1.
Meze
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Meze or mezze is a selection of small dishes served to accompany alcoholic drinks in the Near East, the Balkans, and parts of Central Asia. In Levantine, Caucasian, and Balkan cuisines, meze is served at the beginning of multi-course meals. The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Cyprus and the Balkans, mezé, mezés, or mezédhes are small dishes, hot or cold, spicy or savory. Popular meze dishes include, Mutabbal/Babaghanoush – eggplant mashed and mixed with seasonings, Hummus – a dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas Hummus with meat Falafel – a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Tashi – Dip made from tahini, garlic, salt and lemon juice with chopped parsley garnish, souvlaki – Bite sized meat cubes, grilled on a skewer over charcoal. Stifado – Slow cooked beef stew with lots of onions, garlic, tomatoes, cinnamon, pepper, afelia – Diced pork marinated in wine with coriander seed, then stewed. Lountza – Smoked pork loin slice, usually grilled, dolma Vegetables like peppers, eggplants or courgettes stuffed with rice, chopped mint, lemon juice, pepper, minced meat. Sarma – Grape vine leaves, stuffed with rice, chopped mint, lemon juice, pepper, yogurt Tzatziki – Dip made from plain yogurt, chopped cucumber with finely chopped garlic and mint leaf. Tarama – a fish roe dip based on cured carp fish roe, mashed potatoes, in the traditional Istanbul variety of this dish, a substantial part of the roe must remain intact. Labneh – strained youghurt which tastes similar to cream or sour cream only more tart, there are vegetarian, meat or fish mezes. Groups of dishes arrive at the table about 4 or 5 at a time, establishments will offer their own specialities, but the pattern remains the same. Naturally the dishes served will reflect the seasons, for example, in late autumn, snails will be prominent. As so much food is offered, it is not expected that every dish be finished, eating a Cypriot meze is a social event. In the Balkans, meze is very similar to Mediterranean antipasti in the sense that cured cold-cuts, cheese and salads are dominant ingredients, in southern Croatia, Herzegovina and Montenegro more mediterranean forms of cured meat like pršut and panceta and regional products like olives are common. Albanian-style meze platters typically include prosciutto ham, salami and brined cheese, in Bulgaria, popular mezes are lukanka, soujouk, sirene, and Shopska salad made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, roasted peppers and sirene. In Romania, mezelic means quick appetizer and includes Zacuscă, cheeses and salamis, meze is generally accompanied by the distilled drinks rakı, arak, ouzo, Aragh Sagi, rakia, mastika, or tsipouro. It may also be consumed with beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks, Cyprus Brandy is a favourite drink to accompany meze in Cyprus, although lager or wine are popular with some. The same dishes, served without alcoholic drinks, are termed muqabbilat in Arabic, in Bulgaria, meze is served primarily at consumption of wine but also as an appetizer for rakia and mastika
2.
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
3.
Dipping sauce
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A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, dips are commonly used for finger foods, appetizers, and other easily held foods. Thick dips based on cream, crème fraiche, milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, soft cheese. Alton Brown suggests that a dip is defined based on its ability to contact with its transport mechanism over three feet of white carpet. Dips in various forms are all over the world and people have been using sauces for dipping for thousands of years. Some types of dip include, Aioli, a mayonnaise flavored with garlic, ajika, a spicy, subtly flavoured dip in Caucasian cuisine, based on hot red pepper, garlic, herbs and spices. Ajvar, made from red bell peppers with garlic, found in Serbian cuisine Artichoke dip, some versions are served chunky, while others are puréed and have a smooth texture Baba ghanoush, a dip made from eggplant. It is popular in the Eastern Mediterranean and parts of South Asia, bagna càuda, a regional dish of the Italian Piedmont, it is composed of garlic, anchovies, oil and dairy, and is served with assorted vegetables for dipping. Barbecue sauce, a common sauce either tomato, vinegar, or mustard based, often used for grilled and fried meats, and french fries in the United States. Bean dip, dip made from refried beans Blue cheese dressing is made from mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt, blue cheese, milk, vinegar, onion powder, dry mustard. It is commonly used as a dip for raw vegetables or buffalo wings, buffalo sauce, made from vinegar-based pepper hot sauce, is often used as both a coating for buffalo wings as well as a standalone dipping sauce for other foods. Chile con queso, a dip of melted cheese and chili peppers used in Tex Mex cuisine with tortilla chips, chili oil is used as a dipping sauce for meat and dim sum. Chocolate, a dip for various fruits, doughnuts, profiteroles, chutney, any of a wide variety of sauces with origins in the sub-continent of India, from freshly chopped herbs in yogurt, to bottled, spiced fruit mixtures. Used with snacks like deep fried samosas and pakoras, in India and Sri Lanka, it is also commonly served with dosa and idli. Clam dip, a kind of condiment for dipping crackers and chips, cocktail sauce, a popular dip for seafood made from ketchup or chili sauce and horseradish. Crab dip, a thick dip popular in Maryland usually made from cream cheese, curry ketchup, also called Currygewürz in Germany, is a spicier form of ketchup. Fish sauce, or nam pla, the fermented fish equivalent of soy sauce, used in southeastern Asian cuisines as a dip for snacks, fish paste or bagoong, fermented fish paste, used in southeastern Asian cuisines as a dip for rice dishes. Fondue, a cheese sauce, which rose in popularity in the U. S
4.
Olive oil
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Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives, a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The oil is produced by pressing whole olives and it is commonly used in cooking, whether for frying or as a salad dressing. It is also used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps, and as a fuel for oil lamps. It is associated with the Mediterranean diet for its health benefits. The olive is one of three core food plants in Mediterranean cuisine, the two are wheat and grapes. Olive trees have grown around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC. Spain is the largest producer of oil, followed by Italy. However, per capita consumption is highest in Greece, followed by Spain, Italy, consumption in North America and northern Europe is far less, but rising steadily. The composition of oil varies with the cultivar, altitude, time of harvest. It consists mainly of acid, with smaller amounts of other fatty acids including linoleic acid. The olive tree is native to the Mediterranean basin, wild olives were collected by Neolithic peoples as early as the 8th millennium BC, the wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor or in ancient Greece. It is not clear when and where trees were first domesticated, in Asia Minor, in the Levant. Archeological evidence shows that olives were turned into oil by 6000 BC and 4500 BC in present-day Palestine. Until 1500 BC, eastern areas of the Mediterranean were most heavily cultivated. Evidence also suggests that olives were being grown in Crete as long ago as 2,500 BC, the cultivation of olive trees in Crete became particularly intense in the post-palatial period and played an important role in the islands economy, as it did across the Mediterranean. Recent genetic studies suggest that species used by modern cultivators descend from multiple wild populations, Olive trees and oil production in the Eastern Mediterranean can be traced to archives of the ancient city-state Ebla, which were located on the outskirts of the Syrian city Aleppo. Here some dozen documents dated 2400 BC describe lands of the king and these belonged to a library of clay tablets perfectly preserved by having been baked in the fire that destroyed the palace. A later source is the frequent mentions of oil in the Tanakh, dynastic Egyptians before 2000 BC imported olive oil from Crete, Syria and Canaan and oil was an important item of commerce and wealth
5.
Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
6.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
7.
Middle Eastern cuisine
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Middle Eastern cuisine is the cuisine of the various countries and peoples of the Middle East. The cuisine of the region is diverse while having a degree of homogeneity, some popular dishes include Kebabs, Dolma, and Doner Kebab. The Middle East includes the formerly known as the Fertile Crescent. Fermentation was also discovered here to leaven bread and make beer in Mesopotamia, as a crossroads between Europe, Asia, the Caucasus and North Africa, this area has long been a hub of food and recipe exchange. During the Persian Empire, the foundation was laid for modern Middle-Eastern food when rice, poultry, figs, dates and nuts were brought by merchants to conquered lands, and spices were brought back from the Orient. Religion has also influenced the cuisine, neither Jews nor Muslims eat pork, chateau Ksara is also very popular for its arak, an alcoholic drink produced in the Levant and Iraq. Al-Maza is Lebanons primary brewery, which was also, at one time, Lebanon has always been well known in the region for its wines and arak, making it an exception when it comes to lack of alcohol in the region. Under the Ottoman Empire, sweet pastries of paper thin phyllo dough, cereals constitute the basis of the Middle Eastern diet, both historically and today. Wheat and rice are the major and preferred sources of staple foods, barley is also widely used in the region and maize has become common in some areas as well. Bread is a universal staple – eaten in one form or another by all classes, aside from bread, wheat is also used in the forms of bulghur and couscous. Burghul is cracked wheat, made by cooking the wheat grains in water, drying it in an oven or in the sun, then breaking it into pieces. Typically, it is cooked in water, with flavorings, much like rice, burghul is also used in making meat pies and as an ingredient in salads, notably in tabbouleh, with chopped parsley, tomato, lemon, and oil. Freekeh is another common grain, made from green wheat. There are many types of produced and consumed in the region. Plain rice is served under grilled meats or with meat/vegetable stews, in more complex rice dishes, there are layers of meat, vegetables, sauces, nuts, or dried fruits. Butter and clarified butter are, traditionally, the medium of cooking. Olive oil is prevalent in the Mediterranean coastal areas, christians use it during Lent, when meat and dairy products are excluded, and Jews use it in place of animal fats such as butter to avoid mixing meat and dairy products. Most regions in the Middle East use spices, typically, a stew will include a small amount of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cumin, and coriander
8.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
9.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
10.
Cairo
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Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt. Cairo has long been a center of the political and cultural life. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab world, as well as the worlds second-oldest institution of higher learning, Al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, with a population of 6.76 million spread over 453 square kilometers, Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million inhabitants live in proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other mega-cities, suffers from high levels of pollution, Cairos metro, one of only two in Africa, ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world, with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005, Egyptians often refer to Cairo as Maṣr, the Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the citys importance for the country. In Coptic the city is known as Kahire, meaning Place of the Sun, possibly referring to the ancient city of Heliopolis, the location of the ancient city is the suburb of Ain Shams. The ancient Egyptian name for the area is thought to be Khere-Ohe, The Place of Combat, sometimes the city is informally referred to as Kayro. The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, had long been a point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance and this fortress, known as Babylon, remained the nucleus of the Roman, and, later, the Byzantine, city and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, many of Cairos oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo. Following the Muslim conquest in 640 AD the conqueror Amr ibn As settled to the north of the Babylon in an area became known as al-Fustat. Originally a tented camp Fustat became a permanent settlement and the first capital of Islamic Egypt, in 750, following the overthrow of the Ummayad caliphate by the Abbasids, the new rulers created their own settlement to the northeast of Fustat which became their capital. This was known as al-Askar as it was laid out like a military camp, a rebellion in 869 by Ahmad ibn Tulun led to the abandonment of Al Askar and the building of another settlement, which became the seat of government. This was al-Qattai, to the north of Fustat and closer to the river, Al Qattai was centred around a palace and ceremonial mosque, now known as the Mosque of ibn Tulun. In 905 the Abbasids re-asserted control of the country and their returned to Fustat
11.
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
12.
Lemon
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The lemon, Citrus limon Osbeck, is a species of small evergreen tree in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia. The trees ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world, primarily for its juice, the pulp and rind are also used in cooking and baking. The juice of the lemon is about 5% to 6% citric acid, the distinctive sour taste of lemon juice makes it a key ingredient in drinks and foods such as lemonade and lemon meringue pie. The origin of the lemon is unknown, though lemons are thought to have first grown in Assam, a study of the genetic origin of the lemon reported it to be hybrid between bitter orange and citron. Lemons entered Europe near southern Italy no later than the second century AD, however, they were not widely cultivated. They were later introduced to Persia and then to Iraq and Egypt around 700 AD, the lemon was first recorded in literature in a 10th-century Arabic treatise on farming, and was also used as an ornamental plant in early Islamic gardens. It was distributed throughout the Arab world and the Mediterranean region between 1000 and 1150. The first substantial cultivation of lemons in Europe began in Genoa in the middle of the 15th century, the lemon was later introduced to the Americas in 1493 when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola on his voyages. Spanish conquest throughout the New World helped spread lemon seeds and it was mainly used as an ornamental plant and for medicine. In the 19th century, lemons were increasingly planted in Florida, in 1747, James Linds experiments on seamen suffering from scurvy involved adding lemon juice to their diets, though vitamin C was not yet known. The origin of the lemon may be Middle Eastern. The word draws from the Old French limon, then Italian limone, from the Arabic laymūn or līmūn, and from the Persian līmūn, a term for citrus fruit. The Bonnie Brae is oblong, smooth, thin-skinned, and seedless, the Eureka grows year-round and abundantly. This is the common supermarket lemon, also known as Four Seasons because of its ability to produce fruit and this variety is also available as a plant to domestic customers. There is also a pink-fleshed Eureka lemon, with a green, the Femminello St. Teresa, or Sorrento is native to Italy. This fruits zest is high in lemon oils and it is the variety traditionally used in the making of limoncello. The Meyer is a cross between a lemon and possibly an orange or a mandarin, and was named after Frank N. Meyer, who first introduced it to the USA in 1908. Thin-skinned and slightly less acidic than the Lisbon and Eureka lemons, Meyer lemons often mature to a yellow-orange color
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