1.
Tea
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Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to Asia. After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world, Tea originated in Southwest China, where it was used as a medicinal drink. It was popularized as a drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century, during the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among Britons, who started large-scale production and commercialization of the plant in India to bypass the Chinese monopoly. The term herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs made without the tea plant, such as steeps of rosehip, chamomile and these are sometimes called tisanes or herbal infusions to prevent confusion with tea made from the tea plant. The tea industry often uses the term fruit tea to refer to what are in fact fruit-flavored black teas. The Chinese character for tea is 茶, originally written with a stroke as 荼. The word is pronounced differently in the different varieties of Chinese, such as chá in Mandarin, zo and dzo in Wu Chinese, there were other ancient words for tea, though ming is the only other one still in common use. Most Chinese languages, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, pronounce it along the lines of cha and these two pronunciations have made their separate ways into other languages around the world. Starting in the seventeen century, the Dutch played a dominant role in the early European tea trade via the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch borrowed the word for tea from Min Chinese, either through trade directly from Fujian or Formosa where they had established a port, or from Malay traders in Bantam, Java. The Dutch then introduced to other European languages this Min pronunciation for tea, including English tea, French thé, Spanish té and this pronunciation is also the most common form worldwide. The Portuguese adopted the Cantonese pronunciation chá, and spread it to India, the Korean and Japanese pronunciations of cha were borrowed into Korean and Japanese during earlier periods of Chinese history. A third form, the increasingly widespread chai, came from Persian چای chay, both the châ and chây forms are found in Persian dictionaries. English has all three forms, cha or char, attested from the 16th century, tea, from the 17th, however, the form chai refers specifically to a black tea mixed with honey, spices and milk in contemporary English. Tea plants are native to East Asia, and probably originated around the points of the lands of north Burma. Tea drinking may have begun in the Yunnan region during the Shang Dynasty in China, Chinese legends attribute the invention of tea to Shennong in 2737 BC, although evidence suggests that tea drinking may have been introduced from the southwest of China. The earliest written records of tea come from China, in the Chronicles of Huayang, it was recorded that the Ba people in Sichuan presented tu to the Zhou king
2.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
3.
Green tea
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Green tea is a type of tea that is made from Camellia sinensis leaves that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process used to make oolong and black tea. Green tea originated in China, but its production has spread to countries in Asia. Several varieties of green tea exist, which differ substantially because of the variety of C. sinensis used, growing conditions, horticultural methods, production processing, Tea consumption has its legendary origins in China during the reign of Emperor Shennong. A book written by Lu Yu in 600-900 AD, Tea Classic, is considered important in green tea history. Steeping, or brewing, is the process of making tea, higher-quality teas, like gyokuro, use more tea leaves and are steeped multiple times for short durations. Steeping temperatures range from 61°C to 87°C and times from 30 seconds to three minutes, generally, lower-quality green teas are steeped hotter and longer while higher-quality teas are steeped cooler and shorter, but usually for multiple times. Steeping too hot or for too long results in the release of excessive amounts of tannins, leading to a bitter, astringent brew, the brew’s taste is also affected by the steeping technique. Green tea extracts have been used in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine for a variety of uses, Green tea leaves are initially processed by soaking in an alcohol solution, which may be further concentrated to various levels, byproducts of the process are also packaged and used. Extracts may be sold in liquid, powder, capsule, or tablet form, Green tea extract supplements are accessible over the counter in various forms. Standardized green tea extract is 90 percent total polyphenols, and 1 capsule equals 5 cups of tea, regular green tea is 99. 9% water, provides 1 Calorie per 100 mL serving, is devoid of significant nutrient content and contains phytochemicals, such as polyphenols and caffeine. Other components include three kinds of flavonoids, known as kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin, although numerous claims have been made for the health benefits of green tea, human clinical research has not provided conclusive evidence of any effects. There is no evidence that green tea helps to prevent or treat cancer in people. A review of existing studies concluded that while suggestive evidence existed, daily consumption of black tea has been associated with a significant reduction in death from all cancers. A2015 meta-analysis of nine prospective cohort studies concluded that an amount of green tea consumption may be associated with a lower risk of liver cancer in Asian women. This association was not seen in Asian men or when one cup of tea was consumed daily. Similarly, another analysis of observational data conducted in 2012 suggested that tea consumption may have a favorable effect on lung cancer risk. The observed effect was strongest in those who consumed more than seven cups of green tea daily, a 2011 meta-analysis of epidemiological studies found limited evidence that green tea consumption may be associated with a moderately reduced risk of liver cancer in Chinese and Japanese people. Limited evidence suggests that tea consumption is not associated with the risk of developing pancreatic cancer or prostate cancer
4.
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
5.
Umeboshi
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Umeboshi are pickled ume fruits common in Japan. The word umeboshi is often translated into English as Japanese salt plums, Ume is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot. Umeboshi are a kind of tsukemono and are extremely sour. They are usually served as side dishes for rice or eaten on rice balls for breakfast and they are occasionally served boiled or seasoned for dinner. Pickled ume which are not dried are called umezuke, Umeboshi are usually round, and vary from smooth to very wrinkled. Usually they taste salty, and are extremely sour due to high citric acid content, Umeboshi were notorious for their ability to eat their way through the plain drawn aluminum lunch boxes commonly used in the 1960s. The combination of acids and salt in the umeboshi were the cause of this phenomenon. The central area of Wakayama prefecture is known throughout Japan for the number and quality of its ume, the town of Minabe, Wakayama, in particular, grows more ume and produces more umeboshi than any other town in Japan. Umeboshi are traditionally made by harvesting ume fruit when they ripen around June, a weight is placed on top and the fruit gradually exude juices, which accumulate at the bottom of the barrel. This salty, sour liquid is marketed as umezu, although it is not a true vinegar, most modern umeboshi are made by using less salt and by pickling the ume in a seasoned liquid or vinegar. They are typically dyed red using purple perilla herbs, or flavoured with katsuobushi, because modern methods of preservation use less salt, they usually contain an artificial preservative to extend shelf life. Umeboshi are usually eaten in small quantities with rice, for added flavor and it is also a common ingredient in onigiri, rice balls wrapped in nori, and they may also be used in makizushi. Makizushi made with umeboshi may be made with either pitted umeboshi or umeboshi paste, Umeboshi were esteemed by the samurai to combat battle fatigue. The standard Japanese folk remedy for colds and flus is okayu with umeboshi, another usage of umeboshi is in Ume ochazuke, a dish of rice with poured in green tea topped with umeboshi. Umeboshi is used as an accent to enhance flavor and presentation. They may also be served as a complement of a tea or a drink with shochu. Umeboshi are often eaten as snacks, in the United States, eating umeboshi in Japan is the equivalent of the English expression an apple a day. Childrens candy shops sometimes carry karikari ume, or prepackaged, crunchy pickled ume and this Japanese style traditional condiment is believed to be a digestive aid, prevention of nausea, and for systemic toxicity, including hangovers
6.
Nori
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Nori is the Japanese name for edible seaweed species of the red algae genus Pyropia, including P. yezoensis and P. tenera. Nori is familiar in the United States and other countries as an ingredient of sushi, finished products are made by a shredding and rack-drying process that resembles papermaking. Pyropia is also called laver in Wales and other English-speaking countries, originally, the term nori was generic and referred to seaweeds including hijiki. One of the oldest descriptions of nori is dated to around the 8th century, in the Taihō Code enacted in 701, nori was already included in the form of taxation. Local people have described as drying nori in Hitachi Province Fudoki. In Utsubo Monogatari, written around 987, nori was recognized as a common food, Nori had been consumed as paste form until the sheet form was invented in Asakusa, Edo, around 1750 in the Edo period through the method of Japanese paper-making. The word nori first appeared in an English-language publication in C. P. Thunbergs Trav and it was used in conjugation as Awa nori, probably referring to what is now called aonori. The Japanese nori industry was in decline after WWII, when Japan was in need of all food which could be produced. The decline was due to a lack of understanding of the three stage life cycle so that local people did not understand why traditional cultivation methods were not effective. Her work was discovered by Japanese scientists who applied it to artificial methods of seeding and growing the plants, rescuing the industry. Kathleen Baker was hailed as the Mother of the Sea in Japan, in the 21st century, the Japanese nori industry faces a new decline due to increased competition from seaweed producers in China and Korea and domestic sales tax hikes. Gut microbes from the North American subjects lacked these enzymes, production and processing of nori is an advanced form of agriculture. The biology of Pyropia, although complicated, is understood. Farming takes place in the sea where the Pyropia plants grow attached to nets suspended at the sea surface, the plants grow rapidly, requiring about 45 days from seeding until the first harvest. Multiple harvests can be taken from a single seeding, typically at about ten-day intervals, harvesting is accomplished using mechanical harvesters of a variety of configurations. Processing of raw product is mostly accomplished by highly automated machines that accurately duplicate traditional manual processing steps, the final product is a paper-thin, black, dried sheet of approximately 18 cm ×20 cm and 3 grams in weight. Several grades of nori are available in the United States, the most common, and least expensive, grades are imported from China, costing about six cents per sheet. At the high end, ranging up to 90 cents per sheet, are delicate shin-nori cultivated in Ariake Sea, in Japan, over 600 square kilometres of Japanese coastal waters are given to producing 350,000 tonnes of nori, worth over a billion dollars
7.
Sesame
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Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum, also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a number in India. It is widely naturalized in regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds. The world harvested 4.2 million metric tonnes of seeds in 2013, with India. Sesame seed is one of the oldest oilseed crops known, domesticated well over 3000 years ago, Sesame has many species, most being wild and native to sub-Saharan Africa. Sesame indicum, the type, originated in India and is tolerant to drought-like conditions. Sesame has one of the highest oil contents of any seed, with a rich, nutty flavor, it is a common ingredient in cuisines across the world. Like other nuts and foods, it can trigger allergic reactions in some people, sometimes sold with its seed coat removed, this variety is often present on top of baked goods in many countries. The word sesame is from Latin sesamum or Greek sēsamon, it also has derivation from Arabic semsem, from these roots, words with the generalized meaning “oil, liquid fat” were derived. Sesame names vary among numerous languages, Sesame seed is considered to be the oldest oilseed crop known to humanity. The genus has many species, and most are wild, most wild species of the genus Sesamum are native to sub-Saharan Africa. Sesame indicum, the type, originated in India. Some reports claim sesame was cultivated in Egypt during the Ptolemiac period, records from Babylon and Assyria, dating about 4000 years ago, mention sesame. Egyptians called it sesemt, and it is included in the list of drugs in the scrolls of the Ebers Papyrus dated to be over 3600 years old. Archeological reports from Turkey indicate that sesame was grown and pressed to extract oil at least 2750 years ago in the empire of Urartu, the historic origin of sesame was favored by its ability to grow in areas that do not support the growth of other crops. It was a crop that could be grown by farmers at the edge of deserts. Sesame has been called a survivor crop, the flowers are yellow, tubular,3 to 5 cm long, with a four-lobed mouth. The flowers may vary in colour, with some being white, blue, Sesame seeds occur in many colours depending on the cultivar
8.
Seed
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A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after fertilization by pollen and some growth within the mother plant. The embryo is developed from the zygote and the coat from the integuments of the ovule. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to both in hot and cold climates. The term seed also has a meaning that antedates the above—anything that can be sown, e. g. seed potatoes. In the case of sunflower and corn seeds, what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, many structures commonly referred to as seeds are actually dry fruits. Plants producing berries are called baccate, sunflower seeds are sometimes sold commercially while still enclosed within the hard wall of the fruit, which must be split open to reach the seed. Different groups of plants have other modifications, the stone fruits have a hardened fruit layer fused to. Nuts are the one-seeded, hard-shelled fruit of plants with an indehiscent seed. Seeds are produced in several related groups of plants, and their manner of production distinguishes the angiosperms from the gymnosperms, angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds, hence the name. Some fruits have layers of hard and fleshy material. In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, however, the seeds do become covered by the cone scales as they develop in some species of conifer. Seed production in natural plant populations varies widely from year-to-year in response to weather variables, insects and diseases, over a 20-year period, for example, forests composed of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine produced from 0 to nearly 5 million sound pine seeds per hectare. Over this period, there were six bumper, five poor, and nine good seed crops, right after fertilization, the zygote is mostly inactive, but the primary endosperm divides rapidly to form the endosperm tissue. This tissue becomes the food the young plant will consume until the roots have developed after germination, after fertilization the ovules develop into the seeds. The ovule consists of a number of components, The funicle or seed stalk which attaches the ovule to the placenta and hence ovary or fruit wall, the nucellus, the remnant of the megasporangium and main region of the ovule where the megagametophyte develops. The micropyle, a pore or opening in the apex of the integument of the ovule where the pollen tube usually enters during the process of fertilization. The chalaza, the base of the ovule opposite the micropyle, the shape of the ovules as they develop often affects the final shape of the seeds
9.
Pollock roe
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Pollock roe, the salted roe of Alaska pollock, is a popular culinary ingredient in Japan, Korea, and Russia. In Korea, the roe of Alaska pollock is traditionally called myeongnan, the food was introduced to Japan after World War II, and is called mentaiko in Japanese. The milder, less spicy version is called tarako in Japan, in Russian, it is called ikra mintaya. Myeongnan-jeot is a compound of myeong + ran + jeot, the first letter myeong came from myeongtae, the name for Alaska pollocks in Korean. Ran, also pronounced nan, means egg, although Alaska pollocks are called suketōdara in Japanese, mentai here, borrowed from its Korean cognate myeongtae, means Alaska pollock. Ikra means roe and mintaya is the genitive form of mintay. The word mintay derived from its Korean cognate, myeongtae, koreans have been enjoying pollock roe since the Joseon era. One of the earliest mentions are from Seungjeongwon ilgi, where a 1652 entry stated, recipe for salted pollock roe is found in a 19th century cookbook, Siuijeonseo. Toshio Kawahara, who was born in the city of Busan, Korea during the Japanese occupation, the typical seasoning and flavor is different in Japan. Traditionally, myeongnan-jeot was made before dongji, intact skeins of Alaska pollock roe are washed carefully with salt water, then salted in a sokuri. The ratio of salt to roe ranges from less than 5,100 to more than 15,100, after 2-3 days, salted and drained roe is marinated for at least a day with fine gochutgaru and finely minced garlic. Myeongnan-jeot is usually served with some drops of sesame oil, myeongnan-jeot, whether raw, dried, and/or cooked, is a common banchan and anju. It is also used in a variety of dishes, such as gyeran-jjim, bokkeum-bap, myeongnan-jeot is a specialty of South Hamgyong Province of North Korea, and Gangwon Province and Busan of South Korea. Mentaiko is made in a variety of flavors and colors and is available at airports and it is usually eaten with onigiri, but is also enjoyed by itself with sake. A common variety is spicy mentaiko and it is a product of the Hakata ward of Fukuoka City. Recently in Japan, mentaiko pasta has become common and popular. Mentaiko is mixed with butter or mayonnaise and used as a sauce for spaghetti, thin strips of Nori are often sprinkled on top. Mentaiko was nominated as Japans number one dish in the Japanese weekly magazine
10.
Roe
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Roe or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins. As a seafood, roe is used both as an ingredient in many dishes and as a raw ingredient. The roe of marine animals, such as the roe of lumpsucker, hake, roe from a sturgeon or sometimes other fishes is the raw base product from which caviar is made. The term soft roe or white roe denotes fish milt, the large Indian population in KwaZulu Natal consumes fish roe in the form of slightly sour curry or battered and deep fried. Shad, pike and other roe are sometimes pan-fried with bacon, spot Prawn roe is also a delicacy from the North Pacific. Flounder roe, pan-fried and served with grits is popular on the Southeastern coast, in the province of New Brunswick, roe of the Atlantic sturgeon is harvested from the Saint John river. Roe from the cisco is harvested from the Great Lakes, primarily for overseas markets, roe is also extracted from herring, salmon, and sea urchins. In coastal British Columbia, Fraser River white sturgeon are sustainably farmed to produce caviar, in Chile, sea urchin roe is a traditional food known as an erizo de mar. Chile is one of countries that exports sea urchins to Japan in order to fulfill Japanese demand. In Peru, roe is served in seafood restaurants sauteed, breaded and pan fried. Cojinova yields the best roe for this dish, despite the fact that many people like it, it is hardly considered a delicacy. Upscale restaurants are not expected to offer it, but street vendors, cojinova itself is caught for its fish meal, not for its roe, which is considered a chance product. Sea urchin roe is considered a delicacy and it is used to add strength to ceviche, roe from the Ilish fish is considered a delicacy in Bangladesh. The roe is usually deep-fried, although other preparations such as mashed roe where the roe crushed along with oil, onion and pepper, in many regions in China, crab and urchin roes are eaten as a delicacy. Crab roe are used as topping in dishes such as crab roe tofu. Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant serves crab roe xiaolongbao as their special, Shrimp roes are also eaten in certain places, especially around the downstream of Yangtze River, such as Wuhu, as toppings for noodle soup. Among the tribal populace of eastern India, roe that has been deeply roasted over a fire is a delicacy. In this region, the roe of rohu is also considered a delicacy and is fried or as a stuffing within a fried pointed gourd to make potoler dolma
