1.
Catania
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Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea. It is the capital of the Metropolitan City of Catania, one of the ten biggest cities in Italy, the population of the city proper is 315,601 while the population of the conurbation is estimated to be 767,003. The metropolitan city has 1,115,310 inhabitants, Catania has had a long and eventful history, having been founded in the 8th century BC. In 1434, the first university in Sicily was founded in the city, in the 14th century and into the Renaissance period, Catania was one of Italys most important cultural, artistic and political centres. The city has a culture and history, hosting many museums, restaurants, churches, parks. Catania is well known for its street food, Catania is located on the east coast of the island of Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna. As observed by Strabo, the location of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna has been both a curse and a blessing, two subterranean rivers run under the city, the Amenano, which surfaces at one single point south of Piazza Duomo, and the Longane. The ancient indigenous population of the Sicels named their villages after geographical attributes of their location, the Sicilian word, katane, means grater, flaying knife, skinning place or a crude tool apt to pare. Other translations of the name are harsh lands, uneven ground, sharp stones, the latter etymologies are easily justifiable since, for many centuries following an eruption, the city has always been rebuilt within its black-lava landscape. Around 729 BC, the ancient village of Katane became the Chalcidian colony of Katánē where the population was rapidly Hellenized. The Naxian founders, coming from the adjacent coast, later used the name for their new settlement along the River Amenano, around 263 BC, the city was variously known as Catĭna and Catăna. The former has been used for its supposed assonance with catina. Catinus has two meanings, a gulf, a basin or a bay and a bowl, a vessel or a trough, around 900, when Catania was part of the emirate of Sicily, it was known in Arabic as Balad al-fīl and Madinat al-fīl. The former means The Village of the Elephant, while the latter means The City of the Elephant, the Elephant is the lava sculpture over the fountain in Piazza Duomo. Another Arab toponym was Qaṭāniyyah, allegedly from the Arabic word for the leguminous plants, pulses like lentils, beans, peas, broad beans, and lupins were chiefly cultivated in the plains around the city well before the arrival of Aghlabids. Afterwards, many Arabic agronomists developed these crops and the orchards in the area around the city. The toponym Wadi Musa, or Valley of Moses, was rarely used, Catania was founded as a Greek colony named Κατάνη, of Chalcidic origin, under the guidance of a leader named Euarchos. The exact date of its foundation is not recorded, but it appears from Thucydides that it came into existence slightly later than Leontini, the only event of its early history that is known about is the legislation of Charondas, The exact date of which is uncertain
2.
Pasta alla Norma
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Pasta alla Norma is a pasta dish in Sicilian cuisine from Catania, an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily. It is made with tomatoes, fried aubergine, grated ricotta salata cheese and it is supposedly named after the opera Norma by the Catania-born composer Vincenzo Bellini. An alternative explanation of the name is that the dish respects norms, List of eggplant dishes List of pasta dishes Food portal
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Italian cuisine
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Italian cuisine is the culinary typical or originating from Italy. It has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots stretching to antiquity, Italian cuisine is characterized by its simplicity, with many dishes having only four to eight ingredients. Italian cooks rely chiefly on the quality of the rather than on elaborate preparation. Ingredients and dishes vary by region, many dishes that were once regional, however, have proliferated with variations throughout the country. Cheese and wine are a part of the cuisine, with many variations. Coffee, specifically espresso, has become important in Italian cuisine, Italian cuisine has developed over the centuries. Although the country known as Italy did not unite until the 19th century, Italian food started to form after the fall of the Roman Empire, when different cities began to separate and form their own traditions. Many different types of bread and pasta were made, and there was a variation in cooking techniques and preparation. For example, the north of Italy is known for its risottos, the central/middle of the country is known for its tortellini, the first known Italian food writer was a Greek Sicilian named Archestratus from Syracuse in the 4th century BCE. He wrote a poem that spoke of using top quality and seasonal ingredients and he said that flavors should not be masked by spices, herbs or other seasonings. He placed importance on simple preparation of fish, simplicity was abandoned and replaced by a culture of gastronomy as the Roman Empire developed. By the time De re coquinaria was published in the 1st century CE, it contained 470 recipes calling for heavy use of spices, the Romans employed Greek bakers to produce breads and imported cheeses from Sicily as the Sicilians had a reputation as the best cheesemakers. The Romans reared goats for butchering, and grew artichokes and leeks, with culinary traditions from Rome and Athens, a cuisine developed in Sicily that some consider the first real Italian cuisine. Arabs invaded Sicily in the 9th century, introducing spinach, almonds, Normans also introduced casseroles, salt cod and stockfish, which remain popular. Food preservation was either chemical or physical, as refrigeration did not exist, meats and fish would be smoked, dried or kept on ice. Brine and salt were used to pickle items such as herring, root vegetables were preserved in brine after they had been parboiled. Other means of preservation included oil, vinegar or immersing meat in congealed, rendered fat, for preserving fruits, liquor, honey and sugar were used. The northern Italian regions show a mix of Germanic and Roman culture while the south reflects Arab influence, the oldest Italian book on cuisine is the 13th century Liber de coquina written in Naples
4.
Ancient Roman cuisine
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Ancient Roman cuisine changed over the long duration of the ancient Roman civilization. In the beginning, dietary differences between Roman social classes were not very great, but disparities developed with the empires growth, traditionally, a breakfast called ientaculum was served at dawn. In the late morning, Romans ate a lunch, and in the evening they ate cena. With the increased importation of foreign foods, the cena grew larger in size and it gradually shifted to the afternoon, while the vesperna, a light supper eaten in the evening was abandoned completely. Prandium, a second breakfast, was introduced around noon, among the lower classes of society, these changes were less pronounced as the traditional routines corresponded closely to the daily rhythms of manual labor. Among the upper classes, who did not engage in manual labor, after the prandium, the last responsibilities would be discharged, and a visit would be made to the baths. Around 2 p. m. the cena would begin and this meal could last until late in the night, especially if guests were invited, and would often be followed by comissatio, a round of alcoholic beverages. In the period of the kings and the early Republic, but also in later periods, the cena essentially consisted of a kind of porridge, the simplest kind would be made from emmer, water, salt and fat. The more sophisticated kind was made with oil, with an accompaniment of assorted vegetables when available. The richer classes ate their puls with eggs, cheese, and honey, over the course of the Republican period, the cena developed into 2 courses, a main course and a dessert with fruit and seafood. By the end of the Republic, it was usual for the meal to be served in 3 parts, one course, main course, and dessert. Originally flat, round loaves made of emmer with a bit of salt were eaten, among the classes, eggs, cheese. In the Imperial period, around the beginning of the Christian era, bread made of wheat was introduced, with time, the bread was sometimes dipped in wine and eaten with olives, cheese, and grapes. At the time of the destruction of Pompeii in AD79, the ancient Roman diet included many items that are staples of modern Italian cooking. Pliny the Elder discussed more than 30 varieties of olive,40 kinds of pear, figs, some of these vegetables are no longer present in the modern world, while others have undergone significant changes. Carrots of different colors were consumed, but not in orange, however, some foods considered characteristic of modern Italian cuisine were not used. There were also few citrus fruits, butchers meat was an uncommon luxury. The most popular meat was pork, including sausages, beef was uncommon in ancient Rome, being more common in ancient Greece - it is not mentioned by Juvenal or Horace
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Regional cuisines of medieval Europe
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The regional cuisines of medieval Europe were the results of differences in climate, seasonal food variations, political administration and religious customs that varied across the continent. Though sweeping generalizations should be avoided, more or less distinct areas where certain foodstuffs dominated can be discerned. In the British Isles, northern France, the Low Countries, the northern German-speaking areas, Scandinavia, in the south, wine was the common drink for both rich and poor alike while beer was the commoners drink in the north and wine an expensive import. Citrus fruits and pomegranates were common around in the Mediterranean, dried figs and dates occurred quite frequently in the north, but were used rather sparingly in cooking. At no time during the Middle Ages was there a completely unified state that all or even a majority of all German-speaking peoples. The map was dotted with minor kingdoms, free cities and, in the High and Late Middle Ages, the controlled by the Hanseatic League. Most of these were under the loosely defined suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire, the extensive use of lard and butter for cooking and a diet that was perceived as especially fatty gained Germans a reputation as being the fat Germans. The fasting regulations of the Catholic Church posed particular problems to the German population, olives could not be cultivated and olive oil was an expensive import. Oils made from various nut were available, but in short supply. By far, the most common sources of fat were butter and, above all, mustard was used in other parts of Europe long before the Middle Ages, but seemed to be especially common in Germany. A 14th-century travel account by Eustache Deschamps, a French poet and it was rare that recipes for use in dire situations were included in recipe collections, but one example from a cookbook in Low German has been preserved. The most common grains in Poland were millet and wheat, barley and oats were cultivated, but used mostly as animal feed or for brewing beer. Cabbage, kale, peas, broad beans, and onions were the most common vegetables. Dill and mustard were almost ubiquitous potherbs and parsley was used as a green in stews, as a flavor additive. Beef, pork and poultry were the most common meats, with the appearance of mutton. Game, as elsewhere, was prized, but in short supply and usually limited to the high nobility. Fish was a staple, but unlike Germans, Poles tended only to eat it on fast days when meat was forbidden by the church. Beer was drunk by all classes, and came in many different varieties and made from millet, wheat, barley
6.
Early modern European cuisine
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The cuisine of early modern Europe was a mix of dishes inherited from medieval cuisine combined with innovations that would persist in the modern era. Fare was naturally dependent on the season, a cookbook by Domenico Romoli called Panunto made a virtue of necessity by including a recipe for each day of the year. There was a great increase in prosperity in Europe during this period, which gradually reached all classes and all areas. Everywhere both doctors and chefs continued to characterize foodstuffs by their effects on the four humours, they were considered to be heating or cooling to the constitution, moistening or drying. Nationalism was first conceived in the modern period, but it was not until the 19th century that the notion of a national cuisine emerged. Class differences were far more important dividing lines, and it was almost always upper-class food that was described in recipe collections and cookbooks. In most parts of Europe two meals per day were eaten, one in the morning to noon and one in the late afternoon or later at night. The exact times varied both by period and region, in Spain and in parts of Italy such as Genoa and Venice the early meal was the lighter one while supper was heavier. In the rest of Europe, the first meal of the day was the more substantial, throughout the period, there was a gradual shift of mealtimes. The first meal, then called dinner in English, moved from before noon to around 2,00 or 3,00 in the afternoon by the 17th century. By the end of the 18th century, it could be held as late as 5,00 or 6,00 and this necessitated a midday meal, luncheon, later shortened to lunch, which was established by the late 18th century. Breakfast does not receive attention in any sources. Breakfast, when it began to be fashionable, was usually just a coffee, tea or chocolate, there is no doubt that working people since medieval times ate some sort of morning meal, but it is unclear exactly at what time and what it consisted of. The three-meal-regimen so common today did not become a standard until well into the modern era, as in the Middle Ages, breakfast in the sense of an early morning meal, is largely absent from the sources. Its unclear if this meant it was universally avoided or that it simply was not fashionable enough to be mentioned, as most sources were written by, for, and about the upper class. For most of Europe, the varieties of grain were the most important crop. The differentiation was in the varieties, its quality and how it was prepared, the lower classes ate bread that was coarse and of considerably higher bran content while the upper classes enjoyed the finely ground, white wheat flour that most modern Europeans are used to. Wheat was considerably more expensive than other grains, and rarely eaten by many, most bread was made with a mixture of wheat and other grains
7.
Lombard cuisine
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The regional cuisine of Lombardy is heavily based upon ingredients like maize, rice, beef, pork, butter, and lard. In many aspects, Lombard cuisine has much in common with that of Austria, similarly to Italian cuisine, Lombard cuisine has much variety and every city and part of the region offers its own specialities. A characteristic Lombard dish is risotto, most famously risotto alla milanese, similarly to risotto, maize-based dishes such as polenta are also common parts of the regional cuisine. Famous Lombard dishes include cotoletta, cassoeula and ossobuco, the region also offers several delicacies and desserts, amongst which noted ones such as mostarda and panettone. Regional cheeses include Robiola, Crescenza, Taleggio, Gorgonzola and Grana Padano, the various Lombard provinces have their own specialties. The capital of Lombardy is also home to many culinary specialties, one of the best known is risotto alla milanese, flavoured with saffron and typically served with many typical Milanese main courses, such as ossobuco alla milanese and cotoletta alla milanese. Other Milanese specialities include cassoeula and the famous panettone Christmas cake, the cuisine in Como is heavily influenced by its lake. Typical are dishes of fish, like the missultin, agoni salted and sun-dried, there is even a special polenta, called toch, made with equal parts of corn flour, butter and cheese, a very difficult and rich dish. Some villages and valleys around the lake, such as Oliveto Lario, are one of the few parts of northern Italy where olive trees were historically grown, in Canzo, Nocciolini, made with hazelnut flour, and the liqueur Vespetrò are typical. Cremonas Mostarda is known thruought Italy and so is the Torrone which is a dessert from this province. Mantuan cuisine is noted for dishes of medieval origin and for sweet, tortelli di zucca accompanied by melted butter and followed by turkey stuffed with chicken or other stewed meats are one of the best known dishes from this area. Pavia province is divided in an area, the Oltrepo Pavese, which is one of the main winemaking areas of Lombardy, and a plains area to the north, Lomellina. Not surprisingly, local specialties are rice dishes, such as Risotto alla Certosina and Ris e Ran from Pavia and Risotto coi Peperoni, traditional wines from Oltrepo Pavese are Bonarda, Barbera and Pinot Noir. Many of the wines have curious names, like Buttafuoco, Sangue di Giuda. White wines are made from the varieties of Malvasia, Moscato. Oltrepo is becoming known for its sparkling wines, in particular Spumante. Voghera produces Agnolotti containing a filling which are known as Agnolotti di stufato di Voghera and are typically served asciutti. Zuppa alla Pavese was supposedly invented on the spot to feed the captive king Francis I of France after his defeat at the Battle of Pavia on February 24,1525
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Neapolitan cuisine
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Naples has a history that goes back many centuries, the city itself predates many others in that area of the world, including Rome. It has endured the Greeks, Romans, the Plague, and dozens of successions of kings from France and Spain and each left a mark on the way food is prepared in Naples. Finding the connections between modern and Greco-Roman culinary traditions is not always easy, among the traces of classical culinary tastes, plates from the period of Greek rule found in Magna Graecia depict fishes and mollusks, an indication that seafood was appreciated during that period. Frescoes from Pompeii depict fruit baskets filled with, an excavation at Oplontis in the Villa Poppaea shows a fresco of a cake, the ingredients of which are not yet known. The Roman garum is the ancient sauce most similar to that used for the modern Colatura di Alici, typical of Cetara. It can be traced back to the sweet-sour taste typical of the Roman cooking described by Apicius, along with the use of raisins in salty dishes, like the pizza di scarola, the name struffoli, a Christmas cake, comes from the Greek word στρόγγυλος. The Spanish and French sovereignty in Naples initiated the difference between the cuisine of the aristocrats and that of the poorer classes, the former was characterized by elaborate, more cosmopolitan, dishes, and a greater number of expensive ingredients, including meat. The poor used foods that were cheaper and could be grown locally, one of the most famous chefs from the nobles courts in Naples was Vincenzo Corrado. There is a variety of Neapolitan pastas. Pasta was not invented in Naples, but one of the best grades available is found close by, in Gragnano. It was here also that the production of pasta started, with the techniques to dry. The main ingredient is wheat, harder to manipulate than soft wheat, so the industrial production had greater success than in northern Italy. Traditionally in Naples pasta must be cooked al dente, while pasta is not tolerated. Hand-made gnocchi, prepared with flour and potatoes, have become a method of overcoming the Neapolitan disdain for potatoes. In 1949 W. H. Auden wrote Igor Stravinsky from Forio in Ischia, Forio thinks us crazy because we eat potatoes, which are to them a mark of abject poverty. In reporting this, Francis Steegmuller, a resident of Naples, remarks on the French-inspired gattò, in which the potato complement is nearly overwhelmed by cheese, ham. Some of the modern varieties of pasta, like the Scialatelli, are also becoming popular. The industry of preserving tomatoes originated in 19th-century Naples, resulting in the export to all parts of the world of the famous pelati, there are traditionally several ways of preparing home-made tomato preserves, either bottled tomato juice, or chopped into pieces
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Roman cuisine
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Roman cuisine is the cuisine of the Italian city of Rome. Roman cuisine is based on seasonal ingredients mostly from Roman Campagna, among these, the most important are vegetables, meat and cheeses. A typical condiment in Roman cuisine is strutto, pork lard prepared and canned each winter, also used is the fat of prosciutto, while olive oil is used only for raw vegetables and - occasionally - to fry. Specific dishes are often assigned to the days of the week, such as gnocchi on Thursday, baccalà on Fridays, Romes food has evolved through centuries and periods of social, cultural, and political changes. Rome became a major gastronomical center during ancient age, Ancient Roman cuisine was highly influenced by Ancient Greek culture. Subsequently, the enormous expansion exposed Romans to many new, provincial culinary habits. In the beginning, the differences between classes were not very great, but disparities developed with the empires growth. Later, during the Renaissance, Rome became well known as a center of high-cuisine, an example of this could be Bartolomeo Scappi, who was a chef working for Pius IV in the Vatican kitchen, reaching fame with his cookbook Opera dellarte del cucinare, published in 1570. Here he lists approximately 1000 recipes of Renaissance cuisine and describes cooking techniques and tools, the Testaccio rione, Romes trade and slaughterhouse area, is the place where Romes most original and traditional foods can still be found. The area was known as the belly or slaughterhouse of Rome. The most common or ancient Roman cuisine included the fifth quarter, popular foods include pigs trotters, brain, and the genitals of other animals, which were often carefully cooked and richly spiced with different savouries, spices and herbs. The old-fashioned coda alla vaccinara is still one of the citys most popular meals and is part of most of Romes restaurants menus, lamb is also a very popular part of Roman cuisine, and is often roasted with spices and herbs. There is a considerable Jewish influence in Roman cuisine, since they were many in the city, such include the carciofi alla giudia and Jewish courgettes. Pasta is one important element of Roman cuisine, famous pasta sauces include amatriciana, carbonara, cacio e pepe and gricia. Alfredo is famous abroad, but not considered traditional and mostly unheard of in Rome, there is a pasta museum in Rome called the Museo Nazionale della Paste Alimentari. Romes most common shape is spaghetti, but there are many other forms. The city is known as a centre of wine, especially with the warm territory. Frascati and Castelli Romani are the best ones in the city, there are also many other dishes in Roman cuisine, including several desserts and sweets, many of which are made with ricotta cheese
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Cuisine of Veneto
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Cuisine in Veneto may be divided into three main categories, based on geography, the coastal areas, the plains, and the mountains. Each one can have many local cuisines, each city with its own dishes, the most common dish is polenta, which is cooked in various ways within the local cuisines of Veneto. Polenta once was the staple food of the poorer classes. In Veneto, the corns are ground in very more little fragments than the rest of Italy, so, typical of many coastal areas, communities along the coast of the Laguna Veneta serve mainly seafood dishes. In the plains it is popular to serve grilled meat together with grilled polenta. Other popular dishes include risotto, rice cooked with different kinds of food, from vegetables, mushrooms, pumpkin or radicchio to seafood. Cuisine from the areas is mainly made of pork or game meat, with polenta, as well as mushrooms or cheeses. A typical dish is casunziei, hand-made fresh pasta similar to ravioli, among the typical seasoning of Venetian cuisine, you can find butter, olive oil, sunflower oil, vinegar, kren, senape, mostarda, salsa verde. The following are typical of the three subregions of the Veneto. The page for Venetian language provides additional information on writing and pronouncing the dishes names, Bigołi in salsa, bigoli pasta served with an anchovy and onion sauce. Fegato ała venesiana, a high-class Venetian plate of liver, chopped and cooked together with chopped onions, mołeche, small green species crabs, when they arrived at the peak of phase changes and then soft, they are fried. The mołeche are very valuable because the process of changing the water brackish lagoons lasts a few hours, pasta e faxioi, bean soup with noodles. Połenta e schie, small shrimp from the lagoon, fried and perched on a bed of very soft, Rixi e bixi, a poor but tasty dish consisting of a simple risotto with pancetta and peas cooked in a broth. Rixoto de gò, rice prepared with goby, also known as gò, sarde in saor, fried sardines, dipped in partially fried onion in the same oil in which the sardines are fried, raisins and pine nuts, other spices and sprinkled with plenty of vinegar. One leaves everything to marinate at least one night, sepe al nero, cuttlefish cooked with their ink lagoon. Among the many Venetian desserts, the most well-known are, Baicołi, pinza, an Epiphany cake based on cornmeal and mixed dried fruits and nuts. Brasato allAmarone, braised beef meat cooked with Amarone wine, often served together with polenta and it is tradition to eat homemade potato gnocchi on Venerdì Gnocolar, the last Friday of Carnival. Some recipes also add olive oil, grated Parmigiano Reggiano or butter, the sauces name comes from pear, dialect for pepper, hence pearà, peppered
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Cuisine of Abruzzo
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The isolation that has characterized the region for decades has ensured that it maintained a culinary art alive and independent. Abruzzo boasts a cuisine distinct within Italy, well known for its variety, the mountainous, agricultural, and coastal aspects of Abruzzo have contributed to its cuisine. Due to the mountains themselves, much of Abruzzese cuisine grew separated from the influence of international commerce and civilization until the 20th century, fostering a unique culinary tradition. In 2013, the Italian organization Confesercenti led a research which indicated Abruzzo as the best region where to eat in Italy according to foreign tourists ratings. Lamb and sheep are also an important source of Abruzzese cheese, such as sheeps milk ricotta, mountain goat meat is also common in Abruzzo. In addition to mushrooms, Abruzzese cuisine commonly employs rustic or peasant vegetation such as lentils, grasspeas and other legumes, artichoke, eggplant, famous Abruzzese dishes include arrosticini, maccheroni alla chitarra, and scrippelle. Mussels with saffron, classic steamed mussels prepared with parsley, onion, bay leaf, white wine, olive oil and seasoned with saffron sauce. Stockfish or salt cod, cod cooked in a pan with potatoes, tomatoes, oil, garlic, parsley, onion, red pepper, salt, sauce allaquilana, mix of beef marrow with saffron in Abruzzo, eggs, cream, butter. One of the most prominent dishes of the region is maccheroni alla chitarra and this dish is created by pressing or cutting pasta through an instrument called a chitarra, creating long thin noodles similar to spaghetti. The pasta is served with a sauce, often flavored with peppers, pork, goose. This dish is served with regional side dishes, such as the bean. This soup is flavored with tomatoes, garlic, oil. Some of these include, Arrosticini, a skewered sheep dish. Le Virtù, a soup from Teramo made with legumes, vegetables and pork meat. Timballo abruzzese, large baked lasagna-like dish, containing pasta sheets or scrippelle sheets filled with meat, vegetables and/or rice, often served for Christmas, porchetta abruzzese, a moist boneless pork roast, slow roasted with rosemary, garlic, and pepper. Seafood also plays a role in the cuisine of Abruzzo, especially in areas located closer to the coast. The variety of available to the area has resulted in several fish-based Brodetti, coming from such places as Vasto, Giulianova. These broths are often created by cooking the fish in a pot, and flavored with tomatoes, herbs
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Italian wine
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Italy is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world, and Italian wines are known worldwide for their broad variety. Italy, closely followed by France, is the world’s largest wine producer by volume and its contribution is about 45–50 million hl per year, and represents about ⅓ of global production. Italian wine is exported around the world and is extremely popular in Italy. Grapes are grown in almost every region of the country and there are more than one million vineyards under cultivation, although vines had been cultivated from the wild Vitis vinifera grape for millennia, it wasnt until the Greek colonization that wine-making flourished. Viticulture was introduced into Sicily and southern Italy by the Mycenaean Greeks and it was during the Roman defeat of the Carthaginians in the 2nd century BC that Italian wine production began to further flourish. During this time, viticulture outside of Italy was prohibited under Roman law and it was customary to mix wine with a good proportion of water which may otherwise have been unpalatable, making wine drinking a fundamental part of early Italian life. As the laws on provincial viticulture were relaxed, vast vineyards began to flourish in the rest of Europe, especially Gaul and this coincided with the cultivation of new vines, like biturica. These vineyards became hugely successful, to the point that Italy ultimately became a centre for provincial wines. Depending on the vintage, modern Italy is the worlds largest or second largest wine producer, in 2005, production was about 20% of the global total, second only to France, which produced 26%. In the same year, Italys share in dollar value of table wine imports into the U. S. was 32%, Australias was 24%, along with Australia, Italys market share has rapidly increased in recent years. In 1963, the first official Italian system of classification of wines was launched, Vini Varietali, These are generic wines that are made either mostly from one kind of authorized international grapes or entirely from two or more of them. The grape and the vintage can be indicated on the label, Vini DOP, This category includes two sub-categories, i. e. Vini DOC and Vini DOCG. DOC wines must have been IGP wines for at least 5 years and they also must follow stricter production regulations than IGP wines. A DOC wine can be promoted to DOCG if it has been a DOC for at least 10 years, in addition to fulfilling the requisites for DOC wines, before commercialization DOCG wines must pass stricter analyses, including a tasting by a specifically appointed committee. DOCG wines have also demonstrated a superior commercial success, currently there exist 332 DOCs and 73 DOCGs for a total of 405 DOPs. A number of sub-categories also exist regulating the production of sparkling wines, within the DOP category, Classico is a wine produced in the historically oldest part of the protected territory. Superiore is a wine with at least 0.5 more alc%/vol than its correspondent regular DOP wine and produced using a smaller allowed quantity of grapes per hectare, Riserva is a wine that has been aged for a minimum period of time, depending on the typology. Sometimes, Classico or Superiore are themselves part of the name of the DOP, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture regularly publishes updates to the official classification
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Beer in Italy
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Italy is considered to be part of the wine belt of Europe. Nevertheless, beer, particularly mass-produced pale lagers, are common in the country and it is traditionally considered to be an ideal accompaniment to pizza, since the 1970s, beer has spread from pizzerias and has become much more popular for drinking in other situations. In the seventh century BC in Sicily, the Phoenicians traded and consumed beer, in Piedmont, Pombia, Province of Novara, an archaeological investigation found tombs from the Golasecca culture, including a tomb from 560 BC containing traces of beer. Ancient Rome knew of beer and produced small amounts, but the systems of production were destroyed in various barbarian invasions. The first medical school, the Schola Medica Salernitana, praised the substance stating that it supports old age, flows through the veins, increases well-being, on the occasion of his wedding, Ludovico Sforza distributed beer freely to the Milanese. At this time, it was referred to in Florence as barley wine, the first brewery in Italy, according to Hermes Zampollo, was Spluga in Chiavenna, which opened in 1840. However, the company Wührer stated that its brewing commenced in Brescia in 1829, the first person in Italy to cultivate hops for beer brewing was Gaetano Pasqui in 1847. In 1983, the country consumed 12 million hectoliters of beer, as of 2010, Italy has a beer consumption of 30 litres per capita per year. One of the oldest and most widespread breweries in Italy is Peroni, today owned by the SABMiller group, which also owns the popular brand Nastro Azzurro
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Italian-American cuisine
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Italian-American cuisine is a style of Italian cuisine adapted throughout the United States of America. Italian-American food has been shaped throughout history by various waves of immigrants and their descendants, as immigrants from the different regions of Italy settled throughout the various regions of the United States, many brought with them a distinct regional Italian culinary tradition. Many of these foods and recipes developed into new favorites for the townspeople, Italian-Americans often identify foods with their regional heritage. Southern Italian staples include dry pasta, tomato sauce, and olive oil, whereas Northern Italian staples include foods such as risotto, white sauce, American cuisine has readily received innovations from Italy, such as espresso and specialty coffee drinks, tiramisu, and Nutella. On the other hand, e. g. Pasta alla Carbonara, Many Italians then were happy to use powdered eggs and bacon supplied the United States and their armed forces for pasta dishes. Italian-American food and Mediterranean cuisine has been influential in the American diet. It is one of the top three cuisines in the United States, according to the National Restaurant Association. Donna Gabaccia in Italian Americana Winter and Summer 1998 volumes, no.1 &2 states that Food and cooking are powerful expressions of our ties to the past, Italian, Mexican and Chinese cuisines have joined the mainstream. These three cuisines have become so ingrained in the American culture that they are no longer foreign to the American palate. According to the National Restaurant Association study, more than nine out of 10 consumers are familiar with and have tried these foods, and about half report eating them frequently. Rated high on the list of popular, or trending, items in the include, Mediterranean flatbread, ciabatta bread, espresso. Pizza and spaghetti are also common dishes in the United States, however, there is a strong association between Italian-American cuisine with the history of winemaking in the United States. Many Italian wines were first introduced to the United States in the late 1700s, Italian vintners were first brought to the state of Florida in 1766 by Dr. Andrew Turnbull, a British Consul at Smyrna. Philip Mazzei, an Italian physician, and close friend of U. S. President Thomas Jefferson, also helped to cultivate vineyards, olives, and other Mediterranean fruit with the help of Italians. In later years, American viticulture was more influenced by the Italian diaspora of the transatlantic migrations, in California, Italian-Americans were inspired by expanse of rolling hills and fertile fields. Prior to Prohibition starting in 1919, many wineries had made their start, Seghesio, Simi, Sebastiani Vineyards and Foppiano began in the late 19th century, others included Giuseppe Magliavacca’s Napa winery, Secondo Guasti’s Italian Vineyard Company and Andrea Sbarbaro’s Italian-Swiss Colony. From 1919 until the Repeal of Prohibition in 1933, many Italian-Americans struggled to keep their vineyards going, Many remained through providing sacramental wine to the Catholic Church or grape juice to the general market. These few holdouts can be credited with salvaging America’s viticulture heritage, in an industry that values the longevity and tradition of the vine, today, Italian-American wineries prove a powerful asset on the world market
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Osteria
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An osteria in Italy was originally a place serving wine and simple food. Lately, the emphasis has shifted to the food, but menus tend to be short, with an emphasis on local specialities such as pasta, grilled meat or fish, ideal for a cheap lunch, osterie also cater for after work and evening refreshment. Some provide music and other entertainment, similar to osterie are bottiglierie, where customers can take a bottle or flask to be re-filled from a barrel, and enoteche which generally pride themselves on the range and quality of their wine. Thanks to the archives of Bologna, it has been possible to date back to a Osteria del Cappello certified from 1375. This osteria could have changed many times until 1700. In fact the locales were not property of the host, the actual location of the ostaria dates back to 1652, when host Domenico Simoncini decides to place the inn in Via de Fusari near Piazza Maggiore. In 1712 the Bolognese engraver Giuseppe Maria Mitelli included the osteria in the Giuoco nuovo di tutte le osterie che sono in Bologna, with the same logo as nowadays. The sign of the tavern in the game occupies the box #41, followed by the description of the tavern as a place where it is possible to eat good partridges finely larded, together with croutons. The Osteria Del Cappello is the inn of this old name to be still in activity in Bologna. In the Florios 1611 Italian-English dictionary Osteria=Hosteria=An Inn, an hosterie, the Oxford Companion to Italian Food
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Enoteca
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The concept of an enoteca has also spread to some other countries. A genuine enoteca is primarily directed at giving visitors or tourists the possibility to taste these wines at a reasonable fee, an enoteca is often run in collaboration with growers or growers or tourism organisations in the village or region. Often, an enoteca stocks rather small amounts of each wine, in some cases, an enoteca will also sell other local foodstuff and/or serve small snacks to go with the wines. A long-standing tradition that precedes the new coinage, is the shop in Palazzo Antinori, Florence. Enoteche have spread north of the Alps to Austria under the German name Vinothek, being associated with an enoteca is likely more beneficial to smaller, not too well-known producers than to large or well-established ones. Casual visitors will have an easier time discovering an enoteca, on the other hand, having many wines are available side-by-side for tasting, comparison and competition, will be better for well-performing wineries. A quality wine shop is most often called enoteca in Italian now, in the past Bottiglieria was commonly used, but is now falling into disuse and doesnt have the same connotation of quality. Since some enoteche serve snacks with the wine, enoteca has also used as the name of some wine bars or restaurants. Enoteca, Vinothek or Oenothèque may also be used to denote wine libraries in two meanings of the word, An information repository about wine. A storage facility for actual wines and this article also includes information from two articles in German Wikipedia, Enoteca, version from September 22,2007 and Vinothek, version from January 11,2008
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Italian meal structure
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Italian meal structure is similar to most other European ones, consisting of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Late-morning and mid-afternoon snacks, called merenda, are often included in this meal structure. Italians also commonly divide a celebratory meal into several different courses, Italian breakfast consists of caffè latte or coffee with bread or rolls, butter and jam. A cookie-like rusk hard bread, called fette biscottate, and cookies are commonly eaten, children drink hot chocolate, plain milk, or hot milk with very little coffee. If breakfast is eaten in a bar, it is composed of cappuccino and cornetto or espresso, other products, such as breakfast cereals, fruit salad, muesli and yogurt, are becoming increasingly common as part of the meal. However, Italian breakfasts vary by region and by season, in some regions, such as Tuscany and Umbria, in the past, people used to drink red wine into which they would dip their biscuits. It is also common for Italians to have a quick breakfast snack during the middle of the morning. Lunch is usually regarded as the most important meal, most shops close for the pausa pranzo between 13,00 and 16,00. In most schools, children are given a break when they can go home for lunch, or eat at the school cafeteria. Many adults still make their own food and takeaways are still not very frequent, a typical Italian lunch consists of a first course il primo, a second-course il secondo served together with a side dish il contorno and fruit. Commuters and other workers tend to eat less often at home, many foreign fast-food chains operate in Italy, especially in big cities and along motorways. Italian fast-food chains are also prevalent, often featuring versions of dishes, including Autogrill. Many children and adults have a snack called merenda, generally consumed after school or in mid-afternoon. This may include a variety of foods. Dinner is usually a meal in Italy. For cena, people tend to have food, such as soup, broth, salad, cold meats. A structure of an Italian meal in its form, usually performed during festivities. Aperitivo The aperitivo opens a meal, and it is similar to an appetizer, most people gather around standing up and have alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks such as wine, prosecco, spritz, vermouth, gingerino
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Cuisine of Corsica
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The cuisine of Corsica is the traditional cuisine of the French island of Corsica. It is mainly based on the products of the island, and due to historical and geographical reasons has much in common with the Italian cuisine, and marginally with those of Nice and of Provence. The geographic conformation of Corsica, with its eastern coast low, malaria-ridden and impossible to defend, the agricultural products exported during Antiquity reflect this situation, these were sheep, plus honey, wax and tar, produced by the widespread forests. Moreover, the island was famous for its wines, exported to Rome. In the 18th century the chestnut had almost completely replaced cereals, above all chestnut plantations radically changed the diet of the islanders, preserving them from the recurrent famines. An old Corsican proverb from upper Niolo asserts, Pane di legnu e vinu di petra, next to chestnuts, at the end of 700 the basis of Corsican diet was given from cereals, dried vegetables and charcuterie. The poor of the region instead worked in the vineyards in the spring till the harvest. A few during summer went to reap the corn in the plain of Aleria. He also writes that from November to June is only chestnut bread was consumed, the monotony of this diet was broken eating trouts and eels. Large-scale cultivation of the tree was introduced in Corsica during the Genoese domination. After that, they are ground to produce flour, which gets an unmistakable smoke flavour from this process. The unplucked chestnuts are eaten by the pigs scratching around in the forest and these are additionally fed with chestnut flour, so that their meat acquires a characteristic taste. Used to prepare polenta and cakes, this flour was the staple food for the Corsican. Today chestnut flour is a French AOC and a European AOP, at the end of 20th century 85% of the chestnuts plucked in Corsica were transformed in flour, a unique case among all the French departments. The 300 t of flour so obtained were consumed almost totally in Corsica, Corsican traditional cheeses are exclusively made with sheep or goat milk. In the mid 80s, in the island were raised 150,000 sheep and 20,000 goats, the most important among them is Brocciu, a whey cheese akin to ricotta, produced for the most part with sheep milk, sometimes with goat milk. It can be consumed fresh or aged, and is an ingredient of innumerable Corsican dishes. Brocciu is the only Corsican cheese to have deserved the AOC denomination so far, other notable cheeses are the niulincu, the balaninu, the bastilicacciu and sartinesu, the cuscionu of the Zicavo valley, also in the south
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Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
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Greek cuisine
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Greek cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine. It has some characteristics with the traditional cuisines of the Balkans. Contemporary Greek cookery makes wide use of vegetables, olive oil, grains, fish, wine, other important ingredients include olives, cheese, eggplant, zucchini, lemon juice, vegetables, herbs, bread and yoghurt. The most commonly used grain is wheat, barley is also used, common dessert ingredients include nuts, honey, fruits, and filo pastry. Greek cuisine has a tradition of some 4,000 years and is a part of the history. Its flavors change with the season and its geography, Greek cookery, historically a forerunner of Western cuisine, spread its culinary influence - via ancient Rome - throughout Europe and beyond. It has influences from the different peoples cuisine the Greeks have interacted with over the centuries, as evidenced by several types of sweets and it was Archestratos in 320 B. C. who wrote the first cookbook in history. Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality and was founded on the Mediterranean triad, wheat, olive oil and this trend in Greek diet continued in Roman and Ottoman times and changed only fairly recently when technological progress has made meat more available. Wine and olive oil have always been a part of it. Culinary advice was influenced by the theory of humors, first put forth by the ancient Greek doctor Claudius Aelius Galenus, Byzantine cuisine benefited from Constantinople’s position as a global hub of the spice trade. The most characteristic and ancient element of Greek cuisine is olive oil and it is produced from the olive trees prominent throughout the region, and adds to the distinctive taste of Greek food, however, they are also widely eaten. The basic grain in Greece is wheat, though barley is also grown, important vegetables include tomato, aubergine, potato, green beans, okra, green peppers, and onions. Honey in Greece is mainly honey from the nectar of fruit trees and citrus trees, lemon, orange, bigarade trees, thyme honey, mastic is grown on the Aegean island of Chios. Greek cuisine uses some flavorings more often than other Mediterranean cuisines do, namely, oregano, mint, garlic, onion, dill, other common herbs and spices include basil, thyme and fennel seed. Parsley is also used as a garnish on some dishes, many Greek recipes, especially in the northern parts of the country, use sweet spices in combination with meat, for example cinnamon, whole spice and cloves in stews. The climate and terrain has tended to favour the breeding of goats and sheep over cattle, fish dishes are common in coastal regions and on the islands. A great variety of types are used in Greek cuisine, including Feta, Kasseri, Kefalotyri, Graviera, Anthotyros, Manouri, Metsovone, Ladotyri, Kalathaki, Katiki-Tsalafouti. Too much refinement is generally considered to be against the hearty spirit of the Greek cuisine, dining out is common in Greece, and has been for quite some time
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Spanish cuisine
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Spanish cuisine is heavily influenced by regional cuisines and the particular historical processes that shaped culture and society in those territories. Geography and climate, had influence on cooking methods and available ingredients. Spanish cuisine derives from a history, where invasions of the country and conquests of new territories modified traditions. Authors such as Strabo, however, write about aboriginal people using nuts, the Romans introduced the custom of collecting and eating mushrooms, which is still preserved in many parts of Spain, especially in the north. The Romans along with the Greeks introduced viticulture, it appears that the extension of the vine along the Mediterranean seems to be due to colonization of the Greeks. The change came in 711 AD, when Muslim troops composed of Arabs and Berbers crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, invading the Iberian Peninsula. The discovery of America, in 1492, initiated the advent of new elements, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, corn, bell peppers, spicy peppers, paprika, vanilla. The latter caused a furor in the Spanish society in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, other ingredients traveled to the Americas, such as rice, grapes, olives and many types of cereals. A continental-style breakfast may be taken just after waking up, or before entering the workplace, due to the large time span between breakfast and lunch, it is not uncommon to halt the working schedule to take a mid-morning snack. Lunch, the midday meal in Spain, contains several courses. It usually starts between 2,00 pm or 2,30 pm finishing around 3,00 pm to 3,30 pm, and is followed by Sobremesa. Menus are organized according to these courses and include five or six choices in each course. At home, Spanish meals wouldnt be too fancy, and would contain soup or a dish, salad, a meat or a fish dish. Green salad with the meat or fish courses, in some regions of Spain, the word almuerzo refers to the mid-morning snack, instead of lunch. La cena, meaning both dinner or supper, is taken between 8, 30pm and 10pm and it is lighter than lunch, consisting of one course and dessert. Due to the time span between lunch and dinner, an afternoon snack, la merienda, equivalent to afternoon tea. Appetizers before lunch or dinner are common in the form of tapas, in the last years, the Spanish government is starting to take action to shorten the lunch break, in order to end the working day earlier. Most businesses shut down for two or three hours for lunch, then resume the working day until dinner time in the evening, the following is a list of traditional Spanish meals, Andalusian cuisine is twofold, rural and coastal
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French cuisine
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French cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from France. In the 14th century Guillaume Tirel, a chef known as Taillevent, wrote Le Viandier. During that time, French cuisine was influenced by Italian cuisine. Cheese and wine are a part of the cuisine. They play different roles regionally and nationally, with many variations, gastro-tourism and the Guide Michelin helped to acquaint people with the rich bourgeois and peasant cuisine of the French countryside starting in the 20th century. Gascon cuisine has also had influence over the cuisine in the southwest of France. Many dishes that were once regional have proliferated in variations across the country, knowledge of French cooking has contributed significantly to Western cuisines. Its criteria are used widely in Western cookery school boards and culinary education, in November 2010, French gastronomy was added by the UNESCO to its lists of the worlds intangible cultural heritage. In French medieval cuisine, banquets were common among the aristocracy, multiple courses would be prepared, but served in a style called service en confusion, or all at once. Food was generally eaten by hand, meats being sliced off in large pieces held between the thumb and two fingers, the sauces were highly seasoned and thick, and heavily flavored mustards were used. Meals often ended with an issue de table, which changed into the modern dessert. The ingredients of the time varied according to the seasons and the church calendar, and many items were preserved with salt, spices, honey. Late spring, summer, and autumn afforded abundance, while winter meals were more sparse, livestock were slaughtered at the beginning of winter. Beef was often salted, while pork was salted and smoked, bacon and sausages would be smoked in the chimney, while the tongue and hams were brined and dried. Cucumbers were brined as well, while greens would be packed in jars with salt, fruits, nuts and root vegetables would be boiled in honey for preservation. Whale, dolphin and porpoise were considered fish, so during Lent, artificial freshwater ponds held carp, pike, tench, bream, eel, and other fish. Poultry was kept in yards, with pigeon and squab being reserved for the elite. Game was highly prized, but very rare, and included venison, wild boar, hare, rabbit, kitchen gardens provided herbs, including some, such as tansy, rue, pennyroyal, and hyssop, which are rarely used today
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Arab cuisine
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Arab cuisine is defined as the various regional cuisines spanning the Arab world, from the Maghreb to the Mashriq or Levant and the Persian Gulf. The cuisines are often old and resemble and culture of great trading in spices, herbs. The three main regions, also known as the Maghreb, the Mashriq, and the Khaleej have many similarities and these kitchens have been influenced by the climate, cultivating possibilities, as well as trading possibilities. The kitchens of the Maghreb and Levant are relatively young kitchens which were developed over the past centuries, the kitchen from the Khaleej region is a very old kitchen. The kitchens can be divided into the urban and rural kitchens, the Arabian cuisine uses specific and sometimes unique foods and spices. Some of those foods are, Meat, lamb and chicken are the most used, with beef, other poultry is used in some regions, and fish is used in coastal areas like the Mediterranean sea, Atlantic Ocean or the Red sea. Dairy products, dairy products are used, especially yogurt, Buttermilk. Butter and cream are used extensively. Herbs and spices, The amounts and types used generally varies from region to region, Some of the included herbs and spices are sesame, saffron, Black pepper, Allspice, turmeric, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, Parsley, Coriander and sumac. Spice mixtures include baharat, Ras el hanout, Zaatar, Harissa, beverages, hot beverages are served more than cold, coffee being on the top of the list in the Middle-eastern countries and tea on top of the Maghreb countries. In Jordan, Some part of Syria, Morocco and Algeria tea is more important as a beverage. Other Arabian drinks include Andalucian Horchata and Maghrebi avocado smoothie, grains, rice is the staple and is used for most dishes, wheat is the main source for bread. Bulgur and semolina are also used extensively, legumes, lentils are widely used in all colours, as well as fava beans, chickpeas, scarlet runner beans, green peas, lupini beans, white beans and brown beans. Vegetables, Arabian cuisine favors vegetables such as carrots, eggplant, zucchini, artichokes, okra, onions, potatoes are also eaten as vegetables in Arabian culture. Fruits, Arabian cuisine favors fruits such as Pomegranate, Dates, Figs, oranges, citruses, watermelons, Cantaloupe, Honeydew melon, nuts, almonds, peanuts, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts are often included in dishes or eaten as snacks. Greens, parsley, Coriander and mint are popular as seasonings in many dishes, while spinach, dressings and sauces, the most popular dressings include various combinations of olive oil, lemon juice, parsley or garlic, as well as tahini. Labaneh is often seasoned with mint, onion, or garlic, the Bedouins of the Arabian Peninsula, Middle-East and North-Africa relied on a diet of dates, dried fruit, nuts, wheat, barley, rice, and meat. The meat came from animals such as cows, sheep
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Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
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Apricot
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An apricot is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus Prunus. The apricot is a tree, 8–12 m tall, with a trunk up to 40 cm in diameter. The leaves are ovate, 5–9 cm long and 4–8 cm wide, with a base, a pointed tip. The flowers are 2–4.5 cm in diameter, with five white to pinkish petals, the flesh is usually firm and not very juicy. Its taste can range from sweet to tart, the single seed is enclosed in a hard, stony shell, often called a stone, with a grainy, smooth texture except for three ridges running down one side. The origin of the apricot is disputed and it was known in Armenia during ancient times, and has been cultivated there for so long that it is often thought to have originated there. Its scientific name Prunus armeniaca derives from that assumption, for example, the Belgian arborist baron de Poerderlé, writing in the 1770s, asserted, Cet arbre tire son nom de lArménie, province dAsie, doù il est originaire et doù il fut porté en Europe. An archaeological excavation at Garni in Armenia found apricot seeds in an Eneolithic-era site, other sources say that the apricot was first cultivated in India in about 3000 BC. Subsequent sources were often confused about the origin of the species, john Claudius Loudon believed it had a wide native range including Armenia, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, China, and Japan. Apricots have been cultivated in Persia since antiquity, and dried ones were an important commodity on Persian trade routes, apricots remain an important fruit in modern-day Iran, where they are known under the common name of zard-ālū. Egyptians usually dry apricots, add sweetener, and then use them to make a drink called amar al-dīn, in the 17th century, English settlers brought the apricot to the English colonies in the New World. Most of modern American production of apricots comes from the seedlings carried to the west coast by Spanish missionaries, almost all U. S. commercial production is in California, with some in Washington and Utah. In states other than South Australia, apricots are still grown, particularly in Tasmania and western Victoria and southwest New South Wales, today, apricot cultivation has spread to all parts of the globe with climates that support it. Although the apricot is native to a climate region with cold winters. A dry climate is good for fruit maturation, the tree is slightly more cold-hardy than the peach, tolerating winter temperatures as cold as −30 °C or lower if healthy. A limiting factor in culture is spring frosts, They tend to flower very early. Furthermore, the trees are sensitive to changes during the winter season. In China, winters can be cold, but temperatures tend to be more stable than in Europe and especially North America
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Sugar
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Sugar is the generic name for sweet, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. There are various types of derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose, fructose, the table sugar or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. Sugar is used in prepared foods and it is added to some foods, in the body, sucrose is hydrolysed into the simple sugars fructose and glucose. Other disaccharides include maltose from malted grain, and lactose from milk, longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Some other chemical substances, such as glycerol may also have a sweet taste, low-calorie food substitutes for sugar, described as artificial sweeteners, include aspartame and sucralose, a chlorinated derivative of sucrose. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants and are present in sufficient concentrations for efficient commercial extraction in sugarcane, the world production of sugar in 2011 was about 168 million tonnes. The average person consumes about 24 kilograms of sugar each year, equivalent to over 260 food calories per person, since the latter part of the twentieth century, it has been questioned whether a diet high in sugars, especially refined sugars, is good for human health. Sugar has been linked to obesity, and suspected of, or fully implicated as a cause in the occurrence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, macular degeneration, the etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word sugar ultimately originates from the Sanskrit शर्करा, via Arabic سكر as granular or candied sugar, the contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azúcar and açúcar, respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre and the contemporary French, sucre, the earliest Greek word attested is σάκχαρις. The English word jaggery, a brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin – Portuguese jagara from the Sanskrit शर्करा. Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times and it was not plentiful or cheap in early times and honey was more often used for sweetening in most parts of the world. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness, sugarcane was a native of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. Different species seem to have originated from different locations with Saccharum barberi originating in India and S. edule, one of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating back to 8th century BC that state that the use of sugarcane originated in India. Sugar was found in Europe by the 1st century AD, but only as an imported medicine and it is a kind of honey found in cane, white as gum, and it crunches between the teeth. It comes in lumps the size of a hazelnut, sugar is used only for medical purposes. Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store, crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas, around the 5th century AD
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Citrus
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Citrus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops like oranges, lemons, grapefruit, pomelo, the most recent research indicates an origin in Australia, New Caledonia and New Guinea. Citrus fruit has been cultivated in an area since ancient times. At various times, citrus plants were thought to be native to Asia, Europe, but the European oranges were originally brought from India at around the time of Alexander the Great, and the native oranges of Florida actually originated with the Spanish Conquistadors. The lemon reached Europe during the time of classical Rome, the generic name originated from Latin, where it referred to either the plant now known as Citron or a conifer tree. It is somehow related to the ancient Greek word for cedar and this may be due to perceived similarities in the smell of citrus leaves and fruit with that of cedar. Collectively, Citrus fruits and plants are known by the Romance loanword agrumes. The large citrus fruit of today evolved originally from small, edible berries over millions of years, Citrus plants diverged from a common ancestor about 15 million years ago, which was about when it diverged from the closely related severinia, for example the Chinese box orange. These estimates are made using genetic mapping of plant chloroplasts, the three original species in the citrus genus that have been hybridized into most modern commercial citrus fruit are the mandarin orange, pummelo, and citron. Within the last few years, all common citrus fruits were created by crossing those original species. Something similar has occurred with the array of chili peppers originating in the hybridization of a few initial species. Natural and cultivated citrus hybrids include commercially important fruit such as oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, apart from these four core citrus species, there are Australian limes and the recently discovered Mangshanyegan. Kumquats and Clymenia sp. are now considered to belong within the citrus genus. Trifoliate orange, which is used as commercial rootstock, is an outgroup. Phylogenetic analysis suggests the species of Oxanthera from New Caledonia should be transferred to the genus Citrus and these plants are large shrubs or small to moderate-sized trees, reaching 5–15 m tall, with spiny shoots and alternately arranged evergreen leaves with an entire margin. The flowers are solitary or in corymbs, each flower 2–4 cm diameter, with five white petals and numerous stamens. The fruit is a hesperidium, a berry, globose to elongated, 4–30 cm long and 4–20 cm diameter. The outermost layer of the pericarp is a called the flavedo
28.
Melon
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A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet edible, fleshy fruit. The word melon can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit, botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a pepo. The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων, meaning melon, itself a compound of μῆλον, apple and πέπων, many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of muskmelons. Melons originated in Africa and southwest Asia, but they began to appear in Europe toward the end of the Roman Empire. Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in both the Old and New Worlds, early European settlers in the New World are recorded as growing honeydew and casaba melons as early as the 1600s. Organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH have made an effort to collect and preserve these, winter melon is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The mature winter melon is a vegetable that is widely used in Asia and India. The immature melons are used as a culinary fruit, egusi is a wild melon, similar in appearance to the watermelon. The flesh is inedible, but the seeds are a food source in Africa. Other species that have the same role, and that are also called egusi include Cucumeropsis mannii. Watermelon originated in Africa, where evidence indicates that it has been cultivated for over 4,000 years and it is a popular summer fruit in all parts of the world. Melons in genus Cucumis are culinary fruits, and include the majority of culinary melons, all but a handful of culinary melon varieties belong to the species Cucumis melo L. Horned melon, a traditional food plant in Africa with distinctive spikes. Now grown in California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand as well, muskmelon C. melo cantalupensis, with skin that is rough and warty, not netted. The European cantaloupe, with lightly ribbed, pale skin, was domesticated in the 18th century, in Cantalupo in Sabina, Italy. Varieties include the French Charentais and the Burpee Seeds hybrid Netted Gem, the Yubari King is a highly prized Japanese cantaloupe cultivar. The Persian melon resemble a large cantaloupe with a darker green rind, C. melo inodorus, casabas, honeydew, and Asian melons Argos, a large, oblong, with orange wrinkled skin, orange flesh, strong aroma. A characteristic is its pointed ends, growing in some areas of Greece, from which it was named. Canary melon, a large, bright-yellow melon with a green to white inner flesh
29.
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
30.
Saffron
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Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Saffron crocus grows to 20–30 cm and bears up to four flowers, the styles and stigmas, called threads, are collected and dried to be used mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent in food. Saffron, long among the worlds most costly spices by weight, is native to Southwest Asia and was probably first cultivated in or near Greece. As a genetically monomorphic clone, it was slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia and was brought to parts of North Africa, North America. Saffrons taste and iodoform or hay-like fragrance result from the chemicals picrocrocin and it also contains a carotenoid pigment, crocin, which imparts a rich golden-yellow hue to dishes and textiles. Its recorded history is attested in a 7th-century BC Assyrian botanical treatise compiled under Ashurbanipal, Iran now accounts for approximately 90% of the world production of saffron. A degree of uncertainty surrounds the origin of the English word saffron and it might stem from the 12th-century Old French term safran, which comes from the Latin word safranum or from Arabic, az-zafaran, having unknown origin. Safranum comes from the Persian intercessor zafarān, the domesticated saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, is an autumn-flowering perennial plant unknown in the wild. Its progenitors are possibly the eastern Mediterranean autumn-flowering Crocus cartwrightianus, which is known as wild saffron. The saffron crocus probably resulted when C. cartwrightianus was subjected to artificial selection by growers seeking longer stigmata. C. thomasii and C. pallasii are other possible sources, a corm survives for one season, producing via this vegetative division up to ten cormlets that can grow into new plants in the next season. Corms also bear vertical fibres, thin and net-like, that grow up to 5 cm above the plants neck, the plant grows to a height of 20–30 cm, and sprouts 5–11 white and non-photosynthetic leaves known as cataphylls. These membrane-like structures cover and protect the crocuss 5 to 11 true leaves as they bud and develop. The latter are thin, straight, and blade-like green foliage leaves, which are 1–3 mm in diameter, C. sativus cataphylls are suspected by some to manifest prior to blooming when the plant is irrigated relatively early in the growing season. Its floral axes, or flower-bearing structures, bear bracteoles, or specialised leaves, that sprout from the flower stems, after aestivating in spring, the plant sends up its true leaves, each up to 40 cm in length. The flowers possess a sweet, honey-like fragrance, upon flowering, plants average less than 30 cm in height. A three-pronged style emerges from each flower, each prong terminates with a vivid crimson stigma 25–30 mm in length. The saffron crocus, unknown in the wild, probably descends from Crocus cartwrightianus, if C. sativus is a mutant form of C. cartwrightianus, then it may have emerged via plant breeding, which would have selected for elongated stigmata, in late Bronze Age Crete
31.
Raisin
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A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking. The word raisin dates back to Middle English and is a loanword from Old French, in modern French, raisin means grape, while a dried grape is a raisin sec, or dry grape. The Old French word, in turn, developed from the Latin word racemus, Raisin varieties depend on the type of grape used, and are made in a variety of sizes and colors including green, black, brown, blue, purple, and yellow. Seedless varieties include the sultana, the Greek currants and Flame grapes, Raisins are traditionally sun-dried, but may also be water-dipped and artificially dehydrated. Golden raisins are treated with sulfur dioxide after drying to give them their golden color, black Corinth or Zante currant are miniature, sometimes seedless raisins that are much darker and have a tart, tangy flavor. Muscat raisins are large compared to varieties, and also sweeter. Several varieties of raisins produced in Asia are available in the West only at ethnic grocers, monukka grapes are used for some of these. Raisins can contain up to 72% sugars by weight, most of which is fructose and glucose and they also contain about 3% protein and 3. 7%–6. 8% dietary fiber. Raisins, like prunes and apricots, are high in certain antioxidants. Raisins are low in sodium and contain no cholesterol, Raisins can cause renal failure in dogs. The cause of this is not known, Raisins are sweet due to their high concentration of sugars. The sugars can crystallise inside the fruit when stored after a period, making the dry raisins gritty. These sugar grains can be dissolved by blanching the fruit in hot water or other liquids, grade A The color is good, and the flavor is characteristic of raisins. These raisins show development characteristics indicative of the fact that they are prepared from well-matured grapes, the processed raisins contain less than 19% moisture by weight. Grade B The color and flavor is reasonably good and these raisins show development characteristics that highlight the fact that the raisins were prepared from reasonably well-matured grapes containing at least 70% water by weight. These raisins also contain less than 19% moisture, by weight, grade C The color and flavor are fairly good. These raisins show development characteristics of raisins prepared from fairly well-matured grapes containing at least 55% water by weight and these raisins also contain less than 19% moisture, by weight
32.
Nutmeg
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Nutmeg is one of the two spices – the other being mace – derived from several species of tree in the genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, a tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia. The first harvest of nutmeg trees takes place 7–9 years after planting, Nutmeg is usually used in powdered form. This is the tropical fruit that is the source of two different spices, obtained from different parts of the plant. Several other commercial products are produced from the trees, including essential oils, extracted oleoresins. The common or fragrant nutmeg, Myristica fragrans, is native to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas, other species used to adulterate the spice include Papuan nutmeg M. argentea from New Guinea, and M. malabarica from India. In the 17th-century work Hortus Botanicus Malabaricus, Hendrik van Rheede records that Indians learned the usage of nutmeg from the Indonesians through ancient trade routes, Nutmeg trees are dioecious plants which are propagated sexually and asexually, the latter being the standard. Sexual propagation by seedling yields 50% male seedlings, which are unproductive, epicotyl grafting, approach grafting, and patch budding have proved successful, with epicotyl grafting being the most widely adopted standard. Air-layering, or marcotting, is an alternative though not preferred method because of its low success rate, Nutmeg and mace have similar sensory qualities, with nutmeg having a slightly sweeter and mace a more delicate flavour. Mace is often preferred in light dishes for the bright orange, Nutmeg is used for flavouring many dishes, usually in ground or grated form, and is best grated fresh in a nutmeg grater. In Indonesian cuisine, nutmeg is used in dishes, mainly in many spicy soups, such as some variant of soto, konro, oxtail soup, sup iga, bakso. It is also used in gravy for meat dishes, such as beef stew, ribs with tomato, to European derived dishes such as bistik, rolade. Sliced nutmeg fruit flesh could be made as manisan, either wet, in Penang cuisine, dried, shredded nutmeg rind with sugar coating is used as toppings on the uniquely Penang ais kacang. Nutmeg rind is also blended or boiled to make iced nutmeg juice, in Indian cuisine, nutmeg is used in many sweet, as well as savoury, dishes. It is also added in quantities as a medicine for infants. It may also be used in quantities in garam masala. Ground nutmeg is also smoked in India, in Middle Eastern cuisine, ground nutmeg is often used as a spice for savoury dishes. In traditional European cuisine, nutmeg and mace are used especially in dishes and in processed meat products, they are also used in soups, sauces
33.
Clove
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Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum. They are native to the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, and are used as a spice. Cloves are commercially harvested primarily in Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, cloves are available throughout the year. The clove tree is an evergreen that grows up to 8–12 m tall, with large leaves, the flower buds initially have a pale hue, gradually turn green, then transition to a bright red when ready for harvest. Cloves are harvested at 1. 5–2.0 cm long, and consist of a calyx that terminates in four spreading sepals. Cloves are used in the cuisine of Asian, African, and the Near and Middle East countries, lending flavor to meats, curries, cloves may be used to give aromatic and flavor qualities to hot beverages, often combined with other ingredients such as lemon and sugar. They are an element in spice blends such as pumpkin pie spice. In Mexican cuisine, cloves are best known as clavos de olor and they are also used in Peruvian cuisine, in a wide variety of dishes as carapulcra and arroz con leche. A major component of clove taste is imparted by the chemical eugenol, and it pairs well with cinnamon, allspice, vanilla, red wine and basil, as well as onion, citrus peel, star anise, or peppercorns. The spice is used in a type of cigarette called kretek in Indonesia, clove cigarettes have been smoked throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. Starting in 2009, clove cigarettes must be classified as cigars in the US, because of the bioactive chemicals of clove, the spice may be used as an ant repellent. Cloves can be used to make a fragrance pomander when combined with an orange, when given as a gift in Victorian England, such a pomander indicated warmth of feeling. Cloves are used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine, and western herbalism, cloves are used as a carminative, to increase hydrochloric acid in the stomach and to improve peristalsis. Cloves are also said to be a natural anthelmintic, the essential oil is used in aromatherapy when stimulation and warming are needed, especially for digestive problems. Topical application over the stomach or abdomen are said to warm the digestive tract, applied to a cavity in a decayed tooth, it also relieves toothache. Because the herb is so warming, it is contraindicated in any persons with fire symptoms, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has reclassified eugenol, downgrading its effectiveness rating. The FDA now believes not enough evidence indicates clove oil or eugenol is effective for toothache pain or a variety of types of pain. Studies to determine its effectiveness for fever reduction, as a mosquito repellent and it remains unproven whether clove may reduce blood sugar levels
34.
Black pepper
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Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. When dried, the fruit is known as a peppercorn, when fresh and fully mature, it is approximately 5 millimetres in diameter, dark red, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed. Peppercorns, and the ground pepper derived from them, may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper, green pepper, black pepper is native to south India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Currently, Vietnam is the worlds largest producer and exporter of pepper, dried ground pepper has been used since antiquity for both its flavour and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper is the worlds most traded spice and it is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. The spiciness of black pepper is due to the chemical piperine, black pepper is ubiquitous in the modern world as a seasoning and is often paired with salt. The word pepper has its roots in the Tamil word for long pepper, todays pepper derives from the Old English pipor. and from Latin which was the source of Romanian piper, Italian pepe, Dutch peper, German Pfeffer, French poivre, and other similar forms. In the 16th century, pepper started referring to the unrelated New World chili pepper as well, Pepper was used in a figurative sense to mean spirit or energy at least as far back as the 1840s, in the early 20th century, this was shortened to pep. Black pepper is produced from the still-green, unripe drupes of the pepper plant. The drupes are cooked briefly in hot water, both to them and to prepare them for drying, the heat ruptures cell walls in the pepper. The drupes are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the pepper around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, once dried, the spice is called black peppercorn. On some estates, the berries are separated from the stem by hand, once the peppercorns are dried, pepper spirit and oil can be extracted from the berries by crushing them. Pepper spirit is used in medicinal and beauty products. Pepper oil is used as an ayurvedic massage oil and used in certain beauty. White pepper consists solely of the seed of the pepper plant and this is usually accomplished by a process known as retting, where fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week, during which the flesh of the pepper softens and decomposes. Rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the seed is dried. Sometimes alternative processes are used for removing the outer pepper from the seed, ground white pepper is used in Chinese and Thai cuisine, but also in salads, cream sauces, light-coloured sauces, and mashed potatoes. White pepper has a different flavour from black pepper, it lacks certain compounds present in the layer of the drupe
35.
Pine nut
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Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pines. About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting, in other pines the seeds are also edible, in Asia two species are widely harvested, Korean pine in northeast Asia, and chilgoza pine in the western Himalaya. Four other species, Siberian pine, Siberian dwarf pine, Chinese white pine, afghanistan is an important source of pine nuts, behind China and Korea. Pine nuts produced in Europe mostly come from the pine, which has been cultivated for its nuts for over 5,000 years. The Swiss pine is used to a very small extent. In North America, the species are three of the pinyon pines, Colorado pinyon, single-leaf pinyon, and Mexican pinyon. The other eight pinyon species are used to an extent, as are gray pine, Coulter pine, Torrey pine, sugar pine. Here, the nuts themselves are known by the Spanish name for the pinyon pine, in the United States, pine nuts are mainly harvested by Native Americans, particularly the Uto-Aztecan, Shoshone, Paiute Navajo, and Hopi, and Washoe tribes. Certain treaties negotiated by tribes and laws in Nevada guarantee Native Americans right to harvest pine nuts, the Pinus monophylla seeds, commonly known as the Nevada Soft Shell Pine Nut, are harvested by commercial harvesters in Nevada, and sold throughout the western US. For those seeking to grow edible landscapes, these are the commonly used species. For some American species development begins in spring with pollination. A tiny cone, about the size of a marble, will form from mid-spring to the end of summer. The cone will then commence growth until it reaches maturity near the end of summer, the mature piñon pine cone is ready to harvest ten days before the green cone begins to open. A cone is harvested by placing it in a burlap bag and it takes about 20 days until the cone fully opens. Once it is open and dry, the seed can be easily extracted in various ways. Another option for harvesting is to wait until the cone opens on the tree and harvest the cone from the piñon pine, fallen seed can also be gathered beneath the trees. The elevation of the pine is an important determinant of the quantity of pine cone production. American Pinyon pine cone production is most commonly found at an elevation between 6,000 feet and 8,500 feet, and ideally at 7,000 feet
36.
Cinnamon
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Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus Cinnamomum. Cinnamon is used in sweet and savoury foods. The term cinnamon also refers to its mid-brown colour, Cinnamon is the name for perhaps a dozen species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. All are members of the genus Cinnamomum in the family Lauraceae, only a few Cinnamomum species are grown commercially for spice. The English word cinnamon, attested in English since the 15th century, derives from the Greek κιννάμωμον kinnámōmon, via Latin, the Greek was borrowed from a Phoenician word, which was similar to the related Hebrew qinnamon. The name cassia, first recorded in English around AD1000, was borrowed via Latin and ultimately derives from Hebrew qtsīʿāh, Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity. It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BCE, the first Greek reference to kasia is found in a poem by Sappho in the seventh century BCE. According to Herodotus, both cinnamon and cassia grew in Arabia, together with incense, myrrh, and ladanum, the phoenix was reputed to build its nest from cinnamon and cassia. Herodotus mentions other writers who believed the source of cassia was the home of Dionysos, egyptian recipes for kyphi, an aromatic used for burning, included cinnamon and cassia from Hellenistic times onward. The gifts of Hellenistic rulers to temples sometimes included cassia and cinnamon, as well as incense, myrrh, Cinnamon was brought around the Arabian peninsula on rafts without rudders or sails or oars, taking advantage of the winter trade winds. Pliny also mentions cassia as a agent for wine. According to Pliny, a Roman pound of cassia, cinnamon, or serichatum cost up to 300 denarii, diocletians Edict on Maximum Prices from 301 AD gives a price of 125 denarii for a pound of cassia, while an agricultural labourer earned 25 denarii per day. Malabathrum leaves were used in cooking and for distilling an oil used in a sauce for oysters by the Roman gourmet Gaius Gavius Apicius. Malabathrum is among the spices that, according to Apicius, any good kitchen should contain, through the Middle Ages, the source of cinnamon was a mystery to the Western world. From reading Latin writers who quoted Herodotus, Europeans had learned that cinnamon came up the Red Sea to the ports of Egypt. Marco Polo avoided precision on the topic, Pliny the Elder wrote in the first century that traders had made this up to charge more, but the story remained current in Byzantium as late as 1310. The first mention that the spice grew in Sri Lanka was in Zakariya al-Qazwinis Athar al-bilad wa-akhbar al-‘ibad about 1270 and this was followed shortly thereafter by John of Montecorvino in a letter of about 1292. Indonesian rafts transported cinnamon directly from the Moluccas to East Africa, venetian traders from Italy held a monopoly on the spice trade in Europe, distributing cinnamon from Alexandria
37.
Arabs
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Arabs are an ethnic group inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BCE as a tribal people dwelling in the central Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The Arabian Desert is the birthplace of Arab, there are other Arab groups as well that spread in the land and existed for millennia. Before the expansion of the Caliphate, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic people from the northern to the central Arabian Peninsula and Syrian Desert. Presently, Arab refers to a number of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to spread of Arabs throughout the region during the early Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and this was one of the largest land empires in history. The Great Arab Revolt has had as big an impact on the modern Middle East as the World War I, the war signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. They are modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat, following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the sovereignty of its member states. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States, Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora, the ties that bind Arabs are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, the total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million. This makes them the second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese. Arabs are a group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism. Today, Arabs are mainly adherents of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, or Chaldean churches. Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of Gi-in-di-buu the ar-ba-a-a or Gindibu belonging to the Arab
38.
Emirate of Sicily
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The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily which existed from 831 to 1072. Muslims, who first invaded in 652, seized control of the island from the Byzantine Empire in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902. An Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state, the Emirate was conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily, who founded the County of Sicily in 1071. Sicilian Muslims remained citizens of the multi-ethnic County and subsequent Kingdom of Sicily, until the late 12th century, and probably as late as the 1220s, Muslims formed the majority of the islands population. Their influence remains in some elements of the Sicilian language, as well as surnames, in 535, Emperor Justinian I returned Sicily to the Roman Empire, now ruled from Constantinople exclusively. As the power of what is now known as the Byzantine Empire waned in the West, however, this first invasion was short-lived, and the Arabs left soon after. Around 700, the island of Pantelleria was captured by Arabs, instead, trading agreements were arranged with the Byzantines, and Arab merchants were allowed to trade goods at the Sicilian ports. Attacks from Muslim fleets were repeated in 703,728,729,730,731,733 and 734, the first true conquest expedition was launched in 740, in that year the Muslim prince Habib, who had participated on the 728 attack, successfully captured Syracuse. Ready to conquer the island, they were however forced to return to Tunisia by a Berber revolt. A second attack in 752 aimed only to sack the same city, in 826 Euphemius, the commander of the Byzantine fleet of Sicily, forced a nun to marry him. Emperor Michael II caught wind of the matter and ordered that General Constantine end the marriage, Euphemius rose up, killed Constantine and then occupied Syracuse, he in turn was defeated and driven out to North Africa. He offered rule of Sicily over to Ziyadat Allah the Aghlabid Emir of Tunisia in return for a place as a general and safety, an Arab army was sent. The latter agreed to conquer Sicily, promising to give it to Euphemius in exchange for a yearly tribute, the Muslim force counted 10,000 infantry,700 cavalry and 100 ships, reinforced by Euphemius ships and, after the landing at Mazara del Vallo. A first battle against the loyal Byzantine troops occurred on July 15,827, near Mazara, Asad subsequently conquered the southern shore of the island and laid siege to Syracuse. After a year of siege, and a mutiny, his troops were however able to defeat a large army sent from Palermo. But when a plague killed many of the Muslim troops, as well as Asad himself, later they returned to the offensive, but failed to conquer Castrogiovanni and retreated back to Mazara. In 830 they received a reinforcement of 30,000 Ifriqiyan and Andalusian troops. The Iberian Muslims defeated the Byzantine commander Teodotus in July–August of that year, the Ifriqiyan units sent to besiege Palermo managed to capture it after a year long siege in September 831
39.
Normans
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The Normans were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse raiders and pirates from Denmark, Iceland and Norway who, under their leader Rollo, through generations of assimilation and mixing with the native Frankish and Gallo-Roman populations, their descendants gradually adopted the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, the Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans were famed for their spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the boys were orators. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French lands between the river Epte and the Atlantic coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. The area corresponded to the part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine. The territory was equivalent to the old province of Rouen. Before Rollos arrival, its populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, the Norman language was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue doïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the regional language that survives today. The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, the new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by 1066 Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation, many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart. Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy, probably as the result of returning pilgrims stories, the Normans entered Southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, the Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming prince Guaimar IV of Salerno Duke of Apulia and Calabria. He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi
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Hohenstaufen
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The Hohenstaufen, also called the Staufer or Staufen, were a dynasty of German kings during the Middle Ages. Besides Germany, they ruled the Kingdom of Sicily. In Italian historiography, they are known as the Svevi, since they were dukes of Swabia from 1079, three members of the dynasty—Frederick I, Henry VI and Frederick II—were crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The name Staufen derives from Stauf, meaning chalice, and was applied to conical hills in Swabia in the Middle Ages. The family derives its name from the castle which the first Swabian duke of the lineage built there in the half of the 11th century. Staufen castle was finally called Hohenstaufen by historians in the 19th century. The name of the dynasty followed, but in recent decades the trend in German historiography has been to prefer the name Staufer, the noble family first appeared in the late 10th century in the Swabian Riesgau region around the former Carolingian court of Nördlingen. A local count Frederick is mentioned as progenitor in a pedigree drawn up by Abbot Wibald of Stavelot at the behest of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1153. He held the office of a Swabian count palatine, his son Frederick of Buren married Hildegard of Egisheim-Dagsburg and their son Frederick I was appointed Duke of Swabia at Hohenstaufen Castle by the Salian king Henry IV of Germany in 1079. At the same time, Duke Frederick I was engaged to the kings approximately seventeen-year-old daughter, Fredericks brother Otto was elevated to the Strasbourg bishopric in 1082. Upon Fredericks death, he was succeeded by his son, Duke Frederick II, Frederick II remained a close ally of the Salians, he and his younger brother Conrad were named the kings representatives in Germany when the king was in Italy. Around 1120, Frederick II married Judith of Bavaria from the rival House of Welf, when the last male member of the Salian dynasty, Emperor Henry V, died without heirs in 1125, a controversy arose about the succession. A civil war between Fredericks dynasty and Lothairs ended with Fredericks submission in 1134, after Lothairs death in 1137, Fredericks brother Conrad was elected King as Conrad III. In 1147, Conrad heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Second Crusade at Speyer, conrads brother Duke Frederick II died in 1147, and was succeeded in Swabia by his son, Duke Frederick III. When King Conrad III died without heir in 1152, Frederick also succeeded him. As royal access to the resources of the church in Germany was much reduced and he was soon crowned emperor in Italy, but decades of warfare on the peninsula yielded scant results. The Papacy and the prosperous city-states of the Lombard League in northern Italy were traditional enemies, under the skilled leadership of Pope Alexander III, the alliance suffered many defeats but ultimately was able to deny the emperor a complete victory in Italy. During Fredericks long stays in Italy, the German princes became stronger, offers of reduced taxes and manorial duties enticed many Germans to settle in the east in the course of the Ostsiedlung
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Meat
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Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and killed animals for meat since prehistoric times, the advent of civilization allowed the domestication of animals such as chickens, sheep, pigs and cattle. This eventually led to their use in production on an industrial scale with the aid of slaughterhouses. Meat is mainly composed of water, protein, and fat and it is edible raw, but is normally eaten after it has been cooked and seasoned or processed in a variety of ways. Unprocessed meat will spoil or rot within hours or days as a result of infection with and decomposition by bacteria, most often, meat refers to skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as offal. The word meat comes from the Old English word mete, which referred to food in general, the term is related to mad in Danish, mat in Swedish and Norwegian, and matur in Icelandic and Faroese, which also mean food. The word mete also exists in Old Frisian to denote important food, differentiating it from swiets, paleontological evidence suggests that meat constituted a substantial proportion of the diet of even the earliest humans. Early hunter-gatherers depended on the hunting of large animals such as bison. Several breeds of sheep were established in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt by 3500–3000 BC, today, more than 200 sheep-breeds exist. Cattle were domesticated in Mesopotamia after settled agriculture was established about 5000 BC, modern domesticated cattle fall into the groups Bos taurus and Bos indicus, both descended from the now-extinct aurochs. The breeding of cattle, cattle optimized for meat production as opposed to animals best suited for draught or dairy purposes. Domestic pigs, which are descended from boars, are known to have existed about 2500 BC in modern-day Hungary and in Troy, earlier pottery from Jericho. Pork sausages and hams were of commercial importance in Greco-Roman times. Pigs continue to be bred intensively as they are being optimized to produce meat best suited for meat products. Other animals are or have raised or hunted for their flesh. The type of meat consumed varies much between different cultures, changes over time, depending on such as tradition and the availability of the animals. The amount and kind of meat consumed also varies by income, horses are commonly eaten in France, Italy, Germany and Japan, among other countries. Horses and other mammals such as reindeer were hunted during the late Paleolithic in western Europe
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Columbian Exchange
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Invasive species of flora and fauna and communicable diseases were a byproduct of the Exchange. Traders returned to Europe with maize, potatoes, and tomatoes, the term was first used in 1972 by American historian Alfred W. Crosby in his environmental history book The Columbian Exchange. It was rapidly adopted by historians and journalists and has become widely known. In 1972 Alfred W. Crosby, an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin and this book covers the environmental impact of Columbus landing in the new world. The term has become popular among historians and journalists, such as Charles C, mann, whose book 1493 expands and updates Crosbys original research. Before AD1500, potatoes were not grown outside of South America, by the 1840s, Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the proximate cause of the Great Famine was a potato disease. Potatoes eventually became an important staple of the diet in much of Europe, many European rulers, including Frederick the Great of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia, encouraged the cultivation of the potato. Maize and manioc, introduced by the Portuguese from South America in the 16th century, have replaced sorghum, 16th-century Spanish colonizers introduced new staple crops to Asia from the Americas, including maize and sweet potatoes, and thereby contributed to population growth in Asia. Tomatoes, which came to Europe from the New World via Spain, were prized in Italy mainly for their ornamental value. From the 19th century tomato sauces became typical of Neapolitan cooking and, ultimately, coffee from Africa and the Middle East and sugar cane from the Spanish West Indies became the main export commodity crops of extensive Latin American plantations. Introduced to India by the Portuguese, chili and potatoes from South America have become an part of Indian cuisine. It took three centuries after their introduction in Europe for tomatoes to become widely accepted, of all the New World plants introduced to Italy, only the potato took as long as the tomato to gain acceptance. In large part this was due to 16th-century physicians believing that this native Mexican fruit was poisonous, in 1544, Pietro Andrea Mattioli, a Tuscan physician and botanist, suggested that tomatoes might be edible, but no record exists of anyone consuming them at this time. At this time, the label pomi doro was also used to refer to figs, melons, in the early years, tomatoes were mainly grown as ornamentals in Italy. For example, the Florentine aristocrat Giovanvettorio Soderini wrote how they were to be only for their beauty and were grown only in gardens or flower beds. Tomatoes were grown in elite town and country gardens in the fifty years or so following their arrival in Europe and were occasionally depicted in works of art. However, in 1592 the head gardener at the garden of Aranjuez near Madrid, under the patronage of Philip II of Spain wrote. Besides this account, tomatoes remained exotic plants grown for ornamental purposes, the combination of pasta with tomato sauce was developed only in the late nineteenth century
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Chocolate
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Chocolate /ˈtʃɒklᵻt, -kəlᵻt/ is a typically sweet, usually brown food preparation of Theobroma cacao seeds, roasted and ground. It is made in the form of a liquid, paste, or in a block, Cacao has been cultivated by many cultures for at least three millennia in Mesoamerica. The earliest evidence of use traces to the Mokaya, with evidence of chocolate beverages dating back to 1900 BCE, the seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted, the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs, which are then ground to cocoa mass, unadulterated chocolate in rough form. Once the cocoa mass is liquefied by heating, it is called chocolate liquor, the liquor also may be cooled and processed into its two components, cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Baking chocolate, also called chocolate, contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of chocolate, a combination of cocoa solids, cocoa butter or added vegetable oils. Milk chocolate is chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. White chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, Cocoa solids are a source of flavonoids and alkaloids, such as theobromine, phenethylamine and caffeine. Many candies are filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate, and bars of solid chocolate, Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes have become traditional on certain Western holidays, such as Easter and Valentines Day. Chocolate is also used in cold and hot beverages such as milk and hot chocolate and in some alcoholic drinks. Although cocoa originated in the Americas, recent years have seen African nations assuming a role in producing cocoa. Since the 2000s, Western Africa produces almost two-thirds of the worlds cocoa, in 2009, the Salvation Army International Development Department stated that child labor and the human trafficking and slavery of child laborers are used in African cocoa cultivation. The word chocolate entered the English language from Spanish in about 1600, how the word came into Spanish is less certain, and there are competing explanations. The word chocolatl does not occur in central Mexican colonial sources, another derivation comes from the Yucatec Mayan word chokol meaning hot, and the Nahuatl atl meaning water. The Nahuatl term, chicolatl, meaning beaten drink, may derive from the word for the frothing stick, the term chocolate chip was first used in 1940. The term chocolatier, for a chocolate maker, is attested from 1888. Chocolate has been prepared as a drink for all of its history
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Maize
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Maize, also known as corn, is a large grain plant first domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The six major types of corn are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, the leafy stalk of the plant produces separate pollen and ovuliferous inflorescences or ears, which are fruits, yielding kernels or seeds. Maize kernels are used in cooking as a starch. Most historians believe maize was domesticated in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico, recent research modified this view somewhat, scholars now indicate the adjacent Balsas River Valley of south-central Mexico as the center of domestication. The Olmec and Mayans cultivated maize in numerous varieties throughout Mesoamerica, cooked and its believed that beginning about 2500 BC, the crop spread through much of the Americas. The region developed a network based on surplus and varieties of maize crops. Nevertheless, recent data indicates that the spread of maize took place even earlier, according to Piperno, A large corpus of data indicates that it was dispersed into lower Central America by 7600 BP and had moved into the inter-Andean valleys of Colombia between 7000 and 6000 BP. Since then, even earlier dates have been published, the study also demonstrated that the oldest surviving maize types are those of the Mexican highlands. Later, maize spread from this region over the Americas along two major paths and this is consistent with a model based on the archaeological record suggesting that maize diversified in the highlands of Mexico before spreading to the lowlands. Before they were domesticated, maize plants only grew small,25 millimetres long corn cobs, Maize is the most widely grown grain crop throughout the Americas, with 361 million metric tons grown in the United States in 2014. Approximately 40% of the crop—130 million tons—is used for corn ethanol, genetically modified maize made up 85% of the maize planted in the United States in 2009. After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe, Spanish settlers far preferred wheat bread to maize, cassava, or potatoes. Maize flour could not be substituted for wheat for bread, since in Christian belief only wheat could undergo transubstantiation. At another level, Spaniards worried that by eating indigenous foods, which they did not consider nutritious, that not only would they weaken, despite these worries, Spaniards did consume maize and archeological evidence from Florida sites indicate they cultivated it as well. Maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates and it was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbuss voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa and elsewhere. The word maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taíno word for the plant and it is known by other names around the world. The word corn outside North America, Australia, and New Zealand refers to any cereal crop, in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, corn primarily means maize, this usage started as a shortening of Indian corn. Indian corn primarily means maize, but can more specifically to multicolored flint corn used for decoration
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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
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Turkey as food
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Turkey meat, commonly referred to as just turkey, is the meat from turkeys, typically domesticated turkeys. It is a popular product used for culturally significant events such as Thanksgiving, Christmas. Turkeys are sold sliced and ground, as well as whole in a similar to chicken with the head, feet. Sliced turkey is used as a sandwich meat or served as cold cuts. Ground turkey is sold just as ground beef, and is marketed as a healthy alternative to beef. Without careful preparation, cooked turkey is considered to end up less moist than other poultry meats such as chicken or duck. Wild turkeys, while technically the same species as domesticated turkeys, have a different taste from farm-raised turkeys. Almost all of the meat is dark with an intense flavor. Wild turkey that has fed predominantly on grass and grain has a milder flavor, older heritage breeds also differ in flavor. A large amount of meat is processed. It can be smoked and as such is sometimes sold as turkey ham or turkey bacon, which is widely considered to be far healthier than pork-based bacon. Twisted helices of deep fried turkey meat, sold as turkey twizzlers, came to prominence in the UK in 2004 when chef Jamie Oliver campaigned to have them and similar foods removed from school dinners. Unlike chicken eggs, turkey eggs are not commonly sold as food due to the demand for whole turkeys. The value of a turkey egg is estimated to be about $3.50 on the open market. Turkeys are traditionally eaten as the course of Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada. Turkey was eaten as such as early as the 16th century in England, before the 20th century, pork ribs were the most common food for the North American holidays, as the animals were usually slaughtered in November. In the UK in 2009,7,734,000 turkeys were consumed on Christmas Day, turkey with mole sauce is regarded as Mexicos national dish. Both fresh and frozen turkeys are used for cooking, as with most foods, fresh turkeys are generally preferred, around holiday seasons, high demand for fresh turkeys often makes them difficult to purchase without ordering in advance
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