A Little Word Told Me

With the increasing awareness among consumers about nutrition and healthy diet, a lot of people have started to see sugar as a devil, but if you ask me, I’ll say it is like an angel in disguise. If I randomly ask you about  what is the role of sugar in food , it is highly probable that you’ll say sugar makes food taste sweet. While sugar is primarily known as a sweetener, you cannot put it in a box.  Sugar is like an Indian movie star; it is versatile. For those of you who are not familiar with Indian movies or actors, I would tell you that the actors in India are not just actors; they are dancers, entrepreneurs, marketers and sometimes singers too. Similarly, sugar is a multi-talented ingredient in the realm of food. Here are a few of the other talents sugar has. It can balance flavours. Aside from increasing sweetness, sugar is also used to enhance, lessen or balance the flavour of ingredients naturally present in food. It contributes to the flavour profile by inte...

Well, it depends on what and why you are measuring. People who cook, bake or just work with a lot of powdered ingredients in the food are always conscious of what and how much of it they put in their recipes. These food magicians often enjoy mundane activities like grocery shopping and selecting the right box to buy to fill their pantry shelves. No one wants to compromise with the taste. But a lot of people are always ready to compromise on the price. And why shouldn’t we? Saving money is a definite way to bring joy. Hence, whenever a company introduces a product in the market, similar to one we were using before, and offer the same quantity at a lower price, most of us prefer to switch to these money-saving brands. But are you sure that you are saving money in this process? Let’s take an example of health drinks powder like Horlicks, Bournvita or Protinex. Even though these items are listed under the category ‘Health Drinks’ on Amazon, most of us use it as taste modifier in o...

The reaction that makes Kulfi a unique flavourful feast Every year during summers, I, like my mother, and her mother before her, used to wait for the Kulfiwala (Kulfi Seller) to arrive in our street in the evening and the moment we heard him shouting his arrival, we would step out of our home to greet him and buy kulfis to treat our sweet tooth. There’s no denying its power to tempt and make people fall in love with it. For those of you who are not familiar with this term, ‘kulfi’ is a popular Indian frozen dessert made from simple ingredients such as milk, table sugar and cardamom seeds ( elaichi) . You can also add nuts (and other ingredients) to the recipe.   But have you ever wondered why traditional Kulfi, which is made from milk that is white in colour, is light brown or cream in colour? And why does kulfi tastes so much better than milk? The most common method to make kulfi is a batch cooking process.   In this process, you heat the milk up to the boiling point (...