1.
Distilled beverage
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This process purifies it and removes diluting components like water, for the purpose of increasing its proportion of alcohol content. As distilled beverages contain more alcohol, they are considered harder – in North America, as examples, this term does not include beverages such as beer, wine, sake, and cider, as they are fermented but not distilled. These all have relatively low alcohol content, typically less than 15%, brandy is a spirit produced by the distillation of wine, and has an ABV of over 35%. Other examples of distilled beverages include bourbon, vodka, gin, rum, tequila, mezcal, whisky, scotch, the term spirit refers to a distilled beverage that contains no added sugar and has at least 20% alcohol by volume. Distilled beverages bottled with added sugar and added flavorings, such as Grand Marnier, Frangelico, Distilled beverages generally have an alcohol concentration higher than 30%. The origin of liquor and its close relative liquid was the Latin verb liquere, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, an early use of the word in the English language, meaning simply a liquid, can be dated to 1225. The first use the OED mentions of its meaning a liquid for drinking occurred in the 14th century and its use as a term for an intoxicating alcoholic drink appeared in the 16th century. The term spirit in reference to alcohol stems from Middle Eastern alchemy and these alchemists were more concerned with medical elixirs than with transmuting lead into gold. The vapor given off and collected during a process was called a spirit of the original material. Distilled water was described in the 2nd century AD by Alexander of Aphrodisias, the Alexandrians were using a distillation alembic or still device in the 3rd century AD. The medieval Arabs learned the process from the Alexandrians and used it extensively. Freeze distillation involves freezing the alcoholic beverage and then removing the ice, the freezing technique had limitations in geography and implementation limiting how widely this method was put to use. The earliest evidence of distillation of alcohol comes from the School of Salerno in southern Italy during the 12th century. Again, the Chinese may not have been far behind, with evidence indicating the practice of distillation began during the 12th century Jin or Southern Song dynasties. A still has been found at a site in Qinglong, Hebei. Fractional distillation was developed by Taddeo Alderotti in the 13th century, the production method was written in code, suggesting that it was being kept secret. In 1437, burned water was mentioned in the records of the County of Katzenelnbogen in Germany and it was served in a tall, narrow glass called a Goderulffe. Claims upon the origin of specific beverages are controversial, often invoking national pride, but they are plausible after the 12th century AD and these spirits would have had a much lower alcohol content than the alchemists pure distillations, and they were likely first thought of as medicinal elixirs
2.
Kumquat
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Kumquats are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae. They were previously classified as forming the now historical genus Fortunella, the edible fruit closely resembles that of the orange, but it is much smaller, being approximately the size and shape of a large olive. Kumquat is a fairly cold-hardy citrus, the English name kumquat derives from the Cantonese 金橘, literally golden orange or golden tangerine. Though loquats are not botanically related to kumquats, the terms derive from the same Chinese word for orange, the kumquat plant is native to south Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. The earliest historical reference to kumquats appears in literature of China in the 12th century and they have long been cultivated in India, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and southeast Asia. They were introduced to Europe in 1846 by Robert Fortune, collector for the London Horticultural Society and they are slow-growing evergreen shrubs or short trees, from 2.5 to 4.5 meters tall, with dense branches, sometimes bearing small thorns. The leaves are glossy green, and the flowers are white, similar to other citrus flowers. Depending on size, the tree can produce hundreds or even thousands of fruits each year. When the kumquats are divided into species, the name Fortunella japonica is retained by this group. The round kumquat also called Marumi kumquat or Morgani kumquat, is an evergreen tree, the round Hawaiian varietal, the Meiwa kumquat, is eaten raw. The fruit is small and usually round but can be oval shaped, the peel has a sweet flavor but the fruit has a sour center. The fruit can be eaten cooked but is used to make marmalades and jellies. It is grown as a plant and can be used in bonsai. The plant symbolizes good luck in China and other Asian countries, round kumquats are more commonly cultivated than other species due to their cold tolerance. When the kumquats are divided into species, the name Fortunella margarita is used for this group. The oval kumquat is also called the Nagami kumquat, the unusual feature of the Nagami kumquat is in the eating of the fruit. The fruit is eaten whole, skin and all, the inside is still quite sour, but the skin has the sweeter flavour, when eaten together it produces an unusual tart-sweet, refreshing flavour. Fruit ripens mid to late winter and always crops very heavily, the tree is smaller growing and dwarf in nature, making it ideal for pots and has even been used in bonsai
3.
Corfu
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Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its satellite islands. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality, the municipality has an area of 610.936 km2, the island proper 592.877 km2. The principal city of the island and seat of the municipality is also named Corfu, Corfu is home to the Ionian University. The island is bound up with the history of Greece from the beginnings of Greek mythology and its history is full of battles and conquests. Castles punctuating strategic locations across the island are a legacy of these struggles, two of these castles enclose its capital, which is the only city in Greece to be surrounded in such a way. As a result, Corfus capital has been declared a Kastropolis by the Greek government. From medieval times and into the 17th century, the island was recognised as a bulwark of the European States against the Ottoman Empire, the fortifications of the island were used by the Venetians to defend against Ottoman intrusion into the Adriatic. Corfu repulsed several Ottoman sieges, before falling under British rule following the Napoleonic Wars, in 2007, the citys old quarter was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, following a recommendation by ICOMOS. Corfu is a popular tourist destination. The island was the location of the 1994 European Union summit, the Greek name, Kerkyra or Korkyra, is related to two powerful water deities, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Asopos, an important Greek mainland river. According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, daughter of Asopos and river nymph Metope, Poseidon brought Korkyra to the hitherto unnamed island and, in marital bliss, offered her name to the place, Korkyra, which gradually evolved to Kerkyra. They had a child they called Phaiax, after whom the inhabitants of the island were named Phaiakes, Corfus nickname is the island of the Phaeacians. The name Corfù, an Italian version of the Byzantine Κορυφώ, meaning city of the peaks, derives from the Byzantine Greek Κορυφαί, the northeastern edge of Corfu lies off the coast of Sarandë, Albania, separated by straits varying in width from 3 to 23 km. The southeast side of the island lies off the coast of Thesprotia and its shape resembles a sickle, to which it was compared by the ancients, the concave side, with the city and harbour of Corfu in the centre, lies toward the Albanian coast. With the islands area estimated at 592.9 square kilometres, it runs approximately 64 km long, two high and well-defined ranges divide the island into three districts, of which the northern is mountainous, the central undulating, and the southern low-lying. The more important of the two ranges, that of Pantokrator stretches east and west from Cape Falacro to Cape Psaromita, and attains its greatest elevation in the summit of the same name. The second range culminates in the mountain of Santi Jeca, or Santa Decca, as it is called by misinterpretation of the Greek designation Άγιοι Δέκα, or the Ten Saints
4.
Alcoholic drink
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Long-term use can lead to alcohol abuse, physical dependence, and alcoholism. Drinking alcohol plays an important social role in many cultures, most countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption, some countries ban such activities entirely. However, alcoholic drinks are legal in most parts of the world, the global alcoholic drink industry exceeded $1 trillion in 2014. Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. For instance, in 2015, among Americans, 89% of adults had consumed alcohol at point, 70% had drunk it in the last year. Alcoholic drinks are divided into three classes—beers, wines, and spirits—and typically contain between 3% and 40% alcohol by volume. Discovery of late Stone Age jugs suggest that intentionally fermented drinks existed at least as early as the Neolithic period, wine is a fermented beverage produced from grapes. Wine involves a longer process than beer and also a long aging process. Sparkling wine can be made by means of a secondary fermentation, fruit wines are made from fruits other than grapes, such as plums, cherries, or apples. Sake is an example of rice wine. Beer is a beverage fermented from grain mash and it is made from barley or a blend of several grains. If the fermented mash is distilled, then the drink is a spirit, beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage in the world. Cider or cyder is an alcoholic drink made from any fruit juice, apple juice, peaches. Cider alcohol content varies from 1. 2% ABV to 8. 5% or more in traditional English ciders, in some regions, cider may be called apple wine. Mead is a drink created by fermenting honey with water, sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains. The alcoholic content of mead may range from about 8% ABV to more than 20%, the defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the drinks fermentable sugar is derived from honey. A distilled drink or liquor is a drink produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit. Unsweetened, distilled, alcoholic drinks that have a content of at least 20% ABV are called spirits
5.
Fruit
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In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate seeds, accordingly, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the worlds agricultural output, and some have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. On the other hand, in usage, fruit includes many structures that are not commonly called fruits, such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes. The section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body. Many common terms for seeds and fruit do not correspond to the botanical classifications, however, in botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a nut is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a seed is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary vegetables and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits, eggplant, legumes, sweet pepper, in addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. g. Botanically, a grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat, is also a kind of fruit. However, the wall is very thin and is fused to the seed coat. The outer, often edible layer, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary and surrounding the seeds, the pericarp may be described in three layers from outer to inner, the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked, a fruit results from maturation of one or more flowers, and the gynoecium of the flower forms all or part of the fruit. Inside the ovary/ovaries are one or more ovules where the megagametophyte contains the egg cell, after double fertilization, these ovules will become seeds. The ovules are fertilized in a process starts with pollination. After pollination, a tube grows from the pollen through the stigma into the ovary to the ovule, later the zygote will give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo. As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall, in some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, in some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower, fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. In other cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the fall off. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit, since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three modes of fruit development, Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower having one or more separate carpels
6.
Cream
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Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, in the industrial production of cream, this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called separators. In many countries, cream is sold in several grades depending on the total butterfat content, Cream can be dried to a powder for shipment to distant markets. Cream has high levels of saturated fat, Cream skimmed from milk may be called sweet cream to distinguish it from whey cream skimmed from whey, a by-product of cheese-making. Whey cream has a fat content and tastes more salty, tangy. In many countries, cream is usually sold partially fermented, sour cream, crème fraîche, Cream has many culinary uses in sweet, bitter, salty and tangy dishes. This is also the origin of butters yellow color, Cream from goats milk, or from cows fed indoors on grain or grain-based pellets, is white. Cream is used as an ingredient in foods, including ice cream, many sauces, soups, stews, puddings, and some custard bases. Whipped cream is served as a topping on ice cream sundaes, milkshakes, egg nog, irish cream is an alcoholic liqueur which blends cream with whiskey, and often honey, wine, or coffee. Cream is also used in Indian curries such as masala dishes, Cream is often added to coffee in the US and Canada. Both single and double cream can be used in cooking, double cream or full-fat crème fraîche are often used when cream is added to a hot sauce, to prevent any problem with it separating or splitting. Double cream can be thinned with milk to make an approximation of single cream, the French word crème denotes not only dairy cream, but also other thick liquids such as sweet and savory custards, which are normally made with milk, not cream. Different grades of cream are distinguished by their fat content, whether they have been heat-treated, whipped, in many jurisdictions, there are regulations for each type. In the United States, cream is sold as, Most cream products sold in the United States at retail contain the minimum permissible fat content for their product type. Half and half almost always contains only 10. 5% butterfat, not all grades are defined by all jurisdictions, and the exact fat content ranges vary. Cream must contain no less than 350 g/kg of milk fat, in Canada, light cream is very low-fat cream, usually with 5% or 6% butterfat. Specific product characteristics are generally uniform throughout Canada, but names vary by geographic and linguistic area and by manufacturer. It can be confusing, coffee cream may be 10% or 18% and half-and-half may be 3%, 5%, 6% or 10%, all depending on location
7.
Herb
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In general use, herbs are any plants used for food, flavoring, medicine, or fragrances for their savory or aromatic properties. Culinary use typically distinguishes herbs from spices, Herbs refers to the leafy green or flowering parts of a plant, while spices are produced from other parts of the plant, including seeds, berries, bark, roots and fruits. In botanical English, the herb is also used as a synonym of herbaceous plant. Herbs have a variety of uses including culinary, medicinal, and in some cases, general usage of the term herb differs between culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. In medicinal or spiritual use any of the parts of the plant might be considered herbs, including leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, root bark, inner bark, resin and pericarp. The word herb is pronounced /ˈhɜːrb/ in the UK, but /ˈɜːrb/ is common among North American speakers, as far back as 5000 BCE, Sumerians used herbs in medicine. Ancient Egyptians used fennel, coriander and thyme around 1555 BCE, in ancient Greece, in 162 CE, a physician by the name of Galen was known for concocting complicated herbal remedies that contained up to 100 ingredients. Culinary herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that, like spices, they are used in small amounts, Herbs can be perennials such as thyme or lavender, biennials such as parsley, or annuals like basil. Perennial herbs can be such as rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, or trees such as bay laurel, Laurus nobilis – this contrasts with botanical herbs. Some plants are used as herbs and spices, such as dill weed and dill seed or coriander leaves and seeds. Also, there are some such as those in the mint family that are used for both culinary and medicinal purposes. Some plants contain phytochemicals that have effects on the body, there may be some effects when consumed in the small levels that typify culinary spicing, and some herbs are toxic in larger quantities. For instance, some types of herbal extract, such as the extract of St. Johns-wort or of kava can be used for purposes to relieve depression. However, large amounts of these herbs may lead to toxic overload that may involve complications, some of a serious nature, Herbs have long been used as the basis of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, with usage dating as far back as the first century CE and far before. In India, the Ayurveda medicinal system is based on herbs, medicinal use of herbs in Western cultures has its roots in the Hippocratic elemental healing system, based on a quaternary elemental healing metaphor. Famous herbalist of the Western tradition include Avicenna, Galen, Paracelsus, Culpepper, the indigenous peoples of Australia developed herbal medicine based on plants that were readily available to them. The isolation of the people meant the remedies developed were for far less serious diseases. Herbs such as mint, wattle and eucalyptus were used for coughs, diarrhea, fever
8.
Spice
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A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring, coloring or preserving food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, sometimes, spices may be ground into a powder for convenience. Spices are sometimes used in medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics or perfume production, the spice trade developed throughout South Asia and Middle East by at least 2000 BCE with cinnamon and black pepper, and in East Asia with herbs and pepper. The Egyptians used herbs for mummification and their demand for exotic spices and herbs helped stimulate world trade. The word spice comes from the Old French word espice, which became epice, and which came from the Latin root spec, by 1000 BCE, medical systems based upon herbs could be found in China, Korea, and India. Early uses were connected with magic, medicine, religion, tradition, archaeological excavations have uncovered clove burnt onto the floor of a kitchen, dated to 1700 BCE, at the Mesopotamian site of Terqa, in modern-day Syria. The ancient Indian epic Ramayana mentions cloves, the Romans had cloves in the 1st century CE, as Pliny the Elder wrote about them. In the story of Genesis, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers to spice merchants, in the biblical poem Song of Solomon, the male speaker compares his beloved to many forms of spices. The earliest written records of spices come from ancient Egyptian, Chinese, the Ebers Papyrus from Early Egyptians that dates from 1550 B. C. E. Describes some eight hundred different medicinal remedies and numerous medicinal procedures, historians believe that nutmeg, which originates from the Banda Islands in Southeast Asia, was introduced to Europe in the 6th century BCE. Indonesian merchants traveled around China, India, the Middle East, Arab merchants facilitated the routes through the Middle East and India. This resulted in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria being the trading center for spices. The most important discovery prior to the European spice trade were the monsoon winds, sailing from Eastern spice cultivators to Western European consumers gradually replaced the land-locked spice routes once facilitated by the Middle East Arab caravans. Spices were among the most demanded and expensive available in Europe in the Middle Ages. Given medieval medicines main theory of humorism, spices and herbs were indispensable to balance humors in food, in addition to being desired by those using medieval medicine, the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages. An example of the European aristocracys demand for spice comes from the King of Aragon and he was specifically looking for spices to put in wine, and was not alone among European monarchs at the time to have such a desire for spice. Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive, from the 8th until the 15th century, the Republic of Venice had the monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, and along with it the neighboring Italian city-states. The trade made the region rich and it has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of the other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the Late Middle Ages
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