HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A food paste is a semi-liquid colloidal suspension, emulsion, or aggregation used in food preparation or eaten directly as a spread. Pastes are often highly spicy or aromatic, are often prepared well in advance of actual usage, and are often made into a preserve for future use. Common pastes are some fruit preserves, curry pastes, and nut pastes. Purées are food pastes made from already cooked ingredients. Some food pastes are considered to be condiments and are used directly, while others are made into sauces, which are more liquidy than paste. Ketchup and prepared mustard are pastes that are used both directly as condiments and as ingredients in sauces. Many food pastes are an intermediary stage in the preparation of food. Perhaps the most notable of such intermediary food pastes is dough. A paste made of fat and flour and often stock or milk is an important intermediary for the basis for a sauce or a binder for stuffing, whether called a ''
beurre manié Beurre manié (French "kneaded butter") is a dough, consisting of equal parts by volume of soft butter and flour, used to thicken soups and sauces. By kneading the flour and butter together, the flour particles are coated in butter. When the beurr ...
'', a
roux Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or Cooking oil, oil on the stove top, blended until smoo ...
or panada. Sago paste is an intermediary stage in the production of sago meal and sago flour from sago palms. Food for babies and adults who have lost their teeth is often prepared as food pastes. Baby food is often very bland, while older adults often desire increased spiciness in their food pastes.


Preparation

Blenders, grinders, mortars and pestles, metates, and even chewing are used to reduce unprocessed food to a meal, powder, or when significant water is present in the original food, directly into a paste. If required, water, oil and other liquids are added to dry ingredients to make the paste. Often the resultant paste is fermented or cooked to increase its longevity. Often pastes are steamed, baked or enclosed in
pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ...
or bread dough to make them ready for consumption.


Preservation

Traditionally, salt, sugar, vinegar, citric acid and beneficial fermentation were all used to preserve food pastes. In modern times canning is used to preserve pastes in jars, bottles, tins and more recently in plastic bags and tubes.


Examples


Aromatic and spicy

While many of the pastes listed below may be made particularly spicy or aromatic or not, some pastes are specifically intended to deliver intense flavor rather than bulk. * Achiote paste is a
chili Chili or chilli may refer to: Food * Chili pepper, the spicy fruit of plants in the genus ''Capsicum''; sometimes spelled "chilli" in the UK and "chile" in the southwestern US * Chili powder, the dried, pulverized fruit of one or more varieties ...
paste with a number of other spices including annatto. * Curry paste * Pesto


Cheese and milk

Cheeses always start out as food pastes, but most of them become harder during the fermentation and curing processes. * Clotted cream, as used in British cuisine, is made by heating cream to scalding temperatures to make it thicker. * Mascarpone is a soft cream cheese made from cow's milk used in Italian cuisine.


Fish and meat

* Fish paste is prepared from fish parts through fermentation. ** Anchovy paste -- used as a condiment or ingredient in recipes. * Meat paste or Potted meat food product usually produces a homogeneous texture and flavor suitable for a spread. * Pâté is finely chopped, finely ground or pureed highly seasoned meat, whether fish, beef, pork, liver, or other organs. * Shrimp paste is made from fermented ground shrimp, either from fresh shrimp or dried ones, with the addition of salt. Prepared shrimp paste often has oil, sugar, garlic, chili, and other spices added.


Grain

* Farina --often prepared as a hot cereal or porridge * Pamonha is a traditional Brazilian paste made from fresh corn and milk. * Pasta is prepared from wheat food pastes often with the addition of egg. * Polenta * Mealy pop or
Bogobe Ugali or Posho or sima (for others, see ) is a type of maize meal made from maize or corn flour in several countries in Africa. Sima is sometimes made from other flours, such as millet or sorghum flour, and is sometimes mixed with cassava flou ...
is prepared from ground grain usually maize or millet and often fermented before cooking.


Instant soup

* Erbswurst


Nut and seed

* Almond butter * Cashew butter is used as a substitute for peanut butter, where
peanut allergies Peanut allergy is a type of food allergy to peanuts. It is different from tree nut allergies, because peanuts are legumes and not true nuts. Physical symptoms of allergic reaction can include itchiness, hives, swelling, eczema, sneezing, asth ...
are an issue. * Marzipan, made from almonds, with the addition of sugar and sometimes egg whites, is used as a center-fill in confections, or hardened to serve as a candy itself. * Peanut butter * Sunflower butter * Tahini is a paste made from ground, sesame seeds prominent in
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
n,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
and Middle Eastern cuisine. * Walnut paste (საცივი) is a
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...
n specialty, and is used unsweetened as a bread dip, or sweetened as a center-fill in a baklava-like pastry.


Sugar

Sugar pastes are usually used for frosting and icings, or sweet centers in pastry. Sugars are often combined with cream, oils and egg whites as well as water to make pastes. * Fondant is a basic sugar paste used as an intermediary in the production of candies and icings.


Vegetable and fruit

* Àmàlà is a Nigeria specialty paste, thick and brown, made from yams. * Baba ghanoush is an eggplant (aubergine) based paste. * Date paste is used as a center-fill in pastries. * Fermented bean paste is made from ground soyabeans and allowed to ferment. * Funge de bombo is a manioc paste used in northern Angola, and elsewhere in Africa. * Hilbet is a paste made in Ethiopia and Eritrea from legumes, mainly lentils or faba beans with garlic, ginger and spices. * Hummus is made from chickpeas with the addition of tahini,
olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...
, lemon juice, salt and garlic. * Red bean paste * Ssamjang is a Korean, sesame and bean based paste used as a sauce on meat. * Sweet bean paste is a typical Chinese filling for bao. * Tomato paste is made from boiling tomatoes until they form a thick paste which is stored for later use in soups, sauces and stews. *
Qizha Qizha (Arabic قزحة ''qizḥaẗ'', pronounced ''ʼɛzḥa'' in Palestine) is a black seed paste used in Palestinian cuisine. Made from crushed nigella seeds, the paste has a sharp, bitter taste with slight tones of sweetness. The paste can be ...
is a Palestinian paste made from crushed black fennel seeds.


Yeast extracts

Yeast extracts, usually as byproduct from brewing beer, are made into food pastes, usually dark-brown in colour. They are used to flavour soups and sausages, in the preparation of salad dressings, and directly as spreads. * Cenovis, * Marmite and * Vegemite.


See also

* Chili pepper paste * Condiment * List of food pastes * List of foods * Sauce


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paste, food Cooking techniques