WHAT IS IT? Who invented chopsticks?
It is not known when chopsticks first began to be used, although it is fairly certain that they were invented in China, where they have been traced back at least as far as the 3rd century BCE. There are those who say that the philosopher Confucius, who lived over 200 years earlier,influenced the development of chopsticks with his nonviolent teachings. Thus, knives, with all their associations with war and death, were not brought to the dinner table, as they were in the West. Today, chopsticks are used in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as China, making them the world's second-most popular method of conveying food to mouth, the most popular being the fingers.What Chopsticks are Made of?
Chopsticks are most often made of utilitarian bamboo or other wood, but they can also be treated as decorative objects. Especially in Japan, they are made of laquered wood and are sometimes elaborately painted and personalized for their owners.Coconut Milk
No, believe it or not, coconut milk -- an indispensable ingredient in most Southeast Asian cooking -- is not the liquid inside a coconut. It is made by soaking the grated flesh of a coconut in hot water or scalded milk, then straining the combination. Coconut milk is classified as thick, thin, or coconut cream. Thick coconut milk is the result of the first soaking and squeezing. If this milk is refrigerated it separates, and the top layer is the cream. Thin coconut milk is what is produced when one steeps the coconut meat a second time and then strains. Canned coconut milk, which is mostly quite good, separates naturally. The top layer can be spooned off for recipes calling for cream, the bottom poured into thin, or just shake it up to get the most commonly called-for thick coconut milk.
Lemon GrassThis herb, which is native to Malaysia and grown throughout Southeast Asia and California, is one of the most important in Southeast Asian cooking. With the great popularity of the food of that region, lemon grass has made its way onto countless ingredients lists for all sorts of dishes. It has long, thin, gray-green leaves, and a scallion-like base. The stalks are too tough to eat but impart a distinctive fragrance and taste when simmered in a liquid. In the elaborate flavor play of Southeast Asian cooking, lemon grass balances hot chiles, gives depth to cool mint, and creates a zing in coconut milk soup. Citral, an essential oil also found in lemon peel, gives lemon grass its distinctive lemony taste and scent.
CorianderThe name coriander does not signify one thing -- it represents a seed, a leaf and a powder used in Central America, South America, all of Asia, the Mediterranean basin, the Southwest of the United States, and in any menu that replicates the flavors of one or all of these regions. Coriander-the-leaf is also known as Cilantro and Chinese Parsley. The profusion of names and forms are replicated in the range of flavors created by this coriander: the whole dried seeds are nutty and warm, the powder intense, the leaf vibrant or soapy -- depending on what camp the taster is in. In any form, though, when coriander is present, it is known.
Cinnamon Cinnamon, the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree, was used by wealthy Romans as perfume and others as an aphrodisiac. During the rainy season, when the bark is pliable, it is harvested for cinnamon production. As the bark dries, it forms long quills that are either cut into sticks or ground into powder. Two kinds of cinnamon are available -- Ceylon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylancium) and Cassia (Cinnamomum cassia). Ceylon Cinnamon is perhaps so named because 16th century Portuguese explorers arrived on that island and, falling in love with the spice, immediately shipped off huge amounts to their home country. It has a buff-color and a gentle, sweet flavor: the lighter the bark, the higher quality the cinnamon. Cassia is dark red-brown, just a little bittersweet, and more pungent than its Ceylonese cousin.
The Saffron Story The Greek legend goes like this: a gorgeous mortal named Crocos fell hard for the nymph Smilax. Smilax rebuffed Crocos' overtures and -- poof! -- Crocos became a lovely purple flower, Crocus sativus. Saffron is the dried stigmas of these flowers. Prized from Italy to China for its pungent flavor and rich color, the painstaking process of picking and drying the stigmas make this spice extremely expensive.
For unknown reasons, crocuses grown in Spain produce the best saffron; the stigmas of Spanish crocuses are longer and contain higher levels of the pigments and oils that give saffron its distinctive flavor, color, and aroma. Cultivation is concentrated in southern Castille and, to a lesser degree, in Aragon. The flowers peak for saffron production for only a week to ten days between October and November. The stigmas must be harvested during that period or the crop will be lost. Mondadoras, (peelers) who are mostly women, strip away the petals and pluck out the stigmas by hand; an experienced mondadora goes through 10-12,000 flowers in a day. It takes 250,000 to 300,000 flowers to produce the 5 1/2 kg of stigmas required for 1 kg of saffron.
Soy Sauce Soy sauce is a staple condiment and ingredient throughout all of Asia. Produced for thousands of years, soy sauce is a salty, brown liquid made from fermented soy beans mixed with some type of roasted grain (wheat, barley, or rice are common), injected with a special yeast mold, and liberally flavored with salt. After being left to age for several months, the mixture is strained and bottled. The sauce's consistency can range from very thin to very thick. Flavors, too, vary by type and have very subtle differences. Today, soy sauce is not only made in the traditional manner; it is synthesized artificially as well, which results in a chemical-flavored, but inexpensive product.
Tamarind Tamarind, the sweet and sour fruit of the tamarind tree, is native to Asia and northern Africa and is also grown in the Caribbean. Like lemon, tamarind brings an acidic zing to food. Tamarind, along with a host of other flavors, gives Worcestershire sauce its je ne sais quoi. Sometimes, tamarind seeds are roasted and used as flavoring. In parts of East Africa, tamarind is the base of refreshing iced drinks and sweets.
Chinese Five Spice Powder Originating in China, this spice mix combines equal parts ground cinnamon, fennel, star anise, cloves, and Szechwan pepper. It is often used in meat marinades and as a spice in barbequing. Mixed with ground salt, it makes a dip for deep-fried Chinese foods.
Coriander The name coriander does not signify one thing -- it represents a seed, a leaf and a powder used in Central America, South America, all of Asia, the Mediterranean basin, the Southwest of the United States, and in any menu that replicates the flavors of one or all of these regions. Coriander-the-leaf is also known as Cilantro and Chinese Parsley. The profusion of names and forms are replicated in the range of flavors created by this coriander: the whole dried seeds are nutty and warm, the powder intense, the leaf vibrant or soapy -- depending on what camp the taster is in. In any form, though, when coriander is present, it is known.
RiceRice, the main source of sustenance for half of the world's population, comes in an endless variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Rice grains can be long, like those of basmati rice from India and jasmine rice from Thailand; tiny, like mochi-gome from Japan, which is similar in shape to Italian arborio rice; or somewhere in the middle. Likewise, the color of rice varies greatly. It can be black (from Indonesia and the Philippines), purple (also from the Philippines), red (throughout Asia), yellow, pink, blue, cream, white, and many shades in-between.
Unlike most grains, rice grows either in water or on land. And, while rice flourishes in a range of climates, from the Himalayas to swamps by the sea, Southeast Asia's tropical climate and very long growing season create an ideal environment for its cultivation. The 2,000-year-old terraces of the Ifugao of Luzon in the northern Philippines are a testament to the region's dedication to this grain. One of the world's wonders, the terraces cover an area over 400 kilometers (250 miles) square, and reach, in rolling, leveled sections, from the valley floor to over a 1,000 meters (1,100 yards) high. More than 20,000 kilometers (12,500 miles) of stone walls, built without machinery or draft animals, keep in the paddy waters.
Chinese Cleaver