Culinary contributions

People around the world enjoy Africa s culinary contributions. These include the peanut Arachis hypogaea, Fabaceae), yam (Dioscorea spp., Dioscoreaceae), watermelon Citrullus lanatus, Cucurbitaceae), okra Abelmoschus esculentus, Malvaceae) and many other foods and flavors. In North America and in many other parts of the world there is little recognition of the many contributions that Africa has made to modem culture, i.e., perhaps beyond the domain of etlmobotanists and pharmacognosists. 

The contribution from deposition of airborne lead on soil and crops to lead in diets is estimated to be between 13% and 31% for children. For individual plants a high percentage of lead may derive from aerial deposition (40-100%). Where crops are contaminated by lead from the air and soil, much of this may be removed by washing and other normal culinary practices. 

Figure 10.6 shows fluorescence emission spectra of lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA) (a) (Lmax = 330 nm), of inaccessible Trp residues (b) (A.max = 324 nm) obtained by extrapolating to [I-] = oo, and of quenched Trp residues (c) obtained by subtracting spectrum (b) from spectrum (a). The emission maximum of accessible Trp residues is located at 345 nm, a characteristic of emission from Trp residues near the protein surface. Thus, both classes of Trp residues contribute to the fluorescence spectrum of LCA (Albani 1996). The presence of five Trp residues makes the analysis by the modified Stern-Volmer equation very approximate nevertheless, a selective quenching method allows the percentage of accessible fluorophores to the quencher to be determined. 

Garlic, Allium sativum L., is a species in the onion family, Alliaceae. Onion, shallot, and leek are close relatives. Garlic has been used throughout history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has a pungent hot sensation that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking. A large number of sulfur compounds contribute to the smell and taste of members of the onion family. Diallyl disulfide and diallyl sulfide are... 

Dietary fat serves several important nutritional functions. It is the source of essential fatty acids. Members of the n-6 and n-3 (also known as the co-6 and co-3) families of fatty acids are important constituents of cell membranes and serve as precursors of eicosanoids (biologically active compounds such as prostaglandins, thromboxanes, prostacyclins, and leukotrienes). Fat also serves as a carrier for the fat-soluble vitamins, and it is important source of energy. In addition, it has important culinary properties and contributes to the palatability of food. 

Base notes contribute to the intrinsic taste of culinary products. This can be achieved by using basic savoury ingredients such as meat extract, bone-stock, yeast extract, fermented soy sauce, wheat gluten sauce, vegetable powders, herbs and spices. They provide a complex mixture of taste-active and taste-modifying compounds, some of them still unknown, in a typical and balanced composition. The basic taste can be... 

The flavour pyramid of culinary dishes, as introduced in chapter 5.4.1, is a simple scheme for visualising and organising the role and contribution of various commercial products to the taste of a culinary dish. We conclude our excursion into the world of the flavours of dehydrated convenience food and kitchen aids by illustrating the flavour pyramid of culinary dishes with some typical examples of commercial products from the three categories bouillon, fixes and sauces and seasoning in Fig. 5.60. 

These essential nutrients must be maintained at present levels or improved as the plant breeder attempts to develop carrots of better culinary quality. Other components of carrots, those that contribute to the plant s defense against damage, disease, and insects, must be monitored to ensure that they do not increase or decrease to a troublesome level. Therefore, today more than ever, the plant breeder and chemist need to cooperate in developing new varieties. 

Typical examples of flavonoid herbs examined by HPLC or CE have already been described in a previous contribution of this volume series [11]. This chapter aims to describe three mass techniques, the electrospray ionization MS, (ESI-MS), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization MS (APCI-MS), and ion trap MS (ITMS) techniques, and their application to the analysis of flavonoids in some standardized herbal extracts with proven therapeutic efficacy. In addition, the flavonoid composition of some commonly consumed vegetables with aromatic or savory properties (culinary herbs) is described. 

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) (bottom) and the frontispiece of his monumental contribution to the art of gastronomy. Savarin spent 2 years in America (as a refugee from the French revolution), initially in New York, where he taught language and played violin in an orchestra at the John Street theatre. Because New York failed to satisfy his intellectual and culinary tastes, he subsequently moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he spent 2 years becoming familiar with American culture (sic) and food before returning to France. He believed that the chemical nature of food profoundly influenced human physiology and emotional behavior. 

It is reasonable to suppose that small amounts of terpenes are absorbed and metabolized continuously in the body, since many of them are components of essential oils and of various herbs and plants used for medicinal or culinary purposes. These products no doubt contribute to a slight extent to the normal output of glucuronic acid, although no report was found in the literature that terpene derivatives or their glucuronosides are found in the normal urine. Those members of the group that are commonly used in pharmaceutical preparations have received considerable investigation and an increase in the urinary output of glucuronic acid has been found to occur almost invariably when these compounds are administered to experimental animals. 

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