SRISTI

This is made from finely milled small grains of the sorghum plant, which grows in hot climates. There are three main varieties. There is the bland, sweetish, white millet flour, which is pale yellow in colour.

Wheat flour is made from grinding up parts of the wheat grain. There are three main parts of the grain:

• The endosperm, or protein/starchy part
• Germ, the rich in protein/fat/vitamin part
• Bran, the fiber-rich part

White flour is made from only the endosperm. Brown flour includes the germ and bran. Whole grain flour includes all three parts. Once each part has been separated, it is ground into a powder.

White flour has a naturally yellow-ish color but is often bleached or mixed with oxidizing chemicals to produce a white color.

Wheat is classified by several different characteristics: the season it is grown (spring or winter wheat), its color, whether it is “hard” or “soft,” by the amount of protein it contains, and by the amount of a specific protein, called gluten that it contains. Hard wheat is usually a bronze-color and has a higher gluten content than soft wheat, which is a light golden color.

** source : The Spruce Eats

This is a gum from a variety of giant fennel, which naturally has a horrid and offensive smell, rather like rotting garlic, as in foetid. Yet it is considered the most blessed of flavourings amongst Jain and Brahmin Indians,

who eat neither garlic nor onions, for it adds a very similar savouriness. Asafoetida is also a Godsend to the many millions of others who won’t eat or can’t properly digest raw or undercooked onion or who don’t like garlic, either to eat or subsequently smell on their breath. 

• Ajave seeds 
• Ajowan 
• Ajvain 
• Ajwan

• Bishop’s weed 
• Carom 
• Ethiopian cumin 
• Omam 
• Omum

Ajwain (pronounced aj’o-wen) is a member of the Umbelliferae family, which has some 2,700 members including dill, caraway and cumin. It is mostly found in Indian cooking, where it is also known as bishop’s weed or carom. It is particularly suited to the delicate vegetarian fare found in the state of Gujarat.

Ajwain seeds are used as a spice. The grayish-green seeds are striped and curved (similar to cumin or caraway seeds in appearance), often with a fine silk stalk attached. They are usually sold whole. The seeds are often chewed on their own for medicinal value, tasting bitingly hot and bitter, leaving the tongue numb for a while. Cooking ajowan mellows it somewhat. When crushed, they have a strong and distinctive thyme-like fragrance. 

Ajwain has a particular affinity to starchy foods like savoury pastries and breads, especially parathas. Snacks like Bombay mix and potato balls get an extra kick from ajwain.