TURMERIC

Turmeric is a perennial herbaceous plant, which reaches a stature of up to 1 meter. There are highly branched, yellow to orange, cylindrical, aromatic rhizomes . The leaves are alternate and arranged in two rows . They are divided into leaf sheath, petiole and leaf blade. From the leaf sheaths, a false stem is formed. The petiole is 50 to 115 cm long. The simple leaf blades are usually of a length of 76 to 115, cm and rarely up to 230 cm. They have a width of 38 to 45 cm and are oblong to elliptic narrowing at the tip.

Turmeric Plant

Uses:

1. Culinary

Turmeric is mostly used in savory dishes, but is used in some sweet dishes, such as the cake Sfouf. In India, turmeric plant leaf is used to prepare special sweet dishes, patoleo, by layering rice flour and coconut-jaggery mixture on the leaf, and then closing and steaming it in a special copper steamer (goa).
In recipes outside South Asia, turmeric is sometimes used as an agent to impart a rich, custard-like yellow color. It is used in canned beverages and baked products, dairy products, ice cream, yogurt, yellow cakes, orange juice, biscuits, popcorn color, sweets, cake icings, cereals, sauces, gelatins, etc. It is a significant ingredient in most commercial curry powders.

Most turmeric that is used is in the form of rhizome powder, in some regions (especially in Maharashtra, Goa), turmeric leaves are used to wrap and cook food. This use of turmeric leaves usually takes place in areas where turmeric is grown locally, since the leaves used are freshly picked. Turmeric leaves impart a distinctive flavor.

Although typically used in its dried, powdered form, turmeric is also used fresh, like ginger. It has numerous uses in Far Eastern recipes, such as pickle made from fresh turmeric that contains large chunks of soft turmeric.

Turmeric is widely used as a spice in South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking. Many Persian dishes use turmeric as a starter ingredient. Almost all Iranian fried dishes consist of oil, onions, and turmeric followed by any other ingredients that are to be included.


In Indonesia, the turmeric leaves are used for Minangese or Padangesen curry base of Sumatra, such as rendang, sate padang and many other varieties.

In medieval Europe, turmeric became known as Indian saffron
because it was widely used as an alternative to the far more expensive saffron spice

to be continued..

source: random

Rambutan - The Fruits

The rambutan is native to Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippins, Sri Lanka and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits including the Lychee, Longan, and Mamoncillo. It is believed to be native to the Malay Archipelago, from where it spread westwards to Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka and India; eastwards to Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. The name rambutan is from the Malay word rambutan, which literally means hairy caused by the 'hair' that covers this fruit, and is in general use in malay and Filipino.

There is a second species regularly for sale at Costa Rican markets which is known as "wild" rambutan. It is a little smaller than the usual red variety and is colored yellow. The outer skin is peeled exposing the fleshy fruit inside which is then eaten. It is sweet, sour and slightly grape like and gummy to the taste. In Costa Rican Spanish it is known as mamón chino (translated “Chinese sucker” )due to the likeness of the edible part with Meliococcus bijugatus and its Asian origin.
Rambutan are non-climacteric fruit - that is, they refuse to ripen unless on the tree.