Welcome to Flavor Town
Any leafy plant material used for its flavor, aroma, or reputed medicinal properties
What is an herb?
picked soft and unripe, then either dried or pickled in brine and vinegar, in which state they are often used instead of (and occasionally confused with) capers.
What are green peppercorns?
can be obtained in pure form by steam distillation, extraction into cold or hot fat, or volatile organic solvents that can be evaporated away
What are essential oils?
Herbal leaves known by Spanish name, with its seeds called coriander in English
What is cilantro?
A common pantry pest. The larval stages can feed on cereal products, fresh ginger, and raisins
What is the cigarette beetle?
Catchall term for any plant material, usually excepting leaves, that adds strong aromas and flavors to foods
What is a spice?
stimulate nerve endings in our skins and mucous membranes, specifically of the trigeminal nerve, which conveys sensations of pain and heat to the brain
What are capasaicinoids?
menthol in oil of peppermint, limonene in orange and lemon oil, zingerone in ginger
What are examples of terpenes?
Paprika is most used in cuisine by this nation
What is Hungary?
Japanese ingredient, usually replaced with horseradish tinted green in American sushi restaurants
What is wasabi?
Three families of plants that provide the lions share of our culinary herbs and spices
What are the mint family (Lamiaceae), the parsley family (Apiaceae), and the mustard family (Brassicaceae)
The method of measuring the level of heat of a pepper
Wat are Scoville Units?
chemical contained in a chili peppers essential oils
What is capsaicin?
Used by the Germans in World War 1 as a chemical weapon
What is mustard gas?
Container made of pottery or terracotta that is not glazed and left porous to store salt and keep it dry
What is a salt pig?
Has little or no aroma until cutting or chewing breaks open their cells
What is raw garlic and/or raw onion?
very potent "hot stuff" in horseradish, mustard seed, and wasabi
What is Allyl isothiocyanate?
Uses essential oils aromatic essence
What is aromatherapy?
Much of our garlic powder comes from here, where both the raw garlic and hand labor is relatively cheap
What is India and/or China?
Fermented and dried seed pods from one of two species of climbing-vine orchid plants native to the Pacific Islands and Mexico
What are vanilla beans?
When used in place of fresh herbs you should use about a third of what the recipe calls for.
What is a dried herb?
keep their heat even when dried and ground, because capsaicin is not very volatile
What are hot chili peppers?
Spices and herbs lose their effectiveness in storage as the oils slowly evaporate due to this trait
What is volatile?
Number of people in Germany died from this in the late eighteenth century after eating contaminated sausage
What is Botulinum poisoning?
brown liquid from condensed moist hardwood chips, that's is mixed into acetic acid and used as an ingredient in barbecue sauce
What is liquid smoke?