Ingredients 11

Makassar, 2 November 2018

• Garlic

Pronounce it: gar-lik

Part of the lily, or alium, family, of which onions are also a member, garlic is one of the most indispensible ingredients around, and plays a central role in Mediterranean and Asian cookery. A bulb composed of many individual cloves enclosed in a thin white, mauve or purple skin, it's quite fiery, pungent and crunchy when raw. As it cooks it becomes more mellow and creamy.

It's mainly available dried, but fresh (also known as 'wet' or 'green') garlic, which has a mild flavour, can also be found in some stores in season.

Dried garlic is sold either loose, in bunches or plaited into strings; generally speaking, the smaller the bulb, the stronger the flavour. Solo garlic (just one large clove) and the large-bulbed elephant garlic are also available, though the latter is, in fact, more closely related to the leek, and has a very mild flavour and soft texture.

Availability

Dried is available all year round. Fresh garlic is in season from July to the start of October. You could try growing your own, too.

Prepare it

Using your fingers, divide the whole bulb into individual cloves (if you don't want to use the whole bulb, just pull away the number of cloves you need and leave the rest of the bulb intact, as it will last longer that way). Remove any green shoots, as they taste bitter.

For crushed garlic, either use a garlic press (you don't have to remove the skin) or lay the blade of a large knife on top of the clove and press it down hard with the heel of your hand. Then remove the skin. If you'd like to break it down even further, sprinkle with some salt and crush it again.

For chopped garlic, peel the skin off, then slice. You can then remove the skin. If any of the cloves have small green shoots, remove them before chopping, as they taste bitter.

Store it

Kept in an open container in a cool, dry place, dried, unbroken garlic bulbs will last for a couple of weeks. Separated cloves will keep for up to 10 days. Wet garlic should be kept in a cool, dark place and will last up to a week.

Cook it

Use dried garlic raw in dressings, salsas and butters; roast whole bulbs (25 minutes) or individual cloves (20 minutes) to serve with roast meat; fry (slowly, for just a couple of minutes) to use as the base for sauces, casseroles, soups. Roast fresh garlic (25 minutes).

Alternatives

Try onion or leek.

• Ginger

Pronounce it: jin-jer

Mainly grown in Jamaica, Africa, India, China and Australia, ginger is the root of the plant. It has an unmistakable shape - bulbous little joints, from which grow small, knobbly bumps, and its skin is light brown with a slight silvery quality. The flesh can range from ivory through to a pale, greeny yellow.

Ginger has a peppery flavour, with a sweet hint of lemon, and the aroma is pungent and sharp. It's also available ground, which is particularly good for baking; pickled; preserved in syrup (also called stem ginger); candied; or crystallised.

Availability

All year round.

Choose the best

Go for plump, unblemished roots. Avoid wrinkled roots, as they're likely to be tough and fibrous. If possible, avoid any that are very knobbly, as they'll be harder work to peel. Roots should also feel heavy for their size.

Jamican and Kenyan ginger is thought to be the best.

Prepare it

Snap off a knob of ginger of the size you need then, using a small, sharp knive, peel away the skin, removing only a thin layer of the flesh beneath. Then grate, slice, cut into batons or crush.

Store it

Fresh ginger will keep for around 2 weeks in a perforated bag stored in the fridge. The ground variety should keep for around 6 months if stored in a small, airtight container in a cool, dark place.

Cook it

Add raw ginger to stir-fries or curries; use in marinades; grate to make tea. Dried ginger works well in puddings, flapjacks and fruit cakes or stewed fruits, particularly apple.

• Honey

Pronounce it: huh-nee

Honey is made by bees from the nectar they collect from flowers. Viscous and fragrant, it's a natural sweetener and can be used just as it is to spread on bread or toast, or added to sweet and savoury dishes.

The flavour, colour and consistency vary, depending on the flower(s) the nectar was collected from and the production method used - as a general rule, the darker the colour, the stronger the flavour.

Honey is available clear and runny, thick and opaque, in a honeycomb or as a chunk of cut honeycomb suspended in runny honey.

Availability

All year round.

Choose the best

There are many different flavours of honey. Some of the most commonly available honeys with delicate tastes and aromas include clover (mainly from Britain), orange blossom (from the US, Mexico and Europe), lemon blossom (Mexico), acacia (China, Canada, Europe) and leatherwood (New Zealand).

More intensely flavoured honeys include Scottish heather, eucalyptus (Australia and the Mediterranean), Manuka (New Zealand), lavender (France), Hymettus (Greek, named after the mountain of the same name). Runny honey is easier to cook with.

Prepare it

Honey doesn't need any preparation. If clear honey becomes cloudy (as a result of the natural process of crystallisation) just stand the jar in a bowl of very hot water for 15 minutes or so, or give it a blast in the microwave (with the lid removed, if it's made of metal) for around 30 seconds.

Store it

In a tightly sealed container in a cool, dark place for up to a year. Comb and cut comb honey will last for around six months.

Cook it

Add to marinades, salad dressings or smoothies. Drizzle over Greek yoghurt or fruit salads. Pour over soft cheeses and grill. Use to add sweetness and a moist consistency to baking. Honey works well in moise, dense, full-flavoured bakes. It's sweeter than sugar so you'll need to use less to achieve the same taste. Because honey is liquid, you'll need to use less liquid than the recipe calls for, if substituting for sugar. It caramelises quicker than regular sugar and gives a darker finish to bakes.

Alternatives

Try caster sugar, molasses or maple syrup.

 

Sources : 

BBC Good Food