You may have noted that fish sauce is used in the preparation of certain Chinese meals. Well, when it comes to Southeast Asian dishes, particularly Taiwanese, Thai and Vietnamese, the use of fish sauce is a staple. Fish sauce is anything but ordinary. To begin with, it is rich in colour being a translucent reddish-golden…
Essentially, dates are the fruit borne from the date palm tree. It is what we refer to as stone fruit. That is to mean that it has only one seed kind of like mangoes and olives. This single seed is covered up by fleshy fruit. Dates were first traced to early Mesopotamia and to date…
Guacamole can be described as a dip that is made out of avocados, lime, and other fresh ingredients such as cilantro, tomatoes, onions and so much more. As with most things in our kitchens and pantries, guacamole can either be store-bought or homemade. The store-bought alternative will usually come with a best by date, that…
Essentially, when we say honey, we mean the natural substance that is sweet and produced by bees using the nectar that they get from flowers or even secretions from plants. An interesting fact about honey is that because the composition of honey usually depends on factors such as the breed of bees and the different…
Let me tell you a really quick story about tea that I actually heard from a friend of mine. Apparently, according to an old adage, tea was first discovered to exist in the years Before Christ. The discovery was made when an Emperor in China, Shen Nong, was boiling some water to drink. As he…
Picture this scenario, you have gone to the store or farmer’s market and have bought a whole batch of smoked salmon. You are back home now and you realize that you will not use all the packets you have bought, let alone finish one. What to do? I have found myself in the same fix…
Cheesecake, although is technically not a cake, is a dessert that typically has two or more layers making up its structure or form. These could be layers consisting of one layer of sweet softened cheese that is then mixed with sugar, some eggs, a bit of flavor. This is then set in a pastry base…
Most people use water bath canning to can various foods at home. You can choose to purchase a water bath canner or simply use whatever you have at home. Water bath canning is recommended for high acid foods. Essentially, a water bath canner is a very large pot that has dimensions to hold at least…
Typically, sour cream is made by allowing the cream that has been taken off the top of milk that has been left to be fermented at moderate or normal temperature. Similarly, it can also be made through souring pasteurized cream using acid-producing bacteria. Sour cream is just one of those ingredients that you can find…