The end of the line, finished, all done…I bet Pete is heaving a sigh of relief…it’s been fun though, Pete…I am now penning my last post in this series…

Y & Z…a few food terms ending in Y not so many for Z…But I am looking forward to my next challenge it should be interesting and as I said in my weekly round up I will changing it about with some environmental terms…never boring here…it also keeps the old grey matter on its toes…

Anchovy:

Is a small common forage fish…very fishy and salty in taste and they have to be balanced as they could overwhelm all the other flavours in a dish…like Marmite you either love them or have an extreme dislike for them…Filleted, salt-cured and canned in oil to me they are the difference between a good dish and a great dish…

Bignay:

Native to Southeast Asia and northern Australia…its leaves are used to treat snakebites…some other names are bugnay or bignai, Chinese-laurel, Queensland-cherry, salamander-tree, wild cherry, and currant tree …for a tree which can grow as tall as 50 to 100ft it has tiny fruits which are edible, usually eaten raw, cooked and used in jam, jellies and preserves.

The Cherry:

There are around 1,200 varieties of cherries in the world, each with its own unique taste and appearance…with colours ranging from deep purple, bright red and a beautiful peachy hue the cherry is a popular fruit. From North America’s leading commercial sweet cherry and a favourite of many a cherry connoisseur. The Bing cherry is large with an intensely sweet, vibrant flavour. The fruit, when ripe, is firm, juicy and a deep mahogany red.

Of course as with many things we have the worlds most expensive cherry…from Japan

Bok Choy:

Bok choy or Chinese white cabbage is a staple ingredient in Asian dishes. The tender dark green leaves and crisp off-white-coloured stalks provide a nice fresh crunch. The greens have a spinach-like taste with a very mild bitterness…Great for stirfries, steamed as a side dish or pickled.

Borodinsky bread:

Is a Russian dark Rye Bread…rich in flavour as with many traditional breads there are varieties of ingredients depending on regions where recipes are handed down through generations sometimes wholewheat flour is used… there are many tales as to the origins of this bread but not being Russian I would not profess to know the truth from a fairy tale…I just know it is a delicious bread…

The Berry:

Where to start there are so many… Strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry, blackberry, loganberry, blueberry, lingonberry sloe berry’s …my dad used to make gin with them…There are the botanical berry’s which include banana, grapes, tomatoes, eggplants and more…

Carraway:

My nana used love carraway seeds she added them to cakes and bread and buttered cabbage… often as they look so like the cumin seeds it is asked are they the same…No!…Carraway has quite a distinctly earthy, liquorice taste whereas cumin is milder…Carraway is delicious added to buttered cabbage.

Celery:

A marshland plant with a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves…both the stalks and leaves are eaten raw or cooked…I find green celery quite bitter and much prefer the taste of white stemmed celery…Celery stalks provide a crunchy low-calorie snack and eaten with some hummus or peanut butter is delicious.

Celery and peanut butter, or any other type of nut butter, is a simple snack that will provide you with plenty of fats and protein to keep you satiated. Nut butter is also a great source of fibre, vitamins B, A, and E, iron, zinc, magnesium, and potassium.

Chicory:

Many varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons, or roots, which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and food additive.

Chicons au gratin is a Belgian national dish consisting of braised Belgian endives (aka chicons) wrapped in slices of baked ham and covered with a Mornay sauce and some grated cheese. Steaming hot with a creamy cheesy sauce…Delicious…

It is often used as a caffeine-free coffee substitute due to its resemblance IN colour and aroma to the coffee. The perfect blend of chicory to coffee enhances coffee taste and aroma by imparting a slightly woody and nutty taste to the coffee. Chicory blend coffee is also economical when compared to 100 per cent coffee.

I remember my mother buying Camp Coffee which was a liquid coffee and chicory(chicons) mix…Does anyone else remember that? I also remember her coffee and walnut sponge cake…This recipe for coffee and walnut sponge is from the Camp Coffee Club...

Chutney:

Chutney there is nothing like it with a ploughman’s lunch…which for those who are not familiar with the term it is crusty bread, butter, cheeses and or meat and chutney..it got its name as it was what was lovingly wrapped in cloth and given to the farmworkers for their lunch while working in the fields…Chutney is basically a strong-tasting mixture of fruit, vinegar, sugar, and spices.

Mango Chutney...no curry should be eaten without it…My mother used to make chutneys in the autumn with the last of the tomatoes, apples, onion chutney, garlic chutney, apple chutney, pear chutney is my latest addition to my chutney collection…

Ingredients for Pear Chutney…

• 200 gm demerara sugar
• 200 ml Apple cider vinegar
• 100 ml pear cider
• 1-star anise
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 2 red onions chopped
• 10 firm pears peeled and chopped
• 2 red chillies halved and deseeded
• 50 gm sultanas

Let’s Pickle!

In a large pan bring the sugar, APV, pear cider, star anise, ground cumin, ginger and red onions to a rolling boil.

Add the chopped pears and bring down to a rolling simmer for about 40 mins or until the pears are just cooked.

Stir in the sultanas and the chillies. Remove from the heat and leave to cool before spooning into sterilised jars.

Clarify:

Clarify is to make something clear or pure…Clarified butter (Ghee) for example or a clarified soup or stock..consomme for example…where the soup is clarified using a raft and then passed through cheesecloth.

Cray:

Cray Fish are aquatic arthropods and very tasty cooked on the BBQ with some garlic butter…

Day Lily:

Daylilies are a popular staple in Asian cuisine and they are used both fresh and dried. Every part of the daylily plant is edible: you can pluck the young shoots, boil the tubers like potatoes, or spruce up your salads with its bright orange petals. But my very favourite part is the flower bud which we steam and eat with a spicy chilli dip…where we lived before in Phuket the security guard used to pick the flowers at dawn and bring them to me they were a favourite of Aston’s grandad who loved to eat them…

Good King Henry:

Also known as poor man’s asparagus…native to much of central and southern Europe many liken the taste to spinach but it needs to be picked young as it becomes bitter as it matures. The leaves, stalks and flower buds are edible. The leaves can be boiled, steamed or eaten raw in salads. The young shoots and stalks can be picked before they go hollow and steamed or boiled, eaten like asparagus, while the flower buds are delicious just sautéed in butter.

Hominy:

Hominy is a food made from kernels of corn that have undergone a special chemical process to make the grain easier for use in cooking and eating. The kernels are soaked in an alkali solution that removes the hull and germ of the corn, causing the grain to puff up to about twice its normal size, giving it the appearance of giant corn. Hominy has become a staple of Mexican cooking, traditionally used in soups, stews, and casseroles.

Pandowdy:

What a lovely name for a rustic fruit pie…Apples, peaches or plums…delicious

Salsify:

Salsify is a root vegetable that has an oyster-like flavour when cooked…a root vegetable that belongs to the dandelion family. The root is similar in appearance to a long, thin parsnip, with creamy white flesh and thick skin. In the same way, like many root vegetables, salsify can be boiled, mashed or used in soups and stews.

Soy:

A species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and tofu skin are made. Fermented soy foods include soy sauce, fermented bean paste, nattō, and tempeh.

The letter Zzzzzzzz…

Blintz:

A popular cigar-shaped pancake filled with cheese or fruit…

Blitz:

To purée or chop (food products) using a food processor or blender. To make a nut roast, you have to blitz the nuts in the food processor before adding the parsley and breadcrumbs.

Chametz:

Chametz includes grains like wheat, oats, rye, barley and spelt, which are prohibited if they’ve had contact with water/moisture for longer than 18 minutes, leading to rising or “leavening.” Leavening agents, like yeast and sourdough, are also considered chametz.

N.B…A little add on from Dolly @ KoolKosherKitchen…Chametz is only prohibited during the eight days of Passover, lest your readers think that we don’t eat baked goods during the year….and a note from me I never ever thought Dear Dolly didn’t eat cake…haha…Thank you for the info xx

Fizz:

A “fizz” is a mixed drink variation on the older sours family of the cocktail. Its defining features are acidic juice (such as lemon or lime) and carbonated water.

Ritz:

I’m digging deep here as Ritz is a brand name of crackers lovely with cheese…

Schmalz:

Is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat. It is an integral part of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, where it has been used for centuries in a wide array of dishes, such as chicken soup, latkes, chopped liver, matzah balls, fried chicken or schmaltz herring used either as a  cooking fat, spread, or flavour enhancer.

Varenez:

Made from melted milk by adding cream. Melted milk is baked milk for many hours in the oven. Verenez is nice to add to coffee or tea.

That’s it…THE END…I do hope you have enjoyed this series and I hope you will enjoy what follows next week…Thank you, Pete, for the idea and thank you to everyone else who has stayed with me through this series and left comments and ideas you are all stars…xxx

Thank you so much for your visit today I hope you have enjoyed the read…Please feel free to leave a comment as you know I love to chat…Love Carol xxx