1 Students Handbook

Home , Camargue red rice, Cassoulet, Daiya, Donald Watson, Ethical omnivorism, Harira

Students handbook Work package 4

Project Number: 527879-LLP-1-2012-1-DE-LEONARDO-LM

Project Acronym: EuroVeg

Project Title: EuroVeg - Training of European competency in sustainable, healthy and well-balanced nutrition for professional chefs and caterers

Work package 4: Development of Contents

Deliverable No: 19

Language: English

Disclaimer: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Consortium

© Copyrights by the consortium of EuroVeg. All rights reserved. EuroVeg is a project of and supported by the EU. Documents of EuroVeg may not be reproduced, transferred, distributed or stored without prior written permission by the consortium of EuroVeg (Vegucation). (for permission please s. “Contact”: [email protected]) 1

STUDENTS HANDBOOK (DRAFT) MODULE 1

1. Historical background vegetarianism

After studying this chapter you should be able to

● explain the most important historical landmarks with regard to vegetarian diets ● compose dishes for the different variants of vegetarian diets ● identify problematic ingredients for guests adhering to one of these diets ● explain who eats vegetarian diets

Table: History of Western Vegetarianism in Quotes

Even though the term “vegetarianism” is not mentioned before the middle of the 19th century in the western world, animal products, especially meat, were rarely available for the majority in most of the societies in history. Typical was a largely plant-based diet with occasional animal products like dairy and eggs. Additionally to these

economic reasons, vegetarianism as a personal, ethical or religious ‘choice’ can be traced back to ancient Greece where it was promoted by philosophers and religious groups alike. Ancient Vegetarianism was highly connected with the idea of non-violence towards animals as well as the idea of health.

Throughout the Middle Ages, vegetarianism remained an important component of ascetic life, thought to bring the believer closer to god and a common conception was that eating meat (and eggs and cheese) is a sin. But generally the welfare of animals was less important.

The beginning of the early modern period (1500-1800) with their rediscovery of ancient philosophy marked a return of animal ethics in philosophy and vegetarianism in practice. One of the most important and early protagonist in this new rise of vegetarianism is Thomas Tyron (1634-1703) who wrote the probably first vegetarian cookbook in 1691.

Since the 19th century, vegetarianism became increasingly more established in philosophy and in practice. In 1821 the first modern vegetarian cookbook was published while 1847 the Vegetarian Society in England was founded and more and more intellectuals began to promote vegetarian diets as morally necessary. The probably most famous vegetarians in the 19th century were Tolstoy and Gandhi. The biggest wave of vegetarianism, that exists till today and is continuously growing, began in the 1970s, when science started to find evidence in support of many ethical arguments as well as the health-benefits of plant-based diets. The latest addition in terms of arguments, which is the impact of the consumption of animal products on the environment, made vegetarian diets a more and more popular way of life.

Even though today the concept of vegetarianism is often associated with abstaining from the consumption of flesh but not with the consumption of dairy or eggs, some forms of historical vegetarianism referred to entirely plant- based diets. In order to distinguish the different diets properly, Donald Watson coined the term veganism in 1944 and co-founded the British Vegan Society.

Outside the western world vegetarianism was even more common throughout history. For example, Indian religions connect the concept of ‘non-violence’ to vegetarianism, and still until today one finds the biggest percentage of vegetarians in India.

2. Definitions of the different vegetarian diets

Ingredient Flesh Eggs Dairy Honey Eggs Dairy Raw Special requirement Raw Diet

Vegetarian √ √ √ √ √

(Ovo Lacto)

Vegan

Ovo Vegetarian √ √ √

Lacto Vegetarian √ √ √

Raw vegetarian √ √ √

Raw vegan Only uncooked foods

Fruitarian Only parts of the plant that do not harm the plant (fruits)

Whole foods vegan diet Only whole foods, un- processed,

Buddhist vegetarian diet √ √ No foods from allium family

Some variants of the vegetarian diets use only organic ingredients, are low in sodium, low in sugar, or do not contain certain ingredients like gluten, lactose, nuts, or soy. In case of doubt it is always better to thoroughly consult with the customer to ensure the special requirements are fully understood.

Care has to be taken about common hidden ingredients: Gelatine from bone materials (hard candy, marshmellows, jelly), milk-derivates (ghee, whey, lactose, casein), chicken broth, lard (refried beans, soup stock), etc.

3. Who eats vegetarian diets? The numbers of vegetarians and vegans vary considerably by country. For example in India, more than 30% of the entire population eats a vegetarian diet, whereas in other countries it is of yet as little as 3%. However, more important for gastronomy is the number of ‘Flexitarians’, a term describing the tendency to regularly choose plant- based meals (especially when eating out in restaurants), but are not strict vegetarians or vegans. This ever growing group of health and environmentally conscious consumers is a very important group to take into consideration, and the numbers are estimated to be around 60% of the population. Additionally, many people have to make alternative food choices based on health reasons. xx% of Europeans for example are lactose intolerant and can not consume dairy products. Further, many people have problems with an elevated cholesterol level, and are advised from their doctor to drastically minimize their consumption of animal products. All in all, the number of people choosing plant-based options is growing rapidly and continuously.

4. Summary In this chapter you were introduced to the variants of the vegetarian diets, who the people are that consume vegetarian diets, and how vegetarianism looked in the ancient world and how it developed in modern times.

1.3 Why do people in Europe choose to eat (more) vegetarian?

After studying this chapter you should be able to

● understand the most common motives of people that choose to eat (more) veggie food ● explain the relationship between food choices and health ● explain the relationship between food choices and environmental problems ● explain the relationship between food choices and world hunger ● explain the basic needs of animals and the conditions in modern animal agriculture ● explain common practices in the production of milk and eggs

Introduction

In chapter x we already mentioned that there is a huge increasing demand for veggie food and that there are different groups of people choosing to eat vegetarian. No matter if they belong to the smaller group of full-time vegetarians and vegans, or to the bigger group of ‘meat reducers’, the motives are similar for people: They eat less animal products because of health or environmental reasons, diversity in flavour and exploration of new tastes of the vegetarian cuisine, or moral reasons with regard to animals and other humans.

Practical use

By knowing the main reasons why people eat (more) veggie, you get to know your different (future) customers and their wishes better. Later on, using this information gives you the opportunity to react in the way of presenting your menu, creating adapted recipes, adapt the concept of your restaurant.

1. HEALTH

Already Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said it, over 2000 years ago: Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food. As we have seen in the previous chapter, Hippocrates was a vegetarian. Even though there are new diet trends and fads popping up almost daily, one fact is pretty common sense by now: these days we generally don’t eat enough vegetables and fruits, and we eat too much meat.

To put it into more scientific terms: research shows that in many ways vegetarian diets are healthier than typical meat-based diets. Compared with omnivorous diets they contain less saturated fatty acids, cholesterol, arachidonic acid, free radicals or purines and more folate, fibre, antioxidants, phytochemicals and carotenoids. Research studies have found that vegetarians have a lower incidence of obesity, heart disease, high blood

pressure and type II diabetes, colon and some other cancers. These facts are one of the main reasons why people choose to minimise or cut out meat and other animal products.

Heart diseases: Plant-foods are completely free of cholesterol and very low in saturated fats, which are the main causes of heart disease and related problems.

Blood pressure: Meat increases the blood pressure, not only because of the high amount of sodium involved in the preparation of many meat dishes. Plant-based diets, on the contrary, usually lead to a lowering of the blood pressure, and patients with high blood pressure are often able to reduce or completely cease taking their blood pressure medicine.

Diabetes: Recent studies show that the most secure way to control diabetes is a food plan that is high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat. Plant-based foods are further able to lower the required amount of insulin.

Cancer: The switch to a plant-based diet is responsible in lowering the risks for many cancers, in particular colon cancer and breast cancer. For example, the World Cancer Research Fund is quite clear on this fact recommending to ‘eat mostly foods of plant origin, to limit the intake of red meats and to avoid the intake of processed meats (charcuterie)’1.

2. ENVIRONMENT

It’s almost unbelievable, but Bella the cow, chomping away her feed in the barn is responsible for quite an environmental impact. Up till the UN study ‘Livestock’s long shadow’2 in 2006 we didn’t have a clue about the environmental impact of all our cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, rabbits, ….. together. If you think about environmental problems, cars and factories are popping up in your mind, not cows!

Since 2006 a lot of other studies and discussions are published, figures were more refined, but the general conclusions about the impact of livestock on our earth remains more or less the same like in the Livestock’s long shadow report: ‘if we look at the most important environmental problems, be it locally or globally, livestock always is one of the top three biggest contributors to that environmental problems’, for instance the climate problem and the use and pollution of water worldwide.

2.1 Climate

1 Food, Nutrition, Physical activity and the prevention of cancer, World Cancer Research Fund

2 Livestock’s long shadow, Food And Agriculture Organisation UN, 2006

In total, livestock farming contributes 18% to all greenhouse gases emitted by human activities.

That happens because cows and other ruminants emit greenhousegasses (methane) by burping and farting. And because a lot of land is still being cleared to make more pasture for the livestock to graze on, or to grow more crops used as feed (corn, soy, ….) for farm animals. As you might know, clearing land (deforestation) contributes to more greenhousegasses, because the trees - which trap greenhousegasses - are being cut away.

In the ICT elements of this course on page X you will find a climate calculator. If you fill in what you want to eat, you will find out how big the environmental impact of the chosen product is.

2.2 Water use and water pollution

Worldwide there are some 65 billion farm animals raised on a yearly basis. All these farm animals are leaving something behind called manure. Although some of the manure can be used in a good way to fertilise land there is just too much of it. And putting too much manure on the land leads to water pollution, making our ground water (from which we make drinking water) non potable.

The other problem is that the production of meat uses a lot of water, to be more specific: producing 1kg of beef uses some 15,000 liters of water.Compared to potatoes, which use 170 liters/kg, that’s a hefty amount. If you would like to know more about the water-use of foodproducts, you can take a look at http://www.watervoetafdruk.be./ http://www.waterfootprint.org/. On this site you can also find a calculator helping you to find out the water-use of the dish that you want to prepare.

3. WORLD HUNGER One of the reasons that people choose to eat less meat and fish, is that they recognise the fact that with a growing population it’s increasing harder to get everybody on this planet fed with animal products. However, we have enough capacities to feed everyone a plant-based diet. How is this possible? Well cows, chickens, pigs and other animals eat a lot and only a small part of this feed is turned into meat. For the most part the animals use the feed to heat their own body, to move around, to have children, and to grow not only edible tissue (meat) but also not-edible tissue (hooves, skin and hairs, bones, ….). This makes that on average one kilogram of meat requires 7 kilogram of plant feed. On top of that we feed our farm animals mostly not grass but perfectly edible food for humans too, like corn and soy. Or other feed, which comes from land where we could grow crops with a much higher yield to feed people.

This makes that in general plant-based diets require roughly one third of the land and water needed for a meat- based diet. And around 70% of the grains production and 90% of the soy worldwide is used as feed for animals.

Eating more plant-based could thus feed a multiple number of people with the same amount of land, water and energy.

insert picture

4. ETHICS

In the European Union, the annual figure of slaughtered animals is 300 million cattle, sheep, and pigs, and four billion chickens. The number of fish is believed to be ten-fold. Per minute, roughly 500.000 land-animals are killed. Roughly 98% of animals are factory farmed.

On average a Belgian eats some 1800 animals during his lifetime.3 The way we raise farm animals these days has some major consequences. The animals have to grow fast and as big as possible, so they get more profitable. They are also crammed together in barns or cages, so more animals can be kept on the same farm, which is more profitable. And because of the way they are kept (most of the animals are kept inside or in their cage their whole lifetime) they are vulnerable to diseases like Foot and Mouth disease, chickenflue, … resulting in the use of medicines and antibiotics. In short: if you would keep your dog or cat the same way as pigs or chickens are raised, you would get into trouble with the law on animal protection.

3 EVA, animal-calculator: http://www.evavzw.be/vlees/consumptie.html

One may say a dog is not a pig. But, both have the same abilities to feel pain, and both need some basic needs in life to live a basic good live: they can enjoy sunshine, frolic around in straw and run around, bond with others, raise their children, ... For dogs we try our best, for pigs these basic needs are not available at farms.

So, a growing number of people feels uncomfortable with the way we raise animals at farms and choose to eat less or no meat.

Additionally, people feel that they don’t want to eat animals because they can live perfectly healthy eating vegetarian or vegan food. People who choose to eat no meat and fish because of ethical reasons, see that eating meat is a matter of tradition and habits. Over the millennia, every culture has developed its own belief system that effects what people feel is right and tasty to eat. In general, most people don’t question what they eat, and why they eat it. But even further, most people don’t question why they only eat certain meats (in Europe for example chicken, beef, and pork), and why other meats are perceived as either taboo (e.g., cats and dogs) or plain disgusting (e.g., guinea pig, rat, frog). Looking at other cultures shows that this classification in what kind of animal to eat is largely arbitrary, thus why would eat them if you can live perfectly healthy without eating them? Is taste the most important factor to eat meat?

To sum up, eating is more than just satisfaction of hunger or appetite. What we define as edible depends on the society, the particular food and eating culture we live in with their symbolism, meaning and history of the different food items.

4A. SPECIAL EXCURSUS I: THE HIDDEN LIVES OF ANIMALS

- Social animals, live in groups of social hierarchy - Life expectancy 15-20 years - Strong bonding between mother and offspring, if separated they cry and call their babies for weeks - Enjoy problem solving and have good long-term memory - Give up to 3.000 l of milk or more per year

- Calves taken away after few days or directly after birth, so that humans can consume the milk. Male calves into veel, female calves raised in boxes to become milk cows. - Cows are artificially inseminated on rape rack - Producing up to 10.000 l of milk or more per year leads to infected udders - Life expectancy between a few months for calves and a few years for dairy cows.

- More intelligent than dogs, love stimulation and challenges - Very clean, make toilet away from living and eating areas, bath in water or mud - Complex social network

- Live up to 15 years

- Tails cut, teeth snagged, castrated, often without painkillers - Sows are fixed in crates for breeding, can not form social bonds - Sows are held permanently pregnant - Fattening pigs live up to a few months, sows a few years - Forced to live in dirty, crowded barns

- Lifespan 10-15 years - Complex social hierarchy - Very curious, comparable in smartness to dogs - Show nest building behaviour

- Bread to be heavy so their bones break under their weight - Lifespan meat chickens 2 months - Egg-industry: male chicks gassed or shredded after few hours old - Groups too large to form social networks - Egg industry: In most countries in the world narrow cages are still the common housing system

4B. SPECIAL EXCURSUS II: MILK AND EGGS PRODUCED WITHOUT SLAUGHTER? Theoretically milk can produced without the killing of animals. In reality however, the production of milk is not without slaughter. As in humans, in order to stimulate the milk production in a mother, she needs to have a child. Since the calf would consume the milk of the cow that is now wanted by humans, the calf is taken away shortly after birth and raised on a milk substitute.

Half of the calves are male. They are of no use in the ongoing production of milk and will therefore be used for veal. Also many of the female calves will end their lives as veal, because since only a part of calves is used to replace milk cows, the majority is slaughtered.

Though a milk cow under natural productions can live up to 20 and produce milk for her offspring until the age of 14 years, the average cow in Europe lives only 5 to 6 years. Due to health problems more than half of the milk cows are slaughtered at the age of 4-5 years. These health problems are strongly related to the way modern livestock is organized.

Because of the breeding and hormone use nowadays a cow can have up to 10 liters of milk in their udders, instead of 2 liter in ‘natural’ circumstances. A good part of all cows is kept inside all year to reduce costs. To prevent illness, the use of antibiotics in livestock is widely spread.

The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that half of the antibiotics used worldwide is given to livestock. This poses a serious threat to world health since viruses might develop immunity to antibiotics, which might leaves us without an adequate medicine in times of epidemic.

What goes for the production of milk goes for eggs as well: for every female chick that will be used as egg-laying hen there is also a male chick born. This male chick is useless and will be gassed or shredded. This is no different for organic eggs. Male chicks are simply of no use.

The romantic view in which chicken freely roam the yard of the farm has nothing to do with the living conditions of chickens who produce the eggs we buy in the supermarket. Although the production of cage eggs is forbidden in the EU, the living conditions of barn eggs are still far from optimal. Chickens producing barn eggs have to stay indoors and share a maximum of 1 square meter with 9 hens. A sitting-stick of 15 cm is available. These crowded conditions cause all sorts of unnatural and aggressive behavior. To prevent the chickens from wounding each other a part of the beak may be cut. Due to the above conditions chickens live till the age of 2, instead of 15-20 as they would under natural conditions. 1.3 Cooking veggie in a healthy way

After studying this chapter you will know how to

- attract as many people as possible with your vegetarian dishes

- how healthy meals are composed

As we have seen in chapter xx, customers that potentially choose vegetarian dishes are a very diverse group. Of course vegetarian meals don’t necessarily have to be ‘light’ or ‘healthy’. The overall aim of this course and textbook is about gastronomical veggie cooking, which means making a very well prepared and tasteful elegant meal that happens to be vegetarian and sustainable. In fact, most of the people go out eating for this gastronomical experience in the first place, and are not eating your food every day, so healthy food is possibly not a first concern for them.

But what about when eating healthy food IS a first concern? For instance if:

- you are cooking veggie meals for people who eat them everyday (social catering, see chapter X canteens)

- when you have to cook for somebody who has allergies

- if you are cooking in some kind of health conscious restaurant (raw food, macrobiotic, … see chapter X diversity in the vegetarian cuisine)

In these cases it can be wise to know a bit more about healthy vegetarian cooking and eating. The aim of this chapter it to give you some of the answers.

A. HEALTHY VEGGIE: THE BASICS

The base of healthy eating is

1) eating a varied diet and

2) eating enough, but not too much.

It’s that simple! And, the base of eating healthy in a vegetarian way is not that different.

How much you should eat from every kind of product group and how varied you should eat is displayed in the food triangle.

insert picture food triangle for each country plus explanation in detail : (Add short explanation per country)

B. WHAT ABOUT? …

A couple of questions always come up if talking about a healthy vegetarian diet. Keep in mind that most of your customers are not vegetarians or vegans, so these questions will only concern you on the surface.

Do plant foods have enough protein? The human body actually does not need protein, but rather amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. All plant foods contain amino acids that the body can utilise, and many plants even have a higher protein percentage (in dry matter) than many animal based foods. Lentils 27% Cowmilk 22% Spinach 30% Seitan 81% Tofu 37% Beef 60%

Do I have to combine certain protein rich sources to get all the proteins I need? Our body needs proteins and the building blocks of these proteins are called amino acids (AA). There are 8 AA that our body has to get out of our food, because our bodies can’t make these themselves. These 8 building blocks are called essential amino acids (EAA’s). Luckily, every plant contains all of these 8 EAA’s, and can thus be considered complete. This was not known until recently, and unscientific rules like ‘protein combining’ were established. Today we know, however, that they are not valid, and that vegetarians and vegans get the whole spectrum of EAA’s from every meal. .

What about the dangers of soy? There are a lot of prejudices about soy products, but numerous studies proved that a moderate soy consumption (1 or 2 portions a day) holds no risks for human health. They even have positive effects on health: a daily dose of

soy can lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. There are whole cultures in Asia build around those foods.

Are meat replacers healthy? For more info about meat replacers we refer to chapter X. Most of the basic meat replacers are very healthy. They are low-fat and were only minimally processed (seitan, tofu,...). Of course in supermarkets you can find a lot of third and fourth generation meat replacers: burgers, sausages, nuggets, balls, … often they are called convenience food. They can contain way more fat and salt. So the general advice here is not to eat these commercial products on a daily basis, learn to make a smart choice, and choose the products with less fat and less sodium (salt).

What about deficiencies in vitamins and minerals? As a vegan and vegetarian you don’t have to worry more about vitamins and minerals than on an omnivorous diet. Plant foods contain plenty of those micronutrients, and additionally they are packed with phytonutrients. Very rich sources of vitamins are generally fruits, rich sources of minerals are leafy green vegetables, pulses and grains. Certain vitamins (B12, D) which are usually directly supplemented in animal products via the animal feed can be found as enriched products like soy milk.

What about food intolerances and sensitivities? The most of the common intolerances and sensitivities in Europe all concern animal products (lactose, egg, fish). In module xx, for example, you learn how to replace common allergens with plant-based alternatives. The percentage of veggies and vegan who eat also gluten free is probably not very different than the percentage of omnivores who eat gluten free. The rise in clients who choose to eat gluten free (because they have coeliac disease and are intolerant for gluten of just because they feel better without gluten) is growing rapidly though. In chapter xx you will see examples of grains without gluten.

Will a plant-based meal give enough energy and strength for active people? Some of the strongest animals on earth (elephants, gorillas, bulls) are pure vegetarians. Further, there are incredibly strong (e.g., the strongest man of Germany Patrik Baboumian) and fit (e.g., triathlon athlete Brendan Brazier) people in the world who eat purely plants based diets. It is the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats) that give energy, not a particular source of it.

C. EVIDENCE BASED INFORMATION ON HEALTHY FOOD

We are bombed with information about food and health every day. How can you make up your own mind in a critical way? There are a couple of criteria you can use to see if an article or author is trustworthy:

● The commercial benefits for the author: it’s logic that a dairy producer will promote dairy products and their health benefits, but you can of course doubt the objectivity of this dairy producer. ● The education and/or job of the author: a dietician or PhD will know more about health and food than e.g. a marketeer. ● The number of scientific studies that were used as a source for the article: you can prove anything based on a small study with e.g. 10 test people. That does not mean that it’s scientifically correct.

A lot of dieticians and doctors are a bit prejudiced about vegetarian and vegan food because they don’t know a lot about it yet. Luckily, there is also a small but strong and growing group of health professionals that acknowledge the numerous positive effects of a plant based diet. The stance on vegetarian and vegan food by an authority on nutrition, the American Dietetic Association is that both diets are appropriate for any age/stage of life, even during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Summary:

In this chapter you learned the basics of a healthy vegetarian diet, and in which context such knowledge will most likely apply. Also, you heard answers to the most common questions with regard to vegetarianism and health.

1.4. SUSTAINABLE FOOD

After this chapter you should be able to:

- give a definition of sustainable development

- name the three pillars of sustainable development

- explain the 5 basic dimensions of sustainable food

The past couple of decades there is a massive focus on sustainable development. But what does that mean exactly and what does it have to do with cooking? What do clients or chefs mean by eating and cooking sustainable food? This chapter gives you explanations.

(Create a graph like that, and fill it with the following paragraphs - everything that is yellow -, including the definition)

Sustainable development is applicable in basically every area of life. Usually the three pillars are seen as the following:

● Ecological sustainability: The goal is to create a system that only takes as much from planet earth as it can bear, for example we only create as much pollution as the planet can repair. ● Economic sustainability: A system, for example a company, only spends as much as it can afford. ● Social sustainability: The third pillar encompasses topics like social equity, human rights, social justice, community development, labor rights, etc.

Definition, PUT IN TEXTBOX:

According to the United Nations, Sustainable Development seeks to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. Sustainable development is a vision of development that encompasses respect for all life—human and non-human—and natural resources, as well as integrating concerns such as poverty reduction, gender equality, human rights, education for all, health, human security and intercultural dialogue.

Sustainable food

What has sustainable development to do with food? Quite a lot. Our food-footprint is generally about ⅓ of our total footprint (the other big parts are energy and transport). By calculating the ecological footprint of ingredients used in a standard main course (consisting of 250gr potatoes, 200 gr vegetables and 150 gr meat) the effect of different dietary choices can be illustrated as follows:

Change from to Ecological footprint

Meat Vegetarian - 40%

Vegetables plain Vegetables local - 28%

Non-organic Organic - 15%

Non-seasonable Seasonable - 15%

Vegetables exotic Vegetables local - 4%

Vegetables European Vegetables local - 1%

As we can see, the first dimension contributes the most to sustainable development. Further dimensions are:

1) Meat-reduction and plant-based products

The effects of different food on water, resources, animals, health, and world hunger are extensively discussed in chapter 1.3

2) Organic vs. conventional products

Organic farming is not permitted to include the use of pesticides, genetically modified organisms (like vegetables, seeds from vegetables or animals) and artificial manure. They often use crop rotation, which does not deplete the soil so much. Organic food generally has more vitamins and minerals, and tastes more flavourful than conventional

one. A product can only be labeled as organic if it’s checked by a control agency (see chapter 1.4).

3) Fair-Trade products

If we buy an exotic product like coffee, chocolate or mangoes we don’t know how much the farmer on the other side of the world was paid or how his/her living conditions are. Who would have thought that children are often working on the cocoa fields! The idea of Fair Trade is that goods are bought and sold in an economically and socially fair way. Some rules of Fair Trade are that the farmers get paid enough and that the work environment is safe. There are different protected Fair Trade labels and projects, with each of them having slightly different standards (see Chapter 1.4)

4) Local and seasonal food

To buy tomatoes in winter and fly over mangoes from other parts of the world gives you as a chef lot’s of freedom in the kitchen. The downside is that these products are not contributing to sustainable development. The tomatoes aren’t because they are grown in heated greenhouses, the mangoes because flying is the transport mode which has the highest CO2 emission per km/mile (transport by boat is best, so yes to bananas!). Locally and seasonally grown product have much lower CO2 emission per kg. There are Food Calendars to see which fruits and veg are in season in your region. Additionally, fruit and veg grown in the right season have so much more taste and are fresher!

5) Prevent waste and go easy on energy

This last one is pretty logical and nothing new to you. Luckily one can see these days chefs using every part of a product and be really creative with ‘less popular’ parts of products. And on top of that: preventing waste and going easy on the energy is a huge wallet saver!

5 Tips for improving your foodprint:

- Use plant-based products

- Use organic products

- Use fair trade

- Use local and seasonal food

- Prevent waste and go easy on energy

Summary

● Sustainable Development seeks to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations.

● There are 5 dimensions of sustainable food: plant-based, organic, fair trade, local and seasonal, with minimal waste and energy use ● Our food-footprint is generally about ⅓ of our total footprint (the other big parts are energy and transport).

1.5 Certification mark/labels

1. Learning Target After this chapter you should:

- know what a label is

- be familiar with international, European and national labels and be able to assign them

- know the most important contents and requirements of the main labels

- be able to tell the difference between reliable and dubious labels

- be able to describe the benefits of a label from both a customer and company point of view.

Practical use

Familiarity with the following labels makes it easier for you as a chef to order the ingredients and products that you wish to use.

Introduction

Labels are also called certification marks or seals of approval. They are signs of quality, mostly identified by easily recognizable symbols that should help consumers to find out if a product has specific characteristics. There are product labels for different characteristics. Besides approving products with ingredients of very high quality these labels can also provide information about a specific origin, fairtrade, animal welfare and ecological background.

The terms label or mark can be used in a very flexible way. The EU label 'Protected designation of origin' is an example, as is the 'gluten free' label of one of the many product lines in that broad field. Permission to use a label is granted by the owner and depends on compliance with specified standards. Manufacturers and secondary producers must consider the particular rules at any time and undergo regular checkups by supervisory authorities. As every company and organization is allowed to develop labels of approval and label their own products with them there is a huge number of labels of varying reliability. So labels with slogans such as 'from controlled farming' are often more of a labeling trick than a reliable indicator.

Vegetarian-Vegan labels: Checking lists of ingredients in the search for animal-free foods can sometimes be very challenging. Furthermore, the sheer number of E-numbers makes knowing all of them almost impossible. This is why vegetarian and vegan certification marks come in very handy. The following labels are used in many countries in Europe and beyond. Knowing the labels can save you a lot of work of researching the ingredients when you choose the products for your costumers.

1.1 The VeganTM The Vegan TM is a registered trademark and the label awarded by The Vegan Society. The Label is used for food, cosmetics, and other items. A product that has this label is guaranteed to

· contain no animal ingredients (neither from dead not from living animals)

· not have been manufactured with the help of any animal products (e.g. gelatin for filtering juices)

· not have been tested on animals

· not contain cells of animals in case of the use of GMO

If a product matches all these criteria it is allowed to be labeled with the VeganTM.

1.2. The V-Label Description:

The V-Label is a standardized label issued by the European Vegetarian Union to label vegetarian and vegan products and services. The label is also referred to as the Vegi-Label or Vegetarian-Label. It was first used on the packaging of vegetarian foods in Switzerland in 1996. The label is available in 5 different variants: vegan, vegetarian (no milk or eggs but honey), lacto-ovo-vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, or ovo-vegetarian (for explanation see the table in 1.1. 'Definitions and historical background'). The standards of the 'vegan' label are similar to the Vegan TM. Differences are that the V-Label excludes all products that contain GMO. Products with the vegetarian variants of the label (each except the 'vegan one') are not allowed to contain eggs from caged hens, or milk products that contain rennet from animals.

1.3 The Organic label An organic label is a label for organically farmed products. Since 1 July 2010 use of this logo has been mandatory to make organic products more easily recognizable for customers. Organic ingredients in other foods may also be labelled as such in the list of ingredients. Terms such as 'organically farmed' and 'organic' are protected in the European Union by law and may be used only for organic products. Many vegetarian and vegan customers attach importance to whether food is organic.

Benefits of organic products:

· Organic products contain lower pesticide residues than conventionally grown products.

· They originate from more sustainable agriculture.

· No genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A maximum of 0.9% GMOs mistakenly added in the production process is approved.

· At least 95% of the ingredients must be produced organically.

· The label bears the name of the farmer, the secondary producer, the distributor and the name or code of the supervisory authority.

Manufacturers meeting all requirements receive certification permitting them to label their products as organic. Besides the EU-wide organic label there are also national organic labels, all of which must at least meet the European guidelines whilst most of them fulfil even stricter obligations. Detailed information on the specific guidelines can be found on each country’s website. Some examples are:

Eco Garantie from Belgium, Bio Garantie from Austria, EKO from the Netherlands, Bio-Siegel from Germany

1.4. Fairtrade Definition:

Since 2002 the current version of the label has indicated whether goods are fairtrade. Its goal is to support underprivileged manufacturers in Africa, Asia and Latin America and improve their living and working conditions through Fairtrade. The non-profit association TransFair e.V., which grants the Fairtrade Label, supports producers in overcoming poverty, strengthening their position on the labelet and determining their own lives. Finance, ecology and social issues are the three pillars of Fairtrade standards and represent the rules of Fairtrade. All manufacturers and retailers must fulfil all of these standards in order to be permitted to label their products with the Fairtrade Label.

..The three pillars of Fairtrade..

Ecology Finance Social Issues

Environmental Protection Steady minimum prices Fair working conditions

Support for organic agriculture Long-term working relations Non-discrimination rule

Ban on GMO Prefinancing of crops No child labour

Waste management Financial advise Possibility of further education

Preservation of soil fertility Fairtrade bonus Safe workplace

Summary

● labels are marks of quality. ● labels can also provide information about specific origin, fairtrade, animal welfare and ecological background. ● Most labels are identified by easily recognizable symbols that should help consumers to find out whether a product has specific characteristics. ● As every company and organization is allowed to develop labels and label their own products with them there is a huge number of labels of varying reliability. ● Four labels play a major role in plant-based cuisine owing to their claimed ethical standards for humans, animals and the environment: The Vegan ™, V-label, The Organic label and The Fairtrade label. ● The four labels are ‘checked’. If you find one of the labels on a product, you can be sure of its quality.

MODULE 2

Basic Vegetarian cooking

Learning aims:

After this chapter you should be able to :

- understand the 6 things to look for when cooking

- correctly and creatively prepare the different raw materials with different cooking techniques

- cook recipes illustrating the cooking techniques, flavours, cutting styles and textures explained in this chapter

1. INTRODUCTION

Between a vegetable (or any plantbased ingredient) and an animal protein (like meat or fish), there is huge polarity, for instance in appearance, taste, texture and protein quality. Putting them together creates easily a dish that looks very attractive and tastes vibrant.

When no animal protein is used that huge polarity is lost and insufficient attention to proper preparation and correct seasoning (or mostly under seasoning) often leads to food that looks less attractive, tastes all alike or bland and especially doesn't provide the strong satisfaction that we want from eating. Because of this vegetarian food is often be perceived as boring and not appealing.

This doesn't have to be this way, on the contrary!

When adopting a vegetarian diet or cooking vegetarian food we have to find a new dynamic in order to make food look attractive and taste good again by the way we make use of our cooking skills, studying the intrinsic quality of our ingredients, combining various colours, emphasizing different tastes and varying the size of the pieces.

Inspiration can definitely be found in world cuisines with a vegetarian tradition.( See 4.3; see also creating recipes/presenting)

We have to create enough contrast in the dish again so that the food radiates of the plate and it makes us want to start eating just by looking at it. It is said that 50% of our eating experience comes trough the eyes, the other half will come trough a contrast of texture, color and taste.

Six things to look after when cooking vegetarian

1. Ingredient: it´s important to get to know your ingredients, together they will make up your food. Find combinations that work, you can increase polarity big time here.

2. Cooking style: polarity on a plate is obtained by searching for opposites: the combination of something that had no heat (raw) and food that was exposed to high heat (grill, bbq) really works.

3. Taste: there are five main tastes: salty, sweet, acidic, bitter & umami. Spicynes or sharpness is not really a taste but also deserves our attention here. Polarity is obtained by having a least two of the tastes going on. All these flavors interact in subtle ways; interesting foods will have at least 5 going on.

4. Color: variations in color will make your food come to life easily. Try to make color combinations that are lush to the eye, that make you smile

5. Cutting style: the tension between something that is cut in big pieces (en tonneau) and something cut really thin (julienne) is exiting, try to vary more.

6. Texture: the mouth feel or texture is just as important as looks or taste. Good food texture is very important to the palette, it makes you want to eat more of what you are eating.

2. BASIC TECHNIQUES

2.1 Ingredients

By gaining knowledge of a wider variety of ingredients, you're not only able to make variations in texture, color and flavor, but you also get more opportunities to make surprising combinations. Start making use of less frequently used vegetables, work with what’s seasonally available, study world cuisines with a great vegetarian tradition and learn from the ingredients used.

Besides using grains, legumes and other plant protein, you will be using a lot of vegetables. Try to get to know the full spectrum of edible plants. Prepare them in a way that works for each individual vegetable. The advice for vegetables is to keep it simple, try to bring out the quality of each vegetable, enhancing its flavor, texture and color and liveliness.

Eg. spring onion, halved lengthwise, grilled

The thing to remember when you are working with a lot of vegetables, is that they are quite delicate, often they don't need much, less is more: less cooking, less combinations, less flavoring. Making use of fresh, local, organic and in season products will always make your food taste better. It brings full and whole flavors and makes cooking tasty food much easier! Making at least 3 combinations with preferably seasonal vegetables will make your food come alive, especially when prepared in different ways.

Eg. carrot mousse with charred white of leek & parsley pesto .

2.2. Cooking style

In general, plant based ingredients need less heat than animal protein. You will want to retain some of its natural texture or give it a complete new texture. Cooking techniques that use high heat for a short amount of time work really well in vegetarian cooking, it gives just that kick that vegetables need and makes the difference on a plate of food.

Here is a list of techniques that will improve cooking plant based ingredients:

(listed from no heat to high heat)

Raw: using no heat, by knife-cutting or using a blender you can easily change texture. Also making use of a dehydrator you can obtain special textures (see chapter new cooking techniques)

Ex.all sorts of salads and vinaigrettes

Freezing: creates big polarity on a plate.

Ex. icecream, granita

Souring: cooking technique that uses acid (vinegar, lemon, lime,…) to "cook" the food.

Ex. mushroom ceviche

Fermenting: by yeast or bacteria, transforming taste & texture

Ex. bread, beer, wine

Pickling: preserving process that gives the food a salty and sour taste

Ex. saurkraut, gherkin

Curing: food preservation with salt or sugar, adds lots of flavor & texture

Ex. dried fruits

Dehydrating: using a dehydrator, changing the texture and flavor

Ex. herbs, crackers

High speed blending: using a high speed blender you achieve very smooth textures

Ex. pineapple & avocado mousse

Blanching: cooking technique where vegetables are added in batches to a large amount of boiling water for a small period of time.

Ex. Perfect blanched broccoli

Boiling: cooking food in boiling water or stock

Ex.potatoes, cauliflower

Steaming: cooking food by using steam, gives a moist texture

Ex.dimsum

Poaching: boiling without bubbles, the liquid just moves around

Ex. fruit in red wine

Vacuum or sous-vide cooking: keeps juices and aroma in the food which otherwise would be lost in the process of cooking; cooks food very evenly. May also change the texture of raw products.

Ex.endive

Simmering: gentle boiling

Ex. stews

Slow cooking: using lower heat, resulting in special textures and taste

Ex. rice, stews

Browning/Blackening: coated with a crust of herbs, spices or flower, baked at high heat.

Ex. blackened tempeh

Water sauté: frying by making use of (a little) water or bouillon as heat conductor

Ex. wokking without oil

Pan frying: frying with a little bit of oil

Ex. tofu with seasalt

Stir frying: frying on high heat and moving the food around rapidly

Ex. wok, teppanyaki

Deep frying: the food is submerged in hot oil

Ex. tempura, beignets

Pressure cooking: higher heat and temperature reduces the cooking time of foods.

Ex. legumes such as chickpeas

Flambé: using alcohol to create a flame which infuses the food with volatile aromas

Ex. grapes with poire williams

Dry roasting: grains, nuts and seeds will deepen in flavor

Ex. millet

Roasting: all cooking methods that use dry heat, big time enhancing the flavor.

Ex. oven roasted root vegetables

Salt crust: a dough of flower & salt, cooked in the oven. Intense concentrated flavors.

Ex. celeriac or red beets in salt crust

Searing: obtaining a brown or black crust, using high heat for a short amount of time. Then finishing it off in the oven.

Ex. butternutsquash with watercress pesto

Baking: using dry heat for longer periods of time by the method of convection.

Ex. bread

Grilling: making marks in a grill pan adds flavor and texture .

Ex. grilled tofu with barbecue sauce

Barbecue: grilling food in the hot smoke of a wood fire.

Ex. green asparagus on the bbq

Smoking: giving vegetables or plant based protein a spectacular twist which the palate will enjoy.

Can be done in a smoking box on the stovetop or on the bbq or green egg, to be used in moderation, often 5-10' is more than enough

Ex. smoking blanched cauliflower, smoking tofu-tempeh-seitan, smoking raw onions before cooking

Braising: first seared at high heat, then cooked with a small amount of liquid. with vegetables this may be their own liquid

Ex. mushrooms

Toasting: lightly growing seeds and nuts will give them more texture and aroma.

Ex. pine nuts, hazelnuts

2.3. Taste Taste is the way to get some real action going on on your plate, if you want convincing flavors to happen, try to get all six fundamental flavor sensations going on at the same time: salty, sour, sweet, spicy, bitter and umami.

The use of herbs and spices is indispensable, but keeping it simple often brings out best the basic flavor of the specific ingredient. Also, look for inspiration in world cuisines that use a lot of herbs and spices in their vegetarian dishes.

The 5 tastes in the veggie cuisine (s. also chapter “Flavoring)

Salty: Vegetables and plant based protein do not contain as much mineral salt as animal food or processed foods. So there is a need to add enough sodium in order to obtain a basis flavor in your dish, mostly more then when cooking with meat or fish. You’ll know when there is enough sodium uses, when foods start to taste sweet. Same goes for bread making.

Sweet: is regarded as the most pleasant taste, sweetness is almost always caused by a simple sugar, but also look for the sweetness of an ingredients itself, often a little salt brings out the sweet ( ex. tomatoes, cabbage, root vegetables, baked goods)

Acidic: this refreshes food, make good use of citrus fruits and vinegars, implement fermented products (lactic acid fermantation) such as sauerkraut, pickles, gurken and of course all vinegars.

Bitter: harder to find, it occurs naturally in vegetables such as endives and also in coffee

(makes nice vinaigrettes )

Umami: Savory and rich in flavor, it is a mild but lasting aftertaste. Naturally to be found in kombu, mushrooms, tomatoes and other ingredients.

Not a flavour, but also important here

Spicy or sharp: Radishes are naturally pungent, sharpness can be added by spices and peppers

Techniques to get good flavor

There are some techniques that bring out a good, sometimes even meaty (umami) kind of flavour in the ingrediënts. When cooking veggie keep special attention to:

The Maillard reaction

It is quite difficult to create something like the maillard reaction in the vegetarian cuisine (chemical process that happens when grilling, roasting or broiling animal protein). But the Maillard-flavours are so complex, intense and ‘meaty’ that they give a lot of satisfaction when eaten. That make’s it really important to aim for when cooking.

Make enough use of high heat cooking techniques like baking, grilling, roasting, charring, burning, deep-frying and stir fry. The maillard reaction occurs in many baked products, is responsible for the color and flavor in biscuits, toasted bread, fried onions & fries. It’s the Maillard reaction that’s the secret of making a flavourfull veggie stew, and that happens by first of all baking and browning the veggies before adding liquid.

If you on the contrary want to emphasize the own flavour of a certain ingrediënt, it’s better to avoid high temperatures.

Caramelisation: this is the browning of sugar which gives a nutty flavor and brown color, in the process of browning sugar the typical caramel flavor is released.

2.4. Colour

If you want a vegetarian dish come to life, try to make color contrasts happen. One small color accent will make a huge difference. Ex. finishing off a tray of roasted vegetables with some coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley. It’s good to have many colors going on, at least 4 or 5 and... to not forget the color of the plate used.

Vegetables will deliver most of your colors, so make use of them for the basic colors in your dish. Herbs and spices will deliver nice accents like also various cold and warm sauces and vinaigrette and oils will do.

Various cooking styles will deliver that color which is often lacking in vegetarian dishes, nice browning of foods, caramelisation and blackening (see the Maillard reaction above). Making use of frying in batter (tempura) or wrapping in dough (filo, puff pastry, bric) will easily give you that nice browning. Also grilling, searing, roasting and baking will make the plate more appealing to the eye.

2.5. Cutting style

It needs no explanation that when everything on a plate is cut in the same way, it looks less attractive. The more dynamic the shapes and cutting styles will get, the more interesting it will be for the eye and the palate.

Especially in vegetarian cooking you want to be mindful about this fact, as a lot of cutting is involved and more vegetables are used. Try to make a start by having some things cut bigger and other smaller, try to incorporate some things cut very long and others round. Every vegetable has a couple of preferred cutting styles, which work best for its cooking and color effect. Learning about their intrinsic qualities and making an ingredient based cuisine will improve your understanding of what works best when preparing vegetables. You want to have about 5 cutting styles on the plate, with some already determined by ingredients like the grain used or the protein chosen.

2.6. Texture

Texture plays an important role in the enjoyment of eating foods. Especially the contrast between something crunchy and something more soft is enjoyable for the palate. Adding toasted nuts and seeds to your food will increase the appeal of eating it. Try to make more use of crusts and crumbles, a very quick way to get more crunch.

Ex. tofu with parsley & pistachio crust, poached peaches with coconut crumble

Add toast or breadcrumbs to your soups and salads. Ex. Ceasarsalad, onionsoup

Make springrolls and stuffed pastry with soft and tasty fillings of vegetables and legumes will bring an item to the plate that will satisfy the eye and the belly.

Ex.vegetable samosa, filo with butterbean and sage filling

Charring or burning vegetables and making that into a powder will give dishes a powerful twist

Also dehydrating components of your dish will add loads of texture.

SUMMARY When cooking vegetarian extra attention should be made for using the right ingredients, cooking techniques, flavours, cutting styles, colours and textures. In terms of flavouring special attention is necesarry about salting a dish and bringing enough umami flavour into the meal. In terms of cooking style special attention is necessary in high heat cooking styles to bring out the Maillard flavours of low heat cooking styles to empasize the own flavour of the ingredient.

TASKS Especially recipes wich illustrate the things said in the text

Also:

Cook a cauliflower (or other vegetable) in a different way of cooking techniques and describe the different outcome and the dishes you would like to create with the different results.

2.2 Nuts and seeds

Learning aims:

After this chapter you should be able to:

- Understand the importance and place of nuts and seeds in vegetarian cooking

- Have a basic knowledge of their origin and how to use and prepare them

1. INTRODUCTION Nuts are botanical spoken eatable seeds in a hard shell, growing on trees. Examples are walnuts, cashewnuts, almonds, … Seeds are also ‘seeds’, often packed in a hard shell, only they don’t grow on trees. Think about pumpkinseeds, linseeds, sunflowerseeds, ...

The reason why we put nuts and seeds in the same chapter is that they can be used in more or less the same way in cooking, and that they contain more or less the same nutriënts.

2. USING AND STORING NUTS AND SEEDS

Where nuts and seeds are not so often used in traditional western cooking (apart as a snack or in a dessert, once in a while in a salad), they are an important group in the vegetarian cuisine:

- You can use them raw, where they will give texture to a dish - You can roast them dry or in oil, to get the maximum of flavor out of them - You can use the oil, pressed out of the nuts, for instance in dressings - You can grind them to make nut-flour to cook with (almond flour) or even grind them more untill you get a nut-butter (peanutbutter, almondbutter, tahini (sesamespread), sunflowerspread) - You can make maximum use of their creaminess by soaking them and blending them with some water to make a rich cream. This cream can further be uses as a base for a cold or a warm sauce. Or add even more water to become a tasty nut-milk. - You can make a nut-foam, by heating nut-milks and frothing them up. - And they can even be used to stick other ingredients together, just like an egg would do. E.g. cashews and sunflowerseeds in falafel or burgers. - You can use them as the base for (fermented) nutbased cheese (see chapter X dairy replacers).

Store nuts and seeds dry in an airtight container in a cool dark place. Because nuts and seeds contain a lot of fats (compared to those other seeds like grains and legumes), they get easier rancid. If stored properly, unshelled nuts can last up to a year. Shelled nuts have a shorter shelf life, more like three, maximum four months depending on the kind of nut/seed. You can prolong shelled nuts their storage uptill 1 year by freezing them.

An important consideration when working with nuts and their oils is to make sure that we do not break down these high quality oils with very high external heating. This can occur when the oil is overheated or by roasting the nuts at a too high temperature in the oven. Generally 175°C is considered a safe temperature for working with.

3. WHAT’S IN THEM?

In the vegetarian cuisine nuts and seeds are not only used frequently because they are so versatile, but also because of their nutritious content. They are an interesting source of proteins (10-25% of their content) and are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fibers. They do contain a lot of fats (uptil 50%), both unsaturated and semi- saturated fatty acids, but… no cholesterol. It are the fats that make them creamy and give them their excellent taste but also makes them sensitive of becoming rancid.

4. AN OVERVIEW OF THE DIFFERENT NUTS

Nut Description Forms

Almonds A sweet nut from Middle Eastern origin. There are both bitter (wild) Shelled or almonds which are poisonous but are used to make (a safe) almond unshelled, extract and there are sweet almonds. The sweet almond is the one which blanched, flaked, is sold in the shops. Almond is also best known as ingredient for marzipan. meal, You can remove their skin by boiling them for 30sec until a minute in paste/butter, oil, water, drain them, placing them in a bowl of cold water and then popping milk them out of their skin by pressing them between your fingers. Containing 20 to 22% protein, almonds contain the highest percentage of protein of all nuts. Furthermore, almonds contain many unsaturated, primarily monounsaturated fats, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and vitamin E.

Hazelnuts Hazelnuts come from a bush like tree. The main production of hazelnuts Shelled or comes from turkey, Italy and spain. They are used in a famous chocolate unshelled, spread, in pastries, in dukkah, ... Their skins are slightly bitter and can be blanched, removed by roasting them shortly and then rubbing them between towels roasted, milk while still warm. The hazelnut contains up to 14% protein. Furthermore, the hazelnut is rich in potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc and iron.

Walnuts A common nut in Europe. Their taste, and especially the taste of their skin Shelled or is fairly bitter (wrang). The bitter tanines in their skin also makes bread or unshelled, milk other baked goods with walnuts purper. Their skin is difficult to remove. You can remove some of it by using the method from hazelnuts. And you can get some bitterness away by blanching them shortly, patting them dry and then roasting them. Walnuts are used in pastries, cheese and in salads. Due to their bitter taste they are more used in side dishes or as a condiment to enhance dishes. Walnuts contains about 16% protein and is the richest of all nuts in omega 3 fatty acids. In fact, a couple of walnuts a day are enough to balance your intake of omega 3 fatty acids.The walnut has a typical shape with many grooves and crevices (brain like).

Pecannuts The pecan comes from the North-American continent and is related to the Shelled, walnut. The shape of the pecan nut with its grooves is also very similar to sometime that of the walnut, except that they are slightly longer and darker. It is not unshelled bitter but has a sweet nutty flavour and is mainly used in sweets and pastries. They are, however, also suitable for savoury dishes. Pecan nuts do not contain much protein but are rich in zinc, iron and more vitamin E.

Chesnuts Also a common European nut. Chesnuts are a bit different than the other Shelled, puree, nuts because they contain a lot of carbohydrates (starch) instead of oil. blanched and Already since the prehistoric times they are grinded to a flour and used like vacuum, flour you would use other flours: in porridge, bread, pasta’s and baked goods. Chestnut flour is gluten free. Chesnuts are quite common in the french quisine, for instance in the form of chestnut puree or marrons glacés. They spoil very easy, so keep them covered in the fridge and use them in 2 days. Chestnuts unlike other nuts are not high in fat or protein. However, they do have a nutty flavour that develops after popping or and is quite sweet.

Cashews Cashew nuts have a sweet taste. They are white, kidney-shaped nuts. You Shelled, will never find them unshelled, because their shell is toxic. Especially in cashewbutter the Asian cuisine they are used in savoury preparations and are highly (paste), roasted popular in the raw food cuisine, often as a base for desserts. Cashews and salted as a contain more starch than most of the other nuts (but a lot less than snack. chestnuts) which makes that they are excellent binders for waterbased dishes like desserts, soups, ..). Futrhermore they contain a lot of protein, monounsaturated fatty acids, a lot of magnesium, potassium and zinc and folic acid.

Brazil nuts Brazil nuts are fairly large angular nuts. They are the seeds from a tree in Unshelled, the Sout-American Amazon region. With a protein content of about 17%, shelled they also contain about 60 to 65% fat. Due to their high fat content rancidity can occur faster than in other nuts. There is no other food that contain so much selenium (an important trace mineral in our bodies) than brazil nuts. You only have to eat 1 Brazil nut to get your daily needed dose in selenium.

Pistacios The bright green pistacios come originally from the Middle East, just like Unshelled, almonds. Traditionally they are mainly used in ice cream and sweets or shelled, oil roasted and then salted as a snack. But they can be also used in salads or savoury dishes, they give a nice contrast in a paté for instance. Pistacios contain almost fifty percent fat, protein, as well as potassium, iron, zinc and vitamin E. The green colour comes from the chlorofyl in the nut. You can preserve the colour the best by roasting them on a low temperature.

Macadamia These round creamy whilte nuts look a bit like skinned hazelnuts and are Unshelled, raw native to Australia. They have the highest proportion of fat of all nuts, or roasted and around 75%. The fats are mostly monounsaturated fats and that is why salted they are attributed with a buttery mild flavour. Due to their high fat content they become rancid more rapidly in comparison to other nuts. They are quite expensive.

Coconuts The coconut is the biggest nut and actually the seed of the coconut palm. Young: in the They take uptil 1 year to grow. Young coconuts are big and green, inside husk. Old: this husk you can find young coconut water and a thin layer of gelatinous husked, in a coconut flesh. As coconuts get older, the flesh gets thicker, harder and brown hairy more fatty and they contain less coconut water. Around the flesh a hard shell. Milk, juice, shell develops. In supermarkets you will mostly find old coconuts, the well cream, oil, flour, known brown and hairy hard nuts, stripped from the green husk. In asian shredded, flakes. speciality shops, you can find young coconuts, often a bit from the husk is removed to make them easier to transport (a whole coconut can weight

uptil 1-2 kg) and they are wrapped in cling foil.

The coconut is used in many tropical kitchens (India, Asia, Afrika, South- America) and is found in a lot of different forms.

Flesh and Milk: Creamy coconut milk (sold in cans or in tetrapacks) is not made from the liquid inside a coconut like one would think but from the hard fatty flesh in a fully grown coconut. This flesh is blended and then sifted to get the fibres out. You can make also coconut milk yourself from dried coconut flakes or shredded coconut. Creamy coconut milk is also sold hard, in a block in a carboard box called santen. Santen is made from pressed coconut pulp. And to make things more complicated: also sold in tetra packs, coconut juice is sold as a (sport) beverage. This is the juice (also often called wrongly milk) which comes out of a young coconut, this juice is see trough and not creamy at all.

Fat: Coconut oil used to be a highly popular fat in the food industry in the last century, got in discredit in the seventies because of the high content of saturated fats (causing a higher level of cholesterol) and is now very popular in the raw food cuisine and in health food stores. Knowing what we know now about heart related diseases, a bit of coconut oil part of a balanced diet is ok and certainly can’t harm people who otherwise don’t get a lot of saturated fat in their diets (vegans for instance). The fat from the coconut is a solid (saturated fat) and is stable fat for roasting and frying.

Flour: The dried pulp can be found in the form of coconut flakes or shredded coconut. Coconut flour can also be made from coconuts. Coconut flour is very high in fibre, gluten and protein and is used to replace flour in cakes and biscuits.

Pine nuts Pine nuts are actually the seeds from certain types of pine trees. They Shelled, mostly grow in a pine cone and are released by shaking the cone. We know raw these tiny white seeds as an essential ingredient in Italian cooking for making pesto but they can be equally well used in a variety of salads, fruit preparations, sauces, desserts and cakes. They contain a lot of oil, so they get rancid quickly, and you have to roast them carefully because they burn easily. It’s advised to choose nuts from European, Korean, or American sources4 instead of pinenuts from China because these last can give a bad metallic flavor in the mouth and this for several days.

Not a nut

4 http://www.curiouscook.com/site/2010/09/pine-nut-mouth-clues-from-denmark.html

Peanuts Peanuts are actually not nuts! They are legumes and grow on small Unshelled, bushes in their shell in the ground. In the kitchen we tend to use peanuts shelled, roasted more than a nut instead of a legume. On the west we know peanuts mostly and salted, from peanut butter, but they are an important staple food in Asian and peanutbutter, oil. African traditions. They give substance to soups (African peanut soup) and sauces (Indonesian peanutsauce), are also used as filling for both savoury and sweet pastries or in noodle dishes (Pad Thai). Peanut oil is also quite common in cooking. They contain vegetable protein as well as carbohydrates, fat, iron, magnesium and zinc. Beware that peanuts are one of the most common allergens. So always inform your clients when using them in cooking.

5. AN OVERVIEW OF THE DIFFERENT SEEDS

Seed Description Forms

Sunflower Sunflower seeds are widely used to make sunflower oil. But the shelled Shelled, oil, seeds can also be used for cooking. Most known roasted and sprinkled in salads where they add some flavor and texture. But they can also be soaked, blended and then combined with fresh or dried herbs and toppings to make spreads, dips and sauces. When ground slowly an oil-rich and nutty sunflower paste can be produced. This small gray seeds are very rich in unsaturated fats, protein, iron, zinc, selenium and the antioxidant vitamin E.

Pumpkin These are the seeds which you find in the white shells inside a pumpkin. Unshelled (as Pumpkin seeds just like pistachios green because of the chlorofyl. They a pepita snack have a distinctive almost animal like flavor and give a wonderfull (but in southern expensive!) greeny oil. Roast them gently because they burn easily. countries), Pumpkin seeds can be used just like any other seeds in baking bread, shelled, paste, cakes and biscuits or sprinkled in salads and savoury dishes. These seeds oil are rich in numerous minerals such as manganese, phosphorus, iron, potassium, copper and zinc and vitamin B and E.

Sesame Sesame seeds exist in different colours ranging from golden to black, but Skinned, the golden one’s (unskinned) and while one’s (skinned) are best known. unskinned, oil, Sesame tastes nutty when roasted and slightly bitter. Sesame is used to paste (tahini) enrich the flavour of breads, cakes, biscuits and pastries. In Jewish cuisine there is a lovely sweet called "halva" consisting of ground sesame and honey. In Japanese cuisine, the seed is roasted, ground and mixed with sea salt. This produces a "Gomasio" which is sprinkled in savoury dishes. In the Middel East, a spreadable sesame paste called "tahini" is made by roasting sesame seeds and then grinding them slowly. Tahini is a base for sauces, dips and all sorts of toppings including the well-known chickpeas topping known as "hummus". Sesame oil is oil which is widely used and can be heated to a maximum of 160 degrees. Sesame is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin B and E and the minerals calcium, iron and

phosphorus.

Poppy seeds The small grey poppy seeds are the seeds of the poppy flower (papaver), shelled the same plant actually used to make opium. Don’t fear, the amount of opium in poppy seeds is to low to have an effect on your body (although after eating a lot you can test positive on drugs tests, so don’t use when you are cooking for athletes!). Poppy seed are mostly used to garnish and decorate bread, cakes and biscuits and it is also used as an filling in some Eastern European pastries.

Hemp Hemp seed come from a cannabis plant with little to no psychoactive Shelled and substances. Hemp seeds have a rich and delicious mild nutty flavour and unshelled, can be sprinkled in soups and salads. It is high in protein, contains all powder essential amino acids, vitamin E, a variety of minerals such as magnesium, iron and potassium an fibre. Because of the nutritious content, hemp seed are often labeled as ‘super foods’ and are very popular in the raw food cuisine and health shops.

Linseed Linseed is an European seed which comes from the flax plant, the same Whole, plant used to make the fabric called ‘linnen’. Linseeds are brownred or cracked our golden and have a light nutty flavor. Linseed oil has a distinct (almost fishy) grounded into flavour and is best used cold. Grounded linseeds soaked in water give meal, oil some kind of gum/gell and is a good emulsifier and stabilisator. In some vegan baking recipes grounded and soaked linseeds are used instead of eggs in. Linseeds are also popular because of their so called incredible nutritional properties: a very high percentage of omega-3 fatty acids and protein.

Summary

Nuts and seeds are an important group in the vegetarian cuisine because they are so versatile to use (raw, roasted, as a binder, as nut-butters, -creams, -oils, -flours, -milks and -foams). They contain a lot of proteïns but also a lot of fat. It’s the fat that makes nutpreparations so flavourful and creamy, but it’s also the fat that shortens the shelf life of nuts to a couple of months or maximum a year in the freezer.

Sources

Harold Mc Gee, Over eten en koken, 2013 (On Food and Cooking, Dutch translation)

Harold Mc Gee, Goed koken, 2011 (Keys to Good Cooking, Dutch translation)

Marc Bitman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, 2007

EVA vzw, Veggie voor Chefs, 2010

Tasks

see docu https://docs.google.com/a/evavzw.be/document/d/1Z- 46CoSmluCvXTzb2n1N3ENp-a8jNTGrc_QXtBbAubA/edit

Pictures http://www.ilovehealth.nl/be-healthy-en-eet-noten/

Almonds (not blanched)

walnuts

hazelnuts

pecans

chesnuts

chesnuts, peeled

cashewnuts

brazilnuts

pistachios

macadamia

coconuts

pinenuts

pecannuts

sunflowerseeds

pumpkinseeds (shelled)

pumpkinseeds (unshelled)

sesame (white not skinned, and black)

poppyseeds

hempseeds (shelled)

hempseeds (unshelled)

linseeds (golden)

linseeds (brown)

2.3 Grains

Learning aims:

After this chapter you should be able to :

- Understand the importance and place of grains in vegetarian cooking

- Have a basic knowledge of their origin and how to prepare them

- Have a basic knowledge about some less known grains, their origin and how they are used in recipes worldwide

2. A WHOLE WORLD OF GRAINS Introduction

Grains are together with potatoes the most common staple food worldwide and they are getting more and more attention in our kitchens. But what are they exactly, how diverse is this world of grains and how to prepare them? This chapter will give you information on this.

Practical use

By knowing the importance of grains, the large diversity and basic preparing instructions, you will be able to experiment with many of them. You can find out kinds of grains or derivatives that you (and your customer) didn’t know before, making your meals even more creative or suitable to the customers needs.

1.1 What is a grain?

We all know rice, but there are many other sorts of grains like millet, corn, oats, barley, wheat and rye. All these grains belong to the botanical family of gramineae or true grasses. Farmers sow them every year to harvest the seeds (cereals) at the end of summer.

There are also a number of plants such as buckwheat, quinoa and amaranth that develop grains with similar characteristics but in fact they belong to different botanical families. Sometimes they are called pseudocereals.

And there is also wild rice, which is classified as a wild grass.

From whichever family the grains are, they have the same basic composition:

- a skin, called the bran, a very tough layer that protects the interior of the grain

- the endosperm, the biggest part of the grain providing the first food for the germ

- the germ is actually the embryo of the grain insert picture grain

Some grains have outside the bran also an other extra protective layer, called the husk. The husk is always removed because it’s not edible.

Because grains are dried they are available all year-round.

What all grains have in common is that they are, amongst vitamins and minerals, especially rich in carbohydrates. This makes them ideal food for our body to live on day by day: bread and pasta (made from flour which is milled wheat), rice, … Grains also contain some protein ranging from a modest amount (rice) to quite a lot (oats, quinoa). The most nutritional value of a grain is stored in the bran and in the germ, that’s why eating whole grains (not refined grains, e.g ‘brown rice’) is promoted in health food cuisines and some vegetarian cuisines.

1.2 A world of grains

show worldmap with where the grains come from

Middle East:

Wheat

Barley

Rye

Oats

Azië

Rice

Afrika

Millet

Central America

Mais

Maïs 4500 voor Chris

2. STEPS FOR PREPARING TASTY AND EASILY DIGESTIBLE GRAINS 1. Rince the grains and remove any impurities.

2. Use a correct measured amount of water (this does not apply to rice in sachets as the excess water can easily be poured away). A standard ratio for a number of cereals is 1 volume of cereal to 2 volumes of water. With millet the result is less grainy and dry when using a ratio of 1 to 3. With a number of other grains such as barley (1 to 2.5) or preparations such as couscous (1 to 1) the standard ratio should be adjusted. You can find more information in the table below.

3. It is beneficial for the opening of the cereals that you put them in cold water and subsequently boil them instead of first bringing the water to a boil and then adding the grains. The cereals also open best with a steady low sufficient heat in the pot. The whole grains will not open faster or better if the heat is turned up, so using a pressure cooker won’t be much faster and won’t give you an as good result, leave the pressure cooker for beans. Use a thick pan or cooking pot with a lid in which the heat is evenly spread.

4. If you want to season grains, you can add dried herbs at the beginning of the cooking process so that their flavours can be absorbed by the grains during the cooking process.

5. But, add sea salt at the end! When adding salt at the start of the cooking, it’s more difficult for the grain to fully unlock or open and soften completely. You can add salt towards the end of the cooking time when the grains are already softened up. For the same reason it’s not advisable to cook whole grains in vegetable broth which contains salt.

6. After adding salt towards the end of the cooking time, turn the fire off and let the grains rest for another fifteen minutes with the lid on. Only then the grains can fully and properly open up and absorb the remaining moisture.

Preparing grains for experts

1. When you want to make grains more digestible, you can soak them. For certain cereals a couple of hours may be sufficient, for others overnight (between 8 and 12 hours) is favourable.

2. Although it’s not necessary, cereals can also be washed and immediately afterwards dried at a low temperature (up to about 75 degrees) on a baking sheet in the oven (or lightly toasted in a pan), this process (also called kilning) gives them a more nutty flavour and makes them easier to digest.

3. This is especially important with the harder types of grain like barley, oats, wheat and rye: cooking whole grains in boiling milk is not good for the digestion. Rice pudding can be cooked in milk, but here, it is advantageous to then work with white rice. Brown rice does not open in milk and remains quite hard.

2 DIFFERENT GRAINS, GRAIN DERIVATIVES AND THEIR COOKING TIMES.

3.1 Common Grains and their derivatives

Name and Description Cooki Ratio Yield Picture ng water/gr appr time ain oxim ately (from 1cup dry)

Rice A very accessible and easy to digest grain. It’s the only grain, in contrast with other grains which grows in water. Rice is rich in carbohydrates and vitamin B and contains, has relatively little protein and no gluten. Rice can be used in hearty, savoury dishes as well as sweets.

-> White White rice is the name given to milled rice, rice that has had rice its husk, bran, and germ removed.

-> This quick cooking rice is of a higher quality than white rice. Parboiled Utilising a specific process, the bran is removed but many rice vitamins and minerals are still preserved in comparison with typical white rice.

-> Whole Measures approximately 4 to 6 mm, is stripped of its hull 40’ grain but still contains the bran with the valuable minerals. This is round rice called husked or brown rice. The rice becomes rather creamy and sticky when cooked, making it suitable for sweet dishes or risottos.

-> Whole About 6 to 8 mm long, this rice is dry when cooked and is 40’ 2 1/2 3 grain long therefore very suitable for stir-fries and all sorts of rice rice salads.

Rice, 45 - 2 - 2 1/2 3 brown, 55 short min. grain*

Rice, 10 1 1/4 2 brown, min. quick

-> Basmati This rice can be both whole grain or non whole grain. This white: rice long grain rice is very aromatic, is dry when cooked and 10-15’ should not be cooked for too long. Basmati rice grown at brown : 20- the foot of the Himalayas is called "rice queen" and has a 25’ distinctive and subtle aroma and a soft texture.

brown brown 3

2 1/2

-> This rice coming from Thailand is also called fragrant rice. white: Jasmine This is a dry boil rice and has a floral aroma. The true and 15’ rice highest quality jasmine rice can be found under the name brown "Thai Hom Mali" which means "rice with flower aroma". : 25’

-> Risotto During cooking this rice absorb a lot of moisture yet retain white: rice it’s shape and "al dente" texture relatively well. The rice becomes creamy, but not mushy when cooked and absorbs brown : flavours well. Arborio, Carnaroli and Baldo are the best known varieties of this rice grown in Italy in the region of Piedmont and Lombardy

-> In Spain, this rice is widely used to make paella. It is Calasparr cultivated in the province of Murcia at an altitude of 400 to a rice / 500 meters above sea level where several rivers meet and Spanish water of high quality is on hand. This high quality grain can rice absorb three to four times its own volume of water. The grains stick together when cooling off but immediately after cooking they are still relatively loose. This rice can usually be found in hand sewn fabric bags and the word D.O. is stated on the label.. This Spanish label means "Denominacion the Origin" and is an indication of the certification of origin.

Maize Maize is the most solid plant of the grains, and this is clearly visible in the development of the robust cob in -> Polenta comparison with the lighter panicles or the refined ears of the other grains. Corn develops typical golden grains that contain a lot of carbohydrates, protein and fat but do not contain gluten. Maize is mainly processed into semolina or polenta, in meal, in flakes or tortilla chips. The corn cernels itself are mainly used to enrich salads and stews and to add colour. Maize has its origins in the middle and south

American culture.

Maizemeal 8 - 10 4 - 4 1/2 2 1/2 (fine grind) min.

Maizemeal 20 - 4 - 4 1/2 2 1/2 (polenta, 25 coarse) min.

Millet Millet is a grain that is rich in silicon, fluorine, 20’ 1-2/1 for 3 1/2 carbohydrates, protein and also contains essentials fats. boiled When the indigestible hull is removed or peeled away, the millet grain is a yellow colour and is small, round and hard, 3-4/1 for contains no gluten and is whole wheat. Millet develops millet primarily in the form of a panicle like rice. Furthermore there mash is sorghum and pearl millet. Millet traditionally plays a particularly important role as a food on the African continent. Millet is excellent for making pulp or mash. When it is dry boiled it is very suitable to serve with a sauce. After boiling the millet is solid and is suitable for making burgers or croquettes. Millet is also very suitable for sweet dishes and is also used in the form of flakes.

Oats The oat grain develops into a loose panicle just like rice and 45’ 1-2/1 millet. The grain contains a lot of proteins, fats, B-vitamins, calcium, and various minerals such as iron, magnesium and zinc. Oats are best known as oat flakes and it is widely used for its nutty taste in muesli, cakes, desserts and soups. However, it can also be widely used as a grain in many other dishes and preparations. Due to the high fat content, this is a very creamy grain. This becomes obvious when making porridge which is actually very creamy when cooked.

Oat 30 - 3 3 1/2 Groats 40 min.

Oat, bran 5 min. 2 1/2 2

Wheat Wheat is a very versatile grain and it has many applications and derived products such as bulgur and couscous. It contains a lot of carbohydrates, proteins and silicon. The valuable minerals are primarily located in the outer casings of the fruit. Wheat contains the elastic protein gluten which

can be used to bake, among other things, bread. Therefore wheat cannot be used in a gluten-free diet. Bread containing wheat is a typical European food whereby we include grains in our diet. In Asia grains are incorporated in the diet more as rice. In Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and France wheat with a rather low protein content is primarily grown. In addition, there is also hard wheat and durum wheat. Durum wheat contains a higher proportion of gluten, is mainly grown in the south or in warmer regions. It is mainly used for pasta, bulgur and couscous.

Wheat, 2 hrs. 3 2 1/2 whole berries

Wheat, 20 - 2 2 1/4 cracked 25 min.

-> Bulghur There are various processes to make bulgur but the grain is 15 2 2 1/2 always broken, steamed, and dried again. In this way the min. cooking time is shortened and the grain is also easier to digest. This process is usually applied to wheat, but can also be applied to barley or any other cereal. Bulgur is, therefore, not a type of grain but a process that is applied to cereals in the main to wheat. You can find whole grain bulgur and non whole grain bulgur. Bulghur can be eaten hot or cold and is well suited to all kinds of salads.

-> In couscous the wheat is not broken but coarsely ground. 5 min. 1 2 couscous This produces Semolina that is steamed and subsequently dried. It can be found in both wholemeal and in non wholemeal varieties. Couscous has a very short cooking time and can be eaten both hot and cold. Semolina is used for making puddings or sweet desserts.

Buckwhea Buckwheat belongs to the Polygonaceae family of plants 15’ 1-2,50/1 t and develops a small triangular grain. Buckwheat contains a lot of carbohydrate, is gluten free and is easily digestible. Buckwheat is primarily used as buckwheat flour for making both savoury and sweet pancakes, but the groats can also be used. Kasha is the name given to roasted buckwheat grains. Buckwheat has a binding ability, and can be used in the form of instant buckwheat flakes to bind cakes and soups

Buckwhea 15 2 2 1/2 t groats * min..

Quinoa Quinoa pronounced "kienwah" is from a botanical 15’ 2/1 2 3/4 . perspective the seed of a goosefoot plant. It has its origins in Central and South America. They are small round grains that at first sight are similar to millet but they are in fact flatter. Quinoa is rich in nutrients and contains a higher protein content than most other cereals. It also contains large amounts of iron, potassium, B complex vitamins and no gluten. Besides the white quinoa, red and black also exist. The groats can be used or as flour or in flakes for biscuits and muesli. Quinoa should always be washed, it contains saponin, which is harder to digest. During cooking, the grains spring open just like seeds.

Wild Rice These long black grains are not a kind or rice but a kind of 45’ 3 4 wild grass having its origins in North America. It contains high proportions of minerals, including zinc and vitamin B2, and a relatively high amount of protein. Wild rice is gluten free.

3.2 Less known grains and their derivatives

Name and Description Cooking Ratio C Picture time water u /grain p soaking s Y i e l d

Rice

-> Black or The colour of this wholegrain rice turns deep purple during 40’ purple rice cooking . This colour change occurs naturally and the rice is not dyed with squid ink as sometimes happens in Spanish cuisine. It is a distinctive Thai rice that is slightly sticky when cooked.

-> Pandan rice This fragrant long grain white rice originates from Thailand. 15-20’ The roots absorb the smell of the leaves of the pandanus palm

during growth. This white rice is also available pre-cooked with pandanus palm leaves.

-> Red Rice The most well-known varieties of red rice are from the 40’ Camargue in southern France and the Thai red jasmine rice. They are both quality long grain rice varieties.

-> Sweet rice Sweet rice is the rice that is used to make mochi, a Japanese 40’ sticky sweet rice dessert. It’s a rice that possesses a natural sweetness and becomes very creamy, sticky and soft. However, it can also be used in savoury dishes.

Barley Barley grains grow in an ear with long awns. Barley contains a 45’ (+ 1- lot of carbohydrates, silicon, magnesium, B-vitamins and soaking) 2,5/1 gluten. Barley is used in grits and flakes and the entire grain is used in soups and salads. Germinated or malted barley is a key ingredient in the production of beer, whiskey and various grain malt syrups such as corn syrup or barley malt syrup. The latter are used as unrefined sweeteners. Barley in its roasted form can be found in grain coffee. Pearl barley is cut barley and was, in the past, mainly used in barley porridge.

Barley, 50 - 60 3 3 pearled min. 1 / 2

Barley, hulled 1 hr. 15 3 3 min. 1 / 2

Barley, flakes 30 - 40 2 2 min. 1 / 2

Rye A powerful grain that develops in a ear and is primarily used to bake bread and crisp bread. Rye is very rich in minerals and contains relatively high amounts of potassium and folic acid. Rye contains gluten but less than wheat. Rye as full grain is not commonly used. Rye is not easily digested and should be soaked before cooking. When baking bread, rye requires a fermentation process so that the grains swell open and can be digested more easily. This is also true of the sour dough process or when baking with "bakferment". Yeast does not have the appropriate properties to open up and swell the rye

grains and is therefore not suitable for baking rye breads.

Rye, berries 1 hr. 3 - 4 3

Rye, flakes 10 - 15 2 3 min.

Millet

-> Teff Teff is a grain that belongs to the grasses and by some is 5 - 20 min 3 3 classified in the millet family and by others seen as a separate 1 family. Teff is very rich in fibre and minerals such as iron, / calcium, magnesium and zinc. The phytic acid content is low 2 whereby the minerals are easily absorbed. Teff are tiny round . grains that are comparable to the size of a grain of sand thus not so easy to handle. They have their origin in Ethiopia and in recent years, they have been increasingly used as a gluten- free flour to bake with. In Ethiopia "enjera", a kind of pancake bread is baked with Teff.

-> Fonio Fonio millet is a species that is mainly grown in West Africa. It has very small granules that absorb a large quantity of water. The millet to water ratio is 1 is to 5 . It is usually used in the form of couscous or tabouleh. Fonio is gluten free.

Wheat

-> Einkorn, A forerunner of today's wheat that is also known as small small spelt, spelt, petit epautre in french. petit epautre

-> Emmer or Also a forerunner of today's wheat that is used in pasta. The two grain whole grain is used in Italian cuisine and is known as "Farro".

-> Khorasan Is a very large and valuable grain which is sold under the wheat or registered trademark "Kamut". Kamut is an ancient type of Kamut wheat that is currently being grown again. Kamut is mainly used in bulgur, couscous, bread and pasta.

Spelt With spelt it is important that one buys "real" spelt. Much spelt 40 - 50 3 - 4 2 is actually to a great extent hybrid wheat. The real spelt grain min. 1 looks substantially different from wheat grain. Spelt can be / 2 used for people with a wheat-allergy when the pure and real

spelt is used. Spelt contains gluten and is therefore not suitable for celiac sufferers. The best known species is the Oberkulmer Rotkorn. Spelt is rich in minerals and contains essential amino acids like wheat.

-> Grünkern Grünkern is spelt grains harvested when they are "green" or half ripe. The grains are not fully mature and are still compact. They are dried and then used like spelt. These grains are nutty in flavour and easy to digest.

Amaranth Amaranth is a goosefoot plant and also from Central and 20 - 25 2 1/2 2 South America. Amaranth grows in long red plumes and the min 1 grain is much smaller than that of the quinoa. This crop is very / rich in protein , particularly lysine. It contains many minerals 2 including magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and vitamin B complex. These fruits are difficult to dry boil because of their small grain. They become sticky and mushy during cooking. They are however often popped or roasted. They have a nutty flavour and are often added to muesli. Amaranth is also used as meal to make a kind of polenta to make cakes as well as biscuits. Amaranth is gluten free.

Hath mugi or Hath mugi is also called pearl barley but should be 45’ Job's tears distinguished from barley or the grains. Jobs Tears are in fact the seeds of a wild grass. The taste of pearl barley is nutty and deliscious It is usually cooked together with rice or another grain or added to soups.

Wheat and Rye

->Triticale 1 hr. 45 3 2 min. 1 / 2

2. DERIVATIVES OF GRAINS Grains can be prepared in many-many ways. The easiest way is to cook the whole or refined grain. But we also grind grains into flours, we break them into bulgur or couscous and we even use them as a base for alcohol or non-alcoholic drinks. The next part of this chapter will give you a brief overview of the ways grains are used.

5.1 Breaking, milling and crushing of grains

Course breaking

-> Grits and thermo grits Grits are obtained by breaking the grain. Thermo grits are grits that have first been warmed or roasted at a low temperature and are broken after cooling. They are easier to digest and have a nuttier taste. You can buy (thermo)grits from different grains in speciality (health food shops) but you can also break the grains yourself by using a kitchen mill.

-> Boulghour or bulgur Bulgur is not a type of grain like many would think. Most common is wheat bulgur, but sometimes you can also find barley or other bulgurs, whole grain or refined. Bulgur broken, steamed, and dried grain. In this way the cooking time of the grain is shortened and the grain is also easier to digest. Bulghur can be eaten hot or cold and is well suited to all kinds of salads.

Course grinding

-> Semolina Semolina is coarsely ground grain. Semolina is used for making puddings or sweet desserts (rice semolina, wheat semolina). The coarsely ground cornmeal we know as polenta.

-> Couscous Couscous is steamed and subsequently dried semolina. Couscous can be found in both wholemeal and in non wholemeal varieties, the most common is couscous made from wheat. There is also a gluten-free and golden couscous made with rice and corn.

Fine milling: flours

-> Whole wheat flour The whole grain is ground, unsifted and still contains all the valuable minerals or bran. We call this whole wheat flour or 100% flour. In Germany this is called T1200 flour, in Italy flour type 2 and in France 150.

-> Sifted flour The coarse wholemeal flour is sifted and the bran or the darkest, mineral rich part of the grain is removed. This is called sifted flour or 85% flour. In Germany this is called type 812 flour, flour in Italy type 1 and type 80 in France.

-> 65% flour When this flour is sifted and the bran and the germ are removed. Starch is primarily obtained from the endosperm. This is called flour 65% flour and is mainly used to make pancakes, pastry and sauces . In Germany this is called type 550, in Italy type 0and in France type 55.

-> Flour or all purpose flour The flour is very finely sifted and is mainly used for making fine bakery wares. It is the finest flour. In Belgium this is called flour or 50% flour. In Germany this is called type 405, In Italy type 00 and in France type 45 flour.

Crushing: flakes The process of crushing, steaming and drying can be applied to almost all cereal grains. The flakes are mainly used for making muesli and porridge. As a result of this process, the cooking time is much shorter.

5.2 Roasting and popping of grains

Grains can also be roasted at low temperatures just like coffee is roasted. This then serves as a basis for coffee grains. In Italy barley is principally used and can be commonly found under the name Yorzo.

Grains can also be popped. The most famous popped grain is maize, from which we make popcorn. Another well known product of popped grains are cakes. These ‘cakes’ can also be made with various other types of popped grains like corn cakes.

5.3 Lactic fermentation and alcoholic fermentation processes in grains

Grains can be fermented to make bread, alcohol or soysauce.

In bread making, both fermentations and yeast processes take place. For example fermentation processes can be found in sourdough as well as "Bakferment" bread. A lactic acid fermentation of the the grain with optimal results making it easier to digest. When yeast is added to an ingredient a fermentation process begins that produces alcohol and carbon dioxide.

In the preparation of beer, one is more focussed on the alcohol part of the process and in the baking of the bread, the focus is primarily on the development of carbon dioxide or air in the bread. Yeast does not have the ability to swell open the grain but rather permeates the bread with a superficial air process.

Products such as soy sauce , wheat bread and drink products are also formed by the fermentation process.

5.4 Grain drinks, creams and sweeteners

Grains can be used as the basis to make grain ‘milks’ or better called drinks.

Grain drinks are obtained as a result of cooking cereals or flours and a further enzyme process. The name grain milk should no longer be used for these products. Grain drinks are white, milk-like drinks with a sweet taste that can be made from most grains but in fact have nothing to do with real milk. These drinks are very suitable for drinking as well as for making a variety of sweets and desserts.

Another product that is made from cooked grain and enzyme conversion of multiple sugars are syrups. More information about syrups follows in section sweeteners.

Soya cream and other types of cream-like substances made from the fats found in cereals can be used in sauces and preparations to make them creamier. These types of creams such as oat cream and spelt cream cannot be whipped as they contain no saturated fats.

Summary

● In this chapter you have seen that there are grains that belong to the the botanical family of gramineae or true grasses, like rice, millet, corn, oats, barley, wheat and rye.. They are the so called cereals. ● There are also a number of plants such as buckwheat, quinoa and amaranth that develop grains with similar characteristics. They belong to different botanical families. Sometimes they are called pseudocereals. ● And there is also wild rice, which is classified as a wild grass. ● On the worldmap you have seen the different origins of the grains ● All grains have in common that they are, amongst vitamins and minerals, especially rich in carbohydrates. This makes them ideal food for our body to live on day by day: bread and pasta (made from flour which is milled wheat), rice, etc. ● Grains also contain some protein ranging from a modest amount (rice) to quite a lot (oats, quinoa). ● The most nutritional value of a grain is stored in the bran and in the germ, that’s why eating whole grains (not refined grains, e.g ‘brown rice’) is promoted in health food cuisines and some vegetarian cuisines. ● In the table you can look up more background information on the different kind of grains and preparation information. ● There are many derivatives of grains: ○ breaking, milling and crushing of grains ○ roasting and popping of grains ○ lactic fermentation and alcoholic fermentation processes in grains ○ grain drinks, creams and sweeteners

2.4 Legumes

Learning aims:

After this chapter you should be able to :

- Understand the importance and place of legumes in vegetarian cooking

- Recognise different beans

- Have a basic knowledge of their origin

- Know how to prepare them

1. INTRODUCTION

All beans, lentils, peas and even peanuts (for peanuts: see chapter X, nuts and seeds) belong to the Leguminosae family and are called ‘legumes’. We know some legumes already in their fresh state and use them in our cooking as vegetables:

- the pods we know for instance as green beans or snow peas

- the seeds in the pods we know for instance as green peas or edamame.

In this chapter we want to talk about dried legumes. The use of dried legumes is not really widespread in Europe. The only traditional dish in Belgium we can think off using some kind of legumes are white beans in tomato sauce. In other parts of the world however legumes are the most important staple food delivering protein. There the legumes give the chef the opportunity to use much smaller portions of - mostly costly or not always available - meat.

2. USING AND STORING LEGUMES

Legumes are cheap and easy to cook with. They have a long shelf life, either dried or in cans. Just store them airtight on room temperature. Dried beans

Legumes are used in stews, purées and mousses, salads, burgers or as a filling in dumplings.

Canned or jarred legumes are ready to use and only need heating up. But often, for a better taste and in recipes where the legumes play a mayor role, it’s much more rewarding to cook legumes yourself. This can require a bit of planning in the kitchen: the cooking time of dried legumes can be quite long and often it’s necessary to soak legumes before cooking. Beware also that older beans require more water and a longer cooking time to soften up.

And, although tradition almost demands that certain legumes are used in a certain dish (e.g. black beans in a mexican stew), it’s good to know that most beans, lentils and chickpeas can easily be swapped.

3. WHAT’S IN THEM?

Health wise especially dried legumes are an important vegetable source of protein. Most legumes contain between 10-50g protein per 100g dry mass. Cooked that is about half of the amount per 100g. The guideline of the WHO suggests that 50g whole protein per day is enough. Because of this, in the vegetarian cuisine, legumes are often used instead of meat in a dish and not as vegetable.

Legumes are also high in fiber and relatively low in fat. On top of that, the fat they contain is also unsaturated fat.

4. PREPARING LEGUMES

There is an ongoing debate about wich method is best to prepare easy digestible legumes. As we might know, especially for people who are not used to eat beans, they can leave one with a ‘windy’ aftereffect. One option is to bring the soaked legumes to a boil for a short while, drain and rinse them, and thén cook them in fresh water. By using this method the starches from the beans that cause intestinal discomfort are discarded with the rinsing. But, the downside is that you also discard some of the taste. Because of this, some chefs prefer not to use this pré- boiling (step 3) and only rince them after the soaking (step 2).

1. Check the legumes for stones or impurities and wash them thoroughly until the rinsing water is completely clear.

2. After washing, leave the legumes to soak in plenty of cold water (as a general guideline: three times their volume of water). Small legumes should be left to soak for a three or four hours and larger beans for eight hours. Do not let them soak for longer than 12 to 15 hours as from then on the germination process begins. Soaking is not necessary for lentils and split peas. Soaking is highly recommended for all other beans.

3. After soaking, bring the legumes to the boil and let them simmer with the lid open for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove them from the heat, drain and then rinse the beans thoroughly so that all froth is gone.

4. Put them back in the pot, cover with water and add if wanted add herbs and spices. You can also add summer savoury or kombu (a seaweed) to make them more digestible. Using kombu is often done in macrobiotic cuisine and improves also the taste of the beans.

5. Cook on low heat with the lid open or half-open, remove the froth occasionally and add some water when necessary.

6. When are they ready? The cooking time can range from 20 minutes for lentils to sometimes two hours for red beans or chickpeas. The cooking time may also vary according how old the legumes are and how you want to use them, so and tasting provides the definitive answer to this question. Another possible method of preparing legumes is with a pressure cooker. The cooking time is then on average an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes instead of two hours or more.

7. Important: season with salt or soy sauce during the end of the cooking process, otherwise the pulses will not become really soft, because salt toughens up their skin.

3. The various legumes and their general cooking time

Name and Picture Description Cooking Yield approximately time (from 1cup dry)

soaking

Lentils Small, round, flattened legumes that can be found in green, brown, black, orange and no soaking yellow colours. Lentils do not need to be soaked, and the cooking time needed is relatively required short in comparison with the other legumes. Lentils are widely used in Indian as well as in French cuisine.

-> red lentils With colours ranging from yellow to coral red, these are the sweetest lentils. These lentils cooking: lose their shape and colour very easy when cooked and are therefore very good to use for dhal (a lentil puree), for soups and fillings. You can find them mostly split, sometimes 20 min whole.

-> brown lentils Sometimes called spanish lentils or ‘farmers lentils’. Their colour ranges from greenbrown cooking: to brickredbrown. They are a quite robust kind of lentil, have a mild flavour and are a bit starchy in mouthfeel. They keep their shape quite well if not cooked too long. Excellent 40 min lentils to use in stews or sauces.

-> black or beluga lentils The black lentils are somewhat smaller than other lentils and look a bit like caviar hence cooking their name "beluga" lentils. Black lentils have a relatively short cooking time, retain their shape and colour during cooking, thus are easy to be used in vegetables and grain salads. 20 min Their beautiful black colour changes more into dark brown in the presence of acids.

-> green lentils, Du Puy Probably the most well know lentils in french cuisine. They are smaller than the brown cooking: lentils lentils and are green with little grey specs. Only lentils from the commune Du Puy in the Haute-Loire region can get this A.O.C. or Appellation d’Origine name. That’s why you will 30 min see often ‘Dupuis’ or other similar names on the packing, trying to fool the customer. These lentils keep their form and texture really well during cooking and have a bit of a nutty flavour.

Beans In addition to the white beans we know there are also brown beans, yellow beans, black beans and speckled or pinto beans. Almost all beans need soaking before cooking.

-> Cannellini bean A kind of small kidney-shaped bean. cooking: 1 hr 2 1/2

-> Lima beans Lima beans are quite large beans that are also known as butter beans. These beans come cooking: 2 - 3 from South America and more specifically Peru which can be seen by the reference to the city in their name. 45min - 1hr

-> Gigantes (giant lima Even bigger then Lima beans, off-white and with a potatolike texture. Popular in Greek and cooking: 2 beans) Spanish cuisine, sometimes found canned in tomatosauce. 45min - 1hr

-> Borlotti bean A speckled bean primarily used and popular in Italian cuisine. The speckled appearance is cooking: 2 - 2 2/3 not preserved during the cooking process. The borlotti bean is a flavoursome bean that can be used in minestrone soup, fillings and spread, dips and casseroles. 1 - 1 1/2hrs

-> Kidney beans Kidney beans or Red beans, are, as the name suggests kidney-shaped beans. They are soaking: 8hrs 2 ¼ commonly used in Central and South-American cuisine. cooking:

1hrs

-> Azuki Azuki beans also known as aduki beans are over here mostly known in macrobiotic no soaking 3 cuisine, where they are regarded as a super food for the kidneys. These small red beans required do not necessarily need to be soaked before cooking. However soaking makes them more easier to digest. Because they are slightly sweet and creamy Azuki beans are often used cooking: 45- in combination with sweet ingredients like pumpkin and in sweet preparations or desserts. 55min

-> Flageolet A flageolet is in fact an immature kidney bean, rather small, and light green. Often used in cooking: 1 ⅔ French cuisine they are less mealy then other beans and have a more herbal fresh taste. 40-50min

-> Yellow soybeans The round yellow soybean can be cooked and used as a bean. This bean contains more soaking: 8- 3 protein and fat than other legumes, but as they digest difficulty, they hardly get eaten 12hrs whole. This bean is primarily used for making soy milk, soy cream, soy flour, soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, soy yogurt, soy chunks, soy pudding and soy ice cream. See next cooking: 3hrs chapter 4; products derived from soy beans

-> Black beans This black soybean is a kidney-shaped, solid bean. It is mainly used in macrobiotic cuisine cooking: 2 1/4 for its therapeutic properties. 1 - 1 ½ hrs

-> Mung beans Mung beans, also called green soy is, as the name suggests, a small green bean. The cooking: 1hr. 2 bean is often left to germinate. When the beans germinate we obtain the famous bean sprout.

Peas

-> chickpeas Chickpeas have a variety of uses in cooking. They are a kind of medium-sized, brown/gold, round legume which should be soaked before being cooked. They are used in salads, tagines and couscous. They are also the base ingredient in the very well-known chickpea spread or dip called hummus. Chickpeas can also be milled or ground into a flour, sometimes called ‘besan’ in Indian cuisine. This flour can be used to make pancakes, batters and doughs and many savoury biscuits. Chickpeas are also widely used in Spanish cuisine and Mediterranean- French cuisine.

-> Split peas Split peas are dried peas that are sold in a split form. They are very suitable for mashed 45 min 2 peas, to make soups or sauces or even as a side dish. You can find them in yellow or green colour but apart from the colour they are nearly totally the same.

-> Marrowfat peas These type of peas are commonly used in the Netherlands and are also known as field peas. They are available both fresh, preserved in jars and dried.

4. Products derived from the soybean

Because of their nutritional qualities soybeans obtained a worldwide reputation and use. The only downside to soybeans is that they are tough as hell to cook and not easy digestible. Trying to solve these problems a whole range of derived products came out of the soybean, almost all of these products have roots in the asian culinary tradition. Some of the products like tofu, tempeh and TVP (soychunks) are used as ‘meatreplacers’, hence we give a bit more explanation about these products in chapter X. Others are more use as condiments (miso, soysauce, natto see chapter X) or dairy recplacers (soymilk, -cream and -yoghurt, see chapter X).

-> the next red part of text can be deleted if all info is in the right place in the other chapters

* Soy milk:

Soy milk is produced by soaking the yellow soy bean and then grinding it with water. Before the beans are ground, they should first be heated or cooked. After filtering ,the soy milk and okara or pulp are obtained. Soy milk can be used as a substitute for milk in, among other things, sauces, puddings and ice-cream. Soy milk is gluten free.

* Tofu:

Tofu is also known as soy cheese as it is a food made from coagulated soymilk. The soy milk is curdled with nigari which is traditionally extracted from seawater. Nigari primarily contains magnesium soy bean. Tofu is best kept in water and stored in the refrigerator. The water should be changed daily. Tofu can be safely kept for several days. In Indonesian cuisine, this ingredient is called tahu or tauhu. chloride. In today's tofu industry, purified magnesium chloride or citric acid are sometimes used instead of nigari. Tofu is rather neutral and bland but has the advantage that the chef can do just about anything with it. He must, give it its flavour.

Different consistencies of tofu can be produced depending on the time and amount of pressure exerted when draining the product. Silken tofu is barely drained and is very moist and spreadable. This kind of tofu is ideal for the preparation of fillings and dips. You can also find semi-solid and firm tofu. Firm tofu is great for marinating, stir-frying and as a final addition to stews. Tofu is a very easy to digest product as it is a product derived from soy milk, which is in turn is derived from the

* Tempeh:

Tempeh also written as témpé can be found fresh or pasteurized. It is most commonly found pasteurized as the shelf life of the fresh product is not very long. When fresh tempeh also has quite a distinct flavour. Tempeh is produced by fermentation of the soy beans. It is, therefore, easier to break down and digest. When cutting tempeh the whole fermented bean can be found. This is not the case with tofu where the soybean can no longer be found. Tempeh is a healthier product in comparison to tofu. Tempeh can, for example, be baked, smoked, marinated, stir-fried or fried. It can also be used when making fillings and stews.

* Natto

Natto is often used as a side dish and is produced by fermentation of soybeans in japanese cooking. It has a distinct, strong smell and is connected by sticky threads. Koji is used to start the fermentation process in Natto. It is rarely used in european cuisine, as it has a very defined taste.

* Miso

Miso is sometimes called vegetable broth or bouillon and is most well known as "miso soup" from Japanese cuisine. Miso is a kind of creamy pasta or mash obtained when soybeans are fermented for two years. The darkest miso, called Hatchō Miso is made from pure soybeans. Rice and barley can, however, be added during fermentation. It is then referred to as barley miso or rice miso. There is also very light miso, called white miso, that is not matured for as long and is very sweet. Miso can be used, among other things as, a flavouring in soups, dips, stews, marinades and fillings.

* Soy sauce

Soy sauce is a dark-coloured liquid form of salt or seasoning. It is often used in savoury dips, soups, to marinate and to stir-fry. It can be found under the name shoyu and tamari. Shoyu is soy sauce made from soy and wheat while tamari is based solely on soy. The fermentation process is a lactic acid fermentation, which enables the elements of the raw soybean to be transformed so that they are easily absorbable by human beings. The important point here is to check that the soy sauces you use are, in fact, produced by fermentation. In some cases the fermentation time of the soy sauce is shortened and all sorts of flavours are added instead of letting these develop during fermentation. Many sauces are based on this protein rich seasoning.

* Soy cream

Soy cream is a neutral cream that can be used anywhere instead of "real" cream. It cannot however be whipped.

* Soy bean meal

This is obtained by grinding soybeans. It is gluten free and not as rich in carbohydrates when compared to meal obtained from grains.

* Soya chunks

Soya Chunks can also be found under the name TVP or "textured vegetable protein. It is made from defatted soy flour and is very rich in protein. It is primarily mainly used in the preparation of stews, vegetable dishes and sates. It should be soaked before use. After soaking the dried solid pieces become spongy in structure. Soaking in a savoury fluid such as broth, bouillon or with soy sauce can significantly improve the taste. In moist dishes it can be cooked together with the other ingredients instead of being soaked first.

Eg. chili sin carne with seitan and kidneybeans

chickpeasstew with leek, pumkin and basil

Brown lentilsalad with charred peppers and beetroot

Sources

Harold Mc Gee, Over eten en koken, 2013 (On Food and Cooking, Dutch translation)

Harold Mc Gee, Goed koken, 2011 (Keys to Good Cooking, Dutch translation)

Marc Bitman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, 2007

EVA vzw, Veggie voor Chefs, 2010

Pictures

cannelini

lima

gitantes

borlotti

kidney

a(d)zuki

flageolet

yellow soy

black

mung

chickpeas

split peas

marrowfat/field peas

2.6 Plantbased Dairy Products

Learning aims:

After this chapter you should be able to :

- Understand the importance and place of plantbased dairy products in vegetarian cooking

- Have a basic knowledge about the different plantbased dairy products there are available ready-made

- Have a basic knowledge about the different plantbased dairy products you can make yourself

- able to do invidual research about different (new) plantbased dairy products: their use, taste, preparation, health.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 A cheesy trap

When cooking vegetarian or vegan one of the most common traps for chefs is that they start to lean heavily on dairy products. This is mainly because:

- dairy products are products that chefs know really well

- dairy products are standard available in the kitchen

- dairy products can easily give a full flavor to a meal. E.g. with its strong umami kind of flavour, a good quality aged cheese can bring a dish to the next level.

There are some reasons to avoid this trap:

Unfortunately, from a health, environmental and ethical point of view it isn’t always wise to load your dishes with cheese and other dairy products. You can find more information about the impact of dairy in the chapters X, Y and Z.

Also, some vegetarian dishes with cheese, like salads with goat cheese for example, are so commonly used as the veggie option in restaurants that they have become pretty boring for customers. Those dishes on a menu are thus rather an example of lack of creativity from the chef.

Creating a dish without diary or with plantbased alternative to dairy will also makes the dish suitable for more clients: some customers, like vegans or people who are lactose intolerant choose not to eat dairy products. And like we saw in chapter XX many cheeses are made with non-vegetarian rennet thus are strictly spoken not even suitable for vegetarians.

1.2 But what else instead?

The reason why you want alternatives to dairy and cheese is that it brings creaminess and a rich taste to your dishes. For instance:

- when the typical flavour of cheese is desired, it can be found by working with products like yeast flakes, fermented nuts or miso.

- when you are not using cheese in cooking, you might want to use more fat, oil and something salty to fortify your flavour.

To tackle these points and to give you as a chef some inspiration about what to do with dairy intolerant or even vegan customers, we focus in this chapter on alternatives to dairy.

Just like in the chapter plantbased proteïns, there are a lot of different alternatives for dairy and we can divide them into different groups. One group are alternatives made from wholesome ingredients, the second group are the ready made alternatives that we call ‘analogues’.

Note that from a legal point of view the words ‘milk’, ‘yoghurt’ and ‘cheese’ are protected words5 which can only be used for the kind of product based on milk secreted by animals, like cows milk or goats cheese. Next to that some cheese-names are also protected, for instance: only a certain kind of cheese made in a certain way and region of Italy can be called parmesan. Because of this reason you’ll find products like ‘soydrink’, ‘Sheese’ or ‘cheesly’ and ‘plant based alternative to yoghurt’ onto packaging in the aisles of your grocery store. Only, to keep this course easy understandable and convenient we opted to use the original words instead of definitions used by brands.

2. PLANT BASED MILKS OR DRINKS

2.1 Introduction

5 EC Regulation (1898/87) has restricted the term 'milk' to mammary secretions since 1987

There are different plant based milks readily available in the aisles of the supermarkets and health food stores. None of these milks have the exact same flavour and nutritional value as cows milk. But that doesn’t have to be a problem, these kind of plant based milks just stand on their own and provide different valuable nutrition or cooking features making them interesting enough to get to know them a bit more in detail. All these milks don’t contaig lactose, which makes them a good replacement for those who are lactose-intolerant.

2.2 Milk made out of beans: soymilk

Soymilk is probably the most common known alternative to cows milk. It’s made by grinding up soybeans and cooking them in water. After cooking the soy pulp is separated from the liquid, the soymilk. Because soymilk is often used as an alternative to cows milk but does not contain free calcium (like in cows milk), calcium is often added to the soymilk. Make sure you shake the soymilk carton before use so you don’t end up with a bit of calcium slurry at the end of the carton. Soymilk contains all the necessary proteins, but only in a different ratio than cowsmilk. Next to calcium, salt and sometimes sugar and a bit of vanilla are used to make the soymilk easier for our western tastebuds.

Soymilk is made and used for ages in asian cuisine, like in China or Malaysia. You can find it in different flavourings, from natural to overly sweet variations like banana or strawberry flavour.

In terms of cooking soymilk has more or less the same density like low fat milk. Pay attention to heating soymilk: diluted with water or used in coffee it is likely to curdle. To use in coffee some soy brands (e.g. Alpro) developed a soymilk for professionals, which doesn’t curdle.

Examples of soymilk

Unsweetened, good for cooking hearty meals

Sweetened: for desserts and drinks

for professionals (baristas)

different flavourings

2.3 Milk made out of grains

Oat, Rice, Spelt, millet and Rye are all grains that are used in the same way like soybeans to make milk. The texture and flavour differs according to the grain which is used or combinations of ingredients that are used.

Oat milk

Oat milk chcolate

Rice milk

rice milk with hazelnuts

rice milk with cocos

Spelt drink

2.3 Milk made out of nuts

In different cultures around the world milk made out of nuts isn’t something new or special. In Mexico for example, a traditional refreshing drink called Horchata is made out of almonds and rice, and flavoured with cinnamon.

Nut milk can easily be made by soaking nuts, grinding them and discarding the pulp by pouring the milk through a fine piece of muslin or milk bag. Nut milks are more expensive since nuts are. Nut milks like almond milk, hazelnut milk and coconut milk are easy to find in supermarkets. A special remark about coconut milk: you can find both the coconutmilk in the aisles (made our of grinded coconut flesh) and coconutwater (the colourless drink). Both differ quite a lot in terms of texture and taste and their use in cooking. For more info about this see chapter X nuts and seeds. In speciality shops or organic supermarkets you can also find cashew nut milk and walnut milk.

Almond milk

Hazelnut milk

coconutmilk, dilluted neutral taste, good for replacing dairy

coconutmilk, 100%, creamy and thicker good for cooking

coconut water

cashew milk

walnut milk, in powder form (also available in powder form for other nuts and soy)

2.4 Milk made out of seeds

Quinoa is most of the times eaten as a grain, but technically spoken it’s a seed. Quinoa has the benefit of containing (like soy) all the necessary essential proteins making quinoa milk quite a nutritious kind of milk. Another seed which is used to make milk is hemp seed. The result from soaking and grounding the hemp seeds into water has a quite nutty flavour and quite a high density.

hemp milk

3. PLANTBASED CREAMS AND WHIPPING CREAM

A lot of plant based milks can be found in a creamy variation. These kind of creams are often a more concentrated version of the milk with some added oil and a stabiliser.

Unlike dairy cream, most of these creams cannot be whipped and give often a more lighter texture to a dish. In cooking, these creams are likely to curdle when diluted with water.

A couple of brands also sell plant based whipping cream based on soy or rice. Always read the packaging to know if the plant based cream is whippable or not.

Some examples:

soy cooking cream (available in 250 ml and 1l tetra packs)

soy whipping cream

rice cream

rice whipping cream

oat cream

4 PLANT-BASED YOGHURT

Plant based yogurt is made in a similar way as cows yoghurt, by adding a macrobiotic culture (Lactobacillus) to the plant based milk. Before culturing the milk, often sugar is added as sweetener, as it provides the bacteria a base to thrive on.

Soy yoghurt or other plant based yoghurts are easy to make yourself, using the same technique like you would use to make cows yogurt, just add some plain soy yoghurt to the plant based milk and let it ferment for a couple of hours at the right temperature.

Next to yoghurt also a plant based sour cream based on soy is available.

yoghurt based on oat drink

soy sour cream

5) THE LAST HOLY GRAIL IN THE PLANT BASED CUISINE: CHEESE

Plantbased cheeses are relatively new compared to plantbased milks for instance. There are both analogue cheeses on the market and since very recently artisan vegan cheesed based on cultured nuts.

An exeption on the both categories are yeast flakes. Yeast flakes of nutritional yeast (don’t confuse it with bakers yeast!) are sometimes used to sprinkle over a dish or salad to give it a bit of a cheesy flavour. Like you would do with parmesan. The are also often used in the process of making artisan cheeses or cheesy sauces. Or mixed up with grinded nuts a bit of salt and garlic into a nutty ‘parmesan’.

yeast flakes

5.1 Anagolue plant-based cheeses

Cheese analogues are nothing new unfortunately. Because of the high costs of cheese, analogues are often used in the food industry in meals like pizza’s and lasagnas. They consist often out of starches (like potato starch), oil (like soybeanoil) and flavourings (like milkpowder or whey), giving them a deserved bad reputation in the culinary world. They are mostly not totaly vegan or plantbased, sometimes not even vegetarian.

Next to these, also analogues vegan cheeses are commercially available. Vegan cheese comes in different brands, textures and flavours. And the market for these kind of cheeses is developing fast

Brands like Tofutti, Bute Island Cheeze, Red Wood Cheesly, No Muh cheese, Wilmersburger, Daiya and Jeezini all bring vegan cheeses on the market.

Different textures and flavours are available like:

- old aged cheese (No Muh)

- cream cheese in flavours like herbs and chives and blue cheese (Tofutti and Bute Island Sheese)

- melting cheese (Daiya and Wilmersburger)

- block of cheeses in flavours like mozarella, gouda, cheddar, .. (Sheese and Cheesly)

- slices of cheese (Jeezini and Wilmersburger)

- and many more

Most of these products can be found in speciality shops like health food shops or vegan supermarkets. Some of the brands and products don’t really compare to real cheese for people that are used to eat good quality traditional cheeses. Other brands do a damn good thing in mimicking a general cheese.

wilmersburger

jeezini

sheese (bute island)

daiya

cheesly (red wood)

5.2 Artisan plant-based cheeses

More interesting than ready made analogue cheeses is this generation of artisan plantbased cheeses using the same traditions and techniques as the monks did ages ago when developing traditional dairy cheeses. These new plant based cheese making techniques are really exciting and interesting for chefs because they result into home made cheeses that can be served in high end restaurants.

It was mainly the raw food cuisine that sprung up in the last 10 years responsible to give the holy grail for good quality plant based cheese a big step forwards. Most of the time, nuts are used as a base ingredient. Next to the raw food cuisine in the west we are learning a lot from the Japanese cuisine where they already culture for years and years a creamy cheese based on tofu, called misozuke.

In the cooking part of the course we will see recipes and techniques to make traditional cultured cheeses based on nuts or plant based drinks.

Some examples of vegan cultured ‘traditional’ cheeses

- http://www.rauom.com/goodies/tofu-misozuke/

- http://www.dr-cow.com/

- http://dairytreefoods.kickoffpages.com/

- http://www.treelinecheese.com/

- http://www.kite-hill.com/

kite hill

Dr cow

SUMMARY - Basis for dairy products are beans (soy beans), nuts, grains and other plant-based sources - Plant based products vary widely - It is possible to replace cream, milk, cheese, yogurt with plant-based alternatives - Handling these new products might differ from their corresponding animal analogue

SOURCES

…

2.8 Egg replacement

You will

-know about the nutritional value of the different materials as well as their characteristics for health, sustainability and ethics.

Be able to use egg replacements, alternative binders, and softeners not only as replacements but as their own products with special qualities and to create dishes using them as the foundation

- explain the different functions egg can have in cooking

- have an idea about the different plant based alternatives that can be used instead of egg according to the function in the recipe.

Replacing eggs - introduction

If there is one ingredient which is highly versatile and combines a lot of different functions all in one… it’s the humble egg! If you think about it, eggs are like chameleons:

- Egg white brings air and puffiness into mousses and creams

- Egg white makes the base off marshmallows and meringue

- Eggs can act like a creamy light binder in dressings and warm sauces such like bearnaise (liason in french cuisine)

- Eggs can act like an emulsifier making it possible for water and oil to be merged Ex. mayonnaise

- Eggs act like a binder in terrines, quiches and frittatas, doughs for cakes and cookies, …

- Eggs beaten up can act as a nice coating (breading) or glazing

- Eggs have a distinguishable taste because of the sulfur components in the egg and can bring a nice colour to your food.

In total an egg can serve up to 20 different functions in cooking. So no wonder that if you want to replace an egg that the plant based alternative won’t be easy. The bad news is that up till now, there is no single one ingredient or product which can cover all the same functions of an egg and also has the same taste and mouthfeel as egg. The good news is: yes replacing eggs is possible! You just need for each function a different kind of ingredient.

Here’s an overview of the different ingredients used to replace eggs. In the cooking part of the course you’ll learn how to work with these new ingredients and get a feeling about the ratio balance needed in different recipes.

1) Commercially available egg replacers

Like said before, there is no single one product that can replace an egg. But because replacing eggs is sought after in the food industry some commercially available egg replacers are on the market. The most well-known brands are Orgran No Egg, Ener- G Egg Replacer and Allergycare Whole Egg Replacer. All these kind of egg replacers are made more or less the same way and consist of a blend of different starches like potato starch and tapioca flour. They are perfect to replace a whole egg into baking, at least in recipes where not a lot of eggs are used. The white powder can be beaten up with a bit of water so it resembles beaten egg white or just mixed with the dry ingredients in the batter. These kind of egg replacers can be found in natural health food stores and sometimes in the aisle with diet - specific products (like gluten free, sugar free, egg free, soy free, …) in big supermarkets.

By looking at the ingredients list of the powder egg replacers mentioned above, you can easy make up a mix yourself. Use for instance a mixture of 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 tablespoons of water and 1 small tablespoon of baking powder. Combined with something sour in the baking mix, this will give your product a certain kind of rising and fluffiness. Or you could use a mixture of 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of water depending on the result you want.

The Vegg is another kind of commercially available egg replacer. It replaces more specifically the egg yolk and it’s a powder that consists out of nutritional yeast (for flavouring), sodium alginate (an algea, act like a binder), black salt (Kala Namak, flavouring) and beta carotene (colour). It can be used for breading, in quiches, as scrambled egg or even omelette. This product can be bought through online shops.

Last but not least, there is also Beyond Eggs. This range of product is especially developed to replace eggs in the food industry. There are four different blends of Beyond Eggs, one to use into baked goods, one for pasta’s, one to use in dressings and sauces and one to use as scrambled eggs, omelets and quiches. Beyond Eggs is available through specialized shops for the food industry in bags of 25 kg.

(s. also 2.9 binders and gelling) insert picture with different pack shots of product available

2) Replacing egg with a bit of cooking skills and creativity

Next to the commercially available egg replacers, it’s definitely possible as a chef to make wholesome dishes without eggs. It just takes some knowledge and creativity and sometimes a combination of different ingredients. A lot of the inspiration to use new ingredients and cooking techniques come from the molecular kitchen and the raw food kitchen (s. advanced techniques).

Tofu

Tofu can act as a binder in different recipes like for instance in quiches. Being mainly protein, soymilk often takes up the function that egg has in baking. Silken tofu is often used into desserts and creamy sauces, it gives a rich texture. Take care not to use tofu or soymilk in cooking when there is a lot of liquid involved, together with heat it will curdle and ruin your dish.

Examples:

- 60 gr of silken tofu replaces 1 egg in baking recipies, like pancakes, waffles and pies

- Silken tofu makes up great chocolate mousse : 400gr silken tofu, 200gr chocolate, ⅓ cup soymilk, ½ cup maplesyrup, salt, vanilla. use a blender

- Firm tofu makes nice scambled eggs with turmeric and black salt

- A mixture of tofu and soymilk ( blender) replaces cream and eggs in quiche

- Mayonaise is easily to make without eggs : soymilk, mustard, vinaigre, salt and oil

- When finishing off pastry, normally brushed with egg yolk, also soymilk can be used

Linseeds and chia seeds

Fine grounded linseeds mixed with water can act like a binding agent in baking. Especially in wholesome baking grounded linseed is a good solution for binding. Don’t expect really light and fine baked goods using linseeds. Chia seeds have also a gelling capacity, making them ideal to make light puddings and desserts.

Ex.

Linseeds, cooked and seeved, for in pancakes and waffles and to make merengue

Chiaseeds, soaked, then added to preparations in a high-speed blender

Fruits

It particulary replaces whole eggs in baking recipes, the result being a bit more dense than with the other replacers.

Ex.

Purreed bananas in brownies

Apple sauce in wet dessert recipies like pumpkin cake and almond pie (frangipane)

Agar and Irish Moss

Both agar and Irish Moss have gelling capacities. If you use agar on its own in a recipe, the replacement is more like gelatine. In combination with a starchy thickener it will act more like egg replacer.

Irish moss, soaked and blended, will replace eggs in various dessert recipies add: see also the seaweed paragraph in the binding chapter

Ex.

- Hazelnut custard, chocolate custard, vanilla custard : based on grain drinks, agar and kuzu give it that texture and mouthfeel the you expect from egg custards

- Coconut creme caramel, Irish moss combined with agar give the right texture for upside down desserts

Cornstach, arrowroot and kuzu

These are starch thickeners, making use of them will often replace eggs. In savory dishes you can make a liason by combining soymilk and cornstarch. When used together with agar the will give egg-like consistency to desserts, kudzu is preferred as it has the least taste.

Ex.

Fillings for baked crusts: lemon cream pie, pineapple coconut pie,... s. binding and gelling

Curcuma and Kala Namak

These spices don’t replace eggs in a technical way, but are interesting to use for mimicking an eggy flavor or color. Curcuma used sparingly (otherwise you can taste the bitterness of the curcuma) gives a nice golden color to dishes, l. And black salt or Kala Namak is a salt used in indian cuisine. Because of the high sulfur-components in the salt (wich are also found in eggs), it’s an interesting salt to use in combination with different flavorings and ingredients to replace the taste of eggs.

Recipies

Summary

2.9.1 Binding and gelling agents & sweeteners

You will learn

- what options you have for binding and gelling vegetarian and vegan foods

- are able to use egg replacements, alternative binders, and softeners not only as replacements but as their own products with special qualities and to create dishes using them as the foundation

Introduction

Binding and gelling is done with a whole range of different ingredients and techniques. Some of these ingredients are not vegetarian (like blood, liver, gelatin) or vegan (like eggs). When not using these animal ingrediënts, there are still plenty ways of thickening and gelling your foods.

1) Traditional cooking boosts a whole range of plant based ingredients which will bring thickening and texture to your dish.

2) Other (relatively unknown) binding and gelling agents from cultures around the world will give you new opportunities to enhance your vegetarian cooking.

3) And the molecular cooking from the last decennium also provide cooks with a whole new range of product to be creative with.

In this chapter we explore specifically some of the more newer or interesting binding and gelling alternatives. The alternatives for eggs are also discussed in the egg chapter.

1) Traditional binding and gelling

Traditionally we bind sauces, soups and desserts using flours (wheat flours, but also other flours are possible), starches (maïzena, potatostarch), flakes (oat flakes) or just a piece of bread, pasta, potatoes or rice. Next to these ingrediënts, we can also use certain kind of cooking techniques to bind, like the well know roux or the lesser used beurre manie.

2) Newer binding and gelling agents from around the world

- Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea): arrowroot is a starch with the same kind of properties like other starches. This white starch comes from the root of a tropical plant in Middle and Sout-America. Beware when

buying arrowroot, because sometimes potatostarch or cassava starch is sold as arrowroot. The difference with maïzena or potatostarch is that it gives a clear and really fine binding. It also tastes the most neutral of all starches and binds on a lower cooking temperature. These properties makes arrowroot very usefull to bind colder sauces, like in desserts or to bind sauces at the last moment after cooking. Arrowroot also prevents ice crystals from forming in ice cream. Be carefull though: arrowroot binded sauces loose easier their binding after reheating or freezing. Often you must add arrowroot after the liquid is completely cooked because it thickens so quickly. You use it like with other starches, making a slurry first of dissolved arrowroot in cold luiquid and then adding it to the preparation.

- Kudzu (Pueraria lobata): Kudzu is the Japanese alternative for arrowroot, and just like arrowroot also popular in certain vegetarian cuisines (like the macrobiotic cuisine). This starch also comes from a root, the root of a notorious climbing plant in Japan. Notorious because this climbing plant is almost impossible to get rid of this weed. The plant can grow uptil 20cm a day and become 30meter long. De roots of this plant are grinded to fine white powder, acting like a binding agent just like other starches. There are aso therapeutic properties are attributed to Kudzu, where it’s used in Chinese medicine.

- Agar is the most well-known recplacer for gelatine. This is a form of dehydrated red seaweed. Agar has both binding and gelling properties. The binding ability of agar is 3 times that gelatine. Although the texture you get is not totally the same. Agar is available in bars, flakes and powder. For ease of use the powder form is recommended. It works within a few minutes whereas other forms sometimes require a cooking time of up to 20 minutes. Agar can also be used as a stabilizer in commercial ice cream preparation. Agar must be heated to dissolve and act but not refrigeration like with gelatin is needed to set up. It sets up around 38°C. An other difference with gelatin is where gelatin melts around 38°C, agar starts only to melt around 85°C, wich gives agar based preparations a harder mouthfeel. To tackle this problem Sometimes a mix of agar and a starch is used to bind a preparation because this will give a les jelly-like, more softer and silkier result. Agar may not set mixed with vinegar or foods high in oxalic acid like chocolate and rhubarb. With the influence of texturas, other seaweeds with both binding and gelling properties are used in cooking, replacing agar.

- Irish moss: Irish moss is a red seaweed, just like agar and consists mostly out of carrageenan (also sold refinded a carrageenan for the food industry indicated as E407). Traditionally it was used in Ireland to make a kind of milk-pudding similar to pannacotta. It’s boiled in milk and then strained before sugar and other flavourings are added. Irish moss is also used as clarifying agent in (home)brewing of beer. The interesting thing about Irish moss is that it can bind without heating up. Only thourougly blending is needs. This makes Irish Moss a popular binding and gelling agent in the raw food cuisine, although not unspoken. Because there are possible health concerns about the use of carrageenan and irish moss consists mostly out of carrageenan.

3) The creative Binding and gelling agents out of the ‘molecular cooking world’

Although most of the products used in the molecular cooking are plantbased, it’s wise to check the labeling of the product that you want to use. Products like Crumiel (Texturs), Yopol (Texturas), Instantgel (Sosa), and Ovoneve (Sosa) are not vegan or vegetarian. (see advanced techniques)

An overview :

1. Binders

1. Flour

● Wheat flour

● Buckwheat flour (gluten-free)

● Barley flour

● Oat four

● Chickpea flour (gluten-free)

● Chesnut flour (gluten-free)

● Millet flour (gluten-free)

● Maize flour

● Rice four (gluten-free)

● Cassava flour (gluten-free)

● Rye flour

● Soy flour (gluten-free)

● And other …

1. Uses

The grains of starch from flour are wrapped in a layer of cellulose, this develops a certain resistance to baking or cooking. Therefore, a cooking time of approximately 30 minutes is necessary. This achieves maximum binding and fullness and prevents the well-known flour-taste. Boiling alone is therefore not sufficient, this is the reason why sauces and soups lose their binding power and many kinds croquets can go wrong! You should therefore choose to sprinkle dry ingredients with flour before moistening and letting them cook during the preparation. Stir regularly to prevent sticking to the pan! Another use is to coat vegetables in flour first and then cook.

2. Classic binders based on flour: the roux

1. Definition:

Roux is an mixture of approximately 4 parts fat (butter, margarine, oil) and 6 parts flour (of whatever kind). Please Note: certain varieties of flour offer more binding power, for example a 50/50 ratio is sufficient for chickpea flour.

2. Types of roux

1. White roux

This is obtained by melting fat, mixing it with flour and leaving it to dry on the fire. White roux is primarily used to bind white sauces and soups.

2. Blond roux

Here the roux is dried further in a moderate oven until a blond colour is achieved. This is used to bind light- coloured sauces and soups. The advantage of the longer drying is that the roux can be kept longer and flour taste is less prominent.

3. Brown roux

This is still the same roux that is coloured in the oven to a brown colour, logically this roux is used for dark sauces.

4. Beurre manié

Here cold fat is mixed with the flour, the advantage of this being the speed of preparation. The main disadvantage however, is the remaining and discernible flour taste.

5. Commercial roux

Instant roux is generally used in catering. Mainly because of the ease of use, just stir the roux into the boiling liquid and it's ready. Please note: the full binding effect is only achieved after a few minutes of cooking. The downside of this product is the large cost and the poor binding ability. An additional disadvantage is that if it is mixed intensively you can impair its binding qualities!

3. Starches

1. Definition

Starch is a non water-soluble carbohydrate from various plants.

2. Types

1. Potato starch

This is not used as much anymore because of its slimy appearance its rapid dilution. This starch, however, is ideal for making good croquets!

2. Maize starch or Corn starch

A very easy-to-use starch with an excellent binding ability, somewhat turbid, also called known as "blind" binding.

3. Arrowroot

This starch is obtained from the tropical Maranta root from Brazil. Most arrowroot that sold on the market, however, is obtained from cassava, which does not have the same gelling properties or nutritional value.

4. The Japan offers Kuzu as a variant , this is native, starchy root with the same characteristics. Therapeutic properties are attributed to Kuzu.

4. Cassava, Manioc, Fufu

Cassava is a tropical root found in South America, while Manioc and Fufu are variants of this plant from Africa. They all have the same properties. which properties?

1. Tapioca

These are, in fact, pure cassava starch balls, also known as " Perles de Japon" . It is mainly used in (clear) soups and desserts.

2. Meals:

1. Rice meal

This is in fact, milled rice with a fairly coarse grain. It is mainly used in desserts such as semolina pudding and to make gnocchi the Italian way.

2. Rice cream

This is very finely ground rice, commonly used in baby food but also to bind goumet soups. It is also commonly used in the preparation of potato croquettes to prevent them bursting during cooking.

3. Wheat meal

Quite coarsely ground wheat which can be used like rice meal.

4. Mais meal

Quite finely ground maize which is used to bake bread. It is also used to prepare the classic Italian Polenta.

5. Flakes

1. Instant buckwheat flakes

Can be used both hot or cold to bind soups and sauces.

2. Fine oat flakes

These are commonly used in sweet and savoury vegan cakes and pies.

6. Eggs leave out this paragraph?

Both the egg yolk and the whole egg can be used as a binder. We usually think of egg yolks being used in desserts or emulsified sauces such as mayonnaise and hollandaise, but when mixed with cream eggs are also an excellent binder for more refined sauces.

However, a drawback is temperature control, egg yolks coagulate from 65 °C and can therefore cause separation. When mixed with liquids up to about 80 to 90 °C can be reached

When the whole egg is used a light, frothy binder is obtained.

Powdered egg white can also be a suitable alternative here.

7. Seaweed

Agar Agar is the most well-known. This is obtained from red seaweed and has both binding and gelling properties.The binding ability of agar is 3 times that of animal gelatin.

Agar is available in bars, flakes and powder. In health food shops it is also available in an unrefined grey form. For ease of use the powder form is recommended. It works within a few minutes whereas other forms sometimes require a cooking time of up to 20 minutes. Agar can also be used as a stabilizer in ice cream preparation.In the following section (Modern binders) another seaweed is discussed that has both binding and gelling properties.

8. Modern binders s) in the text

1. Xanthan

Xanthan gum is a microbial polysaccharide derived from the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris that is produced primarily from cellulose from corn or varieties of cabbage. Xanthan is soluble when hot or cold, can thicken alcohol and is very suitable for freezing. It should be used sparingly as it is extremely powerful. It is very commonly used for ingredients that are difficult to bind.

2. Gellan

Like Xanthan, Gellan is derived from a bacteria. Gellan looks more like pectin and is very heat resistant, although only for a short period of time. As the name suggests it is also an excellent gelling agent. It forms a solid and clear jelly that can be cut easily. Gellan is resistant to a temperature of 70 °C. It is best to dissolve it cold ,then warm it to a temperature of 85 °C before letting it cool down gradually. Take note: Gellan loses its effect when there is an excess of salt.

3. Gum arabic

This is derived from the sap of certain species of acacia trees. It is commonly used to thicken beverages and wine and in the candy or sweet industry.

4. Locust bean gum

It is obtained from the fruit of the carob tree. It is mainly used in commercial desserts and baby foods. It is an excellent ice cream enhancer. It can be used both warm and cold.

5. Guar / Cluster bean

This is extracted from the seeds of the guar plant. It is primarily used in the food industry to improve the structure of ice-cream so that it melts less quickly.

6. Konjac

This is an Asian sort of gum that is mainly used in pastries.

7. Carraghene or irish moss

This purple seaweed can be cooked as a nutritious vegetable, but cooks are often more interested in the liquid it cooks in, for it thickens like gelatin when it cools

9. Other (everyday) binders which can be (re)used

1. Bread

Bread is an excellent bonding agent which is thrown away far too often. It can be used to bind soups, sauces and stews and desserts.

2. Potatoes

Leftover cooked potatoes can always be used to bind soups. The drawback is the rather slimy texture and rapid discoloration.

3. Pasta

As is possible with all products made from flour, leftover pasta can also be used as a binder in soups and stews.

4. Rice

Leftover rice can also be used as a binder in soups and stews.

2. Gelling Agents

1. Pectin

This is a type of gum that occurs primarily in stone and pome fruit. It is commonly used for making jams, jellies, marmalades and in the candy or sweet industry.

2. Seaweed

1. Agar

As previously described in the binders, this seaweed can be used both as a binding and gelling agent.

2. Kappa

Is extracted from red seaweed that is primarily harvested on the Irish coasts. It is also known as Irish moss or Carrageenan. It provides a solid jelly with a brittle, crispy structure. It gels quickly and is ideally suited as a glaze. Kappa is widely used in desserts and as a binder for cream and whipped cream.

3. Iota

Like kappa, lota is extracted from red seaweed primarily found in the North Atlantic ocean but also in the Philippines and Indonesian sea. It is a very elastic jelly which can also be used warm. Lota does not set while being stirred, however, when left it sticks.

2.9.2 Sweeteners

After this chapter you:

-can identify and name a wide range of various alternative sweeteners and knows the influence of taste, preparation, and use

-know where to find basic information about the ingredients/products

-know where to get the products, how to make them for him or herself and the costs of the various replacements

Introduction

In the vegetarian cuisine sweeteners are just as important as in the ‘classic’ or omnivore cuisine. Sweeteners play an essential role in the creation of desserts and a variety of other sweet dishes. And sweeteners can sometimes give this extra touch to a savoury dish. Almost all the natural sweeteners are plantbased. Except for one very common pitfall for cooks: honey (honey is vegetarian but not vegan). To substitute honey mostly agave syrup is used, it has a bit of a honeylike flavor. But depending on the way you want to use honey, you might also substitute it by other alternatives like maple syrup, grain syrups (rice, wheat, maize, …) or fruit concentrates.

Sweeteners nowadays

In the range of novel-sweeteners or synthetic sweeteners it’s also very wise to read the list of ingredients of the sugar that you want to use. Some brands contain diary-sugars, e.g. Tagatose (the sugar in Tagatose is synthesized from the waste of the cheese production) and are not vegan (in the case of Tagatose, this product is also not vegetarian).

Sweets and health

Within the general public there is a growing awareness for the use of sugars. Some people might avoid refined (white) sugars or synthetic sugars, others might even avoid all kinds of sugars. This might be for medical reasons (diabetes) or just out of health concerns. With this in mind, it can be useful as a cook to know how to make baked goods and sweets with low sugar content or with more ‘healthy’ sweet alternatives. General spoken, unrefined sugars are more ‘healthy’ because they contain trace minerals and vitamins, sometime fibres, and take a longer time to digest, thus don’t spike your sugar level in your blood in such a fast way. Although this is also very dependent on the way you use the sugar: if you eat a spoonful of unrefined sugar, then this will spike your bloodsugar a lot faster than using it in a dish with other ingredients which slow down your digestion.

New sugar replacers

The list of sugars and substitutes for sugars is very long. And also the list of claims (positive or negative) about certain sugars is extensive. Just like with other health claims, it’s important to make up your own mind based on facts (see also chapter X healthy cooking). The new power foods-sugar from this year, might be called unhealthy next year.

Some interesting en new examples of sweeteners though

- Coconut sugar: also known as coconut palm sugar or coco sap sugar is a produced from the sap of cut flower buds of the coconut palm. It has been used as a traditional sweetener in the South and South-East Asian regions. It comes in a block but mostly in crystal or granule form. It looks and tastes a bit like brown sugar but with a hint of caramel. Don’t mix up coconut sugar with palm sugar. They both are different in taste and texture, and the latter come from the sap in the stems of palm trees (e.g. the data palm).

- Date sugar: Date sugar is made from dehydrated and grounded dates. It’s easy to make youself. It clumps and doesn’t melt so it can’t be used in all the ways we use white sugar. Still you can usually substitute it in recipes that call for brown sugar. Some cooks suggest that you use only two-thirds the amount of date sugar in place of brown or white sugar called for in your recipe. You can also find date sugar in a liquid, syrup form. Also easy to make yourself. Date syrup is popular in middle eastern cuisines, where it’s served on top of tahini as a dip for bread.

- Agave syrup: Agave syrup or agave nectar comes from the leaves of a Agave plant. This plant native to South America and South Africa and looks a bit like a giant succulent. Agave syrup is 1.4 to 1.6 times sweeter than sugar and is often substituted as a vegan alternative for honey in recipes. You can find gave nectars in different varieties, ranging from light coloured and mild tasting to dark coloured (unfiltered) and more tasting like caramel. A raw form of agave is also available making the syrup very popular in the raw food cuisine.

- Stevia (Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni): this plant contains a substance called stevioglycoside wich tastes sweet, general spoken 200-300 times sweeter then normal white sugar. You can use the leaves from the plant itself, or buy products based on refined stevia. Stevia is also mentioned as E960 in lists of ingrediënts. The sweetnes of stevia is slower released in the mouth than other sugars, and it leaves a bitte aftertaste. Therefore use stevia in moderate amount. Because stevioglycoside is a relative new kind of sugar, the use of it is moderated by european laws, you will only find it in certain kind of foods, like ice cream, chocolate, or lemonades.

- Astec Sweet Herb (phyla dulcis): this little plant from Central America is used traditionally to sweeten dishes and as a medicine. The leaves are 1000 till 1500x sweeter than white sugar. Because the plant contains also camphor, it’s not suitable as a sugar substitute in big amounts. Using a couple of leaves in a dish is no problem.

Summary missing

2.10 Bakery

You will

 Get a good overview of European pastries.  you should be able to name and characterize the traditional types of pastries and the dough they are made from.  You should be able to explain in what way these classics are not vegan, but can be turned into a vegan alternative.

 you should be ready to describe traditional and typical European pastries.

Introduction

Vegan pastries are in no way inferior to the conventional art of baking. Classics of cakes and pastries can be imitated. Furthermore vegan baking ingredients offer many new possibilities for exceptional and “your own” creations. A huge part of the most popular kinds of dough and types of pastries, as well as their fillings and toppings, are ready to be replaced by their vegan equivalents without any additional work load. Milk and butter can be replaced by their vegetable counterparts. According to the chapter Eggreplacement, the substitution of egg just needs a bit of good intuition and the equivalents of vegetable alternatives have to balance the baking properties needed.

B. Plant-based ingredients

All types of typical pastries and cakes, which will be introduced throughout this chapter, can be varied to a light and easy digestible version by only small changes on the list of ingredients. The main ingredients used in conventional baking craft and often preventing vegan or vegetarian people from having free choice for a dessert, are eggs, butter and milk. Before taking a closer look at the typical European habit of cooking, the vegetarian ingredients that will replace those three components are going to be presented. In modern cooking recipes eggs do serve the lightness or tightness of the dough. According to that, the choice of their substitute products varies.

Should the cake be rather light and soft at the end, you should use “3 Pauly” as a substitute for eggs. This ingredient is gluten- free, contains only few fructose and is neutral in taste. Another good substitute is the powder “no egg” by the company “Orgran” (1 tablespoon of “no egg” powder melted in 2 tablespoons of water replace 1 egg). By using quite normal ingredients, a third option can be made from a mixture of 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 2 tablespoons of water and 1 small tablespoon of baking powder. Similarly the baking powder substitute for egg leads to a good and tasty result: use 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of water and mix them all together.

If the final product should rather be thick and stiff, the right product to use is the popular soy flour (2 tablespoons of soy flour mixed with 2 tablespoons of water). Additionally ¼ cup of apple sauce and 1 spoon of oil or a mashed banana can be used in the same way. As a 4th option there exist the flax seed substitute for eggs: 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water get stirred into a smooth mixture to replace the egg in the dough.

Eggs are also an important ingredient when it comes to the production of desserts and quiches. They can be best replaced by ¼ cup of smooth and puréed tofu. In most of the cases silky tofu is the best choice. Alternatively 2 eggs can be replaced by ¼ liter mineral water and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. For one egg white 1 tablespoon of Agar-powder melted in 1 tablespoon of water will be blend until smooth and frothy.

The substitutes presented are only suitable to the production of pastries or warm and cold meals containing egg, but they cannot be used as scambled or fried eggs.

Butter can be easily replaced by vegan margarine, which almost tastes the same. In baking, the full-fat margarine should be used. For example “Alsan-S”, “Deli Reform Pflanzenmargarine” or the soy margarine “Sojola”. check national availability

Many vegan drinks offer many options for the substitution of milk: Soy-, rice-, oat- and almond drinks as well as coconut milk can be good replacements. There exist different flavors as vanilla, chocolate, macchiato and banana. Better use the unsweetened alternatives for baking, as the cake could otherwise become too sweet in taste. Whipped coconut milk is the best and most tasteful replacement for cream. Additionally different alternatives exist: “LeHa Schlagfix Sprühsahne”, “Soyatoo Whip Soya Sprüh Crème”, “Alpro Cuisine” for cooking, coconut milk for baking. check national availability

For cupcakes, muffins and tartes coconut-cream is the right product to use:

2 liter of coconut milk

100g Alsan-S margarine

1 vanilla bean

180 g powder sugar (filtered)

5 packages of Sahnesteif

Mix the soft margarine together with the core of the vanilla bean and whip until creamy and smooth. Separate the firm part of the coconut milk and mix it into the vanilla margarine. Add Sahnesteif and whip until they have a creamy texture.

The plant based cuisine has many more ingredients to offer, which can be used for the desired consistency and which should not only be seen as substitutes. They allow a whole new range of creative possibilities. Taste neutral oil or pureed fruits (apples, bananas) can be used for loosing up the dough. Good for binding are potato starch, locust bean gum or Guar gum (also called Guaran, made from the seeds of the guar beans)

Almondbutter, Sunflowerlecithin or Soylecithin can be used for an emulsion, for example when melting chocolate or cocoa. They work as a unifying element between water and oil and enhance the consistency of the dough as well as increasing the volume.

C. types of pastries

The name of pastries is regulated by law in Germany. The laws describe which ingredients must be used to be offcially called a certain name. Please consider the laws specific to your country.

Pound cake (Rührkuchen) variations include marble cake, lemon cake or fruit cakes. The basic dough (called “Sandmasse” in german) is quickly prepared and very versatile. It can even be used for savory cakes. Pound cake ist moist and fluffy. It traditionally contains milk, egg and butter. Milk can be substituted with plant based milk (Soy, Rice, Almond etc). Butter can be replaced by oil or high-quality margarine. Eggs are responsible for good rising of the dough, binding and full flavour. A similar result can be achieved with additional baking soda, pureed tofu or orange juice for better flavour.

Yeast dough can be prepared sweet (topped with almonds and granulated sugar) or savory with various fillings. Yeast dough is smooth and elastic. That is why it becomes fluffy but moist after baking. The yeast is responsible for good baking properties, for which the dough needs to rise several times in a warm environment. The temperature should not exceed 40°C, otherwise the yeast bacteria might die and the dough does not rise. Like pound cake, yeast dough traditionally contains milk, egg and butter. Eggs are responsible for binding and moisture and for keeping the yeast dough smooth and elastic. They can be substituted with a little oil. Yeast dough can be used as a basis for many differnet types of pastries. Well known is french Brioche, a bread which contains more butter than yeast dough usually does. It has an especially fluffy and soft consistency. Alsan-S margarine can be used as a butter substitute, cause it has a very similar taste to butter. (not available in parts of Europe) The popular pizza dough is also made from yeast dough. Long fermentation makes the crust crunchy from the outside and fluffy and moist from the inside.

Shortcrust pastry is the basis of many different types of cookies (Dauergebäck?) as well as tartes or quiches. It can be rolled and cut out, squeezed as “Spritzgebäck” or used for crumbles on top of a fruit pie. Shortcrust pastry is crusty but tender and is easily stored because of the high fat content. It is often called 1-2-3 dough, cause it contains one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. It is traditionally made with egg, which can be substituted by a few spoons of plant based milk. Butter can, as usual, be sustituted with margarine. If the shortcrust pastry is used for a quiche or tarte, it should be baked first without the filling, but with dried pulse, to keep the dough from rising. Depending on size, it should be baked for 10-20 minutes. After it cooled down, it can be frozen or baked again with the filling.

Sponge cake (Biskuit/Wiener Böden) are traditionally used for cakes, for example jelly roll, fruit pie or cream cake. Sponge cake is fluffy and fits perfectly to cream or curd filling. The light and fluffy consistency is achieved by whipping up of egg whites. Agar powder is a good substitute for egg white. Vegan sponge cake can be made light and fluffy with the help of raising agents, plant based oil and binding flours like tapioca starch or arrowroot. Viennese biscuit (“Wiener Masse”) is fine-pored, light and fluffy and is used for petit Fours and small cakes. The compact consistency is due to the use of butter. The egg can be replaced as described above.

Puff Pastry (Blätter- und Plunderteig) is used for sweet pastries and croissants. Every country has specific ways of preparation. The dough is crispy from the outside and moist from the inside because of the high fat content. The Puff pastry is made of dough and “Ziehbutter” (butter mixed with flour) Again, plant based margerine can be used as a butter substitute.The basic dough is made from a mix of flour, salt and water. To make puff pastry the dough is rolled out and folded, while the butter is rolled out between the layers of dough.

Sourdough is used for moist bread with tangy aroma. It is used for most dark breads. The sourdough softens the bread similar to yeast. Most types of bread do not contain egg. Sometimes animal products like lard are used for flavor. Plant based aromas can be achieved with herbs and spices or tangy grains. Sourdough is made with rye flour and warm water. It is mixed and put aside for fermenting. The dough is then mixed with flour, salt, spices and sometimes yeast. The dough traditionally rests in a special basket (“Gärkorb”) and is baked at 220°C. To check if the bread is done, it is knocked on the bottom side. If it sounds hollow, the bread is done.

Strudel can be sweet or savory, for example apple strudel or potato strudel and it can be served warm and cold. The dough is rolled out very thin and wrapped around the filling. When it comes out of the oven it is crunchy and flaky. It is made of flour, oil, salt and water and is therfore vegan. Strudel dough is typically brushed with butter, so it stays moist and smooth while baking and does not tear. And plant based alternative can be used. Strudel is easilly made. When the dough is made, it should rest under a warm pot to stay elastic. It can be rolled out on a wet kitchen towel until it is very thin.

Pie/Pastry (Pastete) is a sweet or savory filling in a dough, wich can be served hot or cold. The traditional german Pastete is usually served cold. It’s made of layers of meat and vegetables. It’s called Pie in England and is an elaborate and special alternative to tarte, cake or quiche. Savory fillings often consists of minced meat, cheese and vegetables. Sweet pies are filled with fruits. The dough contains egg yolk to achieve a golden color. A little bit of plant based margarine, plant milk and a pinch of kurkuma (for color) transforms it to a vegan alternative. The filling can be made from tofu, tempeh or Seitan for the savory variant or with agar-agar and vegetables for a mediterranean version

D. Country specific Pastries

Germany The Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is one of the most popular cream cakes. It consists of sponge cake layers, which are flavored with cherry brandy and a filling made of cherries and cream, decorated with grated chocolate and cherries. Soy flour and oil keep the sponge cake fluffy. Butter and milk can be substituted with soy milk and plant based margarine. Vegan whipping cream based on soy, rice or coconut can be used instead of traditional cream.

The Butterkuchen (butter cake) is a cake baked on a tray and consists of yeast dough topped with small pieces of butter. It is sprinkled with sugar and almond flakes. Additionally, as a regional variation, it also can be sprinkled with a sugar-cinnamon- mixture. As usual, the butter can be replaced by plant-based margarine like Alsan.

France Croissants are the most popular French pastries and are baked nowadays all-over Europe. It’s made of yeast-leavened dough, also called Danish pastry. Plant-based margarine can be used instead of butter. Sometimes there are variations with different fillings like chocolate or cheese. For example, using dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate is an easy vegan opportunity.

The Tarte Tatin is an upside-down tart with fruits (mostly apples) and a caramelized topping. First, the sugar is caramelized in an oven-proof frying pan. Then fruits and shortcrust or puff pastry are added and the tart is baked in the oven. Afterwards the tarte is turned upside-down on a plate.

Petit Fours (means small oven) are small bite-sized confections, sometimes with extravagant decoration. Bakers used the stored heat from their coal-fired brick ovens to bake these small desserts. There are two variations of sweet petit fours: Fresh petits fours frais are made of Viennese buiscuit with different fillings and icings, for example chocolate. Dry petit fours secs are baked macarons or puff pastries and not glazed.

Austria

The Sachertorte consists of two layer of chocolate sponge cake with apricot jam in between and chocolate icing. Soy flour, plant-based margarine and agar powder helps to create a sponge base with the required consistency.

The Linzer Torte is a traditional torte from Austria. It’s made of nutty and crumbly shortcrust pastry, covered with a filling of redcurrant jam. On top it is decorated with the typical lattice of dough strips. After baking, the Linzer Torte is completed with an apricot icing.

Italy Cantuccini, also known as Biscotti di Prato, originate from Prato, Italy. Similar to typical German Zwieback, these almonds biscuits are baked twice, once as bread and a second time in form of slices. It is possible to use a mix of grounded almonds, wheat and spelt flour instead of pure wheat flour. Cornstarch or soy flour helps to achieve the required consistency.

Panettone is originally from Milan. It is a cupola-shaped yeast cake and contains candied fruits. Traditionally it is served with sweet wine for Christmas. Instead of milk, butter and eggs, soy milk and plant based margarine can be used. Additionally, tapioca starch facilitates to obtain firm dough.

Sweden The Kanelbullar is similar to cinnamon rolls. It is made of yeast dough spiced with cardamom and filled with cinnamon or fruits. Frequently it is topped with sugar icing. The yeast dough also contains milk and butter, which are easily exchanged through soy milk and plant based margarine.

Pepparkakor are thin ginger biscuits. They are associated with the Christmas period, but are also available the whole year. Ginger, cardamom, and cloves are characteristic spices for Pepparkakor. The basic recipe is vegan.

Finland Runeberg‘s torte is a torte flavored with almonds and rum or arak. It is garnished with sugar and raspberry jam. Usually the dough contains butter and cream, which easily can be replaced by plant based margarine and cream alternatives. Instead of beating and frothing the eggs with sugar, the combination of oil, sugar, soy yoghurt and essence of almonds results in the desired foam.

Mämmi is a dessert made of water, rye flour, malted rye and bitter orange. Traditionally, it is eaten in lent. Today, it is often served with sugar and cream. Latter can easily be replaced by soy-, rice-, almond- or cocos cream.

England Shortbread is a kind of biscuit which is traditionally made from one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. It is baked with low temperature; hence it remains white and has its crumbly texture. Before baking, the shortcrust pastry is patterned with the tines of a fork to gain their characteristic appearance. According to other recipes, plant based margarine can be used instead of butter.

Scones are small quick breads, which are leavened with baking powder. Usually they are served with cream tea or for breakfast. Scones are often lightly sweetened and consumed with jam. Soy milk and margarine replace ingredients of animal origin.

Summary

2.11 Beverages

You will learn:

-to have an wide overview of the various forms of beverages, especially natural/self-made products

-to know about the special needs and differences of pairing with vegetarian meals (i.e. less alcohol)

-to know about hidden animal-based ingredients

Learning Objectives:

The first thing a guest usually orders is a drink. The aperitif starts the meal, the digestive completes it - good drinks complement each dish and thus play a role in the framework of culinary education. But their ingredients and preparation methods are particularly difficult to recognize. Some drinks are unsuitable for a plant-based cuisine or one might say: apple juice is rarely just apple juice. Therefore, much attention is needed in selecting drinks. The following chapter should clarify, what animal ingredients are contained in beverages or are used in the making or packaging.

This chapter provides an overview of animal ingredients in beverages, used in the making or even in their packaging. Furthermore, it shows corresponding drinks for plant-based foods and explains the variety of smoothies within the drinks section. After this chapter you should be able to recognize animal substances in beverages and combine a meal with the appropriate plant-based beverage. You should be able to know different smoothies and develop your own creations. Some of the main questions in beginning are: Is there any difference in preference of drinks for a certain veggie clientele? How can you pair drinks with veggie dishes?

2.11.1 Animal ingredients in drinks

Unlike other foods, where the usage of certain animal ingredients in the manufacturing process seems obvious, the beverage industry uses a variety of methods that use animal ingredients where the customer would not expect it. Therefore you’ll find an overview of animal products in beverages in the following.

A. Production - Filtering

One of the main reasons for animal ingredients in many drinks is the clarification or filtration. It is generally possible to filter any liquid using animal products but wines and juices are especially affected. Whether naturally cloudy juices, concentrate juices, fruit juice concentrates, fruit juice or nectar, great care in the selection is required. Juices are mostly clarified with gelatin, while wine can also be filtered with the help of egg white (albumin), milk solids or fish bladders. Most of the time, these materials are completely removed at the end of the filtering process, so they are not included in the final product. It is therefore often claimed that the drink contains no animal substances while it is still not suitable for a plant-based diet. Since only possible allergens such as milk and egg ingredients must be labeled in a wine, a clear labeling of animal-free wines is only available at some wineries.

Due to the German and Austrian reinheitsgebot, no animal materials may be used to filter beer, still many foreign beers are filtered with the help of gelatin.

B. Ingredients

We want to emphasize that this is not about obvious animal ingredients such as animal milk or products made from milk products (whey, lactose, butter, cream, milk fat, yogurt, kefir, etc.), but less obvious components of animal origin.

Sugar: animal charcoal may have been used to fine refined sugar, raw cane sugar is unrefined and therefore purely vegetal.

Aromas: aromas may be natural, nature identical or artificial. In all three types it can’t be ruled out that animal products are the basis. Therefore, it should always be questioned exactly what these flavors were collected and assembled of. Examples are strawberry flavor which can be made from cheese rind, pineapple flavor from broccoli or natural flavoring substances which are dissolved from different materials by enzymes. Many of these enzymes are of animal origin or produced by genetic engineering.

Colorings (E1xx): colorings affect the appearance of the food and may be of animal origin. Either they are derived directly from animals, such as carmine from scale insects or they are produced synthetically. Within the E numbers 100-181 the following are not plant-based:

[Unbekannt1] E101 – Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) animal based or synthetic, E120 – carmine – called „natural coloring“ or „real carmin“, light to deep red, mostly animal derived: female cochenille scale are ground up or cooked out for this, E132 – indigotine 1, indigo carmine from animals, mid blue to dark blue, E153 – plant coal, wood coal, „natural coal“ – black – origin needs to be questioned as animal charcoal might be sold under the wrong name, E161 – xanthophylle, canthaxanthin – nature identicaly manufactured, orange-red, questionable usage and questionable substance.

Vitamins: Vitamins A, B1, B2, B5, B7, B9, B13, D, D3, E and K2 are of animal origin or contain animal ingredients. All other vitamins are plant-based, but may have been preserved with gelatin.

C. Other ingredients

E-substances: E-numbers are used in the European Union as an indicator for food additives, which are divided into different categories. These include antioxidants, emulsifiers, firming agents, humectants, fillers, gelling agents, flavor enhancers, chelating agents, preservatives, modified starches, acids, acidity regulators, foaming agent, emulsifying salts, stabilizers, carriers including carrier solvents, fuels and packaging gases, release agents, coating agents and thickening agents. They affect food in its qualities, its texture or effects. A total of 316 different food additives is currently permitted and they can be natural or chemically synthetic, which can only be determined through the production of the substance.

Bacteria/yeast: yeast and bacteria such as the lactic acid bacteria can be cultured on a culture medium of animal milk. It is therefore to clarify how these materials were produced. Lactic acid may of course also be of animal origin, just as emulsifiers of animal origin may be included in yeast.

D. Packaging

Labels: The labeling of beverages is often done with the help of adhesive casein. It is preferably used by manufacturers for glass surfaces and in returnable glass bottles (beer, mineral water, etc.), since casein ensures the easy removability of the adhesive. Synthetic adhesives may contain trace amounts of casein, too. However, adhesives containing caseine are hardly ever used in plastic packaging.

Plastic: There are many plastic products that contain slaughterhouse waste as an ingredient next to the main component of petroleum. With temperature fluctuations, these additives dissolve out of the plastic and into the beverage, which can be recognized by an oil film on hot coffee, for example. The same applies when food is frozen in plastic dishes.

Glazing agent: beeswax or shellac are often used for coating on coffee beans or fruit. Shellac (marked as E904) is made from the secretions of the female lac bug and is therefore just as little plant-based as beeswax (E901).

Finding out detailed information about all substances used in the manufacturing of a product often represents a challenge because only components that make up more than five percent of the total product must be declared. It is therefore advisable to request a full declaration to find out which aids that are no longer included in the final product (like gelatin for clarification) were used in the production. This information can only be obtained directly from the companies taking into account special response formulations (there is a great difference whether an ingredient is "included" or "used" in the making of a product). Companies prefer cautious communication to leave their customers in a certain faith - this should be considered. A reliable source listing all (alcoholic beverages) is barnivore.com

2.11.2 Corresponding drinks for a plant-based cuisine

The perfect combination of a dish and matching wine menu makes for a perfect culinary experience. Not only do both components work together very good, they are complementary in flavor without a component superimposed on the other. Many wine labels refer to an arrangement with meat or fish and forget the countless possible combinations with vegetable dishes. However, the basic rules of such combinations have nothing to do with meat. The taste of wine is combined by several components. One of them is acid. Every wine, even the sweetest, has a certain acid. Therefore wines vary between dry, semi-dry and semi-sweet to sweet.

The sweetness of a wine depends on the amount of residual sugar. The rather bitter tone in red wines, however, comes from the tannin content of the wine. This is one of the most important components of the wine, which is found in the seeds and skins of grapes. There is no tannin in the pulp. In white wine production, the grapes are pressed directly, therefore white wines have no tannins. Also, the maturity of the barrel and the wood aging can contribute to a bitter note.

The correct matching:

Wines create a certain mouth feeling, also called texture, which is related to the water activity in the mouth.

Rather acidic wines are astringent due to their high tannin content in the mouth. The result is a rough, furry mouth feeling. Other wines give a silky mouth feeling. Sweet wines, however, make the saliva thicker, like a film spread over the tongue. Food have similar characteristics, which allows us to successfully match wines with meals. The body of the wine is of great significance here, which means the tannins in red wines and the sweetness in white wines.

Meals with an intense flavor are best matched with dry red wine because the acid appears less strong through the intensity of the meal’s taste. When combined with sweet dishes every wine appears quite acidic, so in this case the choice falls to very sweet dessert wines. Conversely, if the wine is too sweet, the dish tastes sour. So generally you should match the wine with the most dominant flavor component of the meal. Wine matching is more difficult for vegetables with a high content of cynarin such as asparagus, artichokes, spinach and fennel. Cynarin makes the wine often taste either unpleasantly sweet or metallic. Using lemon juice and a selection of younger white wines solves this effect. You can also choose a contrast and combine a lighter wine with a sweet dish to accentuate their sweetness even more. Try it carefully and check with your colleagues. The surprising effect for the guest can lead to success.

Natural wines:

In practice, white wines, rosé or light red wines are very popular in the plant-based cuisine. Heavier reds are prefered for barbecue dishes or savoury home cooking.

That leads to the wine choice. As described in the previous chapter, the clarification of wines often happens using animal products. The selection should therefore fall on a natural wine, or "vin naturel". These wines come from environmental and organic cultivation. No synthetic pesticides, herbicides and mineral fertilizers are used here. The wines mature for 9 months without any additives or sulfur and remain unfiltered, which no longer poses the question of wine clarification. Although very popular internationally, the vibrant wines are far less known in Germany.

Link:

Here's a small selection of links for natural wines from different countries: www.vinsnaturels.fr www.morethanorganic.com www.lesvinsnaturels.org www.vins-sains.org www.vinnatur.org

2.11.3 Drinkable fruits & vegetables - the smoothie

The term "smoothie " stands for whole-fruit drinks, as - in contrast to conventional fruit juices - the whole fruit is processed, including the peel and cores (a high- performance blenders can also shred the core and shell). The

concept of an all- fruit drink was first spread in the 1980s. Smoothies have originated in the United States. There, juice bars emerged in the 1920s.

Smoothies are healthy (rich in vitamins and fibers), easy to produce and raw. The blending allows for a lighter metabolism. Since the shell of the fruit and vegetables is also used in the making of smoothies, the use of high quality, organic food is recommended. To make creamy smoothies even from harder materials, a high- performance blender in the range of 30,000 revolutions per minute should be used. Liquids, such as high-quality water or soy, oat or rice milk are added to make the resulting fruit puree drinkable. The exact amount of required liquid depends on the desired consistency. To reach the desired sweetness or a diverse taste ingredients such as agave syrup (for more sweetness), coconut butter or nuts etc. can be added. However, smoothies can be made sweet or savory, depending on their ingredients. A composition from fruits, vegetables or a mixture of both offers a free choice. Almost any fruits and vegetables are suitable for the preparation of smoothies.

(S. advanced techniques for recipe)

2.11.3.1 The Green Smoothie

Green smoothies play an important role among the whole-fruit drinks. They represent an extra healthy version of smoothies. They originated from the Russian American Victoria Boutenko. She recognized the positive health effects of green plants and started increasingly used green leaves and herbs in the preparation of her smoothies. An important advantage of green smoothies is a better nutrient supply of vitamins and minerals. Their fibers provide a long-lasting satiety and cleanse the digestive tract. Cravings occur only rarely, since the body is adequately supplied with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and plant nutrients like chlorophyll. Green plants contain a high nutrient density. Unfortunately, this often leads to a bitter taste, which is why they are rarely consumed. Chlorophyll must be thoroughly chewed and salivated to be properly utilized. The bitter taste is avoided by the addition of fruits, mixing makes chewing almost completely unnecessary and breaks the cell walls of the plant parts (with a correspondingly high mixer) so that the major part of the nutrients can actually be absorbed. After preparation, the green smoothie will last for up to three days, as the oxidation proceeds less rapidly than in fruit and vegetable juices.

Green plants:

Salads (e.g. curled lettuce), leafy greens (e.g. spinach), garden herbs (e.g. basil), green cabbage (e.g. kale), the green parts of roots and tuber vegetables (e.g. beets ) , wild herbs (e.g. stinging nettle), leaves of deciduous trees (e.g. birch) and leaves of bushes and shrubs (e.g. raspberry)

Especially wild herbs are not available all year. To still be able to enjoy the healthy consumption of green smoothies, there is the possibility to flash freeze them as this conserves up to 90 per cent of the nutrients. A regular consumption of green smoothies in large quantities leads to initial detoxification symptoms (e.g. skin blemishes, headaches, fatigue, etc.). These are perfectly normal and after a few days, when detoxification is over, a reversed, very positive effect on the skin and the energy in the body can be observed. Accordingly, consumption of green smoothies should be started in small doses and slowly increased .

Infusions blank

Homemade lemonade

Herbal drinks

Cocktails

Sources: http://www.vegan.at/produkte/getraenke.html http://www.eat-this.org/2013/05/veganer-wein/ http://www.vegane-beratung.com/Farbstoffe.html http://www.vegetarismus.ch/pdf/e-nummern_v2.pdf http://www.vegetarismus.ch/heft/2002-2/plastik.htm http://www.artikel-online.de/Artikel/Rezepte/essen-wein.aspx http://www.vinpur.de/vin-naturel/

MODULE 3 3.3 Creating recipes + presenting dishes

Learning aims:[1]

You will be able to: - work creatively with raw materials - use prior knowledge to create dishes - plan, prepare and serve meals independently - calculate portion size - understand the importance of colour, shape, taste and texture - become familiar with a wide range of creative recipes - use various and unique preparation techniques - incorporate consistent aesthetics by dressing appropriately in the professional environment - place the ingredients on a plate or a dish based on colour and size - use aesthetic presentation rules to present dishes in various ways (buffet, dinner plate etc.) - use specific presentation and garnish techniques

Introduction During your training you may have already learned how to write a recipe and what to take into consideration, starting with a given food basket to produce a wholesome sophisticated menu that satisfies all the customer's senses. So this chapter does not start from scratch but aims at teaching you several techniques to create and later present delicious, varied and eye-catching dishes (chapter X). We place particular emphasis on how to appeal to guests' senses and focus on their experience. Furthermore a very fundamental part of cooking is how to dress the food in a fancy way, to make it a feast for the eyes. Guests assume that something that does not look nice will not be tasty either. Especially in the vegetarian cuisine an appealing presentation is very crucial, because there are still a lot of people with prejudices against plant-based food.

Basics for writing and composing recipes What is a recipe? Let us briefly repeat some basics about writing recipes. A recipe is a detailed instruction sheet on how to prepare food. It includes a list of ingredients required and a work instruction telling you the step-by- step process of preparation.

Repetition task: What do you already know about writing and creating recipes? Which recipe forms do you know? Discuss with your partner in the class.

1. All information in a recipe should ● be understandable and accurate ● include cooking terms ● be clearly organized so that it is easy to understand and unambiguous ● contain an indication of the cost if the dish is to be sold.

2. Composing a dish ● Rules of a menu (order of the courses, variety in colours / materials / cooking methods, nutritional aspects) ● Using seasonal and local ingredients and dishes ● Sensation provided by a dish (appearance, taste, texture / flavours, aroma); s. details on p. XX

3. When writing down your own dishes and recipes  Note the order of the components of a dish ● Highest-quality ingredient named first including cooking method / method of preparation or garnish (e.g. 'home-made' or 'Florentine style') ● matching sauce / dip ● vegetables including method of preparation (possibly with dressing) ● side dish

Each recipe should be supplemented by basic recipes and guidelines for the most important technical procedures referred to in it. Recipes must take account of portion sizes and weight changes throughout the preparation process.

Portion sizes (selection) You may have learned about portion sizes already. Here is a short selection of portion sizes for vegetarian food:

Food Quantity Alternative product Quantity

Soup 150 – 200ml Pasta 30g with solid ingredients 20g rice Vegetables 50g Pulses 30 – 60g

Salad 30g Vegetables 125 – 150g

Potato as side dish 200 – 250g Cereals, rice, pasta (please note these ingredients 60 – 75g as main course 250 – 300g swell) 100 – 125g

Vegetables as side dish 200 – 250g Salad 75 – 100g as main course 300g Salad as main course 400 – 500g

Pulses as main course 60 – 75g Tofu 150 – 200g

Fruit, fresh 150 – 200g Juice 200ml Compote 150g

Weight changes during preparation and cooking (selection) Vegetables and other plant-based ingredients change their weight during preparation. Take this into consideration when compiling recipes:

Food Process Direction and proportion of change

Vegetables washing, cleaning, peeling reduction 10-30%

Vegetables/potatoes cooking reduction approx. 5%

Green leafy vegetables like spinach cooking reduction

Cereals swelling increase 200-300%

Rice, pasta swelling increase approx. 200%

Pulses swelling increase approx. 150%

Creative and wholesome menus The 'perfect' and well balanced menu should permit a full sensory experience. At its best a menu should always combine e.g. something crunchy, something melting and various basic tastes and temperatures. This approach should influence planning: the best dish not only looks pretty, it activates all senses. Food is recognized as an experience or as an awakening of the guest’s sensory perception. The goal is the combination of different flavours in a dish or on a plate or spoon.

The wholesome dish All senses should be addressed by one dish, which can be achieved with different types of preparation / decoration and 'delusions'. 'Delusions' are surprises for the guest, e.g. a white tomato foam makes the guest expect cream or egg white but the taste of tomato will provide a totally new experience.

Sense Perception Variations Possibilities for implementation

tasting taste, aftertaste sweet, salty, sour, E.g. Ayurvedic cooking spicy, bitter, acid, umami

hearing sound of a bite, crunchy, crispy, fried vs. puréed vegetables, caramelized, dried, e.g. beetroot chewing, swallowing crackling, slurping, crisps / crouton / brittle / fried basil leaf smacking, fluffy, crusty

feeling form, haptics, rough, soft, hard, raw, cooked, gratinated, as sauce, chopped, grated e.g. broth contour, relief, strong, sharp, round, should be hot but not too hot to eat / warm / cool / cold / ice- temperature melting, hot, cold cold / body temperature / frozen (foam / cream / gel / cream cheese / ice-cream / sorbet)

sight presentation, colour, red / yellow /…, bright, natural colours, curcuma, e.g. beetroot, consistency, tower, shape, combination, dark, mixture, decoration accent contrast, order / disorder

smell smell sweet, musty, fresh, citron, yeast, flowers/herbs and spices, method of preparation pungent, flowery (caramelized)

Presenting dishes

Presenting a dish properly can be highly appealing and attract the guest’s attention.

Repetition task: Repeat and compare what you already know about presenting in the following. Also consider, what is comparable to the advices given in the vegetarian and non-vegetarian cuisine. What about hygienic aspects?

Some advices and tips:  Less is more: a plate that is overloaded can kill the appetite. Provide a nice balance and leave some space so all products come into their own.  Choose the right plate: not only the size is important, a plate that is too full is certainly not appealing but a plate with almost nothing on it will not score highly either. Try a different shape: oblong or square, a dish, a bowl, slate or something similar. Today's manufacturers of porcelain dinnerware offer an enormous range of choice so that everybody can find something to their liking. In Japan, for example, each dish is presented on its own distinctive plate.

 Work on higher levels: a little height on the plate creates a completely different dimension to you food.  Colour up: use fresh and eye-catching colours and also try to vary them on your plate. Do not put two green or two white products side by side but alternate them. A plate can be beautifully presented with even just one colour by the use of different shades of the same colour. This technique is known as ton sur ton.  Work with uneven quantities: it has been scientifically proven in art and design that this always appears to be more attractive.  Think of Archimedes and his golden section: try to put everything in a straight line or in a curve or other uniform shape so that it looks neat and tidy.  Extra equipment for presenting: Also try using a metal mould to present the different foods on the plate. These are available as squares, rectangles, triangles etc. It brings a lot more structure to your plate (perfect for rice, mousses etc.)  Cutting and preparing: Equally important is to ensure that all products are cut evenly because symmetry also has an effect on the aesthetic perception  Avoid overusing sauces: It is preferable to serve sauces separately or only as spots and “highlighter”  Finish: A plate can always be nicely finished off with a “crumble”, a powder or a squirt of a cream of one of the ingredients. As with the taste, structure and texture are indispensable when it comes to presentation.  Clean: Finally, make sure your plates are always very clean.

Summary - On the one hand a dish should look good and on the other hand it also should appeal to all a customer's senses to provide an explosion of flavours. - When composing vegetarian menus, you have to consider a balanced combination of textures, flavors, tastes and aesthetic appeals. - Furthermore it is important to calculate appropriate portion sizes and to consider weight changes - using your phantasy and creativity will help you while working with vegetarian materials, creating delicious recipes and presenting meals - to serve satisfying and tasty meals you have to plan and prepare betimes and carefully - There are various presentation and garnish techniques which support an aesthetic appearance. Consider colour and size of food, order and tidiness on plate and table, quantity of portion etc.

Sources: Food processing in the household German Society of Home Economics Association (Ed.) Zacharias. R., Dürr, H. (ed.), Stuttgart: Ulmer 1992 Culinary School. Ralf Frenzel (ed.), Jürgen Dollase (author, design), Tre Torri Verlag GmbH, Wiesbaden 2005

3.2 Flavoring

Learning aims: You will learn to respect different aspects of flavoring in the vegetarian cuisine

Introduction

Taste consists of two components: The tongue taste and the aroma or smell that we experience through the nose. So for example, if you try a spoon of sugar and cinnamon with the nose closed, you

will only recognize “sweetness”. If you do the same with the nose open, the aroma of the cinnamon is detected.Taste is a sensory function of our central nervous system. The receptors for our sense of taste are located on the tongue, the palate and at the back of the throat where mouth and nose meet.

Everyone is undoubtedly familiar with the four basic tastes, sweet, salty, sour and bitter that can be distinguished anywhere on the tongue. Since 2002 a fifth taste, umami, has been recognized. It is generally described as savory. Apart from these five tastes, it is also essential to take into account the perception in one’s mouth, which means sensation of temperature, texture and fat. All these components influence each other, for example the tongue taste affects the feeling in the mouth and vice versa.

1.1. Sour Next to citrus fruits like lemons, limes or grapefruits, green apples, cranberries etc., sour can also be detected in various preparations, such as vinegars, wines, beers and other alcohols. It is one of the two tastes that our brains remember. Together with “bitter”, it helps us to determine the ripeness of fruits and vegetables and warns us against very sour tastes that could cause tissues damage.

1.2. Sweet Sweetness is a taste that is usually regarded as pleasant and typically produced by the presence of sugar, protein, starches and other elements.

1.3. Salty This taste is produced primarily by the presence of sodium ions. Other ions of this alkaline metal, such as lithium and potassium, produce this taste to a lesser extent. It is mainly found in cheeses, dried and smoked fish and meats as well as certain vegetables and seafood.

1.4. Bitter Bitterness is the most sensitive one of the tastes and many perceive it as unpleasant. The most common bitter flavors are citrus peel, coffee, cacao, olives, chicory, some salads and other vegetables.

1.5. Umami Umami, literally translated from Japanese as "tasty", can best be described as savory. This taste is most commonly found in fermented and matured foods. Glutamate, widely used in Asian cuisine in all kinds of soy sauces, is an important source of this taste. You'll also find this taste in seaweeds, certain cheeses, roasted meats and ripe vegetables. It is important to know, that there is a difference between the natural monosodium glutamate, a non- essential amino acid that is frequently found in food and the extracted one that is added as flavor enhancer. As glutamate naturally is a part of yeast, the food industry legitimately may use it as a flavor enhancer without declaring it like this.

1.6. Fat Recent research has shown that certain receptors of the tongue respond to fat! This is good to know when we want to give a dish some extra flavor. Just think about how much a trickle of virgin olive oil may enhance a dish.

1.7. Spicy This is not really a taste but rather a sensation interpreted as pain. Yet this is an element that is used all over the world to allow more neutral products to come into their own. (?)

1.8. Temperature

Temperature is an essential element in the human perception of flavor. Food, which is usually served hot, will often not be liked when served cold and vice versa. This feeling is detected by the same receptors which detect the hot feeling in spicy dishes. Some ingredients, such as menthol and ethanol, activate cold receptors on the fifth nerve and thus give a pleasant feeling of coolness. Chocolate or cacao butter do the same thing on a lower level and they usually have a low melting point and thus subduct some warmth from the tongue.

1.9. Aroma When talking about how good something tastes, we often talk more about how it smells than how it tastes. A taste test ascertained that 20% comes from the taste and 80% from the smell or aroma. Based on the fact that flavor is important in food, we can hypothesize that, if the majority of the fleeting or volatile molecules of two or more products are the same, they will also taste good when combined. This is the principle of food pairing.

Tips for enhancing the taste of vegetarian ingredients:

- Many flavorings are more soluble in oil than in water. In high-fat products it takes longer before these substances release their flavor, but when released, it lasts longer. - Good, enjoyable food consists of the combination of the right proportion of basic tastes and fleeting aromas. The art is to capture the fleeting aromas during cooking and to ensure that they´re only released during chewing. They can be trapped in fat or vegetable oil, which are also able to bind aromas when boiling down. - Therefore, it is best to add the fat at the beginning of the preparation and not at the end, otherwise it is a double loss. - Another advice is to mix the base ingredients in preparations such as ice cream, as the smaller the droplets of fat, the more flavour they give. It is therefore also recommended to briefly stir soup or sauces just before serving. - Also effective is finely grinding in a mortar. In this way the cells are broken and you increase the surface from which the flavorsome aromas are released. If you then add a dash of oil you will manage to retain even more aromas. - When cooking vegetables take care about the quantity of water you use. Vegetables lose many of their basic tastes in water, mainly bitter, salty and sweet. That is why it is possible to make a tasty soup from the water that asparagus has been cooked in. - Avoid using a pressure steamer to cook vegetables and grains as much of their lovely flavor is lost in the acidic steam environment. Instead of that prefer a pressure-less steamer that preserves flavors and vitamins as well as color and texture of the food. - Always cook white and red vegetables in as little moisture as possible to preserve the flavor. Green vegetable, except green leafy vegetables like spinach or chard, on the other hand should be boiled in plenty of lightly salted water as fast as possible, first and foremost, to retain their beautiful color but also to serve them slightly al dente. - The correct cooking time is indeed very important for the flavor; something overcooked will certainly not taste good, so when cooking vegetables, cereals, pasta and rice the cooking time should definitely be respected. - Most people appreciate texture, so try varying the use of creams, purees and mousses, al dente vegetables, crispy foods, something with a nice crust, a powder, a crumble etc. Furthermore desirable is a contrast of texture, for example crispness is perceived better when it goes with something with a soft mouthfeeling and vice versa.

- Use the Maillard reaction that is also mentioned in 4.1: something that has a light, crispy, caramelized crust from being cooked in fat or on the grill has too much desired umami or savory taste.

- Another technique to retain flavors is cooking under vacuum, also called "sous-vide" – all the flavors remain together and cannot evaporate. Another advantage is that you need less flavoring because of the natural infiltration of the flavors. - If you preserve fruit and vegetables in fat or candy them in sugar all flavors will be preserved. - Some hard vegetables also lend themselves to being cooked at a low temperature, the texture is fully retained and the end result is so much juicier. - Use sufficient and varied herbs and spices, all exotic cuisines score highly here. Something that is insufficiently or over seasoned never comes into its own. - Make use of natural flavor enhancers such as glutamate, for instance found in soy sauce or yeast extract, this will bring a dish to another level, just think about what is served with sushi or raw fish. - Always try to finish of a dish with a little sourness like a dash of lemon juice, this refreshes your dish and makes it easier to digest. - Serve your dish at the right temperature, hot must be hot and cold. And if something is best at room temperature, like many raw vegetables, tomatoes for example, serve it in this way.

Summary:  The five basic tastes are sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.  Other aspects, like temperature and texture also influence the perception of taste of an ingredient  To reach a great flavor for a dish, consider the special requirements and possibilities of every ingredient (preparation technique, pairing etc.).

Tasks: How many different tastes exist, how are they called and where/in which foods do you find them? Name four things that will support the flavor of your vegetarian dish! (Enough seasoning, good cooking skills, fat, food pairing, texture pairing,…)

Euroveg

Author: Toye Koen, Daniela Brenneis, Julia Schneider

WORLD CUISINE

Lernziele

- Du blickst „über deinen Tellerrand hinaus“ und lernst traditionelle Küchen anderer Länder dieser Welt kennen

- Du lernst Küchenzutaten und Zubereitungsarten kennen, die dir bis dahin vielleicht unbekannt waren und lernst, diese eine deine eigene Kochpraxis zu integrieren

- Dir ist bewusst, dass man sich in großen Gebieten der Erde seit vielen Jahrhunderten traditionell vegetarisch oder zumindest teilweise vegetarisch ernährt (hat)

Asia India

In India 90% of the population is fed primarily on just grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts. This is mainly due to economic necessity but more often than not also (religious) beliefs.

Many of their everyday dishes are spread all over the world and are used in other cuisines. They are masters of a whole range of vegetarian foods prepared in countless ways to achieve a nutritious and balanced meal. Indien ist die vegetarischste Gesellschaft der Welt. Von den ca. 1,3 Milliarden Einwohnern leben ungefähr 500 Millionen fleischlos. Als Eiweißlieferanten und Sättigungsgrundlage dienen in der indischen Küche hauptsächlich Milchprodukte und Hülsenfrüchte wie etwa geschälte rote Linsen oder Kichererbsen.

[Quelle: http://yoga-rheine.bplaced.net/2013/10/vegetarische-tradition-in-indien/]

Indian cuisine is very regional, in the south coconuts are often used combined with rice, sweet and sour dishes, chutneys and more. In contrast (clarified butter) and paneer (baked cheese) are primarily used in the north. India is also the home of many masalas. Each chef has his own secret recipe of herbal mixtures and pastes as well as curries, this is not a mixture of spices but a casserole with many vegetables and herbs.

Masala {INFOBOX}

A masala is an Indian spice mix that is used to prepare curries. Each chef has its own recipe and uses different ingredients. The variety of ingredients ranges from chili, cilantro and garlic to curcuma and ginger. The people in northern India create a powder, while the masala in the south is a paste. [Quelle: Wikipedia.com/masala]

Tandoori (both the name of a clay oven as well as the dish that is prepared in it) is also very popular. Also tikkas and koftas are very popular. In the country of the sacred cow, dairy products are very commonly used, yogurt particularly is utilised in many dishes.

Some critically acclaimed and well-known Indian vegetarian preparations:

● Dahl: a creamy, yellow lentil soup, strongly seasoned depending on the region, usually served with basmati rice and vegetable curry. ● Gobi: a north Indian dish with cauliflower, cashew nuts, chilli peppers and tomato sauce ● Bondas: fried, spicy potato balls ● Pakoras: vegetable fritters ● Chania: a spicy, chickpea masala ● Lassi: a refreshing yoghurt drink which is often served with spicy curries ● Raita: a refreshing, side dish made with yoghurt ● Biryani: a spicy rice dish with star anise, cardamom and dried fruit ● Samosa: a crispy, fried pastry, usually made from potatoes but other vegetables can also be utilised. ● Ferni: a rice dessert with turmeric and pistachios

Rezepte

Indische Linsensuppe http://vebu.de/lifestyle/essen-a-trinken/rezepte/1166-indische-linsensuppe

Indisches Curry mit Naturreis http://vebu.de/lifestyle/essen-a-trinken/rezepte/1025-indisches-curry-mit-naturreis

China

In China, the number of vegetarians is significantly lower than in India. Still, there are many vegetarian dishes, primarily soy-based products such as the widely known tofu or tahoe, seitan (Buddhist meat) and tempeh. Fewer spices, pulses and diary products are used than in India, but a lot of ginger, lemon grass and leaves and many vegetables' are used. Während im Norden traditionell Weizen das Grundnahrungsmittel darstellt, wird im Süden vorwiegend Reis gegessen.

Almost everything is prepared in the wok resulting in very colourful, crunchy, nutritious and easily digestible food.

Wichtig ist generell neben Farbe, Aroma und Würze die Konsistenz sowie der harmonische Gesamteindruck eines Gerichtes.

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinesische_K%C3%BCche]

Some well-known vegetarian dishes are:

● Spring Rolls: not really Chinese in fact but coming from Vietnam, originally vegetarian, but they are also available made from meat, poultry, fish and seafood. ● Nasi: a wok dish based on rice and vegetables, ● Bami: a wok dish based on noodles, there are 2 types of noodles , Mie noodles made from regular flour, with or without egg and Mie Hoen, made from rice flour ● Chop soy: a classic Chinese dish: the name explains everything, the ingredients are cut nicely (chopped) and cooked in the wok with soy. ● Wonton: small, square, rice sheets that are filled and steamed, usually in a fragrant broth.

Japan

The Japanese kitchen bears resemblance to other East Asian kitchens. The Japanese cuisine, however, stresses the taste of the fresh ingredients and uses less oil and spices. Meat and fish were forbidden by the law for a period of time in Japan’s history. And even though the law has changed, one can still enjoy a delicious vegetarian meal in Japan. The national dish sushi can now be made with a variety of vegetables but there is much more. In Japan, buckwheat noodles (soba) Udon noodles and Somen, flat, fine, wheat flour noodles are quite extensively used. Japan is also home to the nutritious miso (a broth based on wheat, soya and seaweed). Tofu is also a staple food. A (fermented) black bean paste is commonly used as a seasoning. Other pulses such as mung beans, edamame, yellow beans, lentils and mushrooms including, enoki, beech, shiitake and oyster are commonly used.

- Traditionelle Lebensmittel: Reis, Hülsenfrüchte, Sojabohnen, Tofu, Misosuppe, Algen, Sprossen, (sauer eingelegtes) Gemüse wie Kohl, Gurke, Aubergine und Rüben, Hirse, Süßkartoffeln, Buchweizen, frischer Ingwer

Some well-known dishes:

● Sushi: prepared with short grain rice, ginger, garlic and rice vinegar, filled with vegetables and wrapped in seaweed (Nori) ● Miso: a fragrant broth based on soya beans and seaweed, seasoned with all kinds of vegetables and herbs ● Tempura: all kinds of vegetables are covered in a very fine batter and are lightly fried and served with delicate sauces ● The Teppanyaki: Is not really a dish but a method of preparation on a very hot plate. The products are seared very quickly so that their taste, minerals and nutritional value are preserved. ● Sukiyaki: a casserole with tofu, spring onion, noodles, cabbage and enoki mushrooms

[Quellen: VEBU-Artikel s.o. + http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanische_K%C3%BCche]

Thailand

Thai cuisine is very diverse: . It was mostly influenced by the Chinese and Indians, but Europeans had an influence on it as well. Many Thai dishes are served with rice. But what really characterizes Thai cuisine is that there is a great variety of fresh vegetables, many of which are not available in Europe, such as, for example,

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 124 more than 6 types of aubergines, but also wing beans, water spinach, baby corn and the classic asparagus. In Thai cuisine meals are often prepared with many fresh herbs including the unique Thai basil and two types of coriander, but also numerous other spices such as galangal, Thai ginger, coriander root and a host of various chilli peppers.

Thai dishes are very balanced, because Thai people try to unite the 5 fundamental flavour sensations (spicy, acid, salt, sweet and bitter) within a meal and sometimes in just one dish. The way of cooking is very healthy; everything is so fresh, as natural as possible, quickly prepared to preserve all the nutrients and as little unsaturated fatty acids as possible are used.

Some well-known (vegetarian) dishes:

● Khao soi: fried noodles in a spicy curry soup ● Khao Pad Tofu: fried rice with vegetables, bean sprouts, egg and tofu ● Pad Thai: thin rice noodles with vegetables, egg and peanuts ● Khao Man: rice cooked in a light broth with cucumber and taotjo (a salty sweet fermented soybean paste) ● Khanom Tjien: rice noodles with green curry paste, small Thai aubergines and fresh Thai basil. ● Nam Phrik Kapie: various fried vegetables in an omelette served with fresh cucumber, white rice and of course the nam prhik itself, a dipping sauce of soy, garlic, chillies and lime) ● Tom Yam: a spicy, tangy, herbal broth with coriander ● Phad Phak: a stir-fry with a minimum of 8 kinds of vegetables and syrupy soy sauce ● Yam: a spicy, sour salad with glass noodles ● Miang khaam: shallots, raw chilli, garlic, lime, ginger and peanuts wrapped in sheets of a wild pepper plant served with a sauce of palm sugar and soy.

Typische Zutaten:

● - Reis (vor allem der aromatische, duftende Jasminreis) ● - Nudeln aus Reis, Weizen oder Mungobohnen (Glasnudeln) ● - Gemüse wie Thai-Auberginen - Früchte wie grüne (unreife) Papayas

- Gewürze und Kräuter [d5] wie Ingwer, Zitronengras, Knoblauch, Koriander, süßes Basilikum, Limettenblätter, Tamarinde, Chilli

- als Fett wird das heimische Kokosöl genutzt

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thail%C3%A4ndische_K%C3%BCche]

Indonesien

Indonesian cuisine is just like the Thai cuisine, very diverse. The country consists of, after all, around 6000 inhabited islands. Their cuisine has been influenced by the Chinese, Indian, Arab and even Dutch cuisine.

Indonesian cuisine uses a large amount of herbs and spices such as galangal, ginger, cumin, turmeric, coriander (the seeds and root), lemongrass, all sorts of chilli peppers, etc ... The use of various leaves such as curry leaves, bay leaf and lemon leaf are very popular. In almost every dish onions, garlic and sambal are used. The use of Santen This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 125 (coconut milk) and ketjap (soy sauce) is common. As a staple food rice is indispensable and is combined with all sorts sambals, vegetables, nuts, eggs, bean curd (tofu) and tempéh. In certain areas cassava is very commonly used.

Some well-known (vegetarian) dishes:

- Gado Gado: a varied vegetable dish with potatoes, eggs and peanut sauce.

- Nasi: a rice dish with vegetables and eggs

- Bami: a noodle dish with vegetables and eggs

- Nasi terang: fried aubergine with tomato and rice

- Sambal gara sayur: a vegetable dish with coconut milk, red curry paste and tempéh

- Pepes tahu jamur: a stir-fry with tofu, local mushrooms and water spinach served in a banana leaf

- Sayur lodeh: a legume dish with belingo leaves, coconut milk and tempeh

- Bihun Goreng: thin rice noodles with vegetables and eggs

- Oseng oseng tofu panyang: diep fried tofu and tempeh with legumes, rice and sambal

- Colo colo: a red pepper sauce from Moluccas that is served with almost everything.

Vietnam

Als vietnamesische Küche bezeichnet man die eigenständige und vielseitige Kochtradition Vietnams, die zahlreiche typische Gerichte hervorgebracht hat. Sie ist historisch bedingt stark von der chinesischen Küche beeinflusst und weist im Süden Vietnams auch Einflüsse der Thai, der Khmer sowie der Indischen Küche auf. Darüber hinaus hat der Buddhismus zu einer reichhaltigen Vielfalt vegetarischer Gerichte beigetragen.

Als Grundnahrungsmittel werden in Vietnam Reis und Reisnudeln und eine große Zahl verschiedener Arten von Gemüse gegessen. Fisch und Fleisch spielen in der Massenernährung eine untergeordnete Rolle. Gewürze werden sehr vielseitig verwendet, jedoch weniger scharf als in der angrenzenden thailändischen oder indischen Küche. Es dominieren eher subtile Kombinationen von Gewürzen vieler Kulturkreise, beispielsweise werden Zimt und Anis gerne zur Bereicherung herzhafter Speisen genutzt.

Vietnamesische Gerichte werden typischerweise außerordentlich heiß, aber sehr kurz gebraten, auf Pfannen mit hohem offenem Feuer (Wok) zubereitet. Sie sind deshalb meist oberflächlich geröstet und innerlich gegart.

Getrunken wird in Vietnam vor allem Tee.

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamesische_K%C3%BCche]

Some well known vegetarian dishes:

-Pho: A very popular soup that can be ordered with vegetables

Quelle: http://www.vietnamesefood.com.vn/vietnamese-recipes/vietnamese-recipes-vegetarian/

South America

Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador

In this part of America rice and beans are served almost everywhere. The South Americans love meat, but also varied salads and salsa's. Maize, cassava, and numerous varieties of potatoes and beans are also on the everyday menu. Commonly used crops are sugar cane, cocoa beans, lima beans, eye beans, pumpkin, okra, cabbages, and plantains.

Some famous dishes from this region:

● Broa: corn bread with fennel ● Pao The queijo: cassava meal dough balls with a subtle cheese flavour ● Empada: small pastries filled with peas and meal (also sometimes with chicken or shrimp) ● Bolhinos: potatoe croquettes ● Cozido: a casserole with root vegetable, plantains, okra, sweet potato, coriander and deep-fried tofu ● Vegetarian Fejoada: a casserole with black beans, sweet potatoes, peppers, turnips, chillis, tomatoes and coriander ● Carapulcra: a potato dish of the Incas with freeze-dried potatoes ● Causa relena: mashed potato with avocado ● Tacu tacu: omelet with beans ● Papas a la huancaina: potatoes with spicy cheese sauce ● Ocapa: aardappelgerecht with green pepper sauce and local herbs and cheese

Mexico

The origins of Mexican cuisine can be found with the Aztecs, supplemented with some remnants from the Spanish occupation. It's an alluring cuisine with many scents, colours and flavours. Maize, tuber crops, many types of potatoes, chillies, coriander, avocados, many legumes (including the typical pinto beans), pumpkin (chayote) ,a lot of of chocolate and local spices are used in a wide range of vegetarian dishes and salads.

Die mexikanische Küche zeichnet sich primär durch die Synthese von alt-einheimischen und spanisch-kolonialen, aber auch spanischen, französischen, arabischen und karibischen Traditionen aus. In dem heißen, tropischen Land mit großenteils üppiger Vegetation spielen Mais, Bohnen, Früchte und bestimmte Gemüsesorten eine dominante Rolle.

Mexiko ist der Ursprung einiger Pflanzen, die sich in die ganze Welt verbreitet haben – dazu gehören insbesondere Kakao und Vanille, aber auch Avocado, Erdnüsse, Agavensüße, Tomaten, Chili und Mais.

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexikanische_K%C3%BCche]

● Oaxaqueno: a stringy type of mozzarella cheese, often fried and served with a spicy salsa ● Mole: a sauce with chocolate, chili and spices with sweet potatoes and maize, peppers and legumes ● Guacamole: a side dish made of avocado (etymologically translated: butter from the forest) ● Tortillas: pancakes usually made corn flour, filled with savoury and sweet fillings. ● Empanadas: filled pastry pockets ● Flauta (taquito): a thin filled and fried tortilla ● Huevos Rancheros: fried egg on a maize tortilla with a spicy salsa ● Chapatti's: Indian rolls with a avocado, tomato and onion salsa ● Tamales: steamed and filled corn leaves ● Taco's: baked, shaped tortillas with a filling ● Chimichanga's: deep-fried tortillas filled with red beans, cheese, spring onion and tomatoes ● Chili sin carne: a spicy stew with red beans

Rezepte

Feuriger Gemüsetopf nach mexikanischer Art

[Quelle: http://vebu.de/lifestyle/essen-a-trinken/rezepte/846-feuriger-gemuese-topf-mexikanische-art]

Cuba

Cuban cuisine has also had many influences from Spain and Africa, and there are strong similarities to Creole and Mexican cuisine. In Cuba primarily rice, maize, legumes (often red or black beans) and indigenous root plants such as yuca and yam are consumed.

Some well-known dishes:

● Moros y cristianos: rice dish with black beans ● Congri: rice dish with red beans ● Yuca con mugo: boiled roots of the yuca plant with a spicy tangy garlic sauce ● Tamales: just as in Mexico steamed and filled corn leaves ● Guiso: vegetable casserole containing primarily root vegetables ● Caldosa: vegetarian soup ● Malanga: fritters made from the indigenous yam plants ● Ajiaco: potatoes with corn, onion, capers and avocado

Africa

Northern Africa

The cuisines in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, known as the Maghreb in North Africa, offer a great variety of vegetarian dishes. There are numerous tajines (both the name of the dish as well as the recipient) served with one or often a variety of vegetables such as courgette, aubergine, tomato, peppers, onion, carrots, turnips and other root This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 128 vegetables supplemented with dried legumes such as the ever present chickpeas which are a staple food. These legumes are made into the traditional hummus, a dip with sesame paste, garlic, chilli and olive oil and also the falafel, a fritter of mashed chickpeas with onion, garlic, chilli and parsley. Couscous , tiny granules of wheat that used to be rolled by hand by the Berbers, is commonly used, too. Harissa (a mash of chilli with garlic) as well as a range of surprisingly refreshing salads are served with the tagine and couscous. North Africa is also known for its use many fresh and dried herbs, who hasn't heard of the frequently used Ras el Hanout, a spice mix of at least 12 but sometimes up to 50 kinds of spices. There are, of course, many dried fruits used such as dates, figs, apricots and also the salt pickled lemon is widespread today.

Some well-known dishes:

- Harira: a very hearty soup with potatoes, legumes, tomatoes, carrots, celery and pasta. Meat is also sometimes used

- Brick: very fine pastry squares filled with various ingredients and cooked quickly

- Briouats: small filled pasta packets

- Chermoula: originally a fish stew but it is also often prepared with just vegetables, potatoes, legumes and herbs

- Shlada dsjada: carrot salad with garlic and cumin

- Aljouke: courgette dip

- Baba ganoush: aubergine puree

- Zaalouk: aubergine salad with tomato and garlic

- Tabbouleh: a delicious meal (bulgur) salad with pepper, tomato, cucumber and mint

Middle East

Here too there are traditionally many vegetarian dishes on offer. Anyone who has ever actually eaten Lebanese food can certainly bear witness to this, up to 15 mini dishes, almost all strictly vegetarian are offered in the form of Mezze, which originates from this region and not from Greece. Unleavened bread is served at each meal. Pita bread is a unleavened bread known all over the world.

Here, just like in Northern Africa, fresh vegetables, many types of legumes, dried fruits and herbs are commonly used in cooking. Couscous, falafel and lentils are also on the daily menu. Naturally, just as in North Africa many goat and sheep cheeses are on offer.

Some famous dishes:

● Ful medames: like hummus but most often made from very nutrient-rich dried broad beans, usually served with delicious salads. ● Fattoush: a very tasty refreshing salad with purslane and sumac ● Jollof: a rice dish with onion, peppers and tomatoes

Grundnahrungsmittel in der äthiopischen Küche bildet ein spezielles Sauerteig-Fladenbrot namens Injera. Typischerweise wird dieses aus dem einheimischen äthiopischen Getreide Teff (Zwerghirse) hergestellt. Aus der Hirse sowie aus anderem Getreide und Wurzeln wird auch häufig ein Brei hergestellt, der als Grundlage für viele Gerichte dienen kann. Dazu werden verschiedene Saucen, Wot genannt, serviert, die es in verschiedenen vegetarischen und auch fleischhaltigen Ausführungen gibt.

Die äthiopische Kirche verbietet, wie die meisten orthodoxen Kirchen, mittwochs und freitags sowie während der vorösterlichen Fastenzeit den Genuss von allen tierischen Produkten, so dass von Christen an diesen Tagen Linsenbrei oder Kichererbsenbrei verspeist wird. In Restaurants gibt es an diesen Tagen rein vegetarische Gerichte Alitscha, bei denen verschiedene Gemüsesorten in unterschiedlichsten Kombinationen zubereitet werden. Generell ist das äthiopische Essen sehr scharf, meist durch das Gewürz Berbere.

Weitere typische Zutaten:

Neben dem überall gegessenen Getreidebrei werden in der schwarzafrikanischen Küche viele Früchte verwendet, darunter Ananas, Kochbananen und Zitrusfrüchte. Aus Gründen der Haltbarkeit werden viele Früchte getrocknet und nicht nur als Nachspeise gereicht, sondern auch mitgekocht und geben der afrikanischen Küche so ihren typischen Geschmack.

Als Gemüse wird vor allem Blattgemüse verarbeitet, beispielsweise wilder Sesam, Baobabblätter, Juteblätter, Radieschen, Kohlrabi, Tomaten und Kürbisblätter.

Erdnüsse werden als Vitaminspender und für Öl verwendet, aber auch als Gewürzbeilage.

Maniok (Kassave, Yuca) ist die Wurzel eines tropischen Strauchs. Sie enthält viel Stärke und wird deshalb nicht nur zu Brei gekocht, sondern dient auch zum Binden von Suppen und Saucen. Das aus Maniok gewonnene Stärkemehl kommt unter den Namen Sago oder Tapioka auf den Markt. Aus Maniokwurzeln wird in einem aufwendigen Prozess Garri bzw. Atieke hergestellt, ein Bulgur-ähnlicher Maniokgrieß.

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzafrikanische_K%C3%BCche]

Eastern and Central Africa

The food of these mostly poor countries is mainly based on cereals such as millet, maize and wheat, but also on indigenous root vegetables such as manioc, yam and taro. Nuts, such as palm nuts, peanuts (which are usually made into a paste to make sauces) and wild fruit such as the guava are used in a lot of preparations. Many legumes and vegetables such as sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, aubergine, native courgette, okra, tomato and (wild) mushrooms are also used in vegetarian dishes.

A few well-knownvegetarian dishes:

● Tô: cooked millet, sorghum, maize, tomatoes and sweet peppers ● Fufu: thick broth made from manioc or cassava, also baked in rolls and flat biscuits ● Ogi: fermented cereal porridge ● Frejan: fermented beans with coconut milk, sometimes created with cocoa ● Gari: granulated cassava flour ● Moin moin: pudding of black-eyed beans, onions and pepper.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 130 ● Saka been Living saka been living: stewed cassava leaves with onions and chili ● Moambe: crushed palm nut sauce ● Piri piri (Pili Pili): chilli sauce, a well-known dish in Portugal ● Dongo Dongo: okra soup

European Kitchen

Southern France, Spain and Portugal

This cuisine is known as the healthiest diet in the world, because of the simplicity of the preparations, the use of unsaturated fatty acids, especially olive oil and the use of many vegetables. These include aubergines, asparagus, artichokes, zucchini, tomato, garlic, onions, and also fresh and dried legumes such as chickpeas, lentils and white beans, not to mention many cereals, including various types of rice, both from the Camargue (red rice) , Spain and Portugal (Bomba: a round grain rice). Spelt and millet and of course, lots of fresh herbs such as basil, thyme, bay leaf, oregano, rosemary, lavender, parsley and saffron are also used. In this cuisine a lot of processed cheeses are used, and bread as is regarded as a staple food. In short, a vegetarian will certainly find something to his liking in this region.

Some well-known dishes:

● Aigo bolido: a vegetable dish with a sauce of garlic, bread and eggs ● Barigoule: a casserole made with young artichokes ● Soupe au pistou: a hearty soup with lots of vegetables, legumes and fresh herbs ● Ratatouille: a vegetable casserole using vegetables from the Provence ● Pan Bagnat: filled and baked bread rolls with garlic and olive oil ● All kinds of tapenades, tomatades, aioli and other dip sauces made from herbs, olives and fruits ● All kinds of tapas made from vegetables, (called Pinxtos in Basque ) ● Tortillas: a Spanish omelet / pancake with potatoes ● Falado: cassoulet of all kinds of legumes with tomatoes ● Gaspacho: cold vegetable soup with olive oil ● Cocido: vegetable casserole with lentils ● Salbixtada: dip sauce made from roasted peppers, almonds and tomatoes, served with roasted spring onions ● Tumbet: an aubergines dish from the Balearic Islands ● Sopes Mallorquines: vegetable casserole made with cabbage ● Paella verduras: a vegetarian paella ● Olla Gitano: a gypsy casserole with vegetables and legumes ● Caldo Verde: a hearty Portuguese soup made with (green) vegetables

Greece and Turkey

Both Greek and Turkish cuisine have been influenced by both the Middle East, Italy and the Balkans. It is very simple cuisine that shows respect for the product. Virtually all ingredients that that are found in other Mediterranean countries are used. The ubiquitous mezze (from Lebanon) , is comparable with the everyday Spanish Tapas.

● Domades: grape leaves filled with a rice preparation ● Tzatsiki (Cazik): cucumber with yoghurt and mint ● Choriatiki: Greek salad ● Orzo: typical Greek pasta in the shape of rice, with tomato sauce and feta ● Sponakoptia: Greek spinach tart with feta ● Avgolemono: Greek soup with egg and lemon ● Fasolada: Thick, Greek, white-bean soup ● Briami: stewed vegetables and potatoes ● Kisir: broken bulghur salad with vegetables ● Borek: fried, cheese filled pastries made from a fine dough ● Menemen: omelet filled with vegetables ● Merimeh: a lentil pate ● Sebrizeli Pilaw: Turkish rice dish with vegetables

Italy

Der Begriff Mittelmeerküche oder mediterrane Küche wird in Kochbüchern und umgangssprachlich häufig als Oberbegriff für die verschiedenen Landesküchen der Mittelmeerregion verwendet. Diese Küchen weisen zwar einige gemeinsame Elemente auf wie die häufige Verwendung von Olivenöl, mediterranen Kräutern und Knoblauch, unterscheiden sich teilweise jedoch erheblich.

Jedoch lassen sich einige Grundelemente nennen, welche die spezifischend Landesküchen der Mittelmeerregion vereinen:

- Olivenöl und Oliven

- frisches Gemüse wie Tomaten, Auberginen, Paprika, Zucchini

- Knoblauch, Zwiebel

- Fisch und Meeresfrüchte

- Kräuter wie Thymian, Rosmarin, Oregano und Basilikum

- helles Brot, Nudeln und Reis

[Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterrane_K%C3%BCche]

In the north you commonly find beautiful risottos (with round grain rice from the Po plain) and rich polentas, which can be prepared in various ways, but always with the vegetables, herbs and dairy products. More to the south, every possible variety of pasta can be found with a variety of delightful sauces. Also pizza, the daily bread can always be found with diverse vegetarian toppings.

In this Mediterranean country people also have healthy eating habits, meat and fish are only in fourth or fifth place, after bread, pasta, rice or grains such as maize and spelt, a whole range of vegetables and legumes, a lot of nice fruit

Some well-known vegetarian dishes:

● Risotto alla Milanese: risotto with saffron and parmesan cheese ● Risotto ai Porcini: risotto with porcini mushrooms ● Risi e bisi: risotto with arborio rice and peas ● Pansicia di Novara: vegetable soup with rice ● Mesciua: a bean dish with chickpeas, white beans and buckwheat ● Minestra di Farro: vegetable soup with spelt ● Bagna Cauda: a vegetable fondue with a garlic dip sauce ● Gnocchi: small cooked pasta pillows made from potatoes or meal, sometimes prepared with spinach or other vegetables. ● Pizza Margharita: with mozzarella, tomato and basil ● Pizza Pugliese: with onion, pecorino and oregano ● Caponata: seet and sour aubergine dish ● Pesto: a basic pasta sauce consisting of basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan cheese and olive oil. ● Polenta con zucca: polenta with pumpkin

Rezepte

Selbstgemachte Pasta mit geschmortem Fenchel an Tomaten und Rucolapesto

Aufgabe: Welche landestypischen vegetarisch/veganen Küchen fallen dir noch ein? Welche Gerichte sind traditionell vegan in Europa? Haben sich die Zubereitungsformen im Laufe der Jahre geändert?

Zusammenfassung

- Überall auf der Welt wird reichlich mit pflanzlichen Lebensmitteln gekocht - gerade in den traditionellen Küchen ist die Zubereitung von Getreide, Gemüse und Hülsenfrüchten stark verbreitet. - Auf Jedem Kontinent, in jedem Land und sogar in jeder Region gibt es unterschiedliche Ausprägungen. - Aus dieser Fülle von Ideen für vegetarische Gerichte kannst du schöpfen und diese mithilfe deiner eigenen Phantasie und deines persönlichen Geschmacks zu etwas Neuem kombinieren. - Gerade der Umgang mit verschiedensten Gewürzen macht die traditionellen Gerichte in den verschiedenen Ländern einzigartig. - Du kannst es wagen, damit zu experimentieren und neue Geschmackserlebnisse kennen zu lernen.

Aufgaben

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 133 - Überlege, welche Zutaten, die in anderen Ländern der Welt als Grundnahrungsmittel verwendet werden, du kennst und bereits regelmäßig in deiner Küche verwendest.

- Welche Nahrungsmittel sind dir hingegen völlig unbekannt, bzw. mit welchen hast du noch nie gekocht? Überlege dir, wie du diese in deine Lieblingsgerichte integrieren könntest.

- In der traditionellen mexikanischen Küche wird Kakao nicht nur, wie bei uns vor allem bekannt, in der süßen Küche verwendet. Beispielsweise das Nationalgericht „Mole Poblano“ ist ein Truthahngericht mit einer speziellen Sauce aus Chili, verschiedenen Gewürzen und etwas Schokolade. Überlege dir eine vegetarische Alternative zu diesem Gericht.

- Du hast gelernt, welche Zutaten für die Zubereitung mediterraner Speisen typisch sind. Wähle daraus beliebig viele aus und kreiere ein leichtes, sommerliches Menü, bestehend aus Vorspeise, Hauptgericht und Dessert.

Quellen

Author: Toye Koen, Daniela Brenneis, Julia Schneider

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES / Spezielle Zubereitungsarten

Lernziele

Einleitung

Dieses Kapitel widmet sich spezifischen Zubereitungsarten von Lebensmitteln. Diese sind nicht unbedingt „innovativ“, d.h. in der jüngeren Vergangenheit entstanden, sondern besitzen teilweise eine jahrhundertealte Tradition. Dir werden diverse Techniken vorgestellt, die dir den Umgang z.B. mit rohen pflanzlichen Lebensmitteln erleichtern und eine Fülle von Experimentiermöglichkeiten bieten.

1. Spezielle Küchen und Zubereitungsarten

1.1. Molekularküche

- Die Molekularküche befasst sich mit den biochemischen und physikalisch-chemischen Prozessen bei der Zubereitung und beim Genuss von Speisen und Getränken. International werden auch die Begriffe modernist cuisine (zu deutsch ‚moderne Küche‘), culinary physics (zu deutsch ‚Physik der Kochkunst‘) oder experimental cuisine (zu deutsch ‚experimentelle Kochkunst‘) verwendet.

- Die Molekularküche setzt Erkenntnisse aus der wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung biochemischer, physikalischer und chemischer Prozesse bei der Zubereitung von Speisen und Getränken um, die mit der Änderung von Texturen einzelner Produkte oder allgemein mit den Wechselwirkungen zwischen physikalisch-chemischen Prozessen und Veränderungen eines Produkts zu tun haben.[2]

- Methoden: Die angewandte Molekularküche nutzt auch Erkenntnisse aus der modernen Lebensmitteltechnologie, um Gerichte mit völlig neuartigen Eigenschaften zu erzeugen, wie zum Beispiel Schäume, Airs, warme Gelees, heißes „Eis“, das beim Abkühlen im Mund schmilzt, Bonbons aus Olivenöl oder „Kaviar“ aus Melonen. Durch die überraschenden Kombinationen von Aromen, süß und salzig, Temperaturen und Texturen sind diese Gerichte zugleich „Schule der Wahrnehmung“ und nähern sich den Methoden der modernen Kunst (siehe Kapitel 3.3. Rezepte kreieren)

- Genutzt werden in der molekular inspirierten Küche auch verschiedene Geräte, die aus dem Laborbedarf stammen, wie zum Beispiel Rotationsverdampfer.

- Die molekular inspirierte Küche nutzt eine Vielzahl von natürlichen Grundprodukten, darunter auch Texturgeber, die This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 135 als vielseitige und vegetarische Alternativen zu Gelatine eingesetzt werden. Dazu zählen Xanthan (E 415) oder die aus Algen gewonnenen Stoffe Agar Agar und Alginat, aber auch Johannisbrotkernmehl sowie Guarkernmehl.

Rezept „Kaviar“

Foto: http://www.canstockphoto.de/kaviar-molekular-6902864.html

1.2. Makrobiotik:

- Das Wort Makrobiotik hat seinen Ursprung im Griechischen und bedeutet "langes Leben". Die makrobiotische Ernährung kombiniert die Einfachheit beim Essen und die Vermeidung von Giften in Lebensmitteln mit den Prinzipien des Zen-Buddhismus.

Quelle: http://www.zentrum-der-gesundheit.de/makrobiotik.html

- Die makrobiotische Ernährung ist fettarm und ballaststoffreich, und hat ihren Schwerpunkt auf vollwertigem Getreide und Gemüse. Anhänger der makrobiotischen Ernährungsweise meiden Fleisch, tierische Fette wie beispielsweise Butter oder Schmalz, Milchprodukte, Eier, künstliche Süßungsmittel und chemische Zusatzstoffe. Ihre Ernährung besteht aus Vollkorn-Getreide (Naturreis, Hirse, Buchweizen, Weizen, Mais, Roggen) Gemüse, Bohnen, Algen (Nori, Kombu, Hiziki) und kleineren Mengen an Früchten, Samen, Nüssen und Weißfisch

Quelle: http://www.zentrum-der-gesundheit.de/makrobiotik.html

- Das Kernstück der makrobiotischen Lebensführung besteht in Ohsawas Ernährungslehre. Ein ausgewogenes Verhältnis in der Nahrung führt zu einem ausgeglichenen Zustand des Qi im Körper. Alle Lebensmittel werden nach ihrer angeblichen energetischen Eigenschaft eingeteilt in Yin (ausdehnend), Yang (zusammenziehend) oder völlig ausgewogen. Wichtigste Nahrungsgrundlage der Makrobiotik ist generell das ganze Korn verschiedener Getreidearten, vor allem Reis.

Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makrobiotik#Geschichte_und_Entwicklung_der_Makrobiotik

Rezept Dicke Hirse mit Kürbis

- 2 Tassen Hirse

- 2 Tassen Hokkaido-Kürbis (oder Mohrrüben, Zwiebeln, Sellerie oder ähnliches)

- ca. 1 1/2 Tassen Wasser pro Tasse Hirse

- 1 Prise Meersalz pro Tasse Hirse

- (bei Bedarf Tofu)

Hirse waschen und rösten. Kürbis waschen, schneiden. Beides in einen Drucktopf geben, ebenso Wasser und Salz. Zudecken und zum Kochen bringen. Ca. 20 Minuten unter Druck kochen. Druck herunterkommen lassen. Den Brei in eine feuerfeste Schüssel geben und im vorgeheizten Backofen bei 180 Grad ca. 30 Minuten backen. Zerschneiden

Quelle: http://www.naturkost.de/basics/formen/makro2.htm

1.3. Rohkost:

Die Rohkostküche umfasst Gerichte, deren Bestandteile nicht über 40 Grad Celsius erhitzt werden – weder gebacken noch gebraten, gekocht oder pasteurisiert. Zudem werden die Zutaten oft naturbelassen – d.h. kaum oder sehr schonend verarbeitet, erhitzt nur bis ca. 40 Grad Celsius. Dadurch werden die Enzyme in den Lebensmitteln nicht zerstört und können so vom Körper optimal aufgenommen werden.

Um Mangelerscheinungen zu vermeiden, ist es wichtig, die Ernährung aus drei Lebensmittelkategorien zu kombinieren: Grünes Blattgemüse (weil es viel Chlorophyll enthält und alkalisch ist), süße Früchte (weil sie Zucker enthalten, unseren Brennstoff für den Körper) und fetthaltige Lebensmittel wie Nüsse, Avocados, Oliven und Samen (weil sie gute pflanzliche Fette enthalten.

[Quelle: Reinle-Carayon, Nelly: RohKöstlich … aus Frankreich, 2010, S. 12f.]

- typische Lebensmittel: Obst, Gemüse, grünes Blattgemüse, Pilze, (Wild-)Kräuter, Saaten (Leinsamen, Chiasamen, Hanfsamen, Sonnenblumenkerne,…), Nüsse (Cashew, Macadamia, Walnuss, Paranuss, Pekannuss, Mandeln, Haselnuss,…), Gewürze, Trockenfrüchte, auch Algen, gekeimtes Getreide,…

Rezepte

1.3.1. Steinpilz-Carpaccio mit Sellerie-Paprika-Püree und Feuerwerk http://www.vebu.de/lifestyle/essen-a-trinken/rezepte/638-steinpilz-carpaccio-rohkostrezept

1.4 Grüne Smoothies

-Erfinderin: Victoria Boutenko, stammt aus Russland und lebt mit ihrer Familie seit Ende der 80er-Jahre in den USA, Smoothies bieten einen gesundheitlichen Vorteil, da durch einen ausgewogenen Mix aus Gemüse und Obst der Tagesbedarf an Vitaminen und anderen Nährstoffen gedeckt werden kann. [Quelle: http://www.gruenesmoothies.org/boutenko/]

- Grünes Blattgemüse ist sehr reich an essentiellen Aminosäuren, Vitaminen, Spurenelementen, Mineralien und Antioxidantien. Es macht den Körper basisch und stärkt das Immunsystem. Es enthält viele Ballaststoffe, was unseren Darm gesund erhält und bei der Gewichtsabnahme unterstützt. Ballaststoffe zügeln den Appetit und verlangsamen die Absorbierung von Zucker im Darm. Und grünes Blattgemüse enthält jede Menge Chlorophyll. Es fördert damit die Wundheilung und wirkt gegen Giftstoffe im Körper, ist geruchsneutralisierend (Mundgeruch und Körpergeruch), reinigt den Darm, hilft gegen Entzündung und vieles mehr. Sie sehen, es lohnt sich regelmäßig größere Mengen Grünzeug zu konsumieren. Der Clou dabei ist aber die Sache mit dem Mixer. Denn durch das Zerkleinern in einem guten Mixer wird die Zellstruktur des Blattgrüns aufgebrochen und wir kommen so an die guten Sachen, die beim unzulänglichen Kauen nicht geknackt werden und für unseren Organismus dann verloren sind. Auch entlastet das Mixen unsere Verdauung und erleichtert uns den Konsum auch größerer Mengen. Und schließlich erreichen wir durch den Anteil von etwa 50 % frischem Obst einen fruchtigen, etwas süßen Geschmack der Smoothies, der die gesunden Bitterstoffe aus dem Blattgrün für unseren Gaumen erträglich macht. Das Ergebnis ist ein schmackhafter Imbiss mit Nährstoffpower, wie Sie sie sonst nicht bekommen. Und als kleine Nebenwirkung des

[Quelle: http://www.gruenesmoothies.org/]

Auf dieser Homepage gibt es auch ganz viele Rezepte

 (siehe auch M2 Beverages/Getränke)

2. Technik und Geräte

2.1. Dehydrator (z.B. Excalibur, Sedona):

-Ein Dehydrator ist ein Dörrgerat, welches dem eingelegten Produkt behutsam Wasser entzieht.

- Ermöglicht natürliches Konservieren ohne Zusatzstoffe, auch in Rohkost Qualität, wodurch ein Maximum an wichtigen Vitaminen und Nährstoffen erhalten bleibt

- vielfältige Rohkostkreationen herstellen wie z.B. Kräcker, Pizzen, Essener Brote, Gemüse-Spieße, Kuchenböden, Frucht-Spieße u.v.m.

- Und natürlich können Sie Früchte, Gemüse und Kräuter aus Ihrem Garten trocknen und konservieren

[Quelle: www.keimling.de]

Rezepte

Müslikekse [http://www.keimling.de/excalibur-trockner-5.html]

Tomatenbrot [http://www.keimling.de/excalibur-trockner-5.html]

Beeren-Fruchtleder

Quelle und Rezept: http://www.mehr-als-rohkost.de/rezepte/rohkost-fruchtleder/

2.2. Hochleistungsmixer (z.B. Vitamix):

- cremigste Smoothies, zarte Eiscremes, cremige Suppen, herzhafte Aufstriche, Soßen, fruchtige Desserts, Cocktails, Nussmuse,…

- spaltet die Zellwände der Lebensmittel ohne Hitzeschädigung auf

- Ihr Körper hat wenig Verdauungsarbeit und viel Genuss. So wie der Vitamix die Vitamine freisetzt, setzt er auch die Aromen in Ihren Lebensmitteln frei

[Quelle: www.keimling.de]

Vergleiche Grüne Smoothies

Rezepte

Im Mixer hergestellte Kürbissuppe mit Mandelcreme

http://www.rohkost.de/2013/01/rohkost-kurbis-suppe-mit-mandelpueree-verfeinert/

Vanillesoße aus Cashews, Wasser, Agavendicksaft und Vanillemark

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 138 [http://www.rohkost.de/2012/09/rohkost-zwetschgenkompott-mit-vanillesose/#more-8710]

2.3. Entsafter (z.B. Green Star Elite):

- Durch Entsaftung mit kraftvollen, aber langsam drehenden Präzisions-Presswalzen, ist Hitzebildung und Sauerstoffeinwirbelung im Saft minimal, sodass Oxydation verzögert eintritt und schonend gesunde Säfte gewonnen werden. Die hochempfindlichen Enzyme und wertvollen Vitamine bleiben erhalten.

- In den Presswalzen der Green Star-Elite-Saftpresse sind Biokeramik und Magnete zur Optimierung der Saftqualität eingesetzt. Diese „ziehen“ nicht nur mehr Mineralien in den Saft, sondern erhöhen gleichzeitig auch deren Bioverfügbarkeit. Das heißt, Ihr Körper kann die gelösten Mineralien besser aufnehmen und verwerten.

- Nicht nur das Entsaften, auch das Pürieren von frischen oder gefrorenen Früchten (Sorbets) gelingt damit kinderleicht. Besonders köstlich sind Konfekte aus Nüssen und Trockenfrüchten.

- The Green Star is the most versatile juicer on the market today. With the Green Star you can make juice from just about every fruit and vegetable. It has a special system of magnets that create a magnetic field. In this way you can obtain a greater concentration of minerals and you slow the oxidation process, so that all the nutritional value of the juices is retained. Furthermore you can taste the pure flavours of the fresh fruit and vegetables.

Due to the low speed, only a minimum of heat is released which slows down oxidation and the real colour and flavour of the juice is optimally retained.

In addition this machine offers a few accessories with which you can make nuts and fruit pastes, almond or date flour, prepare tofu, soup, purees and much more.

[Quelle: http://www.keimling.de/green-star-elite-saftpresse.html]

Rezepte

Knusprige Kokosmakronen mit der Green Star Elite http://www.rohkost.de/2012/01/kokosmakronen-mit-der-green-star-elite/

Indischer Möhrensaft

- 1kg Möhren

- frisches Fruchtfleisch einer kleinen, reifen Kokosnuss

- 1 Stück Ingwer (2cm)

- 1 Stück Kurkuma (1 cm)

Die Möhren und Kokosnuss in einige cm große Stücke zerteilen (sie sollen in den Einfüllstutzen der Green Star Elite passen). Alle Zutaten abwechselnd durch die Green Star Elite geben

[Quelle: http://www.keimling.de/green-star-elite-saftpresse.html]

2.4. Spiralschneider für Gemüse

Bildquelle: http://www.keimling.de/spiralschneider-le-rouet.html]

[Bildquelle:

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 139 http://www.loveyourkitchen.de/WebRoot/Store14/Shops/63252730/5217/6B63/5A3A/19DA/4AD4/C0A8/28B9/19A0/Bi ldschirmfoto_2013-11-11_um_19.06.34.png]

2.5 Thermomix This appliance created by Vorwerk in 1970 came into being from the idea of being able to make soup in a single device. It was truly revolutionary in the cooking world. The appliance countless cooking techniques: weighing, chopping, mixing, beating, cutting, grinding, grating, kneading, mixing, boiling, and steaming at an unprecedented pace The device is also very user friendly and very easy to maintain, making it the essential partner in the kitchen .

Due to the versatility of this machine you also save yourself a lot of washing up. The only downside to this machine is, for some, the limited capacity of the mixing bowl.

The shape of the mixing bowl, with its 3 ribs and four blades enable this machine to produce the most beautiful purees, creams, mousses etc.

This appliance offers a stress free way to make sauces because the machine does the work for you and even beeps when intervention is required . Even the most complex sauces such as mousseline, zabaglione, béarnaise etc shouldn't be feared, the thermomix makes them for you in a snap.

Making ice cream, sorbets and granitas are also possibilities.

2.6 Röner This device, developed by the Spanish chefs Juan Roca and Nora Cancer is in fact, a hot water bath (bain-marie) with constant temperature and movement in which you can vacuum cook at low (correct) temperatures with the utmost precision

Most food products can be successfully cooked at low temperatures, some exceptions are: Green vegetables, grains, rice and rice products.

Here is an overview of what is possible and the advantages achieved:

● Hard vegetables: very nice results regarding texture and colour, evenly cooked throughout (including vegetables containing starch such as potatoes). The outside is not overcooked and the colours are very nice, e.g. carrots remain bright orange. ● Other vegetables are soft without being so soft that they begin to fall apart. ● The same effect can be achieved with fruit, with the advantage that it retains its colour and shine and above all, a much more intense flavour is obtained.

2.7 Pacojet This Swiss appliance was designed by Wilhelm Maurer who wanted to prepare fruit sorbets without an ice cream maker. Now this device is used all over the world to create sweet and savoury dishes. It is a unique device that can make 100% natural sorbets and ice cream from fresh fruit and fine herbs. It offers incomparable quality, a minimum of time and effort and maximum comfort. Mousses, sauces, powders and creams are also possibilities.

The principle is very simple: the pre-filled cups are frozen to -20C or lower and are placed in the appliance where the special blades shave the frozen food minutely, layer by layer in its frozen state, without defrosting. Because of the velocity, air is introduced and one obtains a soft, extremely smooth texture. If there is a lot of moisture in the recipe it can be pacotized to a powder. The applications are endless.

The pre-freezing ensures that the sugars do not crystallize when turbined. The instant turbining also ensures that products that would otherwise be difficult to work with, can be transformed. The mechanical energy transfer results in a temperature increase of 8 degrees Celsius. A sorbet that is therefore pacotized at -20C can be served at the ideal temperature of -12 °C. An important additional advantage is that the needed portion can be simply scraped off and there is no waste or leftovers. The rest can be refrozen and used next time.

The appliance is also the perfect way to process leftovers.

There are many ways in which you can use the Pacojet:

● Ice Cream (with the basic blade) ○ À la minute (prepared when needed and not in advance) Only the desired portions of ice cream or sorbet are made the advantage being the longer shelf life of the product ○ Ability to prepare sorbets using all fruits, even those with a with low sugar content. ○ The processing of fresh herbs in ice cream or sorbet ○ The processing of chocolate bars, such as mars, snickers,... ○ The creation of powders ○ The preparation of savoury ice cream, such as tomato, cheese,fruit,...

● Pulverize (with basic blade) ○ Pulverising fresh herbs to get the maximum flavour from the product ○ Pulverising fruit and vegetables to a fine puree

● Fine chopping (with 2 piece blade)

○ Making pesto, tapenade etc ○ Making all kinds of stuffings and fillings ○ Making dough for patisserie, e.g. batter

● Whipping (with the disk) ○ Making frothy milk ○ Making airy, sweet or savoury mousses

2. 8 Rotaval This is a rotary evaporator which combines the technique of distillation and low temperature with a vacuum pump. Vacuum conditions offers the rotary evaporator much lower boiling points, which makes it possible to distil and make concentrates from any product, whether it be solid or liquid. Moreover the appliance can also be used to dry, crystallize and even separate solvents.

The device consists of a hot tub (bain-marie) in which the start solution is immersed via a flask, a capacitor with flask and a vacuum pump. Due to the absence of atmospheric pressure the components can leave the liquid more easily. Because of the vacuum, less energy is required to evaporate the liquid (water boils at 100c under atmospheric pressure and at less than 25 °C in a vacuum). The low temperature makes is therefore possible to

The device has several applications:

● To extract the alcohol from alcoholic beverages so that the typical flavour is retained without the alcohol. ● To obtain reductions where cooking and oxidation of the product is avoided ● To impregnate products ● To make marmalades and jams which retain the original taste of the product, without the product being cooked.

2. 9 Ezidri / Excalibur Both are very fast and efficient drying machines that retain the natural flavour, vitamins and up to 95% of the minerals while drying. One can dry all kinds of products at a low temperature without preservatives, salt or sugar. Because of the low temperature they are very economical to use.

Technically seen the heated air is moved through the middle of the trays. The dryer the air, the more efficient it is, and the more water vapour it carries , even under the boiling point of water. That is why the air must also circulate. To understand this better it is important that there is a balance between the ingredient and the surrounding atmosphere. If you place a piece of fruit in a warm, dry environment it will dehydrate and wrinkle. If the air and the ingredient are in balance this transpiration comes to an end. By circulating the warm air in contact with the products you constantly refresh the external atmosphere and as a result more water vapour will leave the product.

The temperature chosen depends on the food, this depends on 2 factors: the quantity of water that the product contains and the volatility of the aromas.

For example:

● Herbs contain many volatile aromas. To safeguard these aromas as much as possible use a temperature of 35 °c for approximately 5 to 6 hours. ● Flours 6 to 10 hours at 50 °C ● Fruit 6 to 10 hours at 50 °C ● Vegetables 8 to 12 hours at 60 °C ● Meat and fish 6 to 8 hours at 60 °C As this is a slow process, oxidation-sensitive products must be protected with lemon juice or a citric acid solution.

This appliance has accessories such as molds and tools to help make crisps in different shapes from fruit purees, vegetables, dried fruit and much more.

2. 10 Gastrovac The Gastrovac is a compact appliance that cooks and impregnates in a vacuum. It is based on the principle of a pressure cooker. It is consists of a 8 litre pot which can be can be hermetically sealed by means of a vacuum pump. Inside low pressure is created and there is an absence of oxygen. In this way the normal preparation time can be

The Gastrovac also has a sponge effect: when the atmospheric pressure is restored, the food absorbs the liquid around it, allowing infinite combinations of food and flavours. The important difference with the rotaval is that here the vapours are not captured, we are working in a closed space which condenses the aromatic components in the container.

Possible applications:

● Vacuum impregnation: most products have a specific structure and porosity. Thanks to the porosity can you create a sponge effect. During the vacuum process the air is removed from the product and disappears. When the pressure is returned to a normal level the product immediately absorbs the moisture in which it finds itself. This method offers many advantages: you used to have to leave a product to marinate for a long time, with this machine you can reduce this time to a minimum and in addition you also have less liquid, herbs and aromatics necessary. The product doesn't lose its structure and the aromas penetrate to the core of the product.

● Vacuum cooking: As was explained earlier, the cooking temperature is lower in a vacuum. As a result vegetables that are cooked, retain more of their texture, they are easier to cook 'al dente' and at the same time they retain their nutritional value and flavours, since less heat is applied to it. In addition, the absence of oxygen ensures that there is no oxidation and the product retains its full natural colour.

● Vacuum frying: Normally when frying the oil or fat in which we frying should reach a temperature of 170 to 180 °C. These high temperatures cause oxidation of the oil and much of useful nutrients of the product are lost. Under low pressure, however, we can fry at 90 °c whereby the shelf life of the frying oil is considerably extended and the products are superior in taste and nutrients are preserved.

● Vacuum smoking: by using this machine one can cold smoke to the core. The procedure is the same as that of the vacuum impregnation.

2. 11 Siphon and Thermowhip The siphon has long been associated with the natural water Seltzer known for its high content of sodium carbonate and minerals. Due to the great success there was a need to develop a replacement product, a natural water enriched with carbon dioxide. This resulted in 1775 in invention of the soda water siphon. In 1950, the siphon was given a different application: making whipped cream: it put about 40% air into liquid cream to fix or solidify it. Instead of air the most neutral gas, nitrogen is used.

In the 90's Ferran Adria gave the siphon a new gastronomic dimension by developing the first espumas. [ For more information on how to improve the binding, take a look at the chapter 2.9 “binding and geling” [Interconnection zu 2.9]By using agar we can even make warm espumas.

The thermowhip is a siphon with thermal insulation. Thanks to this exceptional technology this appliance keeps cold preparations cool and warm preparations hot for several hours. As a result, this appliance offers exceptional ease of use when making for example emulsion sauces, espumas, mousses and even soups in à la carte cuisine.

2. 12 Green egg This is the modern version of the more than 1000 years old Kamados (clay cooking pot) from China and Japan. This This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 143 egg-shaped appliance (barbecue) can bake, boil, smoke and grill. As a result of the heat circulation system taste, smell and colour are optimally preserved. The unique surrounding heat prepares the food more quickly and it remains very tender. The device is manufactured from thick, heat-resistant ceramic that can withstand temperatures above 1000°C. It also has a large insulating capacity making it economical in its use of power.

2. 13 Vacuumizer There are 2 large differences:

● Raw cooking : this technique is mainly used in the better restaurants to allow the product to cook at as low a temperature as possible, in order to ensure optimum structure and as little weight and flavour loss as possible. ● Assembling and pasteurisation: this is a technique that is used by all the major food manufacturers and could also prove interesting for catering businesses. In both cases, it is of the utmost importance that we work meticulously and follow a number of steps.

Procedure

a. Hygiene ● Make sure that your personal hygiene is impeccable. ● Keep the work surface clean and clean the work surface between each step. ● Keep the work area clean and cool. ● Ensure that the vacuum machine is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. ● Keep the vacuum bags in a clean place.

b. Ingredients ● Work only with very fresh products of the highest quality. ● Clean, trim and dress products as thoroughly and quickly as possible. ● Portion everything carefully and try to limit the amount of contact with the raw materials to an absolute minimum. ● Keep all raw materials cool for as long as possible.

c. Preparation ● Blanch the vegetables and cool them. ● Other vegetables should perhaps be fried. (mushrooms) ● Gently fry the fish or meat. ● Make the sauce. ● Cool everything carefully.

d. Vacuum packing ● Fold the edge of the packaging double. ● Assemble the dish: mix all raw materials COLD. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 144 ● Put them into a cooking bag (121 °C). ● Extract the air. (minimum 70 %)

e. Cooking ● This can occur in any moist environment, a steamer, a steam cooker, röner or warm water bath (bain-marie) are ideal. ● Temperature and cooking time depend on the product. ● Take into account the thickness of the bags. ● It is important is to develop a administrative system so that we can keep track of the exact cooking times and temperatures.

f. Cooling ● After cooking, the product must cool as soon as possible. Ideally the product should be cooled to a core temperature of 2 degrees within an hour. ● This can be done in various ways: ○ Quick cooler ○ Ice bath ○ Dry Ice ○ Air Ventilation

g. Labelling ● Each product should be labelled stating:

○ Name of dish ○ Portions or weight ○ Storage Temperature ○ Ingredients ○ Production Date ○ Best before date ○ Regeneration date(only required when selling to third parties)

● Take care that labels are suitable for use in the refrigerator and freezer!

h. Storage ● The end result is kept at maximum temperature of 3 °C. ● Make sure that there is sufficient air circulation. ● Try to ensure that the temperature does not fluctuate too much. ● Do not interrupt the cold chain during transport. ● These dishes can also be stored in the freezer, make sure that they are sealed correctly and are in freezer proof packaging! ● Storage Times:

○ Fruit: maximum 16 days ○ Longer storage times can be determined after lab analysis

h. Regeneration ● Happens, as a rule, just below boiling point. ● In steamer or hot water bath(bain-marie). ● In each case, try to obtain a core temperature of 65 °C as soon as possible. (With the exception of red meat or roasts). ● ATTENTION: regenerated dishes should not be reprocessed (ie refrozen etc)!!! ● We can also remove vacuum cooked dishes from the packaging and regenerate them in the classic way.

Keep a record card of each successful preparation a sheet stating:

● Ingredients ● Preparation ● Vacuum Time ● Temperature and cooking time ● Regeneration method and time

This will allow yourself and your employees to achieve consistent quality!

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