Jars and Cans

Salts, Additives & Seasoning Mixes


Many of our most important foods are a little bland and can become monotonous when often repeated. This has resulted in an endless search for new seasonings to break the monotony and add interest. Seasonings provide the cook with a palate of tastes s/he may exploit, either to fame or disgrace.

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Sodium Chloride Salts

Andes Salt Pans Sodium Chloride Salt is the most important of all seasonings. It is essential to flavor and essential to life itself. It can also be dangerous. Just how dangerous and how much of it is dangerous is very much a matter of controversy today. For its importance as a seasoning and for its effects on health we have given salt two pages of its own.   Photo © i0050.
    Salt - Varieties and Uses.
    Salt & Health.

Other Simple Salts

Baking Soda


1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda [Nahcolite (mineral form); Sodium bicarbonate, Bicarbonate of Soda, Saleratus (19th Century)]

The main use of Baking Soda is as a leavening agent in quick breads and the like. It reacts with acids in the dough, producing bubbles of Carbon Dioxide. The acid may be provided by lemon juice, yogurt, buttermilk, cocoa, vinegar, cream of tartar or phosphates. Without acid, some Carbon Dioxide will be released by thermal decomposition at temperatures above 180°F/80°C.

Baking soda was formerly used to make green vegetables greener, but this is little done today as the color looks artificial and it damages nutrition and flavor. Today, color is preserved by not overcooking. Baking soda is often used to speed cooking of beans and in the traditional British dish Mushy Peas. In some regions it is used to tenderize meat, but all these cooking uses degrade nutrition. More usefully, it is used in breading of fried foods to make the breading more porous so it is not steamed off the food. Baking Soda has been tested in place of Edible Potash in various Nigerian recipes and found to work just fine.

Baking Powder


1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

This mixture is used as a leavening agent for quick breads and baked goods without enough gluten to hold bubbles long or where a fermented taste is undesirable. It includes Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda) and an acid powder. Today most available is "Double Acting" with one acid releasing at room temperature with moisture, the other releasing acid with heat. The photo sample is made from Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (high temperature acid) Sodium Bicarbonate, Corn Starch (flow agent), and Monocalcium Phosphate (low temperature acid). Baking Powders with Sodium Aluminum Sulphate or Phosphate instead of Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate are going out of style due to suspicion of Aluminum as a neurotoxin and claims that some people can detect a metallic taste in baked goods made with it.

Cream of Tartar


1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar [Potassium bitartrate, potassium hydrogen tartrate]

This substance is a byproduct of wine making.It is used to stabilize beaten egg whites and whipped cream, and to reduce discoloration in boiled vegetables. It is also used to prevent crystallization of sugar syrups and sometimes as an acid ingredient in Baking Powders.

Lime


Tubs of Lime Paste [Calcium Hydroxide, (Ca(OH)2)]

Lime is used in Thailand to produce crisper, longer lasting batters on fruits and other deep fried items. It is also used in pickling, and has long been so used in the West, but is no longer recommended.   Details and Cooking.



Complex Seasonings & Spice Mixes

Banga Soup Seasoning


1/4 teaspoon Banga Soup Seasoning

While this seasoning is necessary to make a traditional version of the famous Banga Soup (Palm Fruit Soup) of the Nigerian Delta region, it is all but impossible to make authentically in North America, so commercially available mixes may have to be resorted to.   Banga Soup Seasoning.

Beef Bouillon Powder


Jar of Beef Bouillon Powder

[Beef flavored broth mix]

This is the same as Bouillon Cubes, so you could use the same amount of crushed cubes. Bouillon mixes of this sort are much used in regions of the world that have inadequate refrigeration to hold stocks beyond the day made. A home made beef stock is always the best substitute.   -   1 teaspoon = 1 Bouillon Cube.   Details and Cooking.

Chicken Bouillon Powder


Can of Chicken Bouillon Powder

[Chicken flavored broth mix]

This is the same as Bouillon Cubes, so you could use the same amount of crushed cubes. East and Southeast Asian recipes depend a lot of chicken stock being continuously available, but that isn't always practical in this day when servants and stay at home cooks are increasingly scarce. This is particularly so for Southeast Asians now living in North America. This has made Chicken Powder an essential ingredient for cobbling up small amounts of stock quickly. Due to it's common availability it has also found use as a general seasoning.   -   1 teaspoon = 1 Bouillon Cube.

Some of the Asian brands are entirely artificial, completely unrelated to actual chickens, so might be of more interest to vegetarians. It is a good idea to read the ingredients list before purchasing.   Details and Cooking.

Vegeta


Can of Vegeta Seasoning [Vegetable flavored broth mix]

This is the best known and most widely distributed Vegetable Seasoning, It is marketed as an "All Purpose Seasoning", useful as a rub for all meats, fish, and poultry, but also for soups, stews, stir fries, casseroles and vegetable dishes. It is particularly useful to non-vegetarians when they have to produce a vegetarian soup or stew, don't have vegetable stock on hand and are pressed for time.   Details and Cooking.

Curry Powders


West African Curry Powder These are an Anglo-Indian invention. The British adopted Curry Powder in order to have something similar to the flavors of India conveniently at hand. In India, separate spices would be added differently to each dish rather than a standard mix. The Anglo-Indian "Madras Curry Powder" has been introduced to North America and the former British colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sun Brand and Ship Brand are well known and of good quality.

There is no official recipe, so different brands vary tremendously in taste and quality. Different regions have come up with their own formulas. Here we have recipes of examples typical to several regions:
Madras Curry Powder
Jamaican Curry Powder
West African Curry Powder
Singapore Curry Powder

Garam Masala


Bengali Garam Masala Here we have a spice mix that actually is ground and mixed ahead in India, but it's not commercial - every household has its own formula. Unlike curry spices, Garam Masala is not a base flavoring, but more of an aromatic finishing seasoning applied in the last stages of cooking. It varies considerably from on region of India to another. Here we have recipes of examples typical to several regions:
Garam Masala #1   -   Northwest India
Kashmir Garam Masala   -   Kashmir - India & Pakistan
Bengali Garam Masala   -   Northeast India, Bangladesh
Tamal Nadu Garam Masala   -   Southeast India

Maggi® Seasoning


Small Bottle of Magi Seasoning [Jugo (Mexico), Maggi Würze (Germany)]

This important seasoning was originally manufactured in Switzerland. It has found a worldwide market. and you will find it called for in many recipes, especially from Southeast Asia, where it is also a table condiment. Its bottle and trade dress are widely imitated by Asian knock-offs. It is also very popular in Central Europe and Mexico.

Maggi is similar to soy sauce, but formulated to be more of a meat broth analog. It is used in soups, stews and sauces, but also in salad dressings and vegetable dressings. The brand is now owned by Nestlé, and is distributed in North America by Nestlé USA.   Details and Cooking.

Maggi® Cubes - African


Maggi Cubes, wrapped and unwrapped

You will find Maggi Cubes called for in almost every West African recipe composed in recent times. These cubes are used incessantly in both restaurants and homes - except in regions too poor to afford them. They have almost completely replaced the traditional flavorings of Ogeri (fermented sesame seeds) and Sumbala / Dawadawa (fermented locust bean seeds). While convenience is a major issue here, another major issue is the increasing difficulty of obtaining the locust bean seeds needed for Sumbala, and their ever increasing cost. Additionally, there is Nestlé's ubiquitous and brightly colored advertising of the product.   Details and Cooking.



Food Aditives

MSG


Chemical Formula [Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Glutamate, Additive E621, Ajinomoto, Vetsin, Accent]

This highly controversial white crystalline powder is rapidly increasing in use, particularly in processed foods. The reason for this is simple, it enhances flavors. Processed foods are loaded with salt and spiked with MSG to cover their lack of natural flavor.

First identified in seaweed, glutamate exists in many natural foods, including mushrooms and some vegetables. Formerly made from wheat, it is now industrially produced by bacterial fermentation of carbohydrates, and is celiac safe. It's safety in other respects has been strongly attacked and just as strongly defended. See our page MSG & Health.   Diagram by Benrr101 contributed to the public domain.

Potash, Edible


1/4 teaspoon Edible Potash [Natron; Akanwu, Akaun (Igbo); Kanwa (Hausa); Hydrated Sodium Carbonate (with other salts)]

This substance is mineral salts gathered from dry salt beds in arid regions. Color will vary by region. It is used in cooking, particularly in Africa, to shorten the cooking time of beans, to emulsify Red Palm Oil with water, to make recipes with Okra more slimy (yes, they want that in Africa), and to make green vegetables more green.

Potash has been shown to reduce the amount of protein in foods it is cooked with. Some of the other substances found in natural Potash may be toxic, but used occasionally in recipe quantities it is considered safe. It should not be consumed by pregnant women as it has been shown to cause early stage abortions.
Subst:   Baking Soda (not baking powder) has been tested in various Nigerian recipes and found to work just fine.

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