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Ingredients

1086 articles on substrates, cultures and additives.

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A small mound of whole, golden-brown Aromatic Munich malt kernels on a warm ivory surface.
Substrates

Briess Aromatic malt

Briess Aromatic Munich Malt 20L is a deeply kilned two-row barley malt used in small measure to lend malt aroma and colour. Monk’s Ration lists three ounces alongside four pounds of pale base malt.

Pink curing salt granules in a shallow ivory dish.
Salt

Insta Cure #1

Insta Cure #1 is a measured salt and sodium nitrite blend used in specified meat-curing methods, including bacon and some sausages. It differs from nitrate-containing Cure #2 and must be matched to the recipe and product.

A loose mound of pale golden two-row malt kernels with a few scattered grains on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

American two-row pale malt

A lightly kilned brewing base made from two-row barley. It supplies starch and enzymes for the mash, with the maltster’s product and lot analysis defining its brewing properties.

Three fresh whole amberstripe scad arranged on a shallow cream platter.
Substrates

Amberstripe scad

A marine scad named in a Vietnamese fish-sauce account as a whole-fish substrate; the account gives a 4:1 fish-to-salt example but no species-level voucher.

Illustrative comparison showing granulated food-grade potassium alum in a plain dish; the exact alum in the linked amla recipe is unspecified.
Processing aids

Alum (fitkari)

An unspecified alum named in an amla murabba soaking step. Potassium alum, ammonium alum and aluminium sulfate are distinct materials with different properties.

Pale acid blend powder in a shallow ceramic dish.
Acids

Acid blend

Acid blend is a commercial mixture of food acids for winemaking. Supplier formulas differ, and pH, titratable acidity and tartness describe different effects of an addition.

Whole firm green unripe mangoes in a plain dish.
Substrates

Unripe mango

Unripe mango offers sourness and firm texture at several maturity stages, from tender whole pickle fruit to mature-green slices for cooking or drying.

Fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems in a shallow ivory dish.
Spices and aromatics

Cilantro

Cilantro is the fresh leafy herb of Coriandrum sativum, the same annual plant that produces coriander spice. Its green, aromatic leaves and fine stems bring a vivid herbal note to foods such as sai krok Isan.

Small whole dark brown and black peppercorns in a plain dish.
Spices and aromatics

Black peppercorns

Black peppercorns are dried fruits of Piper nigrum, valued for piperine pungency and volatile aroma; whole peppercorns season Peter Kuruvita's lime pickle.

Fresh ginger juice in a small clear glass with pieces of ginger rhizome beside it.
Spices and aromatics

Ginger juice

Fresh liquid pressed from ginger rhizome, used in a small amount to season a documented Nepali lapsi achar; distinct from grated ginger, powder and sweetened ginger beverages.

Small whole tan ribbed coriander fruits in a plain dish.
Spices and aromatics

Coriander seed

Coriander seed is the dried, aromatic fruit of Coriandrum sativum, used whole, cracked or ground in spice blends, pickles and cooked dishes.

Two whole heads of fresh mustard greens with pale ribs and small roots rest on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Mustard greens

The leaves of Brassica juncea, a hardy cool-season crop with a sharp, sulfurous bite, eaten fresh and cooked and fermented across Asia as pickled greens, kimchi and gundruk.

Four avocado halves, one holding a brown seed, and one whole green avocado rest on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Avocado (ripe flesh)

Ripe avocado flesh is the soft, buttery, fat-rich pulp of Persea americana, eaten raw. It is low in acid, so it is a fresh ingredient that needs care in chilled dishes.

A raw bone-in pork shoulder joint with distinct muscles and white fat seams rests on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Pork shoulder

Pork shoulder is the forequarter of the pig, divided into the upper Boston butt and the lower picnic. It is a working muscle group with connective tissue and fat, and it is the usual lean meat for sausage.

Milky-white paraffin wax pellets heaped in a shallow glass dish with a few scattered across a warm ivory tabletop.
Processing aids

Paraffin wax

Paraffin wax is a solid mixture of hydrocarbons that cheesemakers melt and dip cheese in to slow moisture loss and keep surface mould off. Modern cheese waxes are usually blends.

Separate bunches of coriander, dill, rosemary, thyme and mint lie beside dried bay leaves on a warm ivory tabletop.
Spices and aromatics

Herbs

Culinary herbs are the leaves and tender shoots of aromatic plants, used for flavour and aroma. The plant and its fresh, dried or extracted form decide what a cook is handling.

Fine white gypsum powder in an ivory bowl.
Processing aids

Gypsum

Gypsum is calcium sulfate dihydrate, a mineral salt that brewers dissolve in water for its calcium and sulfate and that tofu makers use to set soy curd.

A whole bunch of blue-black grapes with pale bloom on an ivory surface.
Substrates

Concord grapes

Concord is a seeded, blue-black slip-skin grape with a distinctive aroma, used fresh and in juice, preserves, pies and wine.

Whole fresh white button mushrooms on an ivory plate.
Mushrooms

Mushrooms

Mushrooms are the edible fruiting bodies of fungi, cultivated or gathered, and each species has its own texture, aroma and handling needs. Fresh, dried and roasted forms differ in water and in flavour compounds.

A rectangular slab of raw skinless pork belly with pink meat and thick white fat layers rests on a white ceramic platter against a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Fatty pork belly

Raw pork belly combines muscle and adipose tissue in layers. Its fat content varies, and a recipe weight of belly is not a measured weight of pure fat.

Pale yellow dry soybeans in an ivory bowl, with a few beans nearby.
Substrates

Soybeans

Soybeans are the mature dry seeds of Glycine max, about 40 percent protein and 20 percent oil, the substrate of tempeh, natto, miso, soy sauce and many other fermented foods.

Eight dark-brown dates rest on a warm ivory tabletop, with one torn open to reveal amber flesh and a long stone.
Sugar sources

Dates

Dates are the sugar-rich fruit of the date palm, eaten soft or dried and used whole, pitted, as syrup or as paste. In sauces and chutneys they add sweetness and body.

Orange-red ground cayenne heaped in a clear glass dish with a light dusting nearby on a warm ivory tabletop.
Spices and aromatics

Cayenne

Cayenne is a very pungent red powder from dried, ground hot chilli pods, mostly Capsicum annuum, and the name of the long red peppers it comes from.

Coarse dried red chile flakes and pale seeds mound in a matte stoneware dish, with a small scatter on a warm ivory tabletop.
Spices and aromatics

Calabrian pepper flakes

Calabrian pepper flakes are dried red Capsicum annuum from Calabria, crushed into coarse pieces; Peperoncino di Calabria is a protected geographical indication.

A glass jar of amber honey beside a piece of honeycomb and a wooden honey dipper on a warm ivory background.
Sugar sources

Honey

Honey is a bee-made food from floral nectar or honeydew; breads use it in dough or as a syrup served with cooked griddle breads.

Fresh whole silver anchovies lie in a loose overlapping pile on a shallow white ceramic plate against a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Anchovies

Anchovies are small schooling sea fish of the family Engraulidae, eaten fresh or dried and above all salted: as fillets in oil, whole salted fish or fish sauce.

Three whole magenta-red turnips with short green crowns and slender root tails rest on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Red turnip

Red turnips are the heritage turnips of Japan's Kiso valley; their stems and leaves are fermented without salt into sunki, a sour amber pickle.

Dry olive-green and brown tea leaves fill a shallow speckled cream bowl, with a small scatter on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Tea

Tea is the processed leaf of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub from the borderlands of south-western China. Steeped and sweetened, it is the base of kombucha and jun.

White granulated sugar and clumpy golden-brown sugar sit side by side in matching shallow white bowls on a warm ivory tabletop.
Sugar sources

Brown and white sugar

White sugar is refined sucrose, almost pure; brown sugar is sucrose with molasses, left in or added back. Molasses makes brown sugar moister, darker and more strongly flavoured.

Glossy, nearly black molasses with a thick folded ribbon rests in a clear glass bowl on a warm ivory surface.
Sugar sources

Molasses / dark treacle

Molasses is the syrup separated as sugar crystallises from cane or beet; its grades and food uses vary, from Anadama and steamed brown bread to fermentation.

Whole toasted skin-on almonds rest in a loose group on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Almonds (toasted)

Toasted almonds are whole sweet almond kernels dry-roasted until golden to brown. Heat replaces their marzipan note with a roasted, nutty one; they thicken and flavour romesco.

Three white daikon roots with trimmed green crowns rest on an ivory tabletop, one cut crosswise with its detached piece showing white flesh.
Substrates

Radish and daikon

Radish and daikon are the crisp, peppery roots, leaves and seed pods of Raphanus sativus, fermented as kimchi, takuan and sinki and eaten raw across Asia and Europe.

A whole blue-green cabbage and a cabbage half showing its pale layered interior rest on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Cabbage

Cabbage is the dense leafy head of Brassica oleracea, a European vegetable that keeps for months and is the classic raw material for sauerkraut, with napa cabbage the base of kimchi.

A raw lean beef round steak with fine red muscle grain and a pale fat edge rests on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Lean beef

Lean beef is the trimmed muscle of cattle, Bos taurus and Bos indicus. In Genoa-style salami it is the second lean meat beside pork, ground fine, with pork back fat added separately.

Brown chocolate malt kernels heap in a speckled cream ceramic dish with scattered grains on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Chocolate malt

Chocolate malt is barley that has been malted and then roasted to a dark brown, used in porters, stouts and brown ales for colour and a bitter-cocoa, roasted-coffee flavour. It contains no cocoa.

Orange-pink shrimp heads and hollow peeled shells form a loose mound on a shallow white plate against a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Shrimp heads and shells

The combined head tissue and shells saved during peeling; chef Alex Perry uses a weighed kilogram of this mix in a distinct shrimp garum.

A loose heap of translucent pink-orange shrimp shells, tails and detached heads on a shallow white plate against a warm ivory background.
Substrates

Shrimp shells

Peeled shrimp exoskeleton used for strained stocks; modern quick-garum guidance names shells as a possible substrate without a shell-specific formula.

Whole dried black cardamom pods with deeply ridged brown husks sit in a shallow speckled cream bowl against a warm ivory background.
Spices and aromatics

Alainchi (cardamom)

Alainchi is the large or black cardamom of the eastern Himalaya, the dark, smoke-dried pods of Amomum subulatum. Its camphor-cool, smoky seeds season Himalayan and North Indian cooking and a sweet Nepali lapsi achar.

Three whole green tomatillos, one in a tan papery husk, and one cut half rest on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Tomatillo

The tomatillo is the tart green fruit of Physalis ixocarpa, a Mexican relative of the tomato that grows inside a papery husk. It is the base of salsa verde.

Three whole unripe green tomatoes and two halves rest on an ivory tabletop, with two whole fruits joined by a short stem.
Substrates

Green tomato

A green tomato is an unripe tomato, firm and sour, used for frying, pickling, relish and ferments. It carries tomatine, which falls as the fruit ripens.

Whole white, yellow and red onions with a red onion half displaying purple-white rings on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Onion

The onion is the bulb of Allium cepa, built from swollen leaf bases, and is eaten raw, cooked, pickled and as a seasoning in ferments. It is known only from cultivation and probably began in Central Asia.

Pale whole sesame seeds in an ivory bowl on a warm matte stone surface.
Substrates

Sesame seeds

Sesame seed, from Sesamum indicum, is about half oil and is eaten whole, ground into paste or pressed into oil. It was a crop of South Asia by the Harappan period and reached Mesopotamia before 2000 BC.

Amber and dark brown raisins fill a speckled cream ceramic bowl, with loose raisins scattered on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Raisins

Raisins are dried grapes whose variety and drying method shape their size, colour and flavour. In a documented 1861 ginger wine they are stoned, chopped and added to the cask after yeast.

Dry pale gelatin granules in an ivory bowl.
Processing aids

Gelatin

Gelatin is animal collagen partly broken down to dissolve in hot water and set as a gel on cooling, used for jellies and sweets and to fine beer and wine.

A mound of translucent-white coarse salt crystals fills a small stoneware dish, with a modest spill on a warm ivory tabletop.
Salt

Coarse salt

Coarse salt is food-grade salt in large grains, from sea, rock deposits or brine, used for curing, brining, pickling and packing fish.

Three cinnamon quills and a short broken piece rest on a warm ivory tabletop, showing their layered rolled ends.
Spices and aromatics

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of Cinnamomum trees, rolled into quills or ground; Ceylon cinnamon comes from C. verum of Sri Lanka and cassia from related species.

Orange-red chilli powder heaped in a shallow speckled cream bowl with a light dusting beside it on a warm ivory tabletop.
Spices and aromatics

Chilli powder

Chilli powder is dried chilli fruit ground fine, sold either as plain ground chillies or, in the United States, as a seasoning blend with salt, garlic and cumin.

Fresh green chillies lie loosely heaped on an ivory tabletop, with two lengthwise halves exposing pale ribs and white seeds.
Spices and aromatics

Chilli

Chilli is the pungent fruit of Capsicum plants, native to the Americas and eaten fresh, dried, ground or fermented in cuisines around the world.

Two thick raw marbled beef ribeye steaks lie slightly overlapped on a warm ivory tabletop.
Substrates

Beef

Beef is the meat of domestic cattle, Bos taurus and Bos indicus, sold as steaks, roasts, ground meat and cured products, and used in broths, salami and koji seasonings.