FSM 101

Lesson III - The Principles Involve in Food Selection, Preparation, and

Cooking

Food Seasonings

It bring out the flavors in food and complementary tastes, all to enhance the eating experience. It add zest to our
food. Filipinos have traditionally used varied spices, herbs and various other seasonings to enhance the flavor of our native
dishes. Some regional food use them a greater extent than do others. For spices, cooking by Muslims and Bicolano’s make
use of a good number of spices and herbs which Indonesians and Malaysians also use.
A seasoning is anything you add to your food to enhance the flavour that can be salt, pepper, herbs, spices, and
even citrus like lemon juice. Like so many things, there`s a right way to season your food and a wrong way. Food is
nothing without spices, and every country has its own preferred ones. It's these unique combinations that give different
cuisines their uniqueness.
Salt - is the most common seasoning. It is available as solar salt, fine grained table salt or iodized salt. Salt may
also be combined with other seasonings to make garlic salt, celery salt, smoke salt and seasoned salt. Salt may also be used
in making pickles or in curing meat and fish.
Spices- are pungent or aromatic natural products of vegetable origin used as a food flavorings.
Herbs- are flowering plants white stem above the ground does not become woody and persistent. Their aromatic
dried leaves are used as flavoring.
Salt & Pepper
The two most fundamental and widely used spices are salt and pepper. Typically what people think of when
speaking of salt and pepper is white, granulated salt and pre-ground black pepper. But these are far from the only kinds of
salt and pepper that exist.

Herbs and Spices

Herbs are usually the fresh or dried leaves of succulent plants that tend to grow in particularly temperate climates.
Spices generally refer to any seasoning made from the other parts of the plant besides the leaves, including the roots, stems,
bark, seeds, fruit or buds.

Different Parts of Plant may be used as seasoning

Bark – cassia and cinnamon
Buds and Flowers- caper, clove and saffron
Leaves- basil bay leaf, chevil, chives, fennel, lemon grass, marjoram, mint, oregano, pandan, parsley, rosemary
Seeds- all spice, anise caraway, cardamon, chili, pepper, corrander, cumin, dill, fennel, mace, mustard, nutmeg, pepper and
sesame
Roots- ginger and turmeric
Combination of these parts- spices could of course be blended to make such interesting variations as chili seasonings, chili
powder and curry powder.

Functions of food seasoning to food preparation

Adding spices to food is a good idea for many reasons. For starters, spices contribute rich flavour to food without
adding any calories, fat, sugar or salt. In addition, research is showing that spices contribute to health just as much as fruits
and vegetables, providing anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-bacterial and anti-virus properties. Most spices are
flavorful and strong in taste and aroma, so a little goes a long way. You want the spices in your food to enhance the dish
you are preparing rather than overpowering it. Spices don`t just make your food taste good, they`re important for your
overall health, too. Ginger and turmeric have anti-inflammatory properties, while caraway, cumin, digestion and can help
with weight management. Adding different spices to your meals and snacks can help spice things up the right way.

Seasonings or Spices and Plant parts being used

Black and White Pepper- are both obtained from the small dried berry of the vine Piper nigrum. For Black
Pepper, the berries are picked while still green, allowed to ferment and are then sun-dried until they shrivel and turn a
brownish-black color. They have a hot, piney taste.

USES:
Black Pepper adds flavor to almost every food of every nation in the world. It is used in rubs, spice blends, salad dressings,
and peppercorn blends.

Cinnamon- is the dried inner bark of various evergreen trees belonging to the genus Cinnamomum. At harvest, the bark is
stripped off and put in the sun, where it curls into the familiar form called "quills.”

USES:
Cinnamon in the ground form is used in baked dishes, with fruits, and in confections. Cassia is predominant in the spice
blends of the East and Southeast Asia. Cinnamon is used in moles, garam masala, and berbere.

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Cloves- are the dried, unopened, nail-shaped flower buds of the evergreen Syzygium aromaticum. They are reddish-brown
in color and have a strong, aromatic flavor and aroma.

USES:
Cloves are an important ingredient in the spice blends of Sri Lanka and North India. They are used in garam masala,
biryanis, and pickles. In the U.S., cloves are used in meats, salad dressings, and desserts. Clove is a key flavor contributor
to ketchup and Worchestershire sauce seasoning blends. Chinese and German seasonings also depend on Cloves to flavor
meats and cookies.

Ginger- is the dried knobby shaped root of the perennial herb Zingiber officinale. The plant grows two to three feet tall.
Once the leaves of the plant die, the thick roots, about 6 inches long, are dug up. Crystallized Ginger is fresh gingerroot
cooked in syrup and dried.

USES:
Ginger is used in Indian curries, and Chinese, Japanese, and European spice blends.

Food Seasoning uses in Culinary Arts

In the culinary arts, the word spice refers to any dried part of a plant, other than the leaves, used for seasoning and
flavoring a recipe, but not used as the main ingredient. Why not the leaves? Because the green leafy parts of plants used in
this way are considered herbs. Every other part of the plant, including dried bark, roots, berries, seeds, twigs, or anything
else that isn't the green leafy part, is considered a spice. Today, India produces about 75% of the world's spices. They even
created the Indian Institute of Spices Research devoted to the study of spices.

Examples of Spices:

Cinnamon is the bark of a tree.

Cardamom is a seed pod.
Allspice is a dried berry.
Cloves are dried flower buds.
These are all examples of spices. Note too that spices are used in dried form while herbs can be used either fresh or dried.
Tips for Cooking With Spices:
One thing to keep in mind when cooking with spices is that spices start to lose their flavor when they are ground. So
whenever possible, it's best to grind your own spices immediately before using them, rather than using spices that are
already ground. You can use a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle for this purpose. If you do decide to use a coffee grinder
you might want to use one only for spices and one for coffee beans so as not to accidentally flavor your morning brew!.

Kinds of sauces used as food seasoning

One of the best parts about trying different food is experimenting with different sauces to see what tastes amazing and what
does not. Check out some of these sauces and their recipes that are perfect to try on any meal by adding a variety of flavors
like spicy, tangy, sweet and rich.

1. Hot Sauce
If you’re a lover of hot sauce, then you probably know that it can heighten the taste level of any and every food dish. While
purchasing hot sauce is great, some people say brands like Tabasco and Sriracha aren’t the hottest available hot sauce out
there. This sauce can easily be made from scratch and you can control the level of spice.

2. Barbecue Sauce
Barbecue sauce is always a good sauce to add flavor to just about anything from fried foods or grilled meat.

3. Adobo-Honey Sauce
Even with honey in the title, this sauce has a little bit of everything from sweet, spicy, rich, tangy and creamy. This
versatile sauce can also be sprinkled or dowsed in salads, veggies, and all types of meat. Perfect for Latin and South
American cuisines, adobo-honey sauce is the perfect addition to your sauce collection.

4. Garlic Sauce
Anyone who loves garlic will enjoy the fresh taste of homemade garlic sauce. It is a light sauce that can add a hint of zest
to any meal.

5. Marinara Sauce
Normally, marinara sauce is used on pasta and just about anything related to Italian cuisine and seafood. It is simple
enough to make at home as well.

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Flavor Potentiators or Enhancers
While herbs and spices have pronounced flavors of their own, flavor potentiates or enhancers emphasize or accent the
natural flavor other foods.
1. Monosodium Glutamate– is the first flavor potentiators discovered by a Japanese researcher in 1908. MSG is available
for home use in purified form and is often used to blend the flavors of meat, seafood and vegetables.
2. Nucleotides – this flavor potentiator was also discovered by Japanese. Nucleus are formed from nucleic acids which is
present in the nucleus of all living things. This product is used to enhance the flavor of soups, sauces, gravies and it is
capable of replacing past of the beef extracts in some products. It also gives body and smoothness to foods.
3. Food color - It is used to improve and modify the color of foods. They must be certified to pass rigid test and must be
certified to be safe for human consumption. When they have been found to be safe, they are referred to as “certified
colors”.
Some Important criteria for an ideal food color are:
1. It must have regulated contents of arsenic, lead and copper.
2. It must be available in pure form.
3. It must be able to withstand temperature ranging from -10 to 110° or greater
4. It must be stable within the pH range of 2 to 8.
5. It must be stable to light on prolonged storage.
6. It must resist oxidation and reduction.
7. Its color strength must be capable of standardization.
Color of food may be due to naturally occuring pigment in the plant or animal tissues or it can be due to added color.
The main pigment of plants is classified as: Carotenoids, chlorophylls, Anthocyanins, Anthoxanthins. Most of the plant
pigments are formed in the plastids.
TYPES OF FOOD COLORS
1. Natural Colors – Among the natural sources of food colors are turmeric, annatto, leaf chlorophyll, paprika or
pimiento, enjoys the advantage of contributing to the nutritional quality of the food in which is added. It is also the
most stable under ordinary cooking conditions but is more soluble in oil than water.
2. Synthetic Colors – are available as fat –soluble dyes and water – soluble lakes. One must guard against use of
certain coloring such as the rhodamine, a red food coloring which is banned by FDA but may be still be used to
color tocino.
Color additives are two kinds: Natural and Synthetic. Natural colors use extract from the achuete plants, betaine
red color comes from beets. Caramel, a brown color is obtained from heating sugar. Carotenes are extracted from carrots,
chlorophyll from leaves of plants, turmeric from the turmeric root and, cochine al (reds) from a dried insect (coccus catli).
The caroteroid material from the shells of shrimps and crabs are also extracted for use as food colors.
Artificial Colors are coloring materials synthesized in laboratories. Safety of artificial food coloring has long been
suspected by consumer advocates, so it is prudent to refrain from using such synthetic food coloring especially in home
prepared foods.
Following is a List of Natural and Synthesized Food Colors
Natural Food Colors
Annatto extract Beet powder Beta carotene Beta apo Carotenal
Canthaxanthin Carrot oil Caramel Carmine/colchineal
Curcumin Fruit juice Vegetable juice Grape skin extract
Paprika Saffron Turmeric
Synthetic Food Colors
Allura Red – FD & C No. 40 Amaranth - FD & C Red No. 2 Brilliant Black
Chocolate Brown Brilliant Blue Citrus Red 2
Fast Green – FD & Green No. 3 Indigotine - FD & C Blue No. 1 Orange B
Sunset Yellow – FD & C Yellow No. 6 Tartrazine – FD & C Yellow No. 5 Erythrosine – FD & C Red No. 3

Additional Reading and References

Flores, E. N. (2014). Food Selection Preparation and Cooking. 2nd Edition. Wiseman’s Book Trading, Inc. Philippines.
Reyes, Ruth Estrada J. (2017). Culinary arts and sciences. Unlimited Books Library services and Publishing Inc.
Roque, N. L. and Siggaoat, J. P. (2015). Commercial Cookery NC Level 2. JFS Publishing Services. Manila, Philippines.