. The older and harder the cheese, the less bacteria to be found, although a slight risk still exists.

Figs

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Figs are a thickly juicy, nutrient rich, sweet fruit that can be eaten raw or used in hors d’oeuvres, entrees and desserts. They grow in a number of warm climates but especially in California, Peru and Chile.  Once ripe, they should be stored in a single layer in a covered container. They may not be pretty; the skins often change colour and the flesh will feel soft, not squishy. Ripe figs don’t store well and should be eaten within the week or dried.

Figs are rich in soluble and insoluble fibre, potassium, plant sterols, and vitamin B6.

Varieties

  • Black Mission: greyish-purple skins that turn black when ripe
  • Calimyma: large amber coloured figs with golden pulp, crisp small seeds and a nutty flavour. Great taste.
  • Brown Turkey: brownish-purple skin and red flesh.
  • Kadota: greenish-yellow skins with yellow or purple flesh.

Whole Grains

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Whole grains refer to the complete seed of certain grasses. The outermost layer or husk is usually inedible so it is stripped off, leaving the berry or groat which consists of the bran, germ and endosperm. Since they contain the oil rich germ, they should be stored in the fridge but eaten fresh and cooked. If you are not going to use them right away, store them in the freezer.

Refined grains usually have the bran removed and sometimes the germ as well. This seriously reduces the nutritional content of the grain since the germ contains many of the vitamins and the bran is a rich source of fibre.

Generally, whole grains are a good source of vitamin Bs, vitamin E, manganese, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper and selenium, depending on where and how they are grown; and thye contain fibre, fatty acids, antioxidants and phytonutrients.

Whole grains include brown rice, oatmeal, sprouted grains, amaranth, bulgur, couscous, buckwheat, wheat berries, quinoa, and rye.

Caution

The definition of whole grains varies legally and in some places “whole” may still have over half the germ and bran stripped away. Look for products that say they are whole grain and check the nutrients.

Resource

www.wholegrainscouncil.org

Cheese Variety

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Types of Cheese

Halloumi (trad. Cyprus) : a fresh, firm cheese, with a texture like mozarella and a salty flavour. Goat and sheep milk are blended to form the basis of this interesting cheese. The curd is cooked at a high temperature then shaped, packed in mint and sold in small packages in its own brine. Some versions now contain cow’s milk. As a result of the high heat during processing, Halloumi doesn’t melt easily. Instead, it gets chewy when heated. This makes it a poor choice for sauces but a great option for grilling, frying and salads.

Cheddar: a solid cheese that takes at least 3 month to cure but can be cured for 5 years or more.

Ricotta: made from the whey that forms when milk is heated.

Mozarella: a semi-solid cheese with a stretchy texture that comes from actually stretching the curds after they have been cooked and drained twice.