1.
Caribbean
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The Caribbean is a region that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and cays. These islands generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea, in a wider sense, the mainland countries of Belize, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are often included due to their political and cultural ties with the region. Geopolitically, the Caribbean islands are usually regarded as a subregion of North America and are organized into 30 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. From December 15,1954, to October 10,2010, there was a known as the Netherlands Antilles composed of five states. The West Indies cricket team continues to represent many of those nations, the region takes its name from that of the Caribs, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of the Spanish conquest. The two most prevalent pronunciations of Caribbean are KARR-ə-BEE-ən, with the accent on the third syllable. The former pronunciation is the older of the two, although the variant has been established for over 75 years. It has been suggested that speakers of British English prefer KARR-ə-BEE-ən while North American speakers more typically use kə-RIB-ee-ən, usage is split within Caribbean English itself. The word Caribbean has multiple uses and its principal ones are geographical and political. The Caribbean can also be expanded to include territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation, the United Nations geoscheme for the Americas accords the Caribbean as a distinct region within the Americas. Physiographically, the Caribbean region is mainly a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea, to the north, the region is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida and the Northern Atlantic Ocean, which lies to the east and northeast. To the south lies the coastline of the continent of South America, politically, the Caribbean may be centred on socio-economic groupings found in the region. For example, the known as the Caribbean Community contains the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are in the Atlantic Ocean, are members of the Caribbean Community. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is also in the Atlantic and is a member of the Caribbean Community. According to the ACS, the population of its member states is 227 million people. The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies, Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin and these islands include Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Saint Croix, the Bahamas, and Antigua
2.
African cuisine
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Traditionally, the various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits, cereal grains and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products, and do not usually get food imported. In some parts of the continent, the traditional diet features a lot of milk, curd and these foodstuffs have had a large influence on the local cuisine, if perhaps less on the preparation methods. Central African cooking has remained mostly traditional, nevertheless, as in other parts of Africa, Central African cuisine presents a variety of dishes. The basic ingredients are plantains and cassava, fufu-like starchy foods are served with grilled meat and sauces. A variety of ingredients are used while preparing other dishes like spinach stew cooked with tomato, peppers, chillis, onions. Cassava plants are consumed as cooked greens. Groundnut stew is prepared, containing chicken, okra, ginger. Another favorite is bambara, a porridge of rice, peanut butter, beef and chicken are favorite meat dishes, but game meat preparations containing crocodile, monkey, antelope and warthog are also served occasionally. In the inland savannah, the cuisine of cattle-keeping peoples is distinctive in that meat products are generally absent. Cattle, sheep, pigs and goats were regarded as a form of currency and a store of wealth, in some areas, traditional peoples consume the milk and blood of cattle, but rarely the meat. Elsewhere, other peoples are farmers who grow a variety of grains, maize is the basis of ugali, the local version of West Africas fufu. Ugali is a dish eaten with meats or stews. In Uganda, steamed green bananas called matoke provide the starch filler of many meals, around 1000 years ago, Omani and Yemeni merchants settled on the Swahili Coast. Some common ingredients used in this region include oranges, lemons, limes, chillis, capscium peppers, maize, the main traditional dishes in Ethiopian cuisine and Eritrean cuisine are tsebhis served with injera and hilbet. Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine are similar, given the shared history of the two countries. Eritrean and Ethiopian food habits vary regionally, in the highlands, injera is the staple diet and is eaten daily among the Tigrinya. Injera is made out of teff, wheat, barley, sorghum or corn, when eating, diners generally share food from a large tray placed in the centre of a low dining table. Numerous injera are layered on this tray and topped with various spicy stews, diners then break into the section of injera in front of them, tearing off pieces and dipping them into the stews
3.
Louisiana Creole cuisine
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Creole cuisine revolves around influences found in Louisiana from populations present in Louisiana before the sale of Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Louisiana sits at a cross-roads for a variety of immigrant influences. Its widely known that Louisiana was founded by the French, thus in Louisiana Creole is placed in a French aesthetic, with an emphasis on complex sauces and slow-cooking. The Portuguese, Spaniards and the Italians used tomatoes extensively, which had not been a frequent ingredient in the earlier French era, pasta and tomato sauces arrived during the period when New Orleans was a popular destination for Italian, and Greek immigrants. Many Italians and Greeks became grocers, bakers, cheese makers and orchard farmers, many people confuse Creole cuisine with Cajun cuisine, however they are actually quite distinct. They were created by different French colonial and immigrant populations, despite using many of the same ingredients, rural Cajun food uses more sausage, crawfish, game, and corn, while New Orleans Creole prefers shrimp and domestic meat. New Orleans Creole cuisine create sauces that are richer, less spicy, with the rise of Southern American Cooking in the 1980s, a New Creole strain began to emerge. While the Cajun food craze eventually passed, Modern Creole has remained as a predominant force in most major New Orleans restaurants, baking - direct and indirect dry heat in a furnace or oven, faster than smoking but slower than grilling. Grilling - direct heat on a surface, fastest of all variants, sub-variants include. Gridironing - direct dry heat on a solid or hollow surface with narrow raised ridges, griddling - direct dry or moist heat along with the use of oils and butter on a flat surface. Boiling - as in boiling of crabs, crawfish, or shrimp, deep frying Smothering - cooking a vegetable or meat with low heat and small amounts of water or stock, similar to braising. Étouffée is a popular variant done with crawfish or shrimp, injecting - using a large syringe-type setup to place seasoning deep inside large cuts of meat. This technique is much newer than the others on this list, deep-frying of turkeys or oven-roasted turduckens entered southern Louisiana cuisine more recently. The following is a partial list of ingredients used in Creole cuisine, corn Rice — long, medium, or short grain white, also popcorn rice Rice proved to be a valuable commodity in Creole cuisine. With an abundance of water and a hot, humid climate, rice could be grown anywhere in the region. Rice became the predominant starch in the diet, as it was easy to grow, the oldest rice mill in operation in the United States, the Conrad Rice Mill, is located in New Iberia. Wheat Creole folkways include many techniques for preserving meat, some of which are waning due to the availability of refrigeration, smoking of meats remains a fairly common practice, but once-common preparations such as turkey or duck confit are now seen even by Acadians as quaint rarities. Game is still popular in Creole cooking
4.
Cajun cuisine
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Cajun cuisine is a style of cooking named for the French-speaking Acadian people deported by the British from Acadia in Canada to the Acadiana region of Louisiana. It is what could be called a rustic cuisine, locally available ingredients predominate, shrimp and pork sausage are staple meats used in a variety of dishes. The aromatic vegetables green bell pepper, onion, and celery are called the holy trinity by Cajun chefs in Cajun and Louisiana Creole cuisines. Roughly diced and combined in cooking, the method is similar to the use of the mirepoix in traditional French cuisine which blends roughly diced onion, celery and carrot. Characteristic aromatics for the Creole version may also include parsley, bay leaf, green onions, dried cayenne pepper, and dried black pepper. Around 1755, Acadians were forced out of their settlements by the British, due to the extreme change in climate, Acadians were unable to cook their original dishes. Soon, their former culinary traditions were lost, and so, up through the 20th century, the meals were not elaborate but instead, rather basic. The publics false perception of Cajun cuisine was based on Prudhommes style of Cajun cooking, which was spicy, flavorful, today, most restaurants serve dishes that consist of Cajun styles, which Paul Prudhomme dubbed Louisiana cooking. In home-cooking, these styles are still kept separate. However, there are fewer and fewer people cooking the classic Cajun dishes that would have been eaten by the original settlers, barbecuing - similar to slow and low Southern barbecue traditions, but with Creole / Cajun seasoning. Baking - direct and indirect dry heat in a furnace or oven, faster than smoking, grilling - direct heat on a shallow surface, fastest of all variants, sub-variants include, Charbroiling - direct dry heat on a solid surface with wide raised ridges. Gridironing - direct dry heat on a solid or hollow surface with narrow raised ridges, griddling - direct dry or moist heat along with the use of oils and butter on a flat surface. Boiling - as in boiling of crabs, crawfish, or shrimp, deep frying Smothering - cooking a vegetable or meat with low heat and small amounts of water or stock, similar to braising. Étouffée is a popular variant done with crawfish or shrimp, injecting - using a large syringe-type setup to place seasoning deep inside large cuts of meat. This technique is much newer than the others on this list, deep-frying of turkeys or oven-roasted turduckens entered southern Louisiana cuisine more recently. Also, blackening of fish or chicken and barbecuing of shrimp in the shell are excluded because they were not prepared in traditional Cajun cuisine, the following is a partial list of ingredients used in Cajun cuisine and some of the staple ingredients of the Acadian food culture. Corn Rice — long, medium, or short grain white, with an abundance of water and a hot, humid climate, rice could be grown practically anywhere in the region and grew wild in some areas. Rice became the predominant starch in the diet, easy to grow, the oldest rice mill in operation in the United States, the Conrad Rice Mill, is located in New Iberia
5.
Native American cuisine
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Native American cuisine includes all food practices of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Modern-day native peoples retain a rich culture of traditional foods, some of which have become iconic of present-day Native American social gatherings. Foods like cornbread, turkey, cranberry, blueberry, hominy, in other cases, documents from the early periods of contact with European, African, and Asian peoples allow the recovery of food practices which passed out of popularity. Modern-day Native American cuisine is varied, the use of indigenous domesticated and wild food ingredients can represent Native American food and cuisine. North American native cuisine can differ somewhat from Southwestern and Mexican cuisine in its simplicity, the use of ramps, wild ginger, miners lettuce, and juniper berry can impart subtle flavours to various dishes. Different ingredients can change the meaning of Native American cuisine. A chef preparing a Native American dish can adopt, create, the essential staple foods of the Eastern Woodlands Aboriginal Americans were maize, beans, and squash. Southeastern Native American culture has formed the cornerstone of Southern cuisine from its origins till the present day, corn was used to make all kinds of dishes from the familiar cornbread and grits to liquors such as whiskey, which were important trade items. Though a lesser staple, potatoes were also adopted from Native American cuisine and were used in ways similar to corn. Native Americans introduced the first non-Native American Southerners to many other vegetables still familiar on southern tables, squash, pumpkin, many types of beans, tomatoes, many types of peppers, and sassafras all came to the settlers via the native tribes. Many fruits are available in this region, muscadines, blackberries, raspberries, and many other wild berries were part of Southern Native Americans diet. Southeastern Native Americans also supplemented their diets with meats derived from the hunting of native game, venison was an important meat staple, due to the abundance of white-tailed deer in the area. They also hunted rabbits, squirrels, opossums, and raccoons, livestock, adopted from Europeans, in the form of hogs and cattle, were kept. Aside from the meat, it was not uncommon for them to eat organ meats such as liver, brains, the fat of the animals, particularly of hogs, was rendered and used for cooking and frying. Many of the settlers were taught Southeastern Native American cooking methods. In the Northwest of what is now the United States, Native Americans used salmon and other fish, seafood, mushrooms, berries, and meats such as deer, duck, in contrast to the Easterners, the Northwestern aboriginal peoples were principally hunter-gatherers. The generally mild climate meant they did not need to develop an economy based upon agriculture and this region comprises the cultures of the Arawaks, the Caribs, and the Ciboney. The Taíno of the Greater Antilles were the first New World people to encounter Columbus, prior to European contact, these groups foraged, hunted, and fished
6.
European cuisine
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The term is used by East Asians to contrast with Asian styles of cooking. When used by Westerners, the term may refer more specifically to cuisine in Europe, in this context. The cuisines of Western countries are diverse by themselves, although there are characteristics that distinguish Western cooking from cuisines of Asian countries. Compared with traditional cooking of Asian countries, for example, meat is more prominent, steak and cutlet in particular are common dishes across the West. Western cuisines also put emphasis on grape wine and on sauces as condiments, seasonings. Many dairy products are utilised in the process, except in nouvelle cuisine. Cheeses are produced in hundreds of different varieties, and fermented products are also available in a wide selection. Maize is much less common in most European diets than it is in the Americas, however corn meal, is a part of the cuisine of Italy. Although flatbreads, and rice are eaten in Europe, they do not constitute an ever-present staple, salads are an integral part of European cuisine. Formal European dinners are served in distinct courses, European presentation evolved from service à la française, or bringing multiple dishes to the table at once, into service à la russe, where dishes are presented sequentially. Usually, cold, hot and savoury, and sweet dishes are served separately in this order, as hors doeuvre or soup, as entrée and main course. Dishes that are sweet and savoury were common earlier in ancient Roman cuisine, but are today uncommon. A service where the guests are free to take food by themselves is termed a buffet, nevertheless, guests are expected to follow the same pattern. Historically, European cuisine has developed in the European royal. European nobility was usually arms-bearing and lived in separate manors in the countryside, the knife was the primary eating implement, and eating steaks and other foods that require cutting followed. In contrast in the Sinosphere, the class were the court officials. The knife was supplanted by the spoon for soups, while the fork was introduced later in the modern period. Today, eating dinner by hand is no longer considered acceptable, all of these countries have their specialities
7.
Latin American cuisine
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Latin American cuisine refers to typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin America. Latin America is a diverse area of land that holds various cuisines that vary from nation to nation. Some items typical of Latin American cuisine include maize-based dishes and various salsas, thus, this leads for a variety across the land. Sofrito, a term that originally referred to a specific combination of sauteed or braised aromatics. It refers to a sauce of tomatoes, roasted peppers, garlic, onions. Latin American beverages are just as distinct as their foods, some of the beverages can even date back to the times of the Native Americans. Some popular beverages include mate, hibiscus tea, horchata, chicha, atole, cacao, desserts in Latin America are generally very sweet in taste. They include dulce de leche, alfajor, rice pudding, tres leches cake, teja, information about Native American cuisine comes from a great variety of sources. Modern day Native peoples retain a body of traditional foods. Foods like cornbread are known to have been adopted into the cuisine of the United States from Native American groups. In other cases, documents from the periods of contact with European, African. The main crops Native Americans used in Mexico & Central America were corn and beans such as Pupusas, Tamales, Pozole, Chuchitos, Corn tortilla and these influence is less seen in the southern cone of South America however. Africans brought and preserved many of their traditions and cooking techniques and they were often given less desired cuts of meat, including shoulder and intestines. Menudo, for example, was derived from the habit of the Spaniards of giving the slaves cows intestines, slaves developed a way to clean the offal and season it to taste. Slaves in the southern United States also did the thing to the pigs intestines given to them. Europeans brought their traditions, but quickly adapted several of the fruits. Europe itself has been influenced by other cultures, such as with the Moors in Spain, the European influence for many Latin American cuisine mainly comes from Spain. A wave of immigrants from Asia, such as China and Japan, the Chinese brought with them their own spices and food-styles, something that the people of Latin America accepted into their tables
8.
Indian cuisine
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Indian cuisine encompasses a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Indian food is heavily influenced by religious and cultural choices. Also, Middle Eastern and Central Asian influences have occurred on North Indian cuisine from the years of Mughal rule, Indian cuisine is still evolving, as a result of the nations cultural interactions with other societies. Historical incidents such as invasions, trade relations, and colonialism have played a role in introducing certain foods to the country. For instance, the potato, a staple of the diet in some regions of India, was brought to India by the Portuguese, Indian cuisine has shaped the history of international relations, the spice trade between India and Europe was the primary catalyst for Europes Age of Discovery. Spices were bought from India and traded around Europe and Asia, Indian cuisine has influenced other cuisines across the world, especially those from the Middle East, North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, the British Isles, Fiji, and the Caribbean. Indian cuisine reflects an 8, 000-year history of groups and cultures interacting with the subcontinent, leading to diversity of flavours. Later, trade with British and Portuguese influence added to the already diverse Indian cuisine, early diet in India mainly consisted of legumes, vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy products, honey, and sometimes fish, eggs, and meat. Staple foods eaten today include a variety of lentils, whole-wheat flour, rice, and pearl millet, over time, segments of the population embraced vegetarianism during Śramaṇa movement while an equitable climate permitted a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains to be grown throughout the year. A food classification system that categorised any item as saatvic, raajsic, the Bhagavad Gita proscribes certain dietary practices. Consumption of beef is taboo, due to cows being considered sacred in Hinduism, beef is generally not eaten by Hindus in India except for Kerala and the north east. During the Middle Ages, several Indian dynasties were predominant, including the Gupta dynasty, travellers to India during this time introduced new cooking methods and products to the region, including tea. India was later invaded by tribes from Central Asian cultures, which led to the emergence of Mughlai cuisine, hallmarks include seasonings such as saffron. Staple foods of Indian cuisine include pearl millet, rice, whole-wheat flour, and a variety of lentils, such as masoor, toor, urad, lentils may be used whole, dehusked—for example, dhuli moong or dhuli urad—or split. Split lentils, or dal, are used extensively, some pulses, such as channa or cholae, rajma, and lobiya are very common, especially in the northern regions. Channa and moong are also processed into flour, many Indian dishes are cooked in vegetable oil, but peanut oil is popular in northern and western India, mustard oil in eastern India, and coconut oil along the western coast, especially in Kerala. Gingelly oil is common in the south since it imparts a fragrant, in recent decades, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, and soybean oils have become popular across India. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, known as Vanaspati ghee, is another popular cooking medium, butter-based ghee, or deshi ghee, is used frequently, though less than in the past
9.
Chinese cuisine
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Chinese cuisine is an important part of Chinese culture, which includes cuisines originating from the diverse regions of China, as well as from Chinese people in other parts of the world. The preference for seasoning and cooking techniques of Chinese provinces depend on differences in historical background, imperial, royal and noble preference also plays a role in the change of Chinese cuisines. Because of imperial expansion and trading, ingredients and cooking techniques from other cultures are integrated into Chinese cuisines over time, the most praised Four Major Cuisines are Chuan, Lu, Yue and Huaiyang, represents West, North, South and East China cuisine correspondingly. Modern Eight Cuisines of China are Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan, the color, smell and taste are the three traditional aspects to describe Chinese food, also the meaning, shape and nutrition. While, cooking should be appraised from ingredients, cuttings, cooking time and it is considered inappropriate to use knives on dining table. Chopsticks are the eating utensils for Chinese food, which can be used to cut. Chinese society greatly valued gastronomy and developed a study of the subject based on its traditional medical beliefs. Chinese culture initially centered around the North China Plain, the first domesticated crops seem to have been the foxtail and broomcorn varieties of millet, while rice was cultivated in the south. By 2000 BC, wheat had arrived from western Asia and these grains were typically served as warm noodle soups, however, instead of baked into bread as in Europe. Nobles hunted various wild game and consumed mutton, pork, dog, grain was stored against famine and flood and meat was preserved with salt, vinegar, curing, and fermenting. The flavor of the meat was enhanced by cooking it in animal fats though this practice was restricted to the wealthy. By the time of Confucius in the late Zhou, gastronomy has become a high art and he was recorded discussing about the principles of dining, The rice would never be too white, the meat would never be too finely cut. When it was not cooked right, man would not eat, when it was cooked bad, man would not eat. When the meat was not cut properly, man would not eat, when the food was not prepared with the right sauce, man would not eat. Although there are plenty of meat, they should not be cooked more than staple food, there is no limit for alcohol, before a man get drunk. During Shi Huangdis Qin dynasty, the empire expanded into the south, by the time of the Han Dynasty, the different regions and cuisines of Chinas peoples were linked by major canals and leading to greater complexity in the different regional cuisines. Not only is seen as giving qi, energy, but food is also about maintaining yin. Salt was used as a preservative from early times, but in cooking was added in the form of soy sauce, and not at the table
10.
Rice
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Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima. As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a part of the worlds human population. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the emperor of China. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8, previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China. From East Asia, rice was spread to Southeast and South Asia, Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization. There are many varieties of rice and culinary preferences tend to vary regionally, in some areas such as the Far East or Spain, there is a preference for softer and stickier varieties. Rice, a monocot, is grown as an annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial. The rice plant can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and it has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long, the edible seed is a grain 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate. However, rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a hill or mountain area with the use of water-controlling terrace systems. Although its parent species are native to Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade, the traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields while, or after, setting the young seedlings. The name wild rice is used for species of the genera Zizania and Porteresia. The Greek word is the source of all European words, the origin of the Greek word is unclear. It is sometimes held to be from the Tamil word அரிசி, however, Krishnamurti disagrees with the notion that Old Tamil arici is the source of the Greek term, and proposes that it was borrowed from descendants of Proto-Dravidian *wariñci instead. The varieties of rice are typically classified as long-, medium-, the grains of long-grain rice tend to remain intact after cooking, medium-grain rice becomes more sticky. Medium-grain rice is used for dishes, for risotto in Italy
11.
Cooking banana
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Cooking bananas are banana cultivars in the genus Musa whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They may be eaten ripe or unripe and starchy. Some cooking bananas are also referred to as green bananas or plantains, the term plantain is loosely applied to any banana cultivar that is eaten when cooked. However, there is no formal distinction between bananas and plantains. Cooking is also a matter of custom, rather than necessity, ripe plantains can be eaten raw, since the starches are converted to sugars as they ripen. In more formal usage, the plantain is used only for true plantains. All modern plantain cultivars have three sets of chromosomes, many are hybrids derived from the cross of two wild species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The currently accepted name for all such crosses is Musa × paradisiaca. Using Simmonds and Shepherds genome-based nomenclature system, cultivars which are cooked often belong to the AAB Group, although some belong to the AAA Group, fei bananas from the Pacific Islands are often eaten roasted or boiled, and are thus informally referred to as mountain plantains. However, they do not belong to either of the two species that all modern cultivated banana cultivars descended from, all members of the genus Musa are indigenous to the tropical regions of Southeast Asia and Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and Northern Australia. Plantains are a food staple in West and Central Africa, the Caribbean islands, Central America. They are treated as a fruit with a relatively neutral flavour. As with all bananas, part of the attractiveness of plantains as food is that they fruit all year round, plantains contain more starch and less sugar than dessert bananas, therefore they are usually cooked or otherwise processed before being eaten. They are always cooked or fried when eaten green, at this stage, the pulp is hard and the peel often so stiff that it has to be cut with a knife to be removed. Mature, yellow plantains can be peeled like typical dessert bananas and they can be eaten raw, but are not as flavourful as dessert bananas, so are usually cooked. When mature, yellow plantains are fried, they tend to caramelize and they can also be boiled, baked, microwaved or grilled over charcoal, either peeled or unpeeled. Plantains are a food in the tropical regions of the world. As a staple, plantains are treated in much the way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour
12.
Bean
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Bean is a common name for large seeds of several genera of the flowering plant family Fabaceae which are used for human or animal food. The word bean and its Germanic cognates have existed in common use in West Germanic languages since before the 12th century, referring to broad beans and this was long before the New World genus Phaseolus was known in Europe. After Columbian-era contact between Europe and the Americas, use of the word was extended to pod-borne seeds of Phaseolus, such as the bean and the runner bean. Thus the term bean in general usage can mean a host of different species, seeds called beans are often included among the crops called pulses, although a narrower prescribed sense of pulses reserves the word for leguminous crops harvested for their dry grain. The term bean usually excludes legumes with tiny seeds and which are used exclusively for forage, hay, one is that in the past, several species, including Vigna angularis, mungo, radiata, and aconitifolia, were classified as Phaseolus and later reclassified. Unlike the closely related pea, beans are a crop that need warm temperatures to grow. Maturity is typically 55–60 days from planting to harvest, as the bean pods mature, they turn yellow and dry up, and the beans inside change from green to their mature colour. As a vine, bean plants need external support, which may be provided in the form of special bean cages or poles, native Americans customarily grew them along with corn and squash, with the tall cornstalks acting as support for the beans. In more recent times, the bush bean has been developed which does not require support and has all its pods develop simultaneously. This makes the bean more practical for commercial production. Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants, broad beans, also called fava beans, in their wild state the size of a small fingernail, were gathered in Afghanistan and the Himalayan foothills. In a form improved from naturally occurring types, they were grown in Thailand since the seventh millennium BCE. They were deposited with the dead in ancient Egypt, not until the second millennium BCE did cultivated, large-seeded broad beans appear in the Aegean, Iberia and transalpine Europe. In the Iliad is a mention of beans and chickpeas cast on the threshing floor. Beans were an important source of protein throughout Old and New World history, the oldest-known domesticated beans in the Americas were found in Guitarrero Cave, an archaeological site in Peru, and dated to around the second millennium BCE. The corn would not be planted in rows as is done by European agriculture, Beans would be planted around the base of the developing stalks, and would vine their way up as the stalks grew. All American beans at that time were vine plants, bush beans having been bred only more recently, the cornstalks would work as a trellis for the beans, and the beans would provide much-needed nitrogen for the corn. Squash would be planted in the spaces between the patches of corn in the field, dry beans come from both Old World varieties of broad beans and New World varieties
13.
Cassava
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Manihot esculenta is a woody shrub native to South America of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is extensively cultivated as a crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root. Though it is often called yuca in Spanish and in the United States, it differs from the yucca, Cassava, when dried to a powdery extract, is called tapioca, its fermented, flaky version is named garri. Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice. Cassava is a staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for over half a billion people. It is one of the most drought-tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils, Nigeria is the worlds largest producer of cassava, while Thailand is the largest exporter of dried cassava. Cassava is classified as sweet or bitter. Like other roots and tubers, both bitter and sweet varieties of cassava contain antinutritional factors and toxins, with the bitter varieties containing much larger amounts, the more toxic varieties of cassava are a fall-back resource in times of famine or food insecurity in some places. Farmers often prefer the bitter varieties because they deter pests, animals, the cassava root is long and tapered, with a firm, homogeneous flesh encased in a detachable rind, about 1 mm thick, rough and brown on the outside. Commercial cultivars can be 5 to 10 cm in diameter at the top, a woody vascular bundle runs along the roots axis. The flesh can be chalk-white or yellowish, Cassava roots are very rich in starch and contain small amounts of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin C. However, they are poor in protein and other nutrients, in contrast, cassava leaves are a good source of protein, but deficient in the amino acid methionine and possibly tryptophan. Forms of the domesticated species can also be found growing in the wild in the south of Brazil. By 4,600 BC, manioc pollen appears in the Gulf of Mexico lowlands, the oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes from a 1, 400-year-old Maya site, Joya de Cerén, in El Salvador. With its high potential, it had become a staple food of the native populations of northern South America, southern Mesoamerica. Cassava was a food of pre-Columbian peoples in the Americas and is often portrayed in indigenous art. The Moche people often depicted yuca in their ceramics, spaniards in their early occupation of Caribbean islands did not want to eat cassava or maize, which they considered insubstantial, dangerous, and not nutritious. They much preferred foods from Spain, specifically wheat bread, olive oil, red wine, and meat, for these Christians in the New World, cassava was not suitable for communion since it could not undergo transubstantiation and become the body of Christ
14.
Eryngium foetidum
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Eryngium foetidum is a tropical perennial herb in the family Apiaceae. Its scientific Latin name literally translates as foul-smelling thistle, common names include culantro, Mexican coriander and long coriander. It is native to Mexico and South America, but is cultivated worldwide, commonly known as culantro in English-speaking Caribbean countries, Eryngium foetidum is also referred to as shado beni or in Caribbean Hindustani it is known as, bandhaniya. It is not much familiar in other parts of India, E. foetidum is widely used in seasoning, marinating and garnishing in the Caribbean, particularly in Panama, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago, and in Perus Amazon regions. It is also used extensively in Thailand, India, Vietnam, Laos and it dries well, retaining good color and flavor, making it valuable in the dried herb industry. It is sometimes used as a substitute for cilantro, but it has a stronger taste. In the United States, E. foetidum grows naturally in Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and it is sold in grocery stores as a culinary herb under the common names, culantro /kuːˈlɑːntroʊ/ or recao /reɪˈkaʊ/. Eryngium foetidum is also known as E. antihystericum, the specific name antihystericum reflects the fact that this plant has traditionally been used for epilepsy. The plant is said to calm a persons spirit and thus prevents epileptic fits, the anticonvulsant properties of this plant have been scientifically investigated. A decoction of the leaves has shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory. Eryngial is a chemical isolated from E. foetidum. The University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, has investigated the use of enyngial as a treatment for human Strongyloides stercoralis infection, the main constituent of essential oil of the plant is eryngial. Pharmacological investigations have demonstrated anthelmintic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-convulsant, anti-clastogenic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-diabetic, long coriander page from Gernot Katzers Spice Pages
15.
Bell pepper
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The bell pepper is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange, green, chocolate/brown, vanilla/white, bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as sweet peppers. The whitish ribs and seeds inside bell peppers may be consumed, peppers are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Pepper seeds were imported to Spain in 1493, and from there spread to other European, African, today, China is the worlds largest pepper producer, followed by Mexico and Indonesia. Ideal growing conditions for peppers include warm soil, ideally 21 to 29 °C. Bell peppers are sensitive to an abundance of moisture and extreme temperatures, the misleading name pepper was given by Europeans when Christopher Columbus brought the plant back to Europe. The most commonly used name of the plant family, chile, is of Mexican origin. Botanically speaking, bell peppers are fruit, although they are considered vegetables in culinary contexts. The lack of capsaicin in bell peppers is due to a form of a gene that eliminates capsaicin and, consequently. This recessive gene is overwritten in the Mexibelle pepper, a variety of bell pepper that produces small amounts of capsaicin. Sweet pepper cultivars produce non pungent capsaicinoids, with many physiological effects similar to the more pungent sister compound capsaican, the terms bell pepper, pepper, and capsicum are often used for any of the large bell shaped fruits, regardless of their color. In British and Canadian English, the fruit is referred to as a pepper, or additionally by color, whereas in the United States and Malaysia. In parts of the U. S. Midwest, bell peppers are called mangoes, Canadian English uses both bell pepper and pepper interchangeably. In some languages, the term paprika, which has its roots in the word for pepper, is used for both the spice and the fruit – sometimes referred to by their color, the bell pepper is called パプリカ or ピーマン in Japan. In Switzerland, the fruit is called peperone, which is the Italian name of the fruit. In France, it is called poivron, with the root as poivre or piment. In South Korea, the word 피망 refers to bell peppers. In Sri Lanka, the used as a vegetable is called maalu miris
16.
Chickpea
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The chickpea or chick pea is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are known as gram, or Bengal gram. Its seeds are high in protein and it is one of the earliest cultivated legumes,7, 500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East. The name chickpea traces back through the French chiche to cicer, the Oxford English Dictionary lists a 1548 citation that reads, Cicer may be named in English Cich, or ciche pease, after the Frenche tongue. The dictionary cites Chick-pea in the century, the original word in English taken directly from French was chich. The current form garbanzo comes directly from modern Spanish, and is used in regions of the United States with a strong Mexican or Spanish influence. Domesticated chickpeas have been found in the levels of Jericho along with Çayönü in Turkey and in Neolithic pottery at Hacilar. They were found in the late Neolithic at Thessaly, Kastanas, Lerna and Dimini, in southern France, Mesolithic layers in a cave at LAbeurador, Aude, have yielded wild chickpeas carbon dated to 6790±90 BCE. Chickpeas are mentioned in Charlemagnes Capitulare de villis as cicer italicum, albertus Magnus mentions red, white, and black varieties. Nicholas Culpeper noted chick-pease or cicers are less windy than peas, white cicers were thought to be especially strong and helpful. In 1793, ground-roast chickpeas were noted by a German writer as a substitute for coffee in Europe, in the First World War, they were grown for this use in some areas of Germany. They are still sometimes brewed instead of coffee, sequencing of the chickpea genome has been completed for 90 chickpea genotypes, including several wild species. A collaboration of 20 research organizations, led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics identified more than 28,000 genes, scientists expect this work will lead to the development of superior cultivars, among which 77 have already been released to farmers around the world. The new research will benefit the millions of developing country farmers who grow chickpea as a source of much needed income, production is growing rapidly across the developing world, especially in West Asia, where it has increased four-fold over the past 30 years. India is by far the world largest producer, but is also the largest importer, the plant grows to 20–50 cm high and has small, feathery leaves on either side of the stem. Chickpeas are a type of pulse, with one containing two or three peas. It has white flowers with blue, violet, or pink veins, several varieties of chickpea are cultivated throughout the world. Desi chana has small, darker seeds and a rough coat and it is grown mostly in India and other parts of the Indian subcontinent, as well as in Ethiopia, Mexico, and Iran
17.
Tomato
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The tomato is the edible fruit of Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as a tomato plant, which belongs to the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The species originated in Central and South America, the Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato originates. Numerous varieties of tomato are widely grown in temperate climates across the world, with greenhouses allowing its production throughout the year, the plants typically grow to 1–3 meters in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground and vines over other plants. It is a perennial in its habitat, and grown as an annual in temperate climates. An average common tomato weighs approximately 100 grams and its use as a food originated in Mexico, and spread throughout the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Tomato is consumed in diverse ways, including raw, as an ingredient in dishes, sauces, salads. While tomatoes are botanically fruits, they are considered culinary vegetables. The word tomato comes from the Spanish tomate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl word tomatl and it first appeared in print in 1595. The native Mexican tomatillo is tomate, meaning fat water or fat thing), when Aztecs started to cultivate the Andean fruit, bigger and red, they called the new species xitomatl. It first appeared in print in 1595, the scientific species epithet lycopersicum means wolf peach, and comes from German werewolf myths. The Italian word, pomodoro was borrowed into Polish, and via Russian, the usual pronunciations of tomato are /təˈmeɪtoʊ/ and /təˈmɑːtoʊ/. The words dual pronunciations were immortalized in Ira and George Gershwins 1937 song Lets Call the Whole Thing Off and have become a symbol for nitpicking pronunciation disputes. In this capacity, it has become an American and British slang term. Or Its all the same to me, botanically, a tomato is a fruit, a berry, consisting of the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant. However, the tomato has a lower sugar content than other edible fruits. Typically served as part of a salad or main course of a meal, rather than at dessert, it is, in the US, considered a culinary vegetable. One exception is that tomatoes are treated as a fruit in home canning practices, they are acidic enough to process in a water bath rather than a pressure cooker as vegetables require. Tomatoes are not the food source with this ambiguity, bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, avocados
18.
Sweet potato
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The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the morning glory family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a root vegetable, in some parts of the English-speaking world, sweet potatoes are locally known by other names such as kumara, but people usually confused it with yam due to their similar appearances. The young leaves and shoots are eaten as greens. The sweet potato is only related to the potato and does not belong to the nightshade family Solanaceae. The plant is a perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between yellow, orange, red, brown, purple, and beige and its flesh ranges from beige through white, red, pink, violet, yellow, orange, and purple. Sweet potato cultivars with white or pale yellow flesh are less sweet and moist than those with red, Ipomoea batatas is native to the tropical regions in the Americas. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas is the crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally. The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, some cultivars of Ipomoea batatas are grown as ornamental plants under the name tuberous morning glory, used in a horticultural context. To add to the confusion, a different crop plant, the oca, is called a yam in many parts of Polynesia, the United States Department of Agriculture requires that the label yam always be accompanied by sweet potato in U. S. retail sales of sweet potato. Although the sweet potato is not closely related botanically to the common potato, the first Europeans to taste sweet potatoes were members of Christopher Columbuss expedition in 1492. Later explorers found many cultivars under an assortment of local names, the Spanish combined this with the Quechua word for potato, papa, to create the word patata for the common potato. The first record of the sweet potato is found in the Oxford English Dictionary of 1775. In Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic the sweet potato is called batata, in Mexico, Peru, Chile, Central America, and the Philippines, the sweet potato is known as camote, derived from the Nahuatl word camotli. In New Zealand, the most common cultivar is the red cultivar called kumara, a derived from the Māori name kūmara. Kumara is particularly popular as a food, or in contemporary cuisine as kumara chips, often served with sour cream. Occasionally, shops in Australia will label purple cultivars as purple sweet potato to denote the difference to the other cultivars, about 95% of Australias production is of the orange cultivar named Beauregard, originally from North America, known simply as sweet potato. A reddish-purple cultivar, Northern Star, is 4% of production and is sold as kumara, the origin and domestication of sweet potato is thought to be in either Central America or South America
19.
Coconut
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The coconut tree is a member of the family Arecaceae and the only species of the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the coconut palm or the seed, or the fruit. The spelling cocoanut is a form of the word. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning head or skull, coconuts are known for their great versatility, as evidenced by many traditional uses, ranging from food to cosmetics. They form a part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits for their quantity of water. When mature, they can be used as seed nuts or processed to give oil from the kernel, charcoal from the hard shell, the endosperm is initially in its nuclear phase suspended within the coconut water. As development continues, cellular layers of endosperm deposit along the walls of the coconut, when dried, the coconut flesh is called copra. The oil and milk derived from it are used in cooking and frying, as well as in soaps. The husks and leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decorating, the coconut also has cultural and religious significance in certain societies, particularly in India, where it is used in Hindu rituals. Cocos nucifera is a palm, growing up to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4–6 m long. Coconuts are generally classified into two types, tall and dwarf. On fertile soil, a coconut palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year. Given proper care and growing conditions, coconut palms produce their first fruit in six to ten years, botanically, the coconut fruit is a drupe, not a true nut. Like other fruits, it has three layers, the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, the exocarp and mesocarp make up the husk of the coconuts. Coconuts sold in the shops of nontropical countries often have had the exocarp removed, the mesocarp is composed of a fiber, called coir, which has many traditional and commercial uses. The shell has three germination pores or eyes that are visible on its outside surface once the husk is removed. A full-sized coconut weighs about 1.44 kg and it takes around 6,000 full-grown coconuts to produce a tonne of copra
20.
Montserrat
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Montserrat is a Caribbean island—specifically in the Leeward Islands, which is part of the chain known as the Lesser Antilles, in the British West Indies. It is a British Overseas Territory, Montserrat measures approximately 16 km long and 11 km wide, with approximately 40 km of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants, on 18 July 1995, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano, in the southern part of the island, became active. Eruptions destroyed Montserrats Georgian era capital city of Plymouth, between 1995 and 2000, two-thirds of the islands population was forced to flee, primarily to the United Kingdom, leaving fewer than 1,200 people on the island as of 1997. Visitors are generally not permitted entry into the zone. Relatively quiet since early 2010, the continues to be closely monitored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. It is the most studied volcano in the world and Montserrat has been regarded as a Modern Day Pompeii in the Caribbean, a new town and port is being developed at Little Bay, which is on the northwest coast of the island. While this construction proceeds, the centre of government and businesses is at Brades, in 1493, Christopher Columbus named the island Santa María de Montserrate, after the Virgin of Montserrat in the Monastery of Montserrat, on Montserrat mountain, near Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. Montserrat means serrated mountain in Catalan, archaeological field work in 2012, in Montserrats Centre Hills indicated there was an Archaic occupation between 4000 and 2500 BP. Later coastal sites show the presence of the Saladoid culture, in November 1493, Christopher Columbus passed Montserrat in his second voyage, after being told that the island was unoccupied due to raids by the Caribs. A number of Irishmen settled in Montserrat in 1642, the island was captured by the French in 1666. It was captured shortly afterwards by the English and English control of the island was confirmed under the Treaty of Breda the following year, despite the interruption to English rule, the islands legal status is that of a colony acquired by settlement. A neo-feudal colony developed amongst the redlegs, the colonists began to transport Sub-Saharan African slaves for labour, as was common to most Caribbean islands. The colonists built an economy based on the production of sugar, rum, arrowroot and sea island cotton, by the late 18th century, numerous plantations had been developed on the island. Many Irish continued to be transported to the island, to work as indentured servants, on 17 March 1768, slaves rebelled but failed to achieve freedom. The people of Montserrat celebrate St Patricks Day as a public holiday due to the slave revolt, festivities held that week commemorate the culture of Montserrat in song, dance, food and traditional costumes. In 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, France briefly captured Montserrat after supporting the American rebels, the French returned the island to Great Britain under the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended that conflict. The Irish constituted the largest proportion of the population from the founding of the colony in 1628
21.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
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The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, also known as the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is a two-island country in the West Indies. Located in the Leeward Islands chain of the Lesser Antilles, it is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas and Western Hemisphere, the country is a Commonwealth realm, with the British monarch as head of state. The capital city is Basseterre on the island of Saint Kitts. The smaller island of Nevis lies about 2 miles southeast of Saint Kitts across a channel called The Narrows. The British dependency of Anguilla was historically also a part of this union, to the north-northwest lie the islands of Sint Eustatius, and Saba, Saint Barthélemy, Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten and Anguilla. To the east and northeast are Antigua and Barbuda, and to the southeast is the uninhabited island of Redonda, and the island of Montserrat. Saint Kitts and Nevis were among the first islands in the Caribbean to be settled by Europeans, Saint Kitts was home to the first British and French colonies in the Caribbean, and thus has also been titled The Mother Colony of the West Indies. Nevis is also the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, Saint Kitts was named Liamuiga, which roughly translates as fertile land, by the Kalinago Indians who originally inhabited the island. The name is preserved via St. Kittss western peak, Mount Liamuiga, neviss pre-Columbian name was Oualie, meaning land of beautiful waters. Christopher Columbus upon sighting what we now call Nevis in 1493 gave that island the name San Martín, the current name Nevis is derived from a Spanish name Nuestra Señora de las Nieves. This Spanish name means Our Lady of the Snows and it is not known who chose this name for the island, but it is a reference to the story of a fourth-century Catholic miracle, a summertime snowfall on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. Perhaps the white clouds which usually wreathe the top of Nevis Peak reminded someone of the story of a snowfall in a hot climate. The island of Nevis upon first British settlement was referred to as Dulcina, eventually the original Spanish name was restored and used in the shortened form, Nevis. There is some disagreement over the name which Christopher Columbus gave to St. Kitts, for many years it was thought that he named the island San Cristóbal, after Saint Christopher, his patron saint and the patron hallow of travellers. New studies suggest that Columbus named the island Sant Yago, the name San Cristóbal was given by Columbus to the island now known as Saba,20 miles northwest. It seems that San Cristóbal came to be applied to the island of St. Kitts only as the result of a mapping error, no matter the origin of the name, the island was well documented as San Cristóbal by the 17th century. The first English colonists kept the English translation of this name, in the 17th century, a common nickname for Christopher was Kit, or Kitt. This is why the island was often referred to as Saint Kitts Island
22.
Pelau
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Pilaf is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth. In some cases, the rice may attain its brown or golden colour by first being sauteed lightly in oil before the addition of broth, cooked onion, other vegetables as well as a mix of spices may be added. Depending on the cuisine, it may also contain meat, fish, vegetables, pasta. Pilaf and similar dishes are common to Balkan, Middle Eastern, Caucasian, Central and South Asian, East African, Latin American and Caribbean cuisines. The English term pilaf is borrowed directly from the Turkish pilav, which in turn comes from Persian polow, Hindi pulāo, from Sanskrit pulāka, the English spelling is influenced by the Modern Greek pilafi, which comes from the Turkish pilav. The ancient Hindu text Mahabharata from India, mentions rice and meat cooked together, pilaf was known to have been served to Alexander the Great at a royal banquet following his capture of the Sogdian capital of Marakanda. It is believed that soldiers from Alexanders army brought the preparation of pilaf back to Macedonia, in doing so, he described advantages and disadvantages of every item used for preparing the dish. Accordingly, Uzbeks and Tajiks consider Ibn Sina to be the father of modern pilaf, pilau became standard fare in the Middle East and Transcaucasia over the years with variations and innovations by the Persians, Arabs, Turks, and Armenians. It was introduced to Israel by Bukharan and Persian Jews, during the period of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian versions of the dish spread throughout all Soviet republics, becoming a part of the common Soviet cuisine. Known as pulao, polao, pallao and pulav locally, the dish has been an integral part of the Indian. The ancient Hindu text Mahabharata from India, mentions rice and meat cooked together, and the word pulao or pallao is used to refer to the dish in ancient Sanskrit works, such as Yājñavalkya Smṛti. A pulao is a dish consisting of rice and a mixture of either lentils or vegetables, mainly including peas, potatoes, french beans, carrots or meat, mainly chicken, fish, lamb, pork or prawn. It is usually served on occasions and weddings, though it is not uncommon to eat it for a regular lunch or dinner meal. It is considered high in food energy and fat. A pulao is often complimented with either spiced yogurt or raita, biryani is another rice dish in the Indian cuisine, similar to pulao, albeit with a different cooking method. The main distinction is that a biryani comprises layers of rice with meat or vegetables, Persian culinary terms referring to rice preparation are numerous and have found their way into the neighbouring languages, polov, chelov, kateh and tajine. There are also varieties of different rice dishes with vegetables and herbs which are popular among Iranians. There are four methods of cooking rice in Iran, Chelov, rice that is carefully prepared through soaking and parboiling, at which point the water is drained
23.
Ackee and saltfish
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Ackee and saltfish is a traditional Jamaican dish. The ackee fruit was imported to The Caribbean from Ghana before 1725, as Ackee or Aki is another name for the Akan tribe and it is also known as Blighia sapida. The scientific name honours Captain William Bligh who took the fruit from Jamaica to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England in 1793, because parts of the fruit are toxic, there are shipping restrictions when being imported to countries such as the United States. To prepare the dish, salt cod is sautéed with boiled ackee, onions, Scotch Bonnet peppers, tomatoes, and spices, such as black pepper and pimiento. It can be garnished with bacon and tomatoes, and is served as breakfast or dinner alongside breadfruit, hard dough bread, dumplings, fried plantain. Ackee and saltfish can also be eaten with rice and peas or plain white rice, when seasonings and saltfish are combined with plain rice it is often called seasoned rice which is a one pot meal that is usually eaten on Fridays as an inexpensive meal for dinner. Ackee pods are ready to be picked from the once the pods start to open. This is due to the fact that the pods are toxic. The fruits are then extracted from the pods and the pods discarded. The fruits are then deseeded and cleaned, the fruits are now ready to be added to a pot of boiling water appropriate in size to the amount of ackee to be cooked. Salt may or may not be added to the water depending on the dish being prepared, for example, if ackee and saltfish is the desired meal, then salt is not added as the salt fish contains sufficient salt. The ackee is cooked for 15 -20 minutes, or until ackee is tender
24.
Callaloo
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Callaloo is a popular Caribbean dish originating in West Africa served in different variants across the Caribbean. The main ingredient is a vegetable, traditionally either amaranth. Both are known by names, including callaloo, coco, tannia, bhaaji. Because the leaf used in some regions may be locally called callaloo or callaloo bush, some confusion can arise among the vegetables. Outside of the Caribbean, water spinach is occasionally used, Trinidadians, Grenadians and Dominicans primarily use taro/dasheen bush for callaloo, although Dominicans also use water spinach. Jamaicans, Belizeans and Guyanese on the other hand use the name callaloo to refer to amaranth, the callaloo made in Jamaica is different from the callaloo made in Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada in terms of main ingredient and other ingredients included. Taro, also called dasheen in the West Indies, the leaves of this crop are used in the Trinidadian version of the dish. There are many variations of callaloo which may include milk, crab, conch, Caribbean lobster, meats, pumpkin, chili peppers. The ingredients are added and simmered down to a somewhat stewlike consistency, when done, callaloo is dark green in colour and is served as a side dish which may be used as a gravy for other food. African Americans invented a version of the original West African dish known as collard greens, Trinidadians have embraced this dish from their ancestors and over time have added ingredients such as coconut milk to modify its flavour. Callaloo is mostly served as a dish, for Trinidadians, Bajans, and Grenadians it usually accompanies rice, macaroni pie. In Guyana it is made in various ways without okra, in Jamaica, callaloo is often combined with saltfish and is usually seasoned with tomatoes, onion, escallion, scotch bonnet peppers and margarine/cooking oil and steamed. It is often eaten with roasted breadfruit, boiled green bananas and dumplings, in Grenada, callaloo is steamed with garlic, onion and coconut milk and often eaten as a side dish. Grenadians also stir or blend the mixture until it has a smooth consistent texture, Callaloo soup comprising callaloo, okra, dumplings, ground provision like yam, potato chicken and beef is traditionally eaten on Saturdays. All of this is steamed in coconut milk and saffron powder, due to the high iron content of callaloo, Grenadians douse it down with a fruit drink high in Vitamin C especially as Iron could only be absorbed in the presence of Vitamin C. In the Virgin Islands, callaloo is served with a dish of fungee on the side, in Guadeloupe, calalou au crabe is a traditional Easter dish. A similar variation is the recipe called Laing which is popular in the Philippines, List of Jamaican dishes List of stews Trinidad and Tobago cuisine Davidson, Alan. P.125 ISBN 0-19-211579-0 Callaloo - Volume 30, Number 1, Winter 2007, pp. 351–368 - Jamaican Versions of Callaloo
25.
Spinach
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Spinach is an edible flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae native to central and western Asia. Its leaves are eaten as a vegetable and it is an annual plant growing to 30 cm tall. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions, the flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green, 3–4 mm in diameter, maturing into a small, hard, dry, lumpy fruit cluster 5–10 mm across containing several seeds. Common spinach, S. oleracea, was considered to be in the family Chenopodiaceae, but in 2003. Within the family Amaranthaceae sensu lato, Spinach belongs to subfamily Chenopodioideae, the English word spinach dates to the late 14th century, and is from espinache, of uncertain origin. The traditional view derives it from O. Prov, Spinach is thought to have originated in ancient Persia. It is not known by whom, or when, spinach was introduced to India, but the plant was introduced to ancient China. The earliest available record of the plant was recorded in Chinese. In AD827, the Saracens introduced spinach to Sicily, Spinach became a popular vegetable in the Arab Mediterranean and arrived in Spain by the latter part of the 12th century, where it was called raʼīs al-buqūl, the chieftain of leafy greens. Spinach was also the subject of a treatise in the 11th century by Ibn Ḥajjāj. The prickly-seeded form of spinach was known in Germany by no later than the 13th century, Spinach is mentioned in the first known English cookbook, the Forme of Cury, where it is referred to as spinnedge and/or spynoches. Smooth-seeded spinach was described in 1552, Spinach was supposedly the favourite vegetable of Catherine de Medici. Dishes served on a bed of spinach are known as Florentine, during World War I, wine fortified with spinach juice was given to French soldiers weakened by hemorrhage. In a 100 g serving providing only 23 calories, spinach has a high value, especially when fresh, frozen, steamed. It is a source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, iron. Spinach is a source of the B vitamins riboflavin and vitamin B6, vitamin E, calcium, potassium. Spinach, along with green, leafy vegetables, contains an appreciable amount of iron attaining 21% of the Daily Value in a 100 g amount of raw spinach. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture states that a 100 g serving of cooked spinach contains 3.57 mg of iron, in addition to preventing absorption and use, high levels of oxalates remove iron from the body
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