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Indian Chai
Masala chai (, ; Urdu: مصالحہ چائے, Hindi: मसाला चाय) is an Indian tea beverage made by boiling black tea in milk and water with a mixture of aromatic herbs and spices. Originating in India the beverage has gained worldwide popularity, becoming a feature in many coffee and tea houses. The term ''chai'' originated from the Hindi word ''chai'', which was derived from the Chinese word for tea, . In English, this spiced tea is commonly referred to as ''masala chai'', or simply ''chai'', even though the term refers to tea in general in the original language. According to stories, it originates from thousands of years ago in now modern India and said that the king created masala chai as an Ayurvedic beverage - a blend of herbs and spices to drink for healing purposes. Chai has become a popularized item in western culture, with numerous coffee houses using the term chai latte or chai tea latte for their version to indicate that it is made with steamed milk, mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biscuits
A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. Types of biscuit include sandwich biscuits, digestive biscuits, ginger biscuits, shortbread biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate-coated marshmallow treats, Anzac biscuits, '' biscotti'', and ''speculaas''. In most of North America, nearly all hard sweet biscuits are called " cookies", while the term " biscuit" is used for a soft, leavened quick bread similar to a less sweet version of a ''scone''. "Biscuit" may also refer to hard flour-based baked animal feed, as with dog biscuit. Variations in meaning * In most of the world outside North America, a biscuit is a small baked product that would be called either a " cookie" or a " cracker" in the United States and sometimes in Canada. Biscuits in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caffè Latte
Caffè latte (), often shortened to just latte () in English, is a coffee beverage of Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include the chocolate-flavored mocha or replacing the coffee with another beverage base such as masala chai (spiced Indian tea), mate, matcha, turmeric or rooibos; alternatives to milk, such as soy milk or almond milk, are also used. The term comes from the Italian ' or ', from ', literally "coffee and milk"; in English orthography either or both words sometimes have an accent on the final ''e'' (a hyperforeignism in the case of *''latté'', or to indicate it is pronounced, not the more-common silent final ''e'' of English). In northern Europe and Scandinavia, the term ''café au lait'' has traditionally been used for the combination of espresso and milk. In France, ' is from the original name of the beverage (caffè latte); a combination of espresso and steamed milk equivalent to a "latte" is in French called and in German '. Ori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primarily floral nectar) or the secretions of other insects, like the honeydew of aphids. This refinement takes place both within individual bees, through regurgitation and enzymatic activity, as well as during storage in the hive, through water evaporation that concentrates the honey's sugars until it is thick and viscous. Honey bees stockpile honey in the hive. Within the hive is a structure made from wax called honeycomb. The honeycomb is made up of hundreds or thousands of hexagonal cells, into which the bees regurgitate honey for storage. Other honey-producing species of bee store the substance in different structures, such as the pots made of wax and resin used by the stingless bee. Honey for human consumption is collected from wild ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ginger Root
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of leaves) about one meter tall bearing narrow leaf blades. The inflorescences bear flowers having pale yellow petals with purple edges, and arise directly from the rhizome on separate shoots. Ginger is in the family Zingiberaceae, which also includes turmeric (''Curcuma longa''), cardamom (''Elettaria cardamomum''), and galangal. Ginger originated in Maritime Southeast Asia and was likely domesticated first by the Austronesian peoples. It was transported with them throughout the Indo-Pacific during the Austronesian expansion ( BP), reaching as far as Hawaii. Ginger is one of the first spices to have been exported from Asia, arriving in Europe with the spice trade, and was used by ancient Greeks and Romans. The distantly related dicots in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cardamom
Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are recognized by their small seed pods: triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin, papery outer shell and small, black seeds; ''Elettaria'' pods are light green and smaller, while ''Amomum'' pods are larger and dark brown. Species used for cardamom are native throughout tropical and subtropical Asia. The first references to cardamom are found in Sumer, and in the Ayurvedic literatures of India. Nowadays it is also cultivated in Guatemala, Malaysia, and Tanzania. The German coffee planter Oscar Majus Klöffer introduced Indian cardamom to cultivation in Guatemala before World War I; by 2000, that country had become the biggest producer and exporter of cardamom in the world, followed by India. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clove
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, such as toothpaste, soaps, or cosmetics. Cloves are available throughout the year owing to different harvest seasons across various countries. Etymology The word ''clove'', first used in English in the 15th century, derives via Middle English ''clow of gilofer'', Anglo-French ''clowes de gilofre'' and Old French ''clou de girofle'', from the Latin word ''clavus'' "nail". The related English word ''gillyflower'', originally meaning "clove", derives via said Old French ''girofle'' and Latin ''caryophyllon'', from the Greek ''karyophyllon'' "clove", literally "nut leaf". Botanical features The clove tree is an evergreen that grows up to tall, with large leaves and crimson flowers grouped in terminal clusters. The flower buds initiall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nutmeg
Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, and mace, from the seed covering. It is also a commercial source of an essential oil and nutmeg butter. Conifers of the genus ''Torreya'', commonly known as the nutmeg yews, have edible seeds of similar appearance, but are not closely related to ''Myristica fragrans'', and are not used as a spice. Indonesia is the main producer of nutmeg and mace. If consumed in amounts exceeding its typical use as a spice, nutmeg powder may produce allergic reactions, cause contact dermatitis, or have psychoactive effects. Although used in traditional medicine for treating various disorders, nutmeg has no scientifically confirmed medicinal value. Common nutmeg Nutmeg is the spice made by grinding the seed of the fragrant nutmeg tree (''Myristica fragra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Pepper
Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter (fresh and fully mature), dark red, and contains a stone which encloses a single pepper seed. Peppercorns and the ground pepper derived from them may be described simply as ''pepper'', or more precisely as ''black pepper'' (cooked and dried unripe fruit), ''green pepper'' (dried unripe fruit), or ''white pepper'' (ripe fruit seeds). Black pepper is native to the Malabar Coast of India, and the Malabar pepper is extensively cultivated there and in other tropical regions. Ground, dried, and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice, and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world. Its spiciness is due to the ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fennel
Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast and on riverbanks. It is a highly flavorful herb used in cooking and, along with the similar-tasting anise, is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio (, , ) is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable. Description ''Foeniculum vulgare'' is a perennial herb. It is erect, glaucous green, and grows to heights of up to , with hollow stems. The leaves grow up to long; they are finely dissected, with the ultimate segments filiform (threadlike), about wide. (Its leaves are similar to those of dill but thinner.) The flowers are produced in terminal compound umbels wide, each umbel section having 20–5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Anise
''Illicium verum'' is a medium-sized evergreen tree native to northeast Vietnam and southwest China. A spice commonly called star anise, staranise, star anise seed, star aniseed, star of anise, Chinese star anise, or badian that closely resembles anise in flavor is obtained from the star-shaped pericarps of the fruit of ''I. verum'' which are harvested just before ripening. Star anise oil is a highly fragrant oil used in cooking, perfumery, soaps, toothpastes, mouthwashes, and skin creams. Until 2012, when they switched to using a bacterial source, Roche Pharmaceuticals used up to 90% of the world's annual star anise crop to produce shikimic acid, a chemical intermediate used in the synthesis of oseltamivir (Tamiflu). Etymology and nomenclature ''Illicium'' comes from the Latin ''illicio'' meaning "entice" or "seduce".Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 210, 400 ''Verum'' means "true" or "genuine". The name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfast cereals, snack foods, bagels, teas, and traditional foods. The aroma and flavour of cinnamon derive from its essential oil and principal component, cinnamaldehyde, as well as numerous other constituents including eugenol. Cinnamon is the name for several species of trees and the commercial spice products that some of them produce. All are members of the genus ''Cinnamomum'' in the family Lauraceae. Only a few ''Cinnamomum'' species are grown commercially for spice. ''Cinnamomum verum'' (AKA ''C. zeylanicum''), known as "Ceylon cinnamon" after its origins in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), is considered to be "true cinnamon", but most cinnamon in international commerce is derived from four other species, usually and more correctly refe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Green Cardamom
''Elettaria cardamomum'', commonly known as green or true cardamom, is a herbaceous, perennial plant in the ginger family, native to southern India. It is the most common of the species whose seeds are used as a spice called cardamom. It is cultivated widely in tropical regions and reportedly naturalized in Réunion, Indochina, and Costa Rica. Growth ''Elettaria cardamomum'' is a pungent, aromatic, herbaceous, perennial plant, growing to about in height. The leaves are alternate in two ranks, linear-lanceolate, long, with a long pointed tip. The flowers are white to lilac or pale violet, produced in a loose spike long. The fruit is a three-sided yellow-green pod long, containing several (15-20) black and brown seeds. Use The green seed pods of the plant are dried and the seeds inside the pod are used in Indian and other Asian cuisines, either whole or ground. It is the most widely cultivated species of cardamom; for other types and uses, see cardamom. True cardamom may h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
