Do you like savoury and spicy foods? How about a lasagne D laden with basil and oregano, or a golden curry infused with turmeric, or rice flavoured with saffron? These special ingredients are the secret of flavouring food. Spices come from many different plants and plant parts, including leaves, seeds, bark and plant oils. Their unique flavours are created by substances called phytochemicals - chemicals made by plants. Many of these chemicals also play important roles in nature, such as protecting the plant against pests or helping plants adapt to changes in the environment around them. Plus, they also have the power to communicate powerfully with our taste buds.
The power of plants
Common kitchen herbs like basil and oregano come from leafy plants. Oils that accumulate in the plants' leaves produce their flavours. When refined, the oils from both of these herbs can be used to help soothe and heal infections, pain and swelling.
Other common spices, such as pepper and red chilli, come from the berries or fruits of plants. Black pepper is made by grinding the small berries, known as peppercorns, from the plant Piper nigrum. Red pepper chilli powder comes from ground-up dried chillies - small, hot-tasting fruits that grow on low bushes.
Turmeric comes from another plant part - the rhizomes, (underground stems) of the flowering plant Curcuma longa. Rhizomes are often confused with roots, but they are more like stems that grow sideways underground and help the plant spread. A relative of ginger - another rhizome-derived spice - turmeric is beautifully orange and is used in a range of cooking, particularly those delicious aromatic curries.
Worth its weight Saffron comes from the red-coloured, threadlike stigmas of the crocus plant. The stigma is the part of a flower that receive...
The power of plants
Common kitchen herbs like basil and oregano come from leafy plants. Oils that accumulate in the plants' leaves produce their flavours. When refined, the oils from both of these herbs can be used to help soothe and heal infections, pain and swelling.
Other common spices, such as pepper and red chilli, come from the berries or fruits of plants. Black pepper is made by grinding the small berries, known as peppercorns, from the plant Piper nigrum. Red pepper chilli powder comes from ground-up dried chillies - small, hot-tasting fruits that grow on low bushes.
Turmeric comes from another plant part - the rhizomes, (underground stems) of the flowering plant Curcuma longa. Rhizomes are often confused with roots, but they are more like stems that grow sideways underground and help the plant spread. A relative of ginger - another rhizome-derived spice - turmeric is beautifully orange and is used in a range of cooking, particularly those delicious aromatic curries.
Worth its weight Saffron comes from the red-coloured, threadlike stigmas of the crocus plant. The stigma is the part of a flower that receive...
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The Week Junior Science+nature Uk (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 67