Ingredients 5

Makassar, 31 August 2018

• Cacao

Pronounce it : kak-ow

Cacao, cocoa and chocolate are all produced from the seed pods of Theobroma cacao, a tree native to the tropics of Central and South America but now grown internationally, including in Africa and India.

Cacao in powder form, often also sold as raw cacao, is produced at a lower temperature than cocoa and chocolate. Like these it is made by pressing cacao beans to remove much or most of the cacao butter.

Cacao has an earthy, deep chocolate flavour with a degree of bitterness and will usually also be grittier than cocoa or chocolate, again because it is less processed. To be truly raw, cacao should be cold pressed from beans that have not been roasted; sometimes it is made from beans that have been lightly roasted at no more than 40C. Each difference in process will give a difference in flavour.

The effect of lesser processing is to present a product with greater anti-oxidant content and other claimed health-giving benefits including mood enhancement but, of course, the occasional hot drink is not going to contribute much other than enjoyment of the flavour.

Availability

Available increasingly and in different forms online, in supermarkets and specialty food shops, particularly those selling organics.

Choose the best

Check the label to ensure minimal processing and that there are no unwanted additional ingredients like sugar.

Store it

Cacao has a long life, if kept cool and dry.

Cook it

Use as you would cocoa powder, but expect it to be more difficult to dissolve as a hot drink.

Cacao nibs are different because they are unprocessed pieces of the cacoa bean, and thus also contain all the cacao/cocoa butter. This added richness makes them widely acceptable as a snack, perhaps mixed with nuts, and as a surprising burst of flavour in chocolate baking, sauces and icings – even ice creams.

• Capers

Pronounce it : kay-per

Capers are the small flower buds of the Capparis shrub, which grows in the Mediterranean. As they're picked by hand they're fairly pricey but they're a versatile store cupboard ingredient, and are good for adding a distinctive sour/salty flavour to many savoury dishes.

Availability

All year round.

Choose the best

Really small, peppercorn-sized capers, called 'nonpareille' are available, but the slightly larger ones are more common. Capers are preserved a number of ways - either in salt, wine vinegar, brine or olive oil. The brine-pickled type has the sharpest flavour and is slightly less versatile than the salted type. For a more sophisticated caper flavour, try the elegantly stemmed caper berries, which are a little milder and sweeter than the standard type.

Prepare it

Rinse well and pat dry.

Store it

In a cool, dark place. Once opened, store in the fridge and make sure they keep below the level of whatever they were pickled in, otherwise they'll start to smell.

Cook it

Combine with white wine vinegar, mustard, honey and lemon juice and mix with grated celeriac to make remoulade; mix with melted butter, lemon juice and zest to make a sauce for grilled salmon; add to pizza toppings; combine with mayonnaise, olive oil, anchovies, tuna and lemon juice for an Italian tonnato sauce to serve with rosé veal.

Alternatives

Try gherkin.

• Caramel

Pronounce it : ca-ra-mel

This is white, granulated sugar melted until it browns, after which it sets clear and hard when it cools. A richly coloured caramel adds delicious, contrasting degrees of deeper flavour and of acidity to the simple sweetness of sugar and this wider spectrum is what makes the many guises of caramel more useful than sugar alone. If the cooking is taken too far and the sugar burns, it becomes bitter and unpleasant.

The degree to which the sugar is browned and then whether it is ground or broken into shards offers myriad flavours and textures to both amateur and professional cooks and chefs.

If chopped nuts are added, it becomes praline. If sweet or savoury liquids are added to the hot, melted sugar the caramel becomes and stays a sauce, providing a reliable platform for worlds of delicious possibilities.

Availability

Whenever you have sugar, a heat source and a few minutes in the kitchen.

Choose the best

The best is what you most prefer, light or dark. It’s better to be bold when browning the sugar because pallid caramel has little flavour and will taste no different from light brown sugars. 

Store it

It will last a long time in cool places but slowly softens and clumps together whether in shards or has been crushed.

Cook it

Take your time and use only medium heat. Leave the sugar alone, unless there are distinct points of darker brown, when you can swirl very gently. If you are brave, the maximum delicious browning happens just as you detect the very first note of bitterness in your nose. Then swiftly pour the caramel onto something rugged and heat proof – baking paper on a cutting board.

Otherwise, pour in cream to make a caramel sauce, used hot or cold. Add orange or other juices to make sauce for pancakes, waffles and hot puddings or to include in fruit pies. The addition of soy sauce makes an astonishingly useful savoury sauce, as does a chilli sauce. But beware, whatever you use, the caramel will spit and complain violently, so wear gloves and stand well back.

Source :

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/cacao

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/capers

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/caramel