Healthy Matter Raw Materials epsd (week 5)

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 sugarcanes in 8th millennia 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, ultrafine, 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.

Brown Sugar

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 Sugar

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/

Salt

What is salt?

Salt is the only mineral that people eat—it's the only dietary mineral that's really a mineral. It's a common substance that's been sought by animals and humans alike since the beginning of time. Salt comes from the sea and from solid layers underground.

History of salt

History of sugar:

As far back as 6050 BC, salt has been an important and integral part of the world’s history, as it has been interwoven into countless civilizations. Used as a part of Egyptian religious offerings and valuable trade between the Phoenicians and their Mediterranean empire, salt and history have been inextricably intertwined for millennia, with great importance placed on salt by many different cultures. Even today, the history of salt touches our daily lives. The word “salary” was derived from the word “salt.” Salt was highly valued and its production was legally restricted in ancient times, so it was historically used as a method of trade and currency. The word “salad” also originated from “salt,” and began with the early Romans salting their leafy greens and vegetables. Undeniably, the history of salt is both broad and unique, leaving its indelible mark in cultures across the globe.

Most people probably think of salt as simply that white granular seasoning found in saltshakers on virtually every dining table.

It is that, surely, but it is far more. It is an essential element in the diet of not only humans but of animals, and even of many plants. It is one of the most effective and most widely used of all food preservatives. Its industrial and other uses are almost without number. Salt has great current interest as the subject of humorous cartoons, poetry and filmmaking.

The fact is that throughout history, salt—called sodium chloride by chemists—has been such an important element of life that it has been the subject of many stories, fables, folktales and fairy tales. It served as money at various times and places, and it has been the cause of bitter warfare. Offering bread and salt to visitors, in many cultures, is traditional etiquette. While records show the importance of salt in commerce in medieval times and earlier, in some places like the Sahara and in Nepal, salt trading today gives a glimpse of what life may have been like centuries ago.

Salt was in general use long before the beginning of recorded history, and dating back to around 2700 B.C. the earliest known treatise on pharmacology was published in China. A major portion of this writing is devoted to a discussion of more than 40 kinds of salt, including descriptions of two methods of salt extraction that are similar to processes used today. Salt production has been important in China for two millennia or more, and the Chinese, like many other governments over time, realized that taxing salt would could be a major revenue source. Nomads spreading westward were known to carry salt, and Egyptian art from as long ago as 1450 B.C. records salt making.

Salt was of crucial importance economically. The expression “not worth his salt” stems from the practice of trading slaves for salt in ancient Greece. Special salt rations given to early Roman soldiers were known as "salarium argentum," the forerunner of the English word "salary." References to salt can be found in languages around the globe, particularly regarding salt used for food. From the Latin "sal," for example, come such other derived words as "sauce" and "sausage." Salt was an important trading commodity carried by explorers.

Salt has played a vital part in religious ritual in many cultures, symbolizing purity. There are more than 30 references to salt in the Bible, including the well-known expression "salt of the earth." Additionally, there are many other literary and religious references to salt, including use of salt on altars representing purity, and use of "holy salt" by the Unification Church.

Salt making encompasses much of the history of the United Kingdom, particularly in the Cheshire area. Medieval European records document salt making concessions. In continental Europe, Venice rose to economic greatness through its salt monopoly. Salt making was important in the Adriatic/Balkans region as well (the present border between Slovenia and Croatia); in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Tuzla is actually named for "tuz," the Turkish word for salt. The same is true for Salzburg, Austria, which has made its four salt mines major tourist attractions.

Similarly in Bolivia, the main salt producing region is a tourist attraction and includes one hotel constructed entirely of salt. The grand designs of Philip II of Spain came undone through the Dutch Revolt at the end of the 16th Century; one of the keys, according to Montesquieu, was the successful Dutch blockade of Iberian salt works, which led directly to Spanish bankruptcy. Salt making was (and still is) important in Holland, as well. France has always been a major producer of salt and any discussion of salt making and distribution in France includes discussion of the gabelle, the salt tax that was a significant contributor to the French Revolution. The salt remains just as important today.

The magnitude of the gabelle is astounding; from 1630 to 1710, the tax increased from 14 times the cost of production to 140 times the cost of production, according to Pierre Laszlo in his book Salt: Grain of Life (Columbia Univ. Press). You may be familiar with the phrase: "Siberian salt mines," although salt making takes place in many places across Russia. In the Middle East, the Jordanian town of As-Salt, located on the road between Amman and Jerusalem, was known as Saltus in Byzantine times and was the seat of a bishopric. Later destroyed by the Mongols, it was rebuilt by the Mamluke sultan Baybars I in the 13th century; the ruins of his fortress remain today.

Indian history recalls the prominent role of salt (including the Great Hedge and its role in the British salt starvation policy) and Mahatma Gandhi’s resistance to British colonial rule. Additionally, salt played a key role in the history of West Africa, particularly during the great trading empire of Mali (13th-16th Centuries) — and it still does.

Salt has played a prominent role in the European exploration of North America and subsequent American history, Canadian history, and Mexican history, as well. The first Native Americans "discovered" by Europeans in the Caribbean were harvesting sea salt on St. Maarten.

When the major European fishing fleets discovered the Grand Banks of Newfoundland at the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese and Spanish fleets used the "wet" method of salting their fish onboard, while the French and English fleets used the "dry" or "shore" salting method of drying their catch on racks onshore. Due to this early food processing, French and British fishermen became the first European inhabitants of North America since the Vikings a half-century earlier. Had it not been for the practice of salting fish, Europeans might have confined their fishing to the coasts of Europe and delayed "discovery" of the New World.

Salt motivated the American pioneers. The American Revolution had heroes who were salt makers and part of the British strategy was to deny the American rebels access to salt. Salt was on the mind of William Clark in the groundbreaking Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Northwest. The first patent issued by the British crown to an American settler gave Samuel Winslow of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the exclusive right for ten years to make salt by his particular method. The Land Act of 1795 included a provision for salt reservations (to prevent monopolies), as did an earlier treaty between the Iroquois' Onondaga tribe and the state of New York. New York has always been important in salt production. The famed Erie Canal, opened in 1825, was known as "the ditch that salt built" because salt, a bulky product presenting major transportation difficulties, was its principal cargo. Syracuse, NY, is proud of its salt history and its nickname, "Salt City." Salt production has been important in Michigan and West Virginia for more than a century. Salt played an important role on the U.S. frontier, including areas like Illinois and Nebraska, although they no longer have commercial salt production.

Salt played a key role in the Civil War, as well. In 1864, Union forces made a forced march and fought a 36-hour battle to capture Saltville, Virginia, the site of an important salt processing plant thought essential to sustaining the South's beleaguered armies. Civilian distress over the lack of salt in the wartime Confederacy undermined rebel morale, too. The important role of salt in the history of Kansas is captured in a salt museum in Hutchinson, KS. The vast distances in the American West sometimes required passage over extensive salt flats.

In Canada, Windsor Salt is more than a century old. In the American West, a "salt war" was fought at El Paso, TX and we know that Nevada was known as more than a silver state. Many cities, counties, land features and other landmarks reflect the importance of salt. Salt, of course, has many uses; some techniques using salt such as production of "salt prints" in 19th Century photography have been superseded by new technologies, but others have not. However, not all American "salt history" is so old. Salt-glazed pottery is still popular. Salt is even associated with the struggle for women's rights in the U.S.

Salt also had military significance. For instance, it is recorded that thousands of Napoleon's troops died during his retreat from Moscow because their wounds would not heal due to the lack of salt. In 1777, the British Lord Howe was jubilant when he succeeded in capturing General Washington's salt supply.

Similarly throughout history, salt has been subjected to governmental monopoly and special taxes. French kings developed a salt monopoly by selling exclusive rights to produce it to a favored few who exploited that right to the point that the scarcity of salt contributed to the French Revolution. Salt taxes long supported British monarchs and thousands of British people were imprisoned for smuggling salt. In modern times, Mahatma Gandhi defied British salt laws as a means of mobilizing popular support for self-rule in India. In recent years, the promotion of free trade through the World Trade Organization has led to abolition of many national monopolies, for example, in Taiwan.

Type of salt:

1. TABLE SALT

Table salt – the most common – is harvested from salt deposits found underground. It’s highly refined and finely ground, with impurities and trace minerals removed in the process. It’s also treated with an anti-caking agent to keep from clumping.

Most table salt is iodized, meaning iodine has been added to prevent iodine deficiency, which can (and does, in much of the world) cause hypothyroidism and other maladies.

2. KOSHER SALT

Koshering salt – or kosher salt, in the U.S. – is flakier and coarser-grained than regular table salt. Its large grain size makes it perfect for sprinkling on top of meat, where it releases a surprising blast of flavor. Kosher salt also dissolves quickly, making it a perfect all-purpose cooking salt.

However, most kosher salt does not containn any added iodine, and only rarely any anti-caking agents. Despite the name, all kosher salt is not certified kosher. Rather, it’s used in the koshering process, when surface fluids are removed from meat through desiccation.

3. SEA SALT

Harvested from evaporated sea water, sea salt is usually unrefined and coarser-grained than table salt. It also contains some of the minerals from where it was harvested – zinc, potassium and iron among them – which give sea salt a more complex flavor profile.

“Sea salt” is a pretty broad term, as it includes some of the specialty salts described below. Sprinkle it on top of foods for a different mouth feel and bigger burst of flavor than table salt.

4. HIMALAYAN PINK SALT

Of the different types of salt, Himalayan salt is the purest form of salt in the world and is harvested by hand from Khewra Salt Mine in the Himalayan Mountains of Pakistan. Its color ranges from off-white to deep pink. Rich in minerals – it contains the 84 natural minerals and elements found in the human body – Himalayan salt is used in spa treatments, as well as the kitchen.

Its mineral content gives it a bolder flavor than many other salts, so use it as a cooking and finishing salt – or to add a bit of flair to a salt-rimmed margarita! Slabs of the stuff are used for cooking and serving (Himalayan salt retains temperature for hours), and unfinished pieces often appear in shops as lamps.

5. CELTIC SEA SALT

Also known as sel gris (French for “grey salt”), Celtic sea salt is harvested from the bottom of tidal ponds off the coast of France. The salt crystals are raked out after sinking; this, plus the mineral-rich seawater its extracted from, gives Celtic salt its moist, chunky grains, grey hue and briny taste.

It’s great on fish and meat as both a cooking and finishing salt, as well as for baking.

6. FLEUR DE SEL

Literally “flower of salt,” fluer de sel is a sea salt hand-harvested from tidal pools off the coast of Brittany, France. Paper-thin salt crystals are delicately drawn from the water’s surface, much like cream is taken from milk. This can only be done on sunny, dry days with a slight breeze, and only with traditional wooden rakes. Because of its scarcity and labor-intensive harvesting, fleur de sel is the most expensive salt (five pounds will run you a cool $80), earning it the nickname “the caviar of salts.”

It retains moisture, and has blue-grey tint,from its high mineral content and oceanic beginnings. If you can afford it, use fleur de sel as a finishing salt to add an impressive dash of flavor to meat, seafood, vegetables, even sweets like chocolate and caramel.

7. KALA NAMAK

Kala namak (“black salt” in Nepalese) is Himalayan salt that’s been packed in a jar with charcoal, herbs, seeds and bark, then fired in a furnace for a full 24 hours before it’s cooled, stored and aged.

This process gives kala namak its reddish-black color, its pungent, salty taste and a faint, sulfurous aroma of eggs. It’s often used in vegan and vegetarian dishes to give egg-free dishes the taste of egg, as well as in Ayurvedic practice.

8. FLAKE SALT

Harvested from salt water through evaporation, boiling or other means, flake salt is thin and irregularly shaped with a bright, salty taste and very low mineral content.

This shapes means the crunchy flake salt dissolves quickly, resulting in a “pop” of flavor. Of the different types of salt, use it as a finishing salt, especially on meats.

9. BLACK HAWAIIAN SALT

Also known as black lava salt, black Hawaiian salt is a sea salt harvested from – you guessed it – the volcanic islands of Hawaii. It gets its deep, black color from the addition of activated charcoal.

Coarse-grained and crunchy, black Hawaiian salt is great for finishing pork and seafood.

10. RED HAWAIIAN SALT

Also called alaea salt, this unrefined, red Hawaiian salt gets its name and color from the reddish, iron-rich volcanic clay alaea.

Used for centuries in ceremonial ways for cleansing, purification and the blessing of tools, red Hawaiian salt is also great in the kitchen, adding an attractive finish and robust flavor to seafood and meat, as well as traditional island dishes like poke and pipikaula, a Hawaiian jerky.

11. SMOKED SALT

Slow-smoked up to two weeks over a wood fire (usually hickory, mesquite, apple, oak or alder wood), smoked salt adds an intense and, yes, smoky flavor to dishes.

Depending on the time smoked and the wood used, tastes will vary from brand to brand. Smoked salt is the best of the different types of salt to use for flavoring meats and heartier vegetables, like potatoes.

12. PICKLING SALT

Used for pickling and brining, pickling salt does not contain any added iodine or anti-caking agents, nor many of the trace minerals of sea salt, which can cause ugly discoloration of the preserved food.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/all-about-salt-1441186 https://www.seasalt.com/history-of-salt https://www.google.co.id/amp/www.wideopeneats.com/12-different-types-salt-use/amp/ 

White pepper

What is white pepper?

White pepper consists of only the inner seed of the pepper berry, with the pericarp removed. To make white pepper, the berry is picked fully ripe. Its outer shrunken skin is rubbed off, exposing the dried, greyish-white pepper inside. This white pepper is dried and sold commercially, in whole and powdered forms.

White pepper – and hence, its powder – has a milder, more delicate flavour than black pepper because it contains lesser piperine, the volatile oil that gives pepper its characteristic flavour. It is useful for adding a peppery flavour to light-coloured sauces and soups. White pepper is preferred in Europe, especially France, and is also popular in Japan.

History of white pepper:

The world’s most commonly used spice, Piper nigrum, starts life as berries in a clump on a flowering vine (like grapes). Native to Southern India, today pepper is grown throughout the tropics.

Archaeological evidence of people using pepper goes back to at least 2000 BC in India. It is known that pepper was exported, but to what extent remains a mystery. Nonetheless, signs of an ancient pepper trade from India to Egypt have been found, including the peppercorns that had been stuffed into the nostrils of Ramses the Great (1303-1213 BC) when he was mummified.

Certainly by 40 AD, the Romans had a thriving trade in spices, including pepper. Leaving the southwestern coast of India in July with the monsoon winds, Roman sea traders brought cinnamon, incense oils and pepper to their great commercial hub in Alexandria. When the strong monsoon winds switched in the fall, the traders rode them back.

The Romans gobbled pepper up, and in Apicius’ Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome, 80% of the recipes contain the spice. Nonetheless, not everybody was a big fan, including Pliny the Elder (25-79 AD)

Types of pepper:

There are over 600 varieties of pepper (genus Piper), but few are used as spice, often distinguished only by the degree of maturation and the type of processing.

Common pepper on the market is the fruit of Piper nigrum, consisting of small spherical green berries that reach a bright red when fully ripe. Depending on the period of collection and / or processing undergone, we can distinguish the following types of pepper:

• 

black pepper (collected at veraison and dried)
• 
white pepper (collected at veraison or later, dehulled by maceration in water or mechanically dried)
• green pepper (unripe harvest, dried and placed in brine)
• 
red pepper (ripe harvest, placed in brine)

The pepper plant is a creeper with a thin and woody stem. Its fruits (from 20 to 40 in each ear) contain a single seed, which is by far the largest and aromatic part of the fruit.

Source : https://www.tarladalal.com/glossary-white-pepper-powder-1169i http://www.webbjames.com/list-of-spices/varieties-of-peppers/varieties-of-pepper/