Restaurants are giving artificial flavouring agents a miss over natural ones like green tea and applesauce
A galore of flavours have been used to enrich food dished from time immemorial. With new flavours coming up each day, natural flavourants still remain classic and find a place in every chef’s menu. Natural flavour is nothing but an essential oil, essence or extractive, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavouring constituents derived from spices, fruits, vegetables or herbs, meats, seafoods, poultry, eggs, dairy products, et al.
Rose water
Water made by steeping rose petals in water, rose water is heavily used in Indian, Persian and Middle-eastern cuisine, especially in desserts, to lend a distinctive flavour profile to the dishes.
Vanilla Bean
It is an ingredient found in every household and used in baking. Vanilla is a flavor derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, from the Mexican species flat-leaved vanilla.
Applesauce
Made from pureed apples, applesauce gives a sweet flavour and is used in making desserts. In England and Sweden, it is served as an accompaniment to the main course.
Coconut
Fresh coconut, cut coconut and coconut milk are all natural flavourants that one can find at home. It adds a different texture to the dish and is used in cuisines all over the world.
Green tea
Made from the leaves from Camellia sinensis, green tea is featured in a lot of dishes. Green tea flavoured mains and desserts have started popping up in chefs menus at famous restaurants.
Turmeric
A staple in every Indian household, turmeric is a natural flavouring agent that gives a bitter flavour to the dish. Mostly used in savoury dishes, using turmeric for culinary purposes is most common in South Asian and Middle-eastern dishes.
Stock
In basic terms, stock is the strained liquid that is the result of cooking vegetables, meat or fish and other seasoning ingredients in water. Stock is used extensively in cooking as it is enriched with flavours. Most soups begin with a stock of some kind, and many sauces are based on reduced stocks.
Honey
Over its history in the culinary world, honey has been used in cooking, baking, desserts and as an addition to various beverages, such as tea, and as a sweetener in some commercial beverages.