Vanilla Beans And Other Spices
Cooking with vanilla beans
Used in almost every sweet baked good, vanilla
beans are an
incredible spice. It’s extracted from a tiny fruit pod
that grows on the vanilla orchid vine. It has no
essential oils; instead, it derives its flavor from
crystals after fermentation. Real vanilla beans have no match;
cook with imitation vanilla and then with real vanilla
beans and you’ll
see this for yourself!
You can buy vanilla dried, as a
liquid extract, or as pods stored in sugar; it’s great
added to nut milks or natural desserts.
Flavor with herbs and spices
Other herbs you can use for really excellent flavoring
are chamomile, a wide variety of peppers, fresh
garlic,
real cinnamon and ginger,
horseradish,
mints, and even
hops.
In desserts, try combinations of vanilla with
ginger,
clove, or
mint. If you like chocolate, you can try
carob
bean for a healthy alternative. Sweeten your desserts
with
unpasteurized honey.
For spicy meals, combinations of fresh
peppers are
wonderful. Capsaicin, the ingredient that makes peppers
hot, has been shown to increase your metabolism and
cleanse your blood. But be careful when working with
fresh peppers; capsaicin is not just painful but
actually harmful if it gets in your eyes.
For milder meals, try different combinations of fresh
herbs
and spices. Suggested herbs to have on hand, especially if
you grow a windowsill herb garden, are lemongrass,
oregano, cilantro, and chives. Be creative and find
spices and spice combinations you love; and use them
instead of salts and fats.
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