Food Ingredient

Eggs for baking

2012-01-31T17:28:00.000-08:00

Eggs are the chameleons of the baking world. Although the yolk is full of flavorful fat, eggs are similar to flour because they provide structure in pastries.

Upon baking, the protein in egg white coagulates to provide structure. Beaten eggs incorporate air in tiny cells or bubbles in the batter; this trap air expands when heated and aids in leavening.

However, egg proteins are not strong as a gluten network. They coagulated at a lower temperature, so they hold the dough in place until the proteins in the gluten have a chance to set.

Adding egg whites to batter provides structure to the finished product and that is easily broken without excessive crumbling.

In order to help leaven baked goods, add an extra half teaspoon egg free baking powder for each egg called for in recipe, along with another egg substitute to bind or thicken.

Few functions of eggs in baked products including: providing structure/is a toughener. It helps with leavening through aeration and added moisture.

The fat in egg yolks acts as a shortening. This is an important function in products that are low in other fats.

Other functions are that eggs contributing flavor and contributing color. Eggs brown easily and contribute to crust color. Eggs also adding nutritional value to the baked goods.

Egg yolks contain natural emulsifiers that help produce smooth batter. This action contributes to volume and to texture.

Eggs for baking

Sodium consumption

2011-11-30T23:00:00.000-08:00

Sodium is a mineral that occurs naturally in food. Sodium is required by the human, as it part of all of the extra cellular fluid of the body: including regulating blood pressure; transmitting nerve impulses; and helping muscles, including heart muscle.

It is also necessary for the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, thereby supporting digesting function.

About 50 percent of the body’s sodium is in fluids and the remaining is found within the bones.

Since table salt is used by essentially all people, there is little likelihood for deficiencies except in the disease involving prolonged vomiting or diarrhea.

Table salt is actually the common name for sodium chloride. It’s 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chloride.

Sodium also appears in food as sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and sodium benzoate (a preservative).

The consumption of salt and other sodium sources should be limited. Sodium has been shown to lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) and it is recommended to keep daily consumption level between 110 and 3300 mg.

The average in the typical American diet is closer to 6000 mg. The majority of sodium in the United States diet is from sodium added during food processing and by restaurant and other food service such as cafeterias and catering services.
Sodium consumption

Cinnamon as a cooking ingredient

2011-11-19T20:36:00.001-08:00

The genus, a native of South-Western tropical India and Sri Lanka, consist of more than 250 species distributed in South East Asia, China and Australia.

Cinnamon is important tree spice of the family Lauraceac. The generic name is derived from the Arabic or Persian mama, via the Greek amomum meaning spice, and the prefix chini to its believed origin.

In ancient times, because of its flavor and its scarcity, cinnamon was worth as much as fifteen times the value of silver.

It is widely used aromatic spice obtained from the dried inner bark of trees belonging to several species of Cinnamomum.

It is used in pulav, biryani, korma and most of the non-vegetarian dishes. Doughnuts may be passed though sugar and ground cinnamon and slices of apples for fritters may be sprinkled with cinnamon before frying. Cinnamon is used for making garam masala powder.

In western cooking, cinnamon was very popular in the 16th to 18th centuries but is now used primarily to flavor desserts such as stewed fruits or spice cakes and rarely used in spicy dishes.

It’s bark oil and leaf oil are used in numerous processed foods and drinks. It is used for domestic culinary flavoring and for industrially manufactured sauces, candy, pickles and some beverages.
Cinnamon as a cooking ingredient

Cocoa powder

2011-11-14T18:09:00.000-08:00

The word cacao comes from the word kakawa from language of the Olmecs people and was already used around 1000 BC.

Cacao is deliciously rich and bitter. Raw cacao beans can be ground and used in lieu of cocoa powder or chocolate.

Cocoa powder is a valuable flavoring material in baked goods and desserts as well as the basis of hot chocolate drinks. It is made from fermented , roasted and ground cacao beans.

Like chocolate, cocoa powder is made from cocoa beans that have processed into a paste known as chocolate liquor. Using a hydraulic press, produces remove between 50 and 75 percent of the cocoa butter from the chocolate liquor and then pulverize the remaining solids to make cocoa.

The commercial powder varies in color and flavor, dependent upon the quality the beans used, the degree of roasting and precise method.

The good quality cocoa powder has the following characteristics:
*PH: 5.6 to 7,.1 dependent upon whether or not the cocoa beans were processed with alkali.
*Fat: about 24% and not less than 22%
*Moisture: 3-4%

After preliminary treatments such as fermentation process described and drying, beans ready for further processing are composed of 87% cotyledon containing only 4-5% water, 12% shell containing 8-10% water and 1 % germ.
Cocoa powder

Xylitol as food additive

2011-11-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

Xylitol is a pentose sugar alcohol having the formula C5H7(OH)5. It is presently used in chewing gum, gumdrops and handy candy, mints, toothpaste and mouthwashes, mainly because of its noncariogenic property (it has not been found to cause tooth decay).

Xylitol’s intense and distinctive cooling effect in combination with its equal sweetness to sugar make it perfect ingredient for use in chewing gum especially sugar free chewing gums.

Xylitol is a white crystalline substance that for all purpose looks and tastes like white sugar.

It occurs naturally as a constituent in raspberries, strawberries, plums and some vegetables, and is a normal intermediary product of carbohydrate metabolism in humans and in animals.

Because xylitol is slowly absorbed into blood stream and is only partially metabolized, it has a much lower caloric value about 40 percent lower than white sugar.

Xylitol was discovered in wood chips in 189o. It is as sweet as sucrose and was approved as safe for use in humans in 1986.

Commercially, it is produced by the hydrolysis of xylan (which is present to many plants), to xylose. Which is then hydrogenated to produce xylitol.

Xylitol is then purified and crystallized. Xylitol impart a sweet taste, which also appears to have a cooling effects. As it is metabolized by many organisms, it is quite stable.

Xylitol does not encourage growth of yeast, including Candida albicans. In contrast to ordinary sugar, xylitol increases the absorption of B-vitamins and calcium.

Recently, xylitol has been credited in reducing the transmission of cariogenic, bacteria from mother to infant and has been shown to have bactericidal qualities.
Xylitol as food additive

Angelica as an ingredients

2011-10-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Angelica is a large, rangy plant of northern Europe, that has fresh, pine and citrus notes. It is very attractive biennial that makes a good focal point in the garden.

Angelica is a favorite flavoring herb in Western culinary art. Angelica jams and jellies are very popular. Leaf stalk are employed in confectionary.

Garden angelica or Angelica archangelica is best known as a decorative element in cakes and other confections.

All parts of the angelica plant are strongly aromatic and edible. The entire angelica herbs is useful. The seeds, and the oil from seeds and roots, contribute to the complex tastes of various cordials and digestive liqueurs.

Angelica candied stems were a popular delicacy from medieval times though the 19th century, but they’re seldom seen in the kitchen nowadays.

The young leaves can be chopped to give a mils fresh taste to salads, fish dishes and cottage cheese. Fresh stalks can be added to milk puddings, custard and stewed fruits.

Young leaves and shoots are used commercially to flavor alcoholic beverages. Angelica root is the main flavoring ingredient of gin, vermouth Benedictine and Chartreuse.

Angelica can also can be used to make a delicious ice cream.
Angelica as an ingredients

History of Allspice (Pimento dioica)

2011-09-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Allspice acquired it s name in the early seventeenth century when someone noticed that its flavour and scent resemble of mixture of cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon – obviously these three do not encompass all 250 spices in existence, but close enough.

It was used as a seasoning and to embalm the dead in before fifteenth century by Mayas of Latin America.

Allspice is derived from a tall tree native to Latin America and the Caribbean. It was discovered by Columbus in his first voyage, in 1492, undertaken to bring back spices for Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.

The Aztecs employed allspice to sweeten and flavour their favored chocolate drink.

The spice was exported to Europe from 1601 onward as a substitute for cardamom.

At the end of nineteenth century, it became fashionable to have umbrellas and walking sticks made of pimento.

It has always been an important spice and condiment and was added to mulled wine and curry, among other dishes.

It has also been used to improve the favor of commercial medicines.
History of Allspice (Pimento dioica)

Sugar properties

2011-09-28T04:05:00.000-07:00

Sweetness is a taste which is generally pleasing to humans as well as to many other animals. Sweetness is found in many forms, the most common being the simple sugars.

In United States, the natural sugars of milk, fruits, vegetables, and grains account for about half of the sugar intake, the other half consists of concentrated sugars that have been refined and added to foods for a variety of purposes.

Sugars, important in nutrition, consist of monosaccharides, having the general formula C6H12O6, and disaccharides, having the general formula C12H22O11.

Although the monosaccharides consists of 3-carbon sugars (trioses), 4-carbon sugars (tetroses), 5-carbon sugars (pentoses), and 6-carbon sugars (hexoses), only the latter are important in human nutrition as sources of energy.

Three monosaccharides are important in nutrition: glucose, fructose and galactose. All three monosaccharides have the same number and kinds of atoms but in different arrangements.

Glucose, a 6-carbon sugar, is one of the simplest carbohydrates found in foods. While many foods contain traces of glucose, it is found in significant amounts only in fruits, such as grapes.

Most cells depend on glucose for their fuel to some extent and the cells of the brain and the rest of the nervous system depend almost exclusively on glucose for their energy.

Fructose, also a 6-carbon sugar, is found in ripened fruits and honey, both of these sugars can be utilizes by body as a source of energy. It is the sweetest of the natural sugars.

Other source of fructose include soft drinks, ready to eat cereals and other products sweetened with high fructose corn syrup.

Lactose, the 12-carbon sugar present in milk, is broken down in the intestine to glucose and lactose (6-carbon sugar), both of which can be used as sources of energy.

Maltose, another disaccharide, produced form starch in the malting of grains is much less effective sweetener than sucrose.

The used of added sugars had risen steadily over the past several decades, both in the United States and around the world, with soft drinks and sugared fruit drinks accounting for most of the increase.
Sugar properties

History of Aspartame

2011-09-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

In 1965, aspartame was discovered accidentally. Aspartame is made by joining two protein components, aspartic acid and phenylalanine and a small amount of methanol.

It was discovered by an organic chemist, James M. Schlatter working for G. D Searle & Company when he was testing new drugs for gastric ulcers and licked his fingers before picking up a piece of paper.

Initially he thought the taste was from sugar on a doughnut he had eaten that morning but then he realized he had washed his hands since eating the doughnut.

Aspartame tuned out not to be a good ulcer drug, but it has become a well received sweetener.

This discovery led to further work demonstrating the sweetness of number of various pipettes and amino acid derivatives.

Aspartame is marketed under the brand names NutraSweet and Equal. It was the third artificial sweetener indentified to achieve acceptance in the general market.

Eventually the compound was proved to be better tasting than many of the alternatives on the market, and it was safe thought that it would have an excellent chance of surviving rigorous toxicity testing.
History of Aspartame

Aspartame

2011-09-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

Aspartame is produced from L-phenylalanine and extremely popular low calorie peptide used as a sweetener in many countries.

Chemically aspartame is L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester.

The taste profile of aspartame is similar to sucrose sweetness. The maximum use level in soft drinks within the European Union is 600 mg/L, which means that, it can be used as the sole sweetener in soft drinks.

Although it is caloric (4 Kcal/g), its sweetness relative to sucrose (180-200) makes it an attractive very low calorie sweetener.

Aspartame is the key ingredient found in artificial sweeteners such as NutraSweet and Equal and is used to sweeten diet drinks such as Diet Coke and diet Pepsi along with laterally hundreds of other products.

The use of this sweetener was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1981 after extensive testing, although there is still considerable controversy about its safety.
Aspartame

Table Sugar

2011-09-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

Sucrose is a basic carbohydrate and has occupied a central position in human food for centuries. Sugar contributes to the pleasant taste and physical structure of many foods.

Sucrose is the scientific name for table sugar. It is a composite molecule mad of one molecule each of glucose and fructose.

Sucrose is known under many trade and popular names. This may may be related to its purity grade to its extent of granulation or crystal size and to its use.

All sugars are members of the larger group of compounds called carbohydrates and are characterized by a sweet taste.

The sucrose available in the markets as sugar has been extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet, but sucrose is also abundant in most plant materials , particularly fruit.

Sugar, in its pure state it is normally available as white crystals, but it can also be bought as liquid sugar, which is a solution in water.

Impure sucrose, crystals with coatings of syrup which are dark in color, are known as ‘brown sugar’.

Sucrose is a disaccharides and a non reducing sugar.

When a solution of sucrose is heated in the presence of some acid, it breaks apart into its tow sugars. Certain sucrose into glucose and fructose is often referred it as’ inversion’ and the resulting mixture is called ‘invert sugar’ or ‘invert syrup.’

Sucrose is more soluble than glucose and less soluble than fructose. In its dried, granular form, sugar become increasingly soluble in water with an increase in temperature.

Sugar may precipitate from solution, forming an undesirable grainy, crystalline product.
Table Sugar

Food Ingredient for cooking

2011-08-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Food ingredient is an ingredient in food recipe. The cooking can only be as good as the ingredients’ used.

While the recipe is a set of instruction for producing a certain dish, it is necessary to have a precise record of the ingredient, their amounts and the way in which they are combined and cook in order to duplicate a desired preparation.

In Wikipedia encyclopedia ingredient means something that forms part of a mixture. For example, in cooking, a recipe will specify which ingredients are used to prepare a specific dish.

The best chefs know this and spend as much time sourcing and choosing ingredients as they do cooking.

Great cooks and professional chefs have learned a few tricks along the way to make their food taste great. Some believes that salt is the key ingredient in cooking.

Many commercial products contain a secret ingredient that is purported to make them better than competing products. In the food industry, an active ingredient is that part of a formulation that yields the effect required by the customer.

Normally the recipe is not developed in a purely sequential manner. Much trial and error occurs as various combinations of ingredients, temperature and timings are tried. Chef will try out different proportions of ingredients and cooking times on multiple versions of the dish simultaneously.

To cook delicious, fresh man and nourishing food, chefs have to start with good ingredients – real ingredients. That doesn’t necessarily mean expensive ingredients – fancy techniques and equipment.

For best cooking results, need to use fresh ingredients whenever possible.
Food Ingredient for cooking

Oats flour

2011-08-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Oat flour has been produced for use in flour confectionary. Milling of whole grain oats produces flour oats flour.

Oat flour contains a natural antioxidant that increases the stability of oat flour in storage.

Oat flour contains protein in the range of 12-25%, considerably higher than other cereals.

However, the globulin fraction of the protein is the most abundant, leaving the potential gluten-forming proteins at a lower level than in soft wheat.

Oats flour is widely available in health foods stores and many grocery stores, oat flour can also be made by grinding quick-cooking rolled oats in a blender.

Oat flour is rich in cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber and has a mild, sweet flavor. Rich in fiber and nutrients, oat flour also improves the nutritional profile of foods when substitute it for part of the white flour in recipe.

These qualities make oats flour natural for healthy cooking.

The flour is perfect for cakes, muffins, and other baked goods. Like oat bran, oat flour retains moisture in baked goods, reducing the need for fat.

Oat flour will keep for months without refrigeration of store it in a tightly sealed container.
Oats flour

Algin

2011-07-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

Algin is a gum derived from alginic acid which is obtained from brown seaweed genera, such as Macrocystis pyrifera.

Algin comprises about 10% of the dry weight of the kelps and is mostly the salt of alginic acid.

The derivatives are sodium, ammonium, and potassium alginates of which the sodium salt is most common.

The process for algin manufacturing involved a prewash of the seaweed, followed by extraction with a dilute alkaline solution that soluble the alginic acid present in the seaweed. The resulting thick and viscous mass is clarified and the algin is obtained as free alginic acid on treatment with mineral aid.

They used to provide thickening, gelling, and binding.

A derivative designed for improved acid and calcium stability is propylene glycol alginate.

The algins are soluble in cold water and form non-thermoreversible gels in reaction with calcium ions and under acid conditions.

Algin is used in ice-cream, icings, pudding, dessert gels, in the production of dairy products, candies, processed cheese, and fabricated fruit.

They act as stabilizers in cream substitutes and chocolate suspensions. They prevent the formation of ice-crystals during the process of freezing and produce uniform viscosity, good whipping–ability, smooth melting and full development of aromatic components.

Algin was first discovered by Stanford in thee early 1880s. Stanford, when he first prepared this substance, did not succeed obtaining it in the pure state, and because of the impurities he described it as a nitrogen-containing compound.

It was late properly prepared by Krefting in 1896, who thought he had a new substance which he called ‘tangsaure’, or seaweed acid.
Algin

What is caffeine?

2011-05-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

Caffeine, nicotine and alcohol have been seen as having a greater effect on human civilization than all other nonmedical psychoactive substances combined.

Caffeine stands out among these three drugs because of its ubiquitous use around the world and because it is a ‘cradle to grave drug’.

In fact, caffeine is woven so intricately into social customs and daily rituals that it is often not perceived as a drug.

Moreover, common foods and other products often contain significant amounts of caffeine, although they may not be labeled as such.

Originally regarded as an oddity then as cure for all sorts of ailments, it soon became popular as a beverage.

As a mild central nervous stimulant, caffeine is commonly taken as an energy and alertness enhancer.

Caffeine is also used to enhance athletic performance because of its ergogenic effects.

In modern medicine caffeine is used as an adjuvant to the analgesic actions of aspirin and paracetamol.

Caffeine was found to have a 40% adjuvant effect compared to the of aspirin for the treatment of throat pain due to tonsillopharyngitis.

Caffeine occurs naturally in a variety of plant based products including coffee, tea, cocoa, kola nuts, guarana and mate.

Caffeine is added to cola and non-cola soft drinks, as well as o other common food item, including gum, mints, water and energy drinks.
What is caffeine?

Honey

2011-05-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Honey was a mysterious substance to ancient people, Greeks, knew bees connected to it, but not exactly how.

Romans thought honey fell from heaven and landed on leaves, “the saliva of the stars.”

Honey is produced from the nectar in flowers gathered by bees to feed young bees. Honey also used as energy source for their workers.

Its inauspicious beginning not with standing, honey has been a highly valued human commodity for millennia.

In fact, the oldest artistic depictions of insects are cave paintings of honey bees disturbed by a human honey hunter.

Most of the water in the nectar evaporates, resulting in honey, which is thirty five to forty percent fructose, thirty to thirty five percent dextrose, seventeen to twenty percent water and small amounts of enzymes, etc.
Honey

Fructose as a sweetener

2011-04-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

Fructose is sweeter than table sugar. It is almost twice sweet as sugar. Fructose is a commercial sugar with same molecular structure as that in fruit.

Fructose was first extracted from cane sugar more than a century ago, and it’s found in varying amounts in such fruits as apples, grapes, oranges and berries.

Fructose can used as a sugar substitute in crystalline or syrup form. Most fructose used to sweeten commercial products is obtained from corn.

It has a low glycemic index, releasing out glucose into bloods stream slowly. Fructose produces liver glycogen rapidly making it a more efficient energy supply than other sweeteners.

It is monosaccharide sugar with an energy content of 4 kcals/g (17 kJ/g) but due to its increased sweetness can be used at lower levels than sucrose.

Fructose has been touted as a simple, natural and miracle sweetener; that is more healthful than white sugar.

It is also promoted as an aid to weight loss because it is sweeter than white sugar, enabling one to get the same sweetness with less sweetness.

Like sugar and salt, fructose is on the Food and Drug Administration’s list of additives ‘generally recognized as safe’.
Fructose as a sweetener

Food flavor

2011-03-19T03:57:00.000-07:00

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

Food Additive

2011-03-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

By definition, food additives are distinguished from food or natural food constituents. A food is a natural food constituent becomes a food additive when added to another food.

Food additives must be included in the ingredient list on the nutrition information panel, either as the name and the number (e.g. calcium alginate (404)), or as its functions and number (e.g thickener (404)).

You can use this information to gain a better understanding of what is in the food you eat.

For example acidity regulators help maintain a constant acid level in foods to prevent them from spoiling, as well as change the flavor of the food.

Food additives are used in processed foods in relatively small quantities. Many substances used as food additives also occur naturally, such as vitamin C or ascorbic acid (300) in fruit or lecithin (322) in yolks, soybeans, peanuts and maize.

The FDA, the European Food Safety Authority and many international agencies monitor the safety of chemical added to food.

Some chemical additives such as food coloring, must be tested for safety by the manufacturer prior to being approved for the use in foods.

On the other hand, many kinds of food additives are not tested rigorously for safety before entering the food supply; safety issues arise only after an additive has been in use and a deleterious effect in consumers; health is suspected.
Food Additive

Caramel in softdrinks

2011-02-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

Carmel is the amorphous, dark brown resulting from controlled heat treatment of food grade carbohydrates, usually corn syrup with 75% dextrose content.

Many soft drinks contain caramel coloring to allow them to have their dark appearance. The chemical polyethylene glycol is used to achieve this dark color.

The color intensity of a caramel is related to its nitrogen an sulfur content which itself is determined by the amount of ammonium sulfite added to the sugar during the production process.

Glycol is used in antifreeze. Scientists are concerned that this caramel coloring may be a carcinogen.

Seventy-five to eighty five percent of the caramel produced in the Unite States is used in soft drinks, particularly root beers and colas.
Caramel in softdrinks

The Invention of Margarine

2011-02-09T01:20:00.000-08:00

The Invention of Margarine
Oleomargarine was invented un 1867 by the French chemist Hippolyte Mege-Mouriez, who entered a contest sponsored by Napoleon III.

The contest awarded a prize for anyone who found a satisfactory butter substitute to be used by the navy and the poor.

Mege-Mouriez used margaric acid, a fatty acid component he derived from finely minced beef.

Margaric acid was in fact isolated by Michael Eugene Chevreul in 1813. Chevreul named the product “margaric” because the lustrous pearly drops of the product reminded him of the Greek word for pearl – margarites.

Mege-Mouriez knew he needed to find a name for his product in order to differentiate it from butter. He came up with the word “oleomargarine” because so much of his product consisted of margaric acid.

The prefix “oleo” was taken from the Latin word oleum, which is a name for beef fat, the principal ingredient used.

The word “oleomargarine” was later simplified to “margarine”. Margarine was first introduced in the United States when Mr. Paraf opened the Oleo-Margarine Manufacturing Company in New York City in 1873.

The product was not an immediate success since it was considered a poor man’s butter. Even though its price was much cheaper than that of butter it was considered an inferior product. In addition, new laws were enacted to restrict consumption of margarine.

New York was the first state to enact an outright ban on the use of the product in 1884. This law was struck down by the courts a year later. Congress then got into the act and passed the Margarine Act of 1886, which is imposed tax of 2 cents a pound on margarine and required a manufacturers and dealers to be regulated by licenses.

Margarine consumption didn’t really expand until World War II, when butter was relatively scarce due to rationing and margarine was plentiful.

As a result, per capital consumption of butter declined from 17 pounds in 1940 to 10 pounds in 1948.

At the same time, per capita consumption of margarine rose from 2.4 to 6.1 pounds.
The Invention of Margarine

Usage of Starch

2011-01-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Starch is a complex carbohydrate which is insoluble in water; it is used by plants as a way to store excess glucose.

Starch are by far the most significant polysaccharide in the diet. They are are found in grains, legumes and other vegetables and some fruits in minute amounts.

Starch need to be cooked because raw starch tastes floury and is not easily digested. When starch and water are heated , the water passes through the walls of the starch granules and the granules become swollen and may burst.

This process is called gelatinization - a process in which starch, on heating , absorbs water and thickens liquids.

The major food sources of starch include grains in the form of cereal, pasta, crackers, bread and other baked goods.

Starch is used to produce food extenders and sugars syrups such as maltodextrins, glucose, dextrose, fructose, maltose and hydrogenated derivatives.

Many cooks use starch for such diverse properties as thickening gravies and soups, making a sweet pudding or dusting pastry before cooking.

For dough in breadmaking starch can be used to offset the excessive toughness caused by a strong flavour.

When added t batters for cakes, starch increases the tenderness and softness of the finished goods.

In cookies, it can help to form a tender structure, can sometimes reduce stickiness and oiliness and can bind water to give soft varieties.
Usage of Starch

Making cakes with the right ingredients

2011-01-19T18:59:00.000-08:00

Making cakes with the right ingredients
Different ingredients serve different purpose. When a new product is being developed it is important to choose the right ones.

The main ingredients in cakes are fat, sugar, eggs, flour, a raising agent and sometimes a liquid. Flavorings may include dried fruit spices, essences, chocolate, coffee and citrus fruits. Each ingredient performs an important function.

Fat
Holds tiny air bubbles which create, texture and volume
Adds color and flavor, particularly butter and margarine
Produce cake with short crumb or rich texture

Sugar
With fat help to hold air in the mixture
Increases the volume of the cake
Sweetens the mixture and adds flavour

Eggs
Trap air, especially if they are beaten
Contain the protein albumen, which when beaten forms a foam, adding air into the mixture
Hold the fat in an emulsion once the mixture has been beaten
Contain lecithin (also a protein) in the egg yolk, which helps to keep the emulsion stable
Add color and flavor

Flour
Forms the main structure of most cakes
Soft flour has a low gluten content and gives a soft tender crumb
With the correct amount of raising agent, it helps the product to rise

Raising agent
Makes cakes light and airy
Needs to be measured accurately
Needs to be mixed evenly through the other ingredients

Liquid
Usually milk and water produces steam to help the mixture rise during baking
Combines with the protein in flour to form gluten

Cakes can be made at home or commercially manufactured and sold though retail outlets. The choice ranges from plain textured cakes to imaginatively iced and decorated special occasion cakes.
Making cakes with the right ingredients

How to freshen your cooking

2010-12-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

How to freshen your cooking
Replacing the dried herbs called for in a recipe with fresh leaves of the same herbs will usually improve the flavor of your dish, but you will need to use larger quantity of fresh herbs.

The usual ratio of fresh herbs to dried ones is three to one; which means, for example, that one tablespoon of chopped fresh herb is approximately the same strength as one tablespoon of the same herb in dried form.

But there are exceptions to this rule of thumb: for example a mere half teaspoon of dried basil is equivalent to one tablespoon of fresh, while one and one half teaspoon of dried dill are needed to match a tablespoon of the fresh leaves in flavoring power.

Thus, to freshen a recipe calling for a teaspoon of dried basil, use two tablespoons of the fresh herb; and of a recipe is content with a teaspoon of dried dill, then only two tablespoons of fresh dill will substitute for it.

As much as possible, alter the recipe to add fresh herbs near the end of the cooking process, which helps them conserve their essential oils. Dried herbs, on the other hand, need to go into a dish early enough to soak up its liquid and rehydrate.

In the case of bay leaves, there is really nothing to be gained in replacing a dried bay leaf with afresh one, since these leaves retain their flavor very well when dried and in fact, leaves that have dried just to the point of being brittle are actually preferred.

And fresh mint should not be substitutes for dried mint, as the two have rather different flavors.

Similarly, fresh and dried ginger are like two separate seasonings and neither can be used in place of the other.

Using whole species instead of commercially ground powders also has an amazing freshening effect. Measure out the same amounts of freshly ground spices as called for in the recipe.
How to freshen your cooking

Salad Oil

2010-11-24T23:58:00.000-08:00

Olive, corn, cottonseed, soybean, sunflower and sesame a seed oils are used as salad oils. Olive oil has been used for years as a salad oil and is particularly prized for its characteristics flavor.

The term salad oil is generally reserved for those products that remain substantially liquid at refrigerator temperatures.

It must not solidify and must not show “clouding” (precipitation) when expose to a temperature of 0 degree C for 5.5 hours.

Refined corn oil meets these requirements and most of the corn oil produce in US is used as a salad oil.

Cottonseed oil must be wintered in order to produce a good salad oil, and soybean oil must also be processed to make it acceptable as a salad oil.

Winterization is the thermo mechanical separation processes, on which the refine oil is cooled to a lower temperature and then filtered to remove the components responsible for haze development.

Sunflower and sesame seed oils are good natural salad oils, but they are not produced in great quantities as at the present times.

Sunflower is a premium salad oil because of its light color, bland flavor and a high concentration of linoleic acid.

The primary use for salad oils is for making salad dressing. Other uses include deep frying, pan-frying, griddling and some types of baking.

Salad oil may be used as a cooking oil, but cooking oil cannot be used as a salad oil.
Salad Oil