BARLEY FLOUR
What is barley flour?
Barley flour is a flour prepared from dried and ground barley. Barley flour is used to prepare barley bread and other breads, such as flat bread and yeast breads. There are two general types of barley flour: coarse and fine.
Barley groats are milled to make coarse barley flour, and pearl barley is milled to make fine barley flour. Additionally, patent barley flour is a finer barley flour that is ground to a greater degree compared to fine barley flour.
Use of barley flour
Barley flour is used to prepare breads such as barley bread. It is sometimes added to wheat flour, creating a composite flour, which is used to prepare various breads. Its addition to wheat flour creates a darker-colored baked end-product, and also alters the flavor of the product.
Barley flour is also used as an ingredient in some specialty foods. Barley breading is another food product prepared using barley flour, which can be prepared using pregelatinized barley flour and an additional product called barley crunch, similar to Grape-Nuts cereal.
** source : Wikipedia
SORGHUM
What is sorghum?
One species, Sorghum bicolor, native to Africa with many cultivated forms now, is an important crop worldwide, used for food (as grain and in sorghum syrup or “sorghum molasses”), animal fodder, the production of alcoholic beverages, and biofuels. Most varieties are drought- and heat-tolerant,
and are especially important in arid regions, where the grain is one of the staples for poor and rural people. These varieties form important components of forage in many tropical regions. S. bicoloris an important food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia, and is the fifth-most important cereal crop grown in the world.
** source : Wikipedia
ASAFOETIDA
What is asafoetida?
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.
SESAME SEEDS
What is sesame seeds?
While sesame seeds have been grown in tropical regions throughout the world since prehistoric times, traditional myths hold that their origins go back even further. According to Assyrian legend, when the gods met to create the world, they drank wine made from sesame seeds.
These seeds were thought to have first originated in India and were mentioned in early Hindu legends. In these legends, tales are told in which sesame seeds represent a symbol of immortality. From India, sesame seeds were introduced throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Sesame seeds were one of the first crops processed for oil as well as one of the earliest condiments. The addition of sesame seeds to baked goods can be traced back to ancient Egyptian times from an ancient tomb painting that depicts a baker adding the seeds to bread dough.
Sesame seeds were brought to the United States from Africa during the late 17th century. Currently, the largest commercial producers of sesame seeds include India, China and Mexico.
Use of sesame seeds
- Add sesame seeds into the batter the next time you make homemade bread, muffins or cookies.
- Use the traditional macrobiotic seasoning, gomasio, to enliven your food. You can either purchase gomasio at a health food store or make your own by using a mortar and pestle. Simply mix together one part dry roasted sea salt with twelve parts dry roasted sesame seeds.
- Sesame seeds add a great touch to steamed broccoli that has been sprinkled with lemon juice.
- Spread tahini (sesame paste) on toasted bread and either drizzle with honey for a sweet treat or combine with miso for a savory snack.
- Combine toasted sesame seeds with rice vinegar, soy sauce and crushed garlic and use as a dressing for salads, vegetables and noodles.
- Healthy sauté chicken with sesame seeds, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and your favorite vegetables for a healthy, but quick, Asian-inspired dinner.
** source : Whfoods
MUSTARD SEEDS
What are mustard seeds?
All parts of the mustard plant are edible, including the seeds, leaves, and flowers; it is in the same genus as cabbage and turnips and is an annual plant. Brassica nigra is the plant that produces black mustard seeds. It is native to North Africa and parts of Europe and Asia; black mustard seeds are still very popular in the Middle East and Asia Minor where they originated. The seeds are removed from their seed coats and are very small. They can be ground into a spice or used whole, often added to hot oil to bring out the flavor.
Brown mustard seeds come from the Brassica juncea plant. It is also often called Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, or Oriental mustard.
There are different varieties of brown mustard seeds, ranging from those with a dark brown seed coat to others that are dark yellow.
Yellow mustard comes from the seeds of the white mustard plant, Sinapis alba. While it is in the Brassicaceae family, it is not as closely related to the other two types of mustard as they are to each other. The white mustard plant bears light tan seeds that are a little larger than brown mustard seeds. These end up as the bright yellow mustard due to the addition of turmeric or dye.
Use of mustard seeds
Brown mustard seeds are used in Europe to produce Dijon mustard and other specialty mustards, and the usual table mustard in Russia is made from brown mustard seeds. In Asian countries, brown mustard seeds are used to produce condiments and mustard oil.
This mustard oil can contain toxic erucic acid, so is not imported to the United States. White mustard seeds are ground to make a yellow mustard condiment.
** source : The Spruce eats