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Glazing

Glazing This is the process of adding a sheen to a food item. Glazing can be accomplished by many means. Examples of glazing would be brushing a grilled steak with glace before serving, coating an Hors d’Oeurve with aspic gelee, by sautéing foods in butter, …

Saffron

Saffron Saffron has always been one of the world’s most precious products. Crocus sativus is the botanical name of a crocus that originally came from Asia Minor, where it has been cultivated since ancient times. The Moors brought with them the spice az-zafaran during their …

Saffron

A can of ground cinnamon is shown.
A can of ground cinnamon is shown.

â–¶ 5:17

Saffron

Saffron has always been one of the world’s most precious products. Crocus sativus is the botanical name of a crocus that originally came from Asia Minor, where it has been cultivated since ancient times. The Moors brought with them the spice az-zafaran during their invasion of Spain over a thousand years ago, Today over 70% of the world’s production is grown on the high Castilian plateau known as La Mancha.

Each year in October the crocus flowers open up in the depth of the night. At dawn there is a breathtaking purple carpet as far as the eye can see. At that moment people from Toledo to Albacete drop everything and rush to the fields, for all the saffron crocuses must be gathered before dusk, otherwise they lose their flavor.

The farmers pluck the flowers between their index fingers and thumbs and bring them to women who sit at long tables. They separate the reddish stigma with blinding speed. Finally the stigma are roasted on a sieve – over charcoal in earlier times, now by gas burners. About 200 crocus flowers are needed to obtain the single gram of saffron.
            Saffron is so valuable because it is a very labor intensive crop, and only 5-7 pounds of saffron can be produced from each acre of land. The average harvest obtained by an individual family is 8 pounds. Since the earliest of times saffron dried and preserved in the closet between layered sheets has acted as a savings bank for rural families.

The Fiesta de la Rosa del Azafrán is the high point of the year in the town of Consuegra. On the last Sunday of October, at the foot of the large white windmills, the farmers celebrate with music and dancing, and chose a local maiden to be crowned Dulcinea de la Mancha in honor of the beloved of Don Quijote.

Professionals rate saffron in terms of the intensity of its flavor and the depth of its color.

Three different grades of Saffron:
Kashmir “Mogra Cream” Indian Saffron is the world’s finest saffron. The dark red color and long perfect strands are as beautiful as they are colorful and flavorful. Kashmir saffron is difficult to obtain, which makes it higher in price.

Spanish Coupé Saffron is the top grade of the Spanish Saffron crop. Extra hand labor is used to remove every bit of the yellow saffron style material, leaving 100% beautiful pure red saffron threads -hence the name: coupé means “to cut”, as in cutting off all the yellow bits. Spanish Coupé Saffron is a truly excellent crop, especially nice for the traditional Spanish dishes.

Spanish Superior Saffron is the most widely available saffron and is a very good crop. Spanish Superior Saffron has a bit of the yellow style material left attached to some of the saffron stigmas (see photo), so it is not quite as strong as Spanish.

Saffron contains 450-500 saffron stigmas to the gram. The stigma is also called threads, strings, pieces or strands. 1 gram equals 2 tsp. whole, 1 teaspoon crumbled or ½ teaspoon powdered.

Monkfish

▶ 3:36 Monkfish The monkfish, known variously as the goosefish, anglerfish, or “allmouth,” is a large, ugly, benthic (bottom-dwelling) fish found in the coastal Atlantic area. Its size ranges up to about three feet, and its body is composed mainly of a huge, gaping mouth attached …

How to Clean Squid

â–¶ 1:55 How to Clean Squid Holding the body firmly, grasp the head and pull gently, twisting if necessary, to pull the head away from the body without breaking the ink sac. The internal body and tentacles will come with it. Cut the tentacles from the …

Anchovies

MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: FRESH ANCHOVIES--SMALL FISH, BIG FLAVOR
Anchovy Beet-Green Pesto Pasta & Arneis | foodwineclick

Anchovies

The anchovy is an ocean going fish species found in a large range of environments. It has been a popular source of food for humans since Roman times, when the fish was used in a wide variety of dishes including a fermented fish sauce called garum. The anchovy is a dark, oily fish related to herring. It is a small silvery fish with a greenish tint. The anchovy rarely exceeds five inches (12 centimeters) in length. Anchovies travel in large schools of fish, making them easy to harvest for human and animal predators alike. The anchovy generally eats plankton, and in turn provides food for a wide range of marine species, some of which follow schools of anchovies to ensure a consistent source of nutrition.

            There is wild variation in the quality of anchovies, because there are a handful of varieties and because anchovy makers range from small artisan operations to huge factories. Most anchovies come from the Atlantic, north of Cantabria in Spain; the Mediterranean; and the Pacific and Atlantic near South America. According to Globefish, which tracks marketing trends for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2000 Morocco was the largest producer of canned anchovies, followed by Spain. The best anchovies are considered by many to be those from off the coast of Spain, where the water is cold and the plankton is rich.

Because the anchovy has been heavily fished for centuries, some stocks of the fish are at risk. With the advent of commercial trawler fishing, scientists began to realize that anchovies faced an environmental crisis, and recommended that controls be put in place on anchovy fishing before it was too late. As a result, many nations have begun to regulate anchovy fishing more closely, well aware of the result of overfishing of a kingpin species which nourishes numerous larger predatory fish.

Anchovy is most often consumed preserved, and the fish are frequently brined or packed in oil so that they can be used year round. Anchovies are sometimes found packed in salt, in which case they should be soaked and rinsed before consumption. The fish are preserved with bones intact, because they are small and soft enough to be eaten along with the fish and the size of anchovies is such that fillets are not realistically possible.

The anchovy is rich in healthy omega-3 acid and the dark flesh doesn’t carry as much mercury as many white fleshed species. Anchovy provides a distinctive and complex flavor which can be an outstanding addition to many Mediterranean dishes, where the fish has been popularly integrated for centuries.

Nora Peppers

Ñora Peppers Ñora peppers (also known as pimiento choricero) are a small, round, intense and sweet-fleshed red bell pepper that is always used dry, to add flavor to stews, cocidos or soups, and also may be an ingredient in some chorizo sausages. In Spanish cuisine …

Durian

Durian The durian tree (Durio zibethius) is native to moist equatorial forests in southeast Asia. It grows to 100 feet tall and produces heavy, thick-skinned, brownish-green, soccer-ball-size fruits covered with short, sharp spikes (duri is the Malaysian word for “thorn”). When ripe, these hedgehog-like fruits …

Jackfruit

A can of ground cinnamon is shown.

Jackfruit

Jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, reaching 80 pounds in weight and up to 36 inches long and 20 inches in diameter. The outside of the compound fruit is green or yellow when ripe. The inside consists of large edible bulbs of yellow, banana-flavored flesh that encloses a smooth, oval, light-brown seed. The seed is 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches long and 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick and is white and crisp within. There may be 100 or up to 500 seeds in a single fruit, which are viable for no more than three or four days. When fully ripe, the unopened jackfruit emits a strong disagreeable odor, resembling that of decayed onions, while the pulp of the opened fruit smells of pineapple and banana.

Sago

Sago Starch is obtained from a number of different palm trees. By far the most important species of starch-bearing palm is the sago palm that grows in freshwater swamps in Southeast Asia and many islands in the western Pacific. More than 200 kg of starch …