Ingredients 10

1. Sugar

What is sugar?

Sugar – sucrose – is a carbohydrate that is present naturally in fruits and vegetables. All plants use a natural process called photosynthesis to turn sunlight into the nourishment they need for growth.

Of all known plants, sugar is most highly concentrated in sugar beets and sugar cane. Sugar is simply separated from the beet or cane plant, and the result is 99.95% pure sucrose (sugar). The sucrose from sugar beets and sugar cane is not only identical to one another, but each is the same as the sucrose present in fruits and vegetables.

History of sugar:

If we look into history of human civilizations, we could clearly see that gold and sugar are commodities that had some of the greatest impacts on the development of our modern culture. Sugar forced creation of first trading fleets in medieval Europe that brought with sugar knowledge of the Orient and Middle East to the isolated Europe, and later caused great acceleration of African slave trade which displaced over 12 million slaves to all four corners of the world.

But the lure of the sweet food was too strong to resist, and ever since the first sugar was extracted from the first domesticated sugar canes in 8th millennial BC, their spread across the world brought undeniable changes to cultures, cuisines, health and eating trends.

In the beginning, Asia was the home of the sugar, and every great advance came from there. India started manufacturing sugar in 500 BC, sugar received manufacturing advanced from China and Middle East where it became very popular food ingredient that was used in many revered sweet products of that time. With Crusades looming across Middle East, sugar finally found its way to Europe where it was welcomed as excellent (but very expensive) substitution to honey. But as renaissance brought new riches into high and middle classes of Europe, sugar was needed as never before. And that need managed to change not only our cuisine, but also economy and social life.

With each century over the last two thousand years, sugar managed to become more and more important, eventually rising into force that reshaped worldwide economic, social life and the way we consume food.

Types of sugar:

White Sugar 

There are many different types of granulated sugar. Some of these are used only by the food industry and professional bakers and are not available in the supermarket. The types of granulated sugars differ in crystal size. Each crystal size provides unique functional characteristics that make the sugar appropriate for a specific food’s special need.

“Regular” or white sugar, extra fine or fine sugar

“Regular” or white sugar, as it is known to consumers, is the sugar found in every home’s sugar bowl, and most commonly used in home food preparation. White sugar is the sugar called for in most cookbook recipes. The food industry stipulates “regular” sugar to be “extra fine” or “fine” because small crystals are ideal for bulk handling and not susceptible to caking.

Fruit Sugar

Fruit sugar is slightly finer than “regular” sugar and is used in dry mixes such as gelatin and pudding desserts, and powdered drinks. Fruit sugar has a more uniform small crystal size than “regular” sugar. The uniformity of crystal size prevents separation or settling of larger crystals to the bottom of the box, an important quality in dry mixes.

Bakers Special Sugar

The crystal size of Bakers Special is even finer than that of fruit sugar. As its name suggests, it was developed specially for the baking industry. Bakers Special is used for sugaring doughnuts and cookies, as well as in some commercial cake recipes to create a fine crumb texture.

Superfine, ultra fine, or bar sugar

This sugar’s crystal size is the finest of all the types of granulated white sugar. It is ideal for delicately textured cakes and meringues, as well as for sweetening fruits and iced-drinks since it dissolves easily. In England, a sugar very similar to superfine sugar is known as caster or Castor, named after the type of shaker in which it is often packaged.

Confectioners or powdered sugar

This sugar is granulated sugar ground to a smooth powder and then sifted. It contains about 3% cornstarch to prevent caking. Powdered sugar is ground into three different degrees of fineness. The confectioners sugar available in supermarkets – 10X – is the finest of the three and is used in icings, confections and whipping cream. The other two types of powdered sugar are used by industrial bakers.

Coarse sugar

As its name implies, the crystal size of coarse sugar is larger than that of “regular” sugar. Coarse sugar is recovered when molasses-rich, sugar syrups high in sucrose are allowed to crystallize. The large crystal size of coarse sugar makes it highly resistant to color change or inversion (natural breakdown to fructose and glucose) at cooking and baking temperatures. These characteristics are important in making fondants, confections and liquors.

Sanding sugar

Another large crystal sugar, sanding sugar, is used mainly in the baking and confectionery industries as a sprinkle on top of baked goods. The large crystals reflect light and give the product a sparkling appearance.

Turbinado sugar

This sugar is raw sugar which has been partially processed, where only the surface molasses has been washed off. It has a blond color and mild brown sugar flavor, and is often used in tea and other beverages.

Evaporated Cane Juice

Evaporated Cane Juice is the common name for the food-grade cane based sweetener produced directly from milled cane using a single-crystallization process. The filtered, clarified juice is evaporated into syrup, crystallized and cured. This free flowing sweetener has a light golden color and retains a hint of molasses flavor because there is no further processing.

Brown sugar (light and dark)

Brown sugar retains some of the surface molasses syrup, which imparts a characteristic pleasurable flavor. Dark brown sugar has a deeper color and stronger molasses flavor than light brown sugar. Lighter types are generally used in baking and making butterscotch, condiments and glazes. The rich, full flavor of dark brown sugar makes it good for gingerbread, mincemeat, baked beans, and other full flavored foods.

Brown sugar tends to clump because it contains more moisture than white sugar.

Muscovado or Barbados sugar

Muscovado sugar, a British specialty brown sugar, is very dark brown and has a particularly strong molasses flavor. The crystals are slightly coarser and stickier in texture than “regular” brown sugar.

Free-flowing brown sugars

These sugars are specialty products produced by a co-crystallization process. The process yields fine, powder-like brown sugar that is less moist than “regular” brown sugar. Since it is less moist, it does not clump and is free-flowing like white sugar.

Demerara sugar

Popular in England, Demerara sugar is a light brown sugar with large golden crystals, which are slightly sticky from the adhering molasses. It is often used in tea, coffee, or on top of hot cereals.

Liquid sugars

There are several types of liquid sugar. Liquid sugar (sucrose) is white granulated sugar that has been dissolved in water before it is used. Liquid sugar is ideal for products whose recipes first require sugar to be dissolved. Amber liquid sugar is darker in color and can be used in foods where brown color is desired.

Invert sugar

Sucrose can be split into its two component sugars (glucose and fructose). This process is called inversion, and the product is called invert sugar. Commercial invert sugar is a liquid product that contains equal amounts of glucose and fructose. Because fructose is sweeter than either glucose or sucrose, invert sugar is sweeter than white sugar.

Commercial liquid invert sugars are prepared as different mixtures of sucrose and invert sugar. For example total invert sugar is half glucose and half fructose, while 50% invert sugar (half of the sucrose has been inverted) is one-half sucrose, one-quarter glucose and one-quarter fructose. Invert sugar is used mainly by food manufacturers to retard the crystallization of sugar and to retain moisture in the packaged food.

Which particular invert sugar is used is determined by which function – retarding crystallization or retaining moisture – is required.

Home cooks make invert sugar whenever a recipe calls for a sugar to be boiled gently in a mixture of water and lemon juice.

Source : https://www.sugar.org/all-about-sugar/ http://www.sugarhistory.net/who-made-sugar/history-of-sugar/

2. SPINACH

While clearly visible as a green leafy vegetable, spinach actually falls into a different food family than many other well-known green leafy vegetables. In the cruciferous vegetable family you will find collard greens, kale, mustard and turnip greens, bok choy and arugula. Spinach, however, is not a cruciferous vegetable but belongs to a food family known as the chenopod or amaranth family. (The science names here areChenopodiaceae and Amaranthaceae.) Among other green leafy vegetables in this chenopod group, beet greens and Swiss chard are perhaps the best-known (and of course beets themselves are also members of this food family). Yet foods in the chenopod family also extend outside of the vegetable group. The grains amaranth and quinoa are also members of this same food family that contains spinach and Swiss chard.

The genus/species name for spinach is Spinacia oleracea, and within this genus/species can be found many different varieties of spinach. Most popular descriptions of spinach varieties include three groups: savoy, semi-savoy, and flat-leafed. Savoy varieties of spinach typically feature leaves that are more curly and crinkly, and "springy" to the touch. Flat-leafed varieties are much more flat just like their name suggests, as well as smoother and often more broad. Some of the flat-leafed varieties of spinach are quite famous for their spade-shaped leaves. Semi-savoy varieties fall somewhere in the middle of this curly versus flat spectrum. Some people consider the flat-leafed varieties of spinach as easier to clean, but we have not found spinach cleaning to be difficult in the case of any varieties. It's worth noting here that you will often hear flat-leafed spinach also being referred to as smooth-leafed spinach.

Alongside of these distinctions between savoy, semi-savoy and flat-leafed, you will also hear spinach varieties being referred to by color. For example, purple passion spinach and red mountain spinach are terms that you might hear in this context. While these varieties still belong to the chenopod family of foods, but they do not belong to the same genus/species of spinach as has been included at WHFoods (Spinacia oleraceae. Purple passion spinach and red mountain spinach actually belong to the genus/species Atriplex hortensis and are often described as being members of the orach subgroup within the chenopod family.

You may also hear spinach being referred to as Malabar or New Zealand spinach. In this case, we have left the chenopod family entirely, and we have shifted over into a different family of foods known as theBasellaceaefamily. While the leaves of Malabar/New Zealand spinach may appear similar to the spinach leaves that we are familiar with in the supermarket, these leaves actually grown on a vine and they have their own unique nutrient composition.

In general, spinach is a cool season crop and sensitive to excessive heat. It is also fairly fast-growing. Given its fast growth rage and susceptibility to heat, spinach can quickly form flowers and seeds and put more energy into this flower/seed development than into leaf growth. The emergence of flowering and seed development in plants is called bolting. Because spinach can be quick to bolt (thus producing fewer large-sized leaves), spinach growers often talk about spinach varieties as either "slow-bolting" or "fast-bolting." Slow-bolting spinach is more heat resistant and thus slower to form flowers/seeds. Slow-bolting is not necessary the same as highly productive, however, and growers often look for trade-offs between rate of bolting and rate of growth/leaf formation.

Some popular varieties of savoy spinach include Bloomsdale, Harmony, and Avon. Popular flat-leafed varieties include Red Kitten, Corvair, Bordeaux, and Space. Semi-savoy varieties include Indian Summer, Tyee, and Melody.

History

Spinach is generally regarded as being native to the Middle East, and appears to have been cultivated there for well over a thousand years. Trading between the Middle East and Asia is believed to have been responsible for the migration of spinach to several Asian countries, and today there are few places in the world where spinach is not found as a cultivated food.

Within the United States, the average adult consumed 1.7 pounds of spinach in 2014, and California served as the largest spinach-producing state with about 45,000 harvested acres. Arizona, New Jersey, and Texas combined with California to account for 98% of all commercially grown spinach in the U.S.

On a global level, China currently produces the greatest amount of commercially grown spinach, with the United States, Japan, and Turkey also falling into the Top 10 countries for spinach production. 

How to Select and Store
Choose spinach that has vibrant deep green leaves and stems with no signs of yellowing. The leaves should look fresh and tender, and not be wilted or bruised. Avoid those that have a slimy coating as this is an indication of decay.
Do not wash spinach before storing as the exposure to water encourages spoilage. Place spinach in a plastic storage bag and wrap the bag tightly around the spinach, squeezing out as much of the air as possible. Place in refrigerator where it will keep fresh for up to 5 days.
Here is some background on why we recommend refrigerating spinach. Whenever food is stored, four basic factors affect its nutrient composition: exposure to air, exposure to light, exposure to heat, and length of time in storage. Vitamin C, vitamin B6, and carotenoids are good examples of nutrients highly susceptible to heat, and for this reason, their loss from food is very likely to be slowed down through refrigeration.

sumber : https://garden.org/learn/articles/view/397/

3. CORN

Corn is authentically American. A member of the grass family, it was first domesticated from a wild grain several thousand years ago by Aztec and Mayan Indians in Mexico and Central America. The first corn was a loose-podded variety that looked like the seed head at the top of wheat stalks. The kernels were small and each covered by a hull. Central and South American peoples came to depend so heavily on corn -- or maize -- that they devised some of the earliest calendars just to keep track of their corn planting and harvesting schedules.
Eventually, corn's popularity spread to North America. By the time the first European settlers arrived on this continent, corn was the chief food crop of the native Indians. The colonists quickly learned how to grow corn, and they enthusiastically adopted the new staple. In fact, much of the early fighting that took place between the settlers and the Indians was over cornfields. The stakes were high; losing a cornfield meant losing your food supply.
Back then, people raised what's now called field corn. Some corn was eaten fresh, but most of the harvest was cooked in fried cakes, breads and puddings, dried for winter storage or ground into cornmeal and corn flour. Field corn was also used for livestock feed, as it is today. Sweet corn varieties weren't developed until the 1700s.

Over the years, cross-pollination during cultivation caused genetic changes that transformed corn into the shape and size we now know. Today, corn is still more popular in this country than anywhere else in the world. There are thousands of strains of corn, with more than 200 varieties of sweet corn alone.

Varieties

All the varieties can be divided into four basic groups: field corn, sweet corn, popcorn and ornamental corn. There are many varieties of field corn; some are favorites of gardeners and farmers who eat them as roasting ears. These can be "dent" or "flint" corns, both of which can also be dried and ground for homemade meal. Flint corn has a hard-shelled kernel, and it does well in the cooler climates of New England and Canada. Dent corn is somewhat hard-shelled, and the top of the kernel forms a characteristic dented shape when the ears are mature.

Popcorn, another hard-shelled variety, contains very hard starch that expands when heated until the kernel pops. For all the corn groups, kernel texture, shape and flavor are often governed by the starch and sugar content, and this differs with each variety. These variations are exactly what make our favorite fresh corn varieties the soft-shelled, moist and sweet-tasting ones; that's why they're known as sweet corn.

How Corn Grows

Whether you're raising field corn, popcorn or sweet corn, they all grow basically the same way. Once the seed or kernel is planted in an inch or two of soil, it germinates in 5 to 12 days, depending on the variety and the soil temperature. Corn won't germinate if the soil temperature is below 55° F. It germinates fastest in soil that's 68° to 86° F.

After the seed sprouts, it sends down a taproot and starts to develop its first leaves. These leaves resemble blades of grass when they sprout.

As it grows, corn develops a thick, fibrous stalk and many flat, pointed leaves. The stalk can grow as tall as 15 feet, depending on the climate and variety. The roots of each plant grow down 3 to 5 feet and extend about 1 foot or so to each side of the stalk. Some of the roots develop above the ground. These are called "prop roots," and they serve as natural supports for the tall stalks.

Sumber : https://garden.org/learn/articles/view/397/