Ghee oil: Contributes color and flavor richness to foods

Ghee is obtained by clarification of milk fat at high temperature. Ghee is almost anhydrous milk fat.

Ghee has got typical pleasing and appetizing aroma. It contributes colour and flavor richness to foods. Clarified ghee contains not less than 99.5 % fat and fat is the most valued milk component. Ghee is one of the most widely used milk products in numerous foods for various purposes. In fact, it is considered as the supreme cooking and frying medium.

Ghee in pure form is used to feed children because of its therapeutic value, and is mixed with honey and used as an aphrodisiac. Ghee is considered to be fairly stable due to the low water content and high antioxidative properties. Ghee is also rich in CLA, which shows anticarcinogenic effects.

Chemically, ghee is a complex lipid of glycerides (usually mixed), free fatty acids, phospholipids, sterols, sterol esters, fat soluble vitamins, carbonyls, hydrocarbons, carotenoids (only in ghee derived from cow milk), small amounts of charred casein and traces of calcium, phosphorus, iron, etc. It contains not more than 0.3% moisture.

Glycerides constitute about 98% of the total material. Of the remaining constituents of about 270, sterols (mostly cholesterol) occur to the extent of about 0.5%.

Ghee oil: Contributes color and flavor richness to foods

Chicken meat flavor

Chicken meat is widely consumed and it is the most common and popular poultry species in the world. The flavour comprises mainly of taste and aroma and is involved in consumers’ meat-buying behavior and preferences. Chicken meat flavour is supposed to be affected by a number of ante- and post-mortem factors, including breed, diet, post-mortem ageing, method of cooking, etc.

Chicken meat flavors result from interactions between proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and other components found in the meat. Cooking promotes the development of freshly cooked flavors that are derived via amino and fatty acid reactions to form volatile and nonvolatile compounds.

The Maillard reaction or Maillard-like reactions occur during heating, especially when high heat and dehydrating types of cooking are used. Once chicken meat is cooked, oxidative reactions quickly initiate: first, within the phospholipids fraction, and then within hours result in the development of detectable oxidized off-flavors.

The reaction of cysteine and sugar can lead to characteristic meat flavour especially for chicken. Volatile compounds including 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, 2-furfurylthiol, methionol, 2,4,5-trimethyl-thiazole, nonanol, 2-trans-nonenal, and other compounds have been identified as important for the flavour of chicken.

Chicken meat flavor

Galangal roots or East Indian roots

Galangal (Alpinia galangal L.), also known as greater galanga, East Indian root, Chinese ginger root, colic root and galingale, is a perennial weed native to Southern China South East Asia and the Indonesia/Malaysian archipelago.

The flavor is somewhat aromatic and camphoraceous and blends well with ginger and other types of spicy/sweet compounds. For this reason, it works well in ginger ale flavors, root beer flavors, and other spicy blends.

The study shows that camphor, cineole (20-30%), and methyl cinnamate (48%) as the major volatile compounds. The essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of dried rhizomes with maximum yields of about 1%. The oil exhibits a fresh, camphor-like odor with a distinct cineole-like top note and a warm undertone of rich and spicy body. The flavor is somewhat bitter at higher concentration.

In processed foods, the oil is the natural choice, because of freedom from contamination and ease of standardization. The oil is also useful in medical preparations.
Galangal roots or East Indian roots

Sarsaparilla in beverages

All bottled soft drinks contain water, flavor, sweetening, and carbon dioxide gas. The flavors for soft drinks include ginger ale, sarsaparilla, root beer, birch beer, chocolate, cream, colas, cherry, wild cherry, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, orange, pineapple grape, loganberry, apple, pear, peach, and others less widely distributed.

Nearly all bottled soft drinks are colored artificially. Sarsaparillas ordinarily are colored with caramel, which is made by carefully heating sugar or glucose. Sarsaparilla produces small flowers and black, blue, or red berry-like fruits which are eaten greedily by birds. Smilax, a member of the lily family, is a genus of about 350 species, found in temperate, tropical and subtropical zones worldwide.

The plants belonging to this genus are found throughout Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas. The name sarsaparilla or zarzaparilla comes from the Spanish word zarza (bramble or bush), parra (vine), and illa (small)—a small, brambled vine. Sarsaparilla root was used as a general tonic by indigenous tribes in South America, where New World traders found it and introduced it into European medicine in the 1400s.

The roots of sarsaparilla contain a high concentration of nutrients and organic compounds that can be added to soups, stews, herbal supplements, drinks, and desserts.
Sarsaparilla in beverages

Lemon juice

Lemon, a citrus fruit, which is said to have originated in India, but is now largely grown in Mediterranean area, in USA (California) and in Africa. It is an evergreen aromatic shrub and the trees mostly with thorny branches, distributed throughout the tropical and temperate regions of the world.

Lemon flavour is the second most popular citrus flavour after orange flavor. Lemon oil has been used extensively to flavour beverages, especially carbonated beverages and to aromatize household products, imparting a clean, light citrus/lemon fragrance.

Lemons can add flavor and sparkle to almost any dish. One lemon has about 2 tablespoons of juice. Lemon can be squeezed over glazed carrots, broccoli, asparagus or greens to add a pop of flavor before serving.

A new study shows that people who use lemons to season their food can cut out three quarters of the salt in their diet and not miss it. Low in sodium, potassium and phosphorus, lemon juice and lemon zest or peel mixed with fresh or dried herbs are a natural way to fix foods that just taste good.

In addition to juice , essential oil of lemon fruit is one of the main byproducts of citrus processing. Oil of lemon is one of the most important flavoring oils, used widely in all kind of beverages, soft drinks, soft drinks powders and tablets, and in baked goods, such as cakes, pastries, pie fillings, confectionery, soft and hard center candies, gelatin desserts, ice creams, etc.
Lemon juice

Bay leaf

Flowers are small, yellow, in umbel clusters of 3-4. Leaves are 3 inches long, deep green, stiff, leathery, oblong and pointed on the end. The leaves are shiny on top and gray-green underside.

The best place to store Bay leaves is in a cool, dry place, away from bright light, heat and moisture. Bay is available fresh, dried whole leaves or ground dried leaves.

The main contribution of bay to foods is its fragrance, sweet but not cloying, pervasive but not overpowering. It’s a key ingredient in French and Mediterranean dishes, including bouillabaisse, and bouillon and -- along with other seasonings like parsley and thyme -- in bouquet garni. Bay leaves can be added to marinades, stock, pâtés, stews, stuffing’s and curries. When poaching fish, bay leaf to be added the water.

Bay’s sweet, balsamic scent is quickly apparent, but it takes a while for its flavor to permeate foods, so it should be added to dishes—like hearty soups, gravies and stews, stewed chicken, pot roast or poached fish—early on.
Bay leaf

Hop shoots

Commercial varieties of hop were introduced in Britain in the early sixteenth century by Flemish immigrants who were wise to the excellence of hop’s female catkins in the brewing beer.

Hop shoots is from the hop vine, Humulus lupulus, are a popular food in Belgium and the north of France around late March. The shoots are picked off the youngish plants as they start to grow up the hop poles.

People love to celebrate the first tender shoots of the season, and in many places hops are one of the first plants to poke up through the ground.

Edible and delicious, young hop shoots were common spring dish in England, often referred to as ‘poor man’s asparagus’.

Hop shoots are cooked in water just long enough to make them tender, and then often served with scrambled eggs or incorporated in a salad. Their sweet and aromatic flavor is set off by a slight touch of bitterness.

Hop extracts and oil have been used to flavor tobacco, yeasts, beverages other than beers, frozen dairy desserts, candy, gelatins, puddings, baked goods, various confections, chewing gums and condiments.
Hop shoots

Soy sauce ketchup

A condiment that originated in China, where it has been used for over 2,500 years, soy sauce is a key ingredient in Asian cuisine.

Soy sauce is prepared from roasted soybeans and wheat which have been fermented. The beans are boiled until the water is nearly evaporated and they begin to burn when they are taken from the fire and placed in large wide-mouthed jars, exposed to the sun and air; water and a certain amount of molasses or very brown sugar are added.

Fermented soy pastes and sauces develop into many different regional variations in Asia. Among them is the Indonesian condiment kecap, whose name gave term for a sweet-sour tomato condiment.

Kecap is made by allowing Aspergillus mold to grow on cooked soybeans for about a week, brine –fermenting the moldy mass for 2 to 20 weeks, then boiling it for 4 to 5 hours, and filtering off the solids.

Soy sauce is used in a variety of ways; it can substitute for salt to give dishes a unique flavor. Soy sauce, can be used as marinades or dips as well as to season and color foods.  It can be used as a seasoning when sautéing vegetables.

It is used to flavor tofu, for which it is the basic condiment and can be used in combination with a variety of ingredients, including garlic, onions, fresh, ginger, vinegar and oil.
Soy sauce ketchup

Wasabi

Wasabi, Eutrema japonica Matsumara, also belongs to the Brassicaceae but is a different species than horseradish. The plant is a semi-aquatic member of the cabbage family. Its stem is ground into a powder that is in turn blended into a paste.

It is very difficult to grow and therefore expensive; outside of Japan, it can be found only in specialty stores and the more upscale sushi bars.

The part of the plant that is used is not the root but a rhizome, accounting for the green color of the spice.

The taste of wasabi is somewhat fresher and purer than that of horseradish, but has similar burning and lachrymatory (tear-causing) effects.  A 10th century Japanese medical encyclopedia documents wasabi as an antidote for food poisoning.

Wasabi is mostly used to flavor sashimi, sushi dishes (sushi is cooked, seasoned rice, along with other ingredients), and soba. In Japanese restaurants, wasabi is typically served ground and packed in the corner of the plate in a tiny cone.

Wasabi is a peculiar ingredient in Japanese cuisine, indicative of a liking for hot tastes in culture of cooking otherwise best known for trying to keep the individuals flavors of the ingredients as pure as possible.

Wasabi also is being used in a number of western dishes, with tasty result. The fiery green paste has found its way into marinades, salad dressings, sauces, spreads, and even mashed potatoes.
Wasabi

Cottage cheese

Cottage cheese is a nutritious food product which, when properly made and cared for, is valued highly by the consuming public.

It is essentially a skim milk curd into which cream is usually incorporated. The specific origins of Cottage cheese us known. However, as the name implies, it was produced originally in homes (or cottages) but industrial Cottage cheese production began in the USA in 1916.

Cottage cheese curd (without cream) is referred to or labeled as ‘dry cottage cheese curd’. Pain curd may be sold wholesale in bulk for later creaming, packaging and retail distribution.

Dry unsalted crud is also sold in retails packages for use in cooking, baking, salads and for use in special ‘low salt’, ‘low fat’, ‘low cholesterol’ and ‘reduced calories’ diets.

Cottage cheese is a soft, unripened mild acid cheese, with discrete curd particles of relatively uniform size.

It is produced by acid coagulations of pasteurize skim-milk or reconstituted extra low-heat skim-milk powder.
Cottage cheese

The flavor of meat

Meat is highly desired by most people primarily because of its sensory qualities and nutritional value, and flavor is one of the most important sensory attributes of meat.

Raw meat has little desirable flavor, but cooked meat has a characteristic flavor attributable to the animal species and the temperature and type or method of cooking.

The chemistry of meat flavors is very complex and is based largely on the Maillard reaction between amino acids and sugars which occurs naturally in meat issue.

Meat flavor precursors are nonvolatile, water soluble and fat soluble constituents of meats. Components of meat flavor formed by the thermal breakdown of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates are considered as the major precursors for thermally generated meat aroma.

With meats once expects the difference in flavor which results from different methods of cooking and the degree of heat that is used e.g. roast beef id totally different from boiled beef.

The most important taste compounds in meat are inorganic salts (salty), hypoxanthine (bitter), sugars (sweet), organic acids (sour), nucleotides, amino acids and peptides.

It is necessary impose the selected flavor by the use appropriate imitation flavorings (e.g. roasts beef, fried chicken). Several of these imitation flavorings are now available.

Their correct application makes it possible to fabricate products which closely imitate natural meat in both flavor and texture.
The flavor of meat

Caramel in food

Historically, the Arabs may have invented the process of making caramels, but caramels were widely consumed throughout the world.

The major food groups containing caramel are sauces and condiments, soft and carbonated drinks, pies and pastries, desserts, soup and cakes.

There are four classes of caramel colors used as food additives and they are defined by the reactant added to the carbohydrate during production.
*Plain caramel – used in spirit
*Caustic caramel – used in spirit
*Ammonia caramel - Beer
*Sulfite ammonia caramel – soft drinks

Caramel is prepared from the following food-grade carbohydrate: dextrose, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, molasses, starch hydrolysates, and fraction thereof and sucrose.

Caramelization is done in the industry with different catalysts to produce either flavor or color. For flavor purposes, sucrose is caramelized in concentrated syrup.

The caramel aroma is mainly due to a group of cyclic alkylenolones, dihydrofuranones, and pyrones.

During food processing, it is important to control caramelization reaction while still retaining the pleasant quality of caramel. Otherwise it can lead to the production of unpleasant, burned and butter products.
Caramel in food

What is buttermilk?

Originally, buttermilk was the fluid remaining after cream was churned into butter. Buttermilk has been drink and used in American cooking since colonial times. Dutch settlers in New York had it with their breakfast. 

Today, cultured buttermilk is made by adding acid lactic bacteria to milk, usually low-fat (1% milk fat) or fat free milk. Lactic acid is a byproduct naturally produced by fermenting lactose.

As the natural bacteria in the milk produce lactic acid at room temperature, the pH of the milk decreases and the casein precipitates, which cause the curdling or clabbering. And that is why buttermilk is thicker than plain milk.

Buttermilk is used in buttermilk biscuits and certain other baked goods primarily for flavor, although it can whiten, tenderize and leaven in some cases.

As a drink, buttermilk is tangy, highly flavored, and very nutritious. Like cream, buttermilk is thick and full bodies and like wine it fills the mouth with lasting, tart flavor.
What is buttermilk?

Secret ingredients of root beer

The key component in root beer is the bark of the root of the sassafras tree, which is easily dug and rubbed off.

Typically, the rest of the ingredients include other tree products – such as cherry or birch bark – along with spices, citrus peel, and one or more ingredients from the anise/licorice group.

Low carbohydrate root beer normally use artificial sweeteners instead of sugar.

Almost every root beer recipe prior to the 1960s, used sassafras. Because of health issues with safrole, the FDA no-longer considers sassafras a safe flavoring ingredient.

Today wintergreen is the primary flavor in root beer. Other ingredients that can be used for flavoring are the bark or root of the following: anise, boxberry, cinnamon, clove, deerberry, spiceberry, teaberry and vanilla. 

The ingredients are simmered or stepped like tea, or extracted by some other method, depending on preference or family tradition.

The final ingredients of Hires root beer include: sarsaparilla, wintergreen, spikenard, birch bark, Italian juniper berries, chirreta, hops, licorice, ginger, sarsaparilla, yerba mate  and dog grass. This root beer was introduced by Charles Elmer Hires in 1876.
Secret ingredients of root beer

Annatto seeds

The brick red seeds and their pods of the small evergreen annatto tree, native to tropical South America, are ground to a paste or powder and used as a dye and for coloring food without adding any discernible flavor. 

Botanically name Bisa orellana became popular worldwide and at present it is planted and naturalized almost pantropically.

It has large heart shaped leaves with a papery texture and clusters of rosy pink flowers about two inches across.

Annatto attracted the attention of early explores when they found some Indians in South America using it as a body paint. Annatto seeds were very much appreciated by the Andean Indians, who used them in barter with Amazonian Indians.

Even the Incas were fond of these valuable seeds and bartered to obtain them.

The seeds have a faint peppery, nutmeg flavor and re used as a spice in Latin American and Caribbean cooking; they were introduced to the Philippines by the Spanish, where they are used extensively to color and flavor noodles dishes, meat stews and curries.

Due to its solubility in lipids and non-toxic it is widely used in the food industry for giving red to orange-yellow colors to cheese, butter, oils, margarine, ice-cream, candy, bakery products and rice.
Annatto seeds

Food flavor

Food flavor normally are compounds, many of which are natural, although there are also many synthetic ones, which are added to foods to flavors or to modify exiting flavors.

Food flavor also may be a single chemical entity of naturals or synthetic origin. In the early days of human existence, salt, sugar, vinegar, herbs, spices were added to foods to improve their taste or to produce special, desirable taste.

The range of natural and synthetic flavorings available to the modern food technologists is very large.

Food flavor includes taste sensations perceived by the tongue- sweet ,salty, sour, bitter and smell perceived by the nose.

Often the term flavor and smell are used interchangeably. Food flavor and aroma are difficult to measure and difficult to get people to agree on.

The flavor if food is created by aromatic chemicals that are biosynthesized during normal metabolic processes in plants and animals and possible further modified by cooking or processed.

This intrinsic flavor of food represents the complex impact made by these aromatic components on the sense of odor and taste.

The definition makes clear that flavor is a property of (a material of food) as well as of the receptor mechanism of the person ingesting the food.
Food flavor

The Element of Spices

The Element of Spices
For spices to achieve their full potential n cooking, it is of paramount importance to be aware of the practicalities of their proper management and use.

The first tentative steps into the wonderful seductive world of spice will involve becoming familiar with specifics of taste and smell, and how each spice worlds in the alchemy and art of cooking.

This familiarization is not difficult. It is best approached with a passionate heart and an inquiring mind. Discover the unlimited and exciting world that awaits people plate - learn what spices are and where they come from, how to store them how to deal with them, the specific techniques involved in their preparation and the sort of equipment need to have on hand.

Spices are best described as the dried parts of aromatic plants whose qualities are perceived through our sense of smell and taste.

They have been used throughout history for their flavoring and medicinal properties.

Spices have a profound effect on health, affecting many function processes in the body. Because they act as antioxidants they are essential in the preservation of food.
The Element of Spices

Garlic Oil

Garlic Oil
The essential oil of garlic can be recovered by steam distillation of the freshly crushed cloves, the yielding being 0.1 to 0.2%.

Garlic oil is a powerful flavoring agent and is widely used in seasonings either as a liquid flavor or dispersed as a dry-carrier.

Many problems arise when fresh garlic is included in a food product.

The commercially-available vegetable occurs as a compound bulb made up of 10 to 14 small “cloves” encased in a tough outer skin.

The bulb must first be cleaned and sorted, the outer tissues removed and the cloves separated. The garlic is then ready for mincing, cutting or crushing.

The whole process is tedious and the manufacturing department becomes permeated with the smell.

This can give rise to the problem of cross-contamination unless great care is taken.

Like all other natural products, the flavoring effect of fresh garlic is variable whereas that of garlic oil is relatively consistent.

It is not surprising, therefore, that garlic oil is now widely used in place of the fresh vegetable.

To overcome the objectionable odor associated with both fresh garlic and garlic oil, the use of an encapsulated garlic oil is strongly recommended.

This dry powder is almost free of odor and does not release its contents until the capsule is broken down by admixture with water.
Garlic Oil

Celery Seed

Celery Seed
Celery seed is the dried ripe fruit of a biennial herb belonging to the Parsley family (Umbelliferae). The plant is cultivated in many parts of the world including France, India, Italy, Japan and the United States.

Celery seed is used as a flavoring for tomato juice, sauces, soups, pickles, salads and vegetables juices.

Celery seed contains 2 – 3% of a steam volatile oil of which the chief constituents are D-limonene (60%) and selinene (10 – 20%).

The characteristics flavor is believed to be due to small amounts of a number of alcohol, anhydrates, acids and lactones.

According to U.S standards, a celery seed is a dried fruit of Celeri graveolens (L.) shall contain not more than 10% of total ash, nor more than 2% of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid.
Celery Seed

The Pungent Spices

The Pungent Spices
This is well defined group of spices which are used universally in food seasoning to add bite or piquancy to the end product. In the case of pepper and ginger this pungent effect is accompanied by a quite characteristic flavor due to nonpungent aromatic components present in the essential oil of these spices, the familiar bite and flavor of mustard, on the other hand, is due to a very volatile constituent which largely constitutes so-called “oil of mustard.”

It is not easy to equate the relative pungency of the spices in this group as the effect of each in the mouth is so very different. Pepper causes a pleasing tingling sensation along the front edge of the tongue with very little effect upon the throat tissues unless it is present far in excess of normal.

Capsicums are different in that they can be detected in low concentrations as a sharp pain deep in the throat with almost no effect upon the linings of the mouth and tongue.

Ginger differs yet again in having a fuller and more rounded pungency which is evident upon the sides and back of the tongue but not in the throat.

Compared with all these, the distinctive pungency of mustard is in a different class. The pungent principles of pepper, capsicum and ginger are present as nonvolatile constituents of the spice and can be recovered unchanged by solvent extraction. That of mustard is volatile and is created by enzyme action when ground mustard flour is mixed with water, the warm, sharply aromatic pungency of mustard surfuses the whole mouth.

One readily differentiate between the various pungent spices when they are evaluated singly but it is much more difficult to separate out the several effects when they are represent together in a seasoning – as is usually the case. With all of these spices, the pungent effect is cumulative so that one feels an increasing response with successive doses of the same level of stimulus until one reaches a threshold of saturation.

This makes the evaluation of the spices themselves and products containing them very difficult to achieve with any degree of accuracy as the build-up of pungency detracts from and ultimately overwhelms any flavoring effect. All the pungent species leave an after taste which may be of long duration.
The Pungent Spices