Ingredients

1086 articles on substrates, cultures and additives.

All produce111Fruits39Leafy and stem vegetables34Roots and tubers12Alliums6Fruiting and pod vegetables6Seaweeds5Cabbages, mustards and other brassicas3Dried and preserved fruits2Pome fruit2Citrus fruit1Stone fruit1

Fruit, vegetables and seaweeds

Five whole deep purple black carrots with green tops on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Black carrot

Black carrot is the anthocyanin-pigmented Eastern carrot (Daucus carota var. atrorubens), the purple root that preceded orange types and still colours kanji and şalgam.

Whole and halved raw red beet roots on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Beetroot

Beetroot is the red taproot of Beta vulgaris. In Poland its soured juice replaced hogweed as the base of barszcz from the eighteenth century, and beet leaven is still made for Christmas Eve.

Two yellow apples washed with red stripes and a leafy twig, in watercolour, a historical interpretation of the lost Redstreak.
Substrates

Redstreak apple

The Redstreak was the famous seventeenth-century cider apple of Herefordshire, linked with Lord Scudamore. A yellow apple streaked with red, it was lost as a distinct variety by the 1880s.

A whole netted cantaloupe sits behind a cut half showing orange flesh and pale seeds in a fibrous central cavity on a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Melon (Cucumis melo)

Cucumis melo, a cultivated melon of the Cucurbitaceae. Its origin is still debated: a review proposes Africa, and the wild melons it discusses are described as non-edible.

A whole purple-top turnip and a cut half showing pale flesh on a pale ceramic platter.
Substrates

Turnip (Brassica rapa)

The turnip, a brassica crop whose roots and leaves are eaten. The source record names the species Brassica rapa, but its wild and naturalised forms are not assessed here.

Whole red and burgundy cherries with long stalks and serrated green leaves rest on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Wild cherry (Prunus avium)

Prunus avium, the wild or gean cherry of Great Britain and Ireland, bears red summer fruit eaten by birds and used in cherry brandy. Kernel and leaf safety are not settled by the sources read.

Whole red-orange hawthorn haws with tiny dried sepals and a few lobed leaves on an ivory surface.
Substrates

Hawthorn

Common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), a hedgerow shrub whose red haws and young leaves are reported as food, with sources that disagree on raw fruit and leaves.

A lobed yellow-orange fruiting body with exposed dark brown interior rests on dry leaves, moss and grass against a warm ivory background.

Mackintoshia persica

The African false truffle, Mackintoshia persica, is an ectomycorrhizal truffle-like fungus of miombo woodland in southern-central Africa. It is recorded as a regional edible, though its preparation is not documented.

Two whole peach-orange fungal fruiting bodies and one divided specimen with orange honeycomb pits rest on an ivory surface.
Other

Myrtle orange

Cyttaria gunnii is a fungus that forms galls on southern beech in Tasmania and Victoria. Aboriginal Australians ate its fleshy fruiting bodies, and modern sources disagree on its safety.

Gathered green sibekh shoots with narrow serrated leaves lie on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Falcaria vulgaris (sibekh leaves)

Sibekh is the young leafy growth of Falcaria vulgaris, an Apiaceae herb sold in Yerevan markets and fried with eggs; pickled, dried and canned uses are recorded without methods.

Whole blueberries with dusty blue skins sit beside two leafy sprigs bearing ripe and pale unripe berries on a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Lowbush blueberry

Lowbush or wild blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium: a small subshrub of eastern North America whose berries are gathered wild and harvested from managed fields.

Two brown tuberous chervil root crowns with fibrous roots, slender taproots and purple stem bases rest on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Tuberous chervil

Tuberous chervil, Chaerophyllum bulbosum, is a biennial of the carrot family grown for its root in central Europe and gathered for its young leaves in Armenia.

A loose bunch of fresh green trifoliate cowpea leaves with prominent veins rests on a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Cowpea leaves

Cowpea leaves are eaten cooked and sun-dried in Botswana, where the dried product is called morogo wa dinawa. Studies of the crop add leaf-removal results and trial-site growing conditions.

Fresh green Brède morelle leafy sprigs rest on a warm ivory surface in soft natural light.
Substrates

Brède morelle leaves

Brède morelle is a cooked leaf vegetable of New Caledonia, linked to Solanum americanum but recorded under the broad name Solanum nigrum. Sources conflict on its safety, and no cooking process is validated.

Red woodland strawberries with green sepals, hairy stems and toothed trifoliate leaves rest on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Woodland strawberry

Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a small-fruited perennial, picked wild for centuries and distinct from the large cultivated hybrid strawberry. It is eaten raw and in a few historical dishes.

Two closed green pacaya spathes and one opened spathe exposing pale flower buds rest on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Pacaya palm inflorescences

Pacaya, or tepejilote, is the edible male flower cluster of the palm Chamaedorea tepejilote, eaten in Honduras with egg, in tamales and soups, and sold pickled. Mexican farmers manage the palm in agroforests.

A cluster of whole dark Matiti fruits with blue-grey bloom and green leaves rests on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Matiti fruit

Matiti is the fruit of Artabotrys brachypetalus, a Mozambican Annonaceae species. Communities in Chicualacuala District eat the ripe fruit fresh and make traditional drinks and jam from it.

Ripe golden-orange cloudberries with their clustered drupelets clear against a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Cloudberry

Cloudberry has distinct Gwich’in, Nunatsiavut, NunatuKavut-area and Québec records. A 2009 cutover-peatland trial reports site-specific rhizome establishment results, not a household pot or fruit-yield method.

Photograph of Bamboo shoot.
Substrates

Bamboo shoot

Bamboo shoots are the young culms of many bamboo species, eaten after boiling or leaching in Asia, and fermented into sour and preserved foods in the Himalayas, northeast India and Burma.

Bletted brown medlars, one cut open, on an ivory platter.
Substrates

Medlar

The common medlar, Mespilus germanica, is a small tree whose hard, sour fruit is eaten only after it has bletted, softening through decay into a sweet, apple-sauce-like pulp.

A fresh Miike takana mustard head with broad pale-green stems and crinkled dark-green leaves on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Takana

Takana is Japanese leaf mustard, including Miike takana of Fukuoka: pungent, broad leaves and stems eaten fresh or preserved as pickles.

A fruiting American elderberry branch with serrated green compound leaves and clusters of deep purple-black berries on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis L.)

Sambucus canadensis is the accepted name used here for American elderberry. Missouri production guidance and named-cultivar studies give useful regional growing information, while food and analytical sources leave process questions open.

Fresh red and green rhubarb stalks lie in a loose bundle on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Rhubarb stalk

Rhubarb stalks are the tart leaf petioles of garden rhubarb, eaten as a vegetable and used in sweet dishes and wines; they lend a must sharpness and aroma but little sugar.

A small group of mature green plantains resting on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Plantain

Plantains are starchy cooking bananas used green through fully ripe. Their firmness and sweetness shift with maturity, and ripe mashed fruit appears in a University of Rhode Island Liberian rice-bread adaptation.

Three whole pears on a shallow cream platter: an elongated green pear, a golden russet pear and a round golden Asian pear.
Substrates

Pear

Pears are Pyrus fruits used fresh, pressed for perry, or crushed for fruit spirits; cultivar, species and ripening stage shape each preparation.

Fresh coconut milk in a small clear glass bowl, with coconut kernel and grated coconut beside it.

Coconut milk

Coconut milk is an aqueous emulsion extracted from mature coconut kernel, sold fresh, packaged or reconstituted. It is distinct from the liquid naturally inside a coconut.

An opened cacao pod with pale pulp-covered seeds and a small portion of separated white pulp on an ivory plate.
Substrates

Cacao pulp

Cacao pulp is the moist, sweet-acid mucilage around cacao seeds. It fuels bean fermentation and can be extracted for fruit drinks, wine and vinegar.

Fresh red and yellow cashew apples with small attached kidney-shaped nuts, in a pale ceramic bowl.

Cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale)

Cashew apple is the juicy swollen flower stalk attached to the cashew nut. Its fresh juice, cajuína, alcoholic ferments and vinegar are distinct products; the nut and its shell are separate materials.

A whole pineapple with its leafy crown and a fresh cross-section on an ivory plate.
Substrates

Pineapple

Pineapple is a sweet-tart tropical multiple fruit whose fresh flesh and peel supply sugars and acids to fruit ferments, while cultivar and maturity shape the balance.

Botanical illustration of a mature enset plant with broad leaves and a thick layered pseudostem.
Substrates

Enset (Ensete ventricosum)

Enset is an Ethiopian staple crop grown for its starchy corm and pseudostem. Fermented kocho, extracted bulla and boiled amicho are distinct foods from the plant.

A cluster of fresh dark wine grapes with a leaf and a few loose berries on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Grape

Wine grapes are fresh berries selected for vinification; their sugars fuel alcoholic fermentation, while cultivar, ripeness and handling shape the fruit and the wine it can become.

Three unpeeled cassava roots with rough brown skins and pale cut ends rest on a warm ivory ceramic platter.
Substrates

Cassava

Cassava is the starchy root of Manihot esculenta, transformed across Africa into fermented doughs, granules and flours through distinct processes whose safety depends on thorough cyanogen removal.

Whole shallots and a cut half on pale stone.

Shallot

Shallots are small aromatic allium bulbs used raw, cooked and in condiments and fermented vegetable dishes.

Thick tomato paste in a shallow ceramic bowl.

Double concentrated tomato paste

Double concentrated tomato paste is a thick tomato ingredient used to add colour and concentrated flavour to sauces and condiments.

A golden onion and a copper shallot with cut halves.

Onion and shallot

Onions and shallots are aromatic layered bulbs used raw, cooked and in fermented or preserved condiments.

Three golden-yellow whole yuzu and one seeded half rest on a warm ivory tabletop.
Spices and aromatics

Yuzu (fruit and zest)

Yuzu (Citrus junos) is a hardy, thorny East Asian citrus whose sour juice and intensely scented peel flavour ponzu, yuzu kosho and preserves.

Red cherry plums rest on a warm ivory tabletop beside two halves revealing golden flesh and a stone.
Substrates

Tart plums (cherry plums)

Cherry plums (Prunus cerasifera) are small, malic-acid-rich plums, red, yellow or green, that give Georgian tkemali sauce its sharp, fruity sourness.

A heap of tan tamarind pods with two cracked open to reveal brown pulp and fibres, beside glossy seeds on an ivory tabletop.
Acids

Tamarind pulp

Tamarind pulp is the sweet-sour flesh of Tamarindus indica. It brings a tartaric-acid-led fruit flavour to chutneys, sauces and drinks; water content and sourness vary across forms and brands.

Five ripe yellow bananas joined at the crown sit beside a partly peeled banana on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Ripe banana

A ripe banana is sweet, soft pulp in which ripening has turned most of the starch into sugar. That sugar and softness make it a base for banana ketchup, beer, wine and vinegar.

A whole red pomegranate beside a cut half exposing ruby arils and cream pith, with a few loose arils on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Pomegranate

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a seed-filled fruit whose arils run from sweet to sharply sour, depending on citric acid. Sour fruit becomes juice, molasses and dried anardana.

A whole brown konjac corm with knobbly skin, small buds and a circular crown scar rests on a warm ivory tabletop.
Coagulants

Konjac corm / konnyaku flour

The toxic corm of Amorphophallus konjac and the glucomannan flour milled from it, which sets into a firm, heat-stable konnyaku gel when cooked with limewater.

Green and yellow-orange calamansi form a small heap with four seed-filled cut halves on a warm ivory tabletop.
Acids

Calamansi

Calamansi is a small, very sour kumquat-mandarin hybrid, Philippine cooking’s all-purpose citrus, squeezed into soy sauce, fish sauce, broths and dips.

One whole golden-yellow quince with fine down on an ivory surface.
Substrates

Quince

A fragrant, usually yellow pome with firm, tart and astringent flesh, cooked for tender fruit dishes, jelly and dense quince paste.

Fine pale cream agar powder in a shallow white ceramic bowl on a warm ivory tabletop, with a few scattered grains beside it.
Coagulants

Agar / kanten

A gelling polysaccharide extracted from red seaweeds, sold as kanten strips or powder; it sets firm at a low concentration and stays solid until about 85 °C.

Botanical depiction of a Solanum torvum fruiting branch with leaves, white flowers and attached green berries; not safety or consumption guidance.
Substrates

Solanum torvum fruit and leaves

An East Akim survey reports fruit and leaf use in soups and stews; a separate Cape Coast experiment grew a selected seed accession. External poisoning reports do not establish Ghanaian incidence or a safe preparation method.

Editorial botanical still life of the unprocessed Typhonodorum lindleyanum fruiting stalk and flattened seed. It is not identification, edibility, preparation or safety guidance.
Substrates

Viha seed and tuber

Madagascar sources document distinct seed and tuber food accounts for this wetland aroid; greenhouse cultivation data come from a botanical display, not food production.

Freshly cut totora basal stems with pale triangular interiors on warm ivory.
Substrates

Totora as food

Aymara records from Lake Titicaca describe totora as food, with separate reports of rhizomes and the basal tutura stem; later planting evidence comes from a wastewater lagoon.

A raw unopened duruka inflorescence core, compact and pale with tightly packed flower primordia, arranged on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Duruka inflorescence

Fiji crop accounts call the edible inflorescence crop Saccharum edule; this crop-name concept remains unresolved in current botanical treatments.

Fresh jiaobai (Zizania latifolia swollen stems), shown with green outer sheaths and peeled white culms.
Substrates

Water bamboo stems

In Taiwan and Hong Kong food sources, jiaobai is the swollen stem of Zizania latifolia associated with Ustilago esculenta. It is distinct from the grain called North American wild rice, and the plant-fungus association is not food fermentation.

Two unpeeled young Madake bamboo shoots (Phyllostachys bambusoides) on an ivory plate.
Substrates

Madake bamboo shoots

Japanese sources identify madake, Phyllostachys bambusoides, as a historically eaten bamboo shoot and describe a regional emergence season. Kew uses P. reticulata for the accepted-name treatment, while other floras retain P. bambusoides; species-specific food processing and household cultivation details remain unresolved.