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Banitsa
Banitsa ( bg, баница, , also transliterated as banica and banitza) is a traditional pastry dish made in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Southeastern Serbia (where it may also be referred to as gibanica), prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ..., natural yogurt and pieces of white brined cheese between filo pastry and then baking it in an oven. Traditionally, lucky charms are put into the pastry on certain occasions, particularly on New Year's Eve. These charms may be coins or small symbolic objects (e.g., a small piece of a dogwood branch with a bud, symbolizing health or longevity). More recently, people have started writing happy wishes on small pieces of paper and wrapping them in tin foil. Wishes may include happine ...
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Gibanica
Gibanica ( sr-cyr, Гибаница, ) is a traditional pastry dish popular all over the Balkans. It is usually made with cottage cheese and eggs. Recipes can range from sweet to savoury, and from simple to festive and elaborate multi-layered cakes. A derivative of the Serbo-Croatian verb ''gibati''/гибати meaning "to fold; sway, swing, rock", the pastry was mentioned in Vuk Stefanović Karadžić's '' Serbian Dictionary'' in 1818 and by a Slovenian priest Jožef Kosič in 1828, where it was described as a special Slovenian cake which is ''"a must at wedding festivities and is also served to workers after finishing a big project"''. It is a type of layered strudel, a combination of Turkish and Austrian influences in different cuisines of the former Yugoslavia. Today the versions of this cake can be found in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and other regions of the former Yugoslavia. Variants of this rich layered strudel are found in Hungary, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, ...
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Boza
Boza, also bosa, is a fermented beverage originating from the Middle East and made in parts of Southeast Europe, Central and Western Asia, Caucasus and North Africa. It is a malt drink made by fermenting various grains: wheat or millet in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and barley in Ancient Egypt, maize (corn) and wheat in Turkey. It has a thick consistency, a low alcohol content (around 1%), and a slightly acidic sweet flavor. Etymology According to Turkish etymological dictionary and '' Nişanyan Sözlük'', ''boza'' is etymologically either Persian or Turkic in origin. The dictionary states that Persian ''būza'' or ''buχsum'' and Old Turkic ''buχsı'' or ''buχsum'' are cognates, yet it is unclear from which language it was ultimately derived and which one took it as a loanword. Francis Joseph Steingass says it is Persian and Ármin Vámbéry says it is an ancient Turkish word found in ''Kutadgu Bilig''. The oldest writte ...
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Filo Pastry
Filo or phyllo is a very thin unleavened dough used for making pastries such as baklava and börek in Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Filo-based pastries are made by layering many sheets of filo brushed with oil or butter; the pastry is then baked. Name and etymology The name ''filo'' (phonetic) or ''phyllo'' (transliteration) comes from Greek 'leaf'.Alan Davidson (2014). ''The Oxford Companion to Food'. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . p. 307. In Turkish, it is called ' 'thin', a word which is also used for a kind of thin unleavened bread. In Arabic, it is called ''reqaqot''; in Morocco, warqa ( ar, ورقة). The Albanian flia also may be named for ''fije''/''fli'' 'sheet, leaf'. History The origin of the practice of stretching raw dough into paper-thin sheets is unclear, with many cultures claiming credit.Mayer, Caroline E.Phyllo Facts. Washington Post. 1989Archived Some claim it may be derived from the Greeks; Homer's ''Odyssey'', written around 800 BC, mentio ...
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Milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulating components in milk contribute to milk immunity. Early-lactation milk, which is called colostrum, contains antibody, antibodies that strengthen the immune system, and thus reduces the risk of many diseases. Milk contains many nutrients, including protein and lactose. As an agricultural product, dairy milk is Milking, collected from farm animals. In 2011, Dairy farming, dairy farms produced around of milk from 260 million dairy cows. India is the world's largest producer of milk and the leading exporter of skimmed milk powder, but it exports few other milk products. Because there is an ever-increasing demand for dairy products within India, it could eventually become a net importer of dairy products. New Zealand, Germany and the ...
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Mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, ''Agaricus bisporus''; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi ( Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes) that have a stem ( stipe), a cap ( pileus), and gills (lamellae, sing. lamella) on the underside of the cap. "Mushroom" also describes a variety of other gilled fungi, with or without stems, therefore the term is used to describe the fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota. These gills produce microscopic spores that help the fungus spread across the ground or its occupant surface. Forms deviating from the standard morphology usually have more specific names, such as "bolete", "puffball", "stinkhorn", and " morel", and gilled mushrooms themselves are often called "agarics" in refere ...
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Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferment the sugars in the cabbage leaves.Gil MarksEncyclopedia of Jewish Food p. 1052.Joseph Mercola, Brian Vaszily, Kendra Pearsall, Nancy Lee BentleyDr. Mercola's Total Health Cookbook & Program p. 227. It is one of the best-known national dishes in Germany. Although in English-speaking countries it is known under its German name, it is also widely known in Eastern Europe and other places (see below). For example, in Russia, () 'sour cabbage' or () 'fermented cabbage' has been a traditional and ubiquitous dish from ancient times. Overview and history Fermented foods have a long history in many cultures, with sauerkraut being one of the most well-known instances of traditional fermented moist cabbage side dishes. The Roman writers Cato ( ...
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Parsley
Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Malta, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), but has been naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and is widely cultivated as a herb, and a vegetable. Parsley is widely used in European, Middle Eastern, and American cuisine. Curly leaf parsley is often used as a garnish. In central Europe, eastern Europe, and southern Europe, as well as in western Asia, many dishes are served with fresh green chopped parsley sprinkled on top. Flat leaf parsley is similar, but it is easier to cultivate, some say it has a stronger flavor. Root parsley is very common in central, eastern, and southern European cuisines, where it is used as a snack or a vegetable in many soups, stews, and casseroles. It is believed to have been originally grown in Sardinia ...
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Onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified as a separate species until 2010. Its close relatives include garlic, scallion, leek, and chive. This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion (''Allium fistulosum''), the tree onion (''A.'' × ''proliferum''), and the Canada onion (''Allium canadense''). The name ''wild onion'' is applied to a number of ''Allium'' species, but ''A. cepa'' is exclusively known from cultivation. Its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, but is usually treated as an annual and harvested in its f ...
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Leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Allium'' also contains the onion, garlic, shallot, scallion, chive, and Chinese onion. Three closely related vegetables, elephant garlic, kurrat and Persian leek or ''tareh'', are also cultivars of ''A. ampeloprasum'', although different in their uses as food. Etymology Historically, many scientific names were used for leeks, but they are now all treated as cultivars of ''A. ampeloprasum''. The name ''leek'' developed from the Old English word , from which the modern English name for garlic also derives. means 'onion' in Old English and is a cognate with languages based on Old Norse; Danish ', Icelandic ', Norwegian ' and Swedish '. German uses ' for leek, but in Dutch, ' is used for the whole onion genus, Allium. Form Rather than for ...
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Urtica Dioica
''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Originally native to Europe, much of temperate Asia and western North Africa, it is now found worldwide, including New Zealand and North America. The species is divided into six subspecies, five of which have many hollow stinging hairs called trichomes on the leaves and stems, which act like hypodermic needles, injecting histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation upon contact ("contact urticaria", a form of contact dermatitis). The plant has a long history of use as a source for traditional medicine, food, tea, and textile raw material in ancient (such as Saxon) and modern societies. Description ''Urtica dioica'' is a dioecious, herbaceous, perennial plant, tall in the summer and dying down to the ground in winter. ...
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Feta Cheese
Feta ( el, φέτα, ) is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brine. Its flavor is tangy and salty, ranging from mild to sharp. Feta is used as a table cheese, in salads such as Greek salad, and in pastries, notably the phyllo-based Greek dishes ''spanakopita'' "spinach pie" and ''tyropita'' "cheese pie". It is often served with olive oil or olives, and sprinkled with aromatic herbs such as oregano. It can also be served cooked (often grilled), as part of a sandwich, in omelettes, and many other dishes. Since 2002, feta has been a protected designation of origin in the European Union. EU legislation and similar legislation in 25 other countries limits the name ''feta'' to cheeses produced in the traditional way in mainland Greece and Lesbos Prefecture, which ar ...
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Sunflower Oil
Sunflower oil is the non-volatile oil pressed from the seeds of the sunflower (''Helianthus annuus''). Sunflower oil is commonly used in food as a frying oil, and in cosmetic formulations as an emollient. Sunflower oil is primarily composed of linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated fat, and oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat. Through plant breeding, selective breeding and manufacturing processes, oils of differing proportions of the fatty acids are produced. The Expeller pressing, expressed oil has a neutral taste profile. The oil contains a large amount of vitamin E. As of 2017, genome analysis and development of hybrid (biology), hybrid sunflowers to increase oil production are under development to meet greater consumer demand for sunflower oil and its commercial varieties. In 2018, Ukraine and Russia together accounted for 53% of the world's production of sunflower oil. Composition Sunflower oil is mainly a triglyceride. The British Pharmacopoeia lists the following profile: ...
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