Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana)

Horseradish is a coarse, hardy biennial plant member of the mustard family (Brassicaceae) that forms a rosette of large entire leaves and two to three foot long flowering stalks with small white flowers in panicled racemes.

During the Middle Ages horseradish was known for its curative properties, it has been used in cooking only since the end of the 16th century.

With higher vitamin C content than organs, horseradish was used by English and German sailors to prevent scurvy.

It has only two calories per teaspoon and provides dietary fiber. Horseradish is grown for its white, fleshy and pungent roots. Horseradish pungency develops when raw root is grated, or when the ground dried root is rehydrated.

After grating, the oils and the bite, of not preserved with vinegar, noticeably fade within ten minutes and practically disappear after less than half an hour.

Today it’s used s a relish or dressing for meats and seafood, often in the company of cream to tackle the edge off its strong flavor. Horseradish goes well with roast beef, fish, poultry, sausages and pork.
Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana)

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

The tree, common to the US and Canada may reach up to 10 m in height. It has trilobed leaves and oval leaves of various sizes.

The parts used are the root bark and leaves. Sassafras has a spicy odor, reminiscent of fennel and a sweetish, aromatic flavor. Sassafras its extract and oil were formerly extensively used in flavoring root beer. Only safrole-free bark extract is reported used in nonalcoholic beverages and in candy with average maximum use levels of 0.022% and 0.015% respectively.

Safrole-free bark extract also used in ice cream, ices and baked goods.

The essential oil contains a number of questionable plant constituents: safrole, cineol, thujone, anethol, myristicine, eugenol, B-asarone, estragole.

The oil used by the perfume industry as an aromatic and fragrance material primarily for scenting soaps.

In addition to its flavoring uses, sassafras bark tea was used in folk medicine as a diuretic and ‘blood cleansing’ agent. It is traditionally used in treating bronchitis, high blood pressure of elderly people, and rheumatism.
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

What is a definition for Herbs?

What is a definition for Herbs?
Botanically herbs are soft-stemmed plants whose remains stem dies down to the root and re-grow each year. Culinary herbs popularity includes annual and biennale plants as well as the leaves of some bushes or even trees. Herbs may or may not be strongly aromatic in character but those of value in food flavoring have a quite distinctive character. They contain only low levels of essential oil which is responsible for their odor and flavor profile.

For culinary use the whole herbaceous tops are gathered and may be used either fresh or after dying. In the later case it is usual to remove the leaves, flower heads, seeds, etc., from the heavier, harder and less aromatic stems by screening. Such herbs are called “rubbed” or “broken” and it is in this form that they are sold for domestic use. The flavor intensity of the freshly-cut green herbs is appreciably higher and of a different character from that of its dried equivalent. A considerably proportion of the lighter essential oil fractions are either lost of modified during the dehydration process. The fine, clean notes associated with the fresh herb are, in the dried version, generally overlaid by a dull hay-like aroma.
What is a definition for Herbs?