Herbs and Spices Ingredients and Recipes

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) of the Family Lamiaceae is also known as St. Joseph's Wort and Sweet Basil. It is a tender low-growing herb, originally native to tropical Asia. It grows to between 20–60 cm tall, with opposite, light green, silky leaves 1.5–5 cm long and 1–3 cm broad. It tastes somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, sweet smell. Basil is very sensitive to cold, with best growth in hot, dry conditions. While most common varieties are treated as annuals, some are perennial, including African Blue and Holy Thai basil. The word basil comes from the Greek ßas??e??, meaning "king", as it is believed to have grown above the spot where St. Constantine and Helen discovered the Holy Cross. The Oxford English Dictionary quotes speculations that basil may have been used in "some royal unguent, bath, or medicine". Basil is still considered the "king of herbs" by many cookery authors. An alternative etymology has "basil" coming from the Latin word basilicus, meaning dragon and being the root for basilisk, but this likely was a linguistic reworking of the word as brought from Greece.

Oregano (Origanum vulgare) is a species of Origanum, native to Europe, the Mediterranean region and southern and central Asia. It is a perennial herb, growing to 20-80 cm tall, with opposite leaves 1-4 cm long. The flowers are purple, 3-4 mm long, produced in erect spikes. The name means "Joy of the Mountains".

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), also commonly called cilantro in North America, is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southwestern Asia west to north Africa. It is a soft, hairless, foetid plant growing to 50 cm tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the flowering stems. The flowers are borne in small umbels, white or very pale pink, asymmetrical, with the petals pointing away from the centre of the umbel longer (5-6 mm) than those pointing to the middle of the umbel (only 1-3 mm long). The fruit is a globular dry schizocarp 3-5 mm diameter. The name coriander derives from Latin coriandrum, which was first noted by Pliny. The Latin word derives in turn from Greek corys, a bedbug, plus -ander, "resembling", and refers to the supposed similarity of the scent of the crushed leaves to the distinctive odour of bedbugs (largely forgotten in this age of insecticides).

In general use, non-scientists take "sugar" to mean sucrose, also called "table sugar" or saccharose, a white crystalline solid disaccharide. Humans most commonly use sucrose as their sugar of choice for altering the flavor and properties (such as mouthfeel, preservation, and texture) of beverages and food. Commercially-produced table sugar comes either from sugar cane or from sugar beet.

Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by the addition of molasses to refined white sugar. Brown sugar contains from 3.5% molasses (light brown sugar) to 6.5% molasses (dark brown sugar). The product is naturally moist from the hygroscopic nature of the molasses and is often labelled as "Soft". The product may undergo processing to give a product that flows better for industrial handling. The addition of dyes and or other chemicals may be permitted in some areas or for industrial products. Particle size is variable but generally less than granulated white sugar, products for industrial use e.g. as an ingredient for industrial production of cakes may be based on caster sugar (crystals of approximately 0.35 mm).

Vinegar is a sour-tasting liquid made from the oxidation of ethanol in wine, cider, beer, fermented fruit juice, or nearly any other liquid containing alcohol. It can also be made by certain bacteria operating on sugar-water solutions directly, without intermediary conversion to ethanol (see acetic acid). Commercially available vinegar usually has a pH of about 2.4. The word Vinegar comes from the Old French vin aigre, meaning "sour wine."

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The same fruit is also used to produce white pepper and green pepper.<ref>Green capsicum or bell pepper may also be called "green pepper"; it is an unrelated plant.</ref> Black pepper is native to South India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is a small drupe five millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed. Dried, ground pepper is one of the most common spices in European cuisine and its descendants, having been known and prized since antiquity for both its flavour and its use as a medicine. The spiciness of black pepper is due to the chemical piperine. Ground black peppercorn, usually referred to simply as "pepper", may be found on nearly every dinner table in some parts of the world, often alongside table salt. The word pepper is derived from the Sanskrit pippali,<ref>Pippali is Sanskrit for long pepper, in fact. Black pepper is marica. Greek and Latin borrowed pippali to refer to either.</ref> via the Latin piper and Old English pipor. The Latin word is also the source of German pfeffer, French poivre, Dutch peper, and other similar forms. In the 16th century, pepper started referring to the unrelated New World chile peppers as well. Pepper was used in a figurative sense meaning "spirit" or "energy" at least as far back as the 1840s; in the early 20th century, this was shortened to pep.<ref>Douglas Harper's Online Etymology Dictionary entries for pepper and pep. Retrieved 13 November 2005.</ref>

Sodium bicarbonate NaHCO3, or sodium hydrogen carbonate, also known as baking soda, bread soda, or bicarbonate of soda, is a soluble white anhydrous or crystalline chemical compound, with a slight alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate. It is found in many mineral springs and also produced artificially. Sodium bicarbonate, when exposed to an acid, releases carbon dioxide and water: Above 60°C, it gradually decomposes into sodium carbonate, water and carbon dioxide, and at 200°C it is completely decomposed into sodium carbonate:

An ingredient used in many foods, flour is a fine powder made from cereals or other starchy food sources. It is most commonly made from wheat, but also maize (also known as corn), rye, barley, and rice, amongst many other grasses and non-grain plants (including many Australian species of acacia). Flour is the key ingredient of bread, which is the staple food in many countries, and therefore the availability of adequate supplies of flour has often been a major economic and political issue. Flour can also be made from legumes and nuts, such as soy, peanuts, almonds, and other tree nuts. Flour is always based on the presence of starches, which are complex carbohydrates. Usually, the word "flour" used alone refers to wheat flour, which is one of the most important foods in European and American culture. The corresponding Spanish word "harina" normally refers to Maize flour - wheat flour is "harina de trigo". Wheat flour is the main ingredient in most types of breads and pastries. Wheat is so widely used because of an important property: when wheat flour is mixed with water, a complex protein called gluten develops. The gluten development is what gives wheat dough an elastic structure that allows it to be worked in a variety of ways, and which allows the retention of gas bubbles in an intact structure, resulting in a sponge-like texture to the final product. This is highly desired for breads, cakes and other baked products. However, certain individuals suffer from an intolerance to wheat gluten known as "coeliac" or "celiac" disease. Increased awareness of this disorder, as well as a rising belief in the benefits of a "gluten-free diet" for persons suffering certain other conditions, has led to an increased demand for bread and other products made with flours which do not contain gluten. A coarser, somewhat granular preparation, rather than a fine dust, is often called meal.

Vanilla is a flavoring, in its pure form known as vanillin, derived from orchids in the genus Vanilla. The name came from the Spanish word "vainilla", diminutive form of "vaina" (meaning "sheath"), which is in turn derived from Latin "vagina".

Vinegar is a sour-tasting liquid made from the oxidation of ethanol in wine, cider, beer, fermented fruit juice, or nearly any other liquid containing alcohol. It can also be made by certain bacteria operating on sugar-water solutions directly, without intermediary conversion to ethanol (see acetic acid). Commercially available vinegar usually has a pH of about 2.4. The word Vinegar comes from the Old French vin aigre, meaning "sour wine."

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, synonym C. zeylanicum) is a small evergreen tree 10-15 m tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka and Southern India. The bark is widely used as a spice. The leaves are ovate-oblong in shape, 7-18 cm long. The flowers, which are arranged in panicles, have a greenish colour and a rather disagreeable odour. The fruit is a purple one-centimetre berry containing a single seed. Its flavour is due to an aromatic essential oil which makes up 0.5 to 1% of its composition. This oil is prepared by roughly pounding the bark, macerating it in sea-water, and then quickly distilling the whole. It is of a golden-yellow colour, with the characteristic odour of cinnamon and a very hot aromatic taste. The pungent taste and scent come from cinnamic aldehyde or cinnamaldehyde and, by the absorption of oxygen as it ages, it darkens in colour and develops resinous compounds. Chemical components of the essential oil include ethyl cinnamate, eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, beta-caryophyllene, linalool and methyl chavicol. The name cinnamon comes from Greek kinnámomon, from Phoenician and akin to Hebrew qinnâmôn, itself ultimately from a Malaysian language, cf. Malay and Indonesian kayu manis "sweet wood".

Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the Olive tree (Olea europaea L.), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is used in cooking, cosmetics, soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps. Olive oil is regarded as a healthful dietary oil because of its high content of monounsaturated fat (mainly Oleic acid) and polyphenols.

In agriculture, Canola is a trademarked cultivar of the rapeseed plant from which rapeseed oil is obtained. Also known as "LEAR" oil (for Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed), Canola oil was initially bred in Canada by Keith Downey and Baldur Stefansson in the 1970s. "Canola" is a contraction of "Canadian oil, low acid". [1] [2] [3]

Originating in southern China, cultivation of ginger spread to India, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Caribbean.<ref name="origin">origin and spread of ginger</ref> The English word ginger is etymologically related to the Tamil iñci (?????), having been borrowed into Indo-European languages from a Dravidian language. <ref name="etymology">YourDictionary.com definition of ginger</ref>