1. Lemon
The lemon is
a small tree (Citrus limon) that is green even
in the winter.
It came from Asia,
and is also the name of the tree's oval-shaped yellow
fruit. The fruit is used for cooking and other things in the world – usually
for its juice.
People do not know for
sure where lemons have come from. However, most people think that lemons first
grew in India,
northern Burma,
and China. The lemon is
the common name for Citrus limon. A lemon is a yellow citrus fruit. It is
related to the orange. Lemon juice is about 5% citric
acid, and has a pH of 2 to 3.
Lemon plants vary in size yet stay generally
small. The tallest height they can get is about 6meters tall.
Lemons taste sour.
The juice,
zest, and pulp are often used in cooking, often on fish and
other meat for better taste. Lemon is also used to flavour drinks, such as lemonade or soft
drinks
Lemon juice, rind, and
zest are used in a wide variety of foods and drinks. Lemon juice is used to
make lemonade, soft drinks,
andcocktails.
It is used in marinades for fish, where its acid neutralizes amines in fish
by converting them into nonvolatile ammonium salts,
and meat, where the acid partially hydrolyzes tough
collagen fibers, tenderizing the meat, but the low pH denatures the
proteins, causing them to dry out when cooked. Lemon juice is frequently used
in the United Kingdom to add to pancakes,
especially onShrove Tuesday.
Lemon juice is also
used as a short-term preservative on certain foods that tend to oxidize
and turn brown after being sliced (enzymatic browning), such as apples, bananas,
and avocados, where its acid denatures the enzymes.
Lemon juice and rind
are used to make marmalade, lemon curd and lemon
liqueur. Lemon slices and lemon rind are used as agarnish for
food and drinks. Lemon zest,
the grated outer rind of the fruit, is used to add flavor to baked goods,
puddings, rice, and other dishes.
The leaves of the lemon
tree are used to make a tea and for preparing cooked meats and seafoods.
Source :
2. Paprika
Paprika is a
powdered, generally orange-red to deep blood-red spice made
typically from grinding the dried pods of sweet red bell
peppers (Capsicum annuum). It is used as a seasoning and garnish is
many culinary dishes. In addition, in many European countries, the name paprika
also refers to bell peppers themselves, either the plant or
just the bell-shaped fruit.
As a spice made from bell peppers, including green bell peppers as well,
paprika tends to be mild. However, the term paprika sometimes is extended to include
some pungent and hot spices made from hot peppers as well.
This powdered seasoning
is used to add color and flavor to many dishes, and is particularly
popular in Hungarian cuisine, where it is a maintstay flavoring
(Herbst 2001). It offers a unique culinary experience and when prepared by
naturally drying the fruits, rather than the high heat of commercial
preparations, it also offers a very rich source of vitamin
C.
Bell pepper is the
common name for a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum. These plantsare
characterized by edible, bell-shaped fruits that
have a glossy exterior of different, vivid colors, including red, yellow,
orange, green, purple, brown, and black (GMF 2008). They tend to be plump,
bell-shaped vegetables with three or four lobes (GMF 2008). These
cultivars sometimes are lumped together with other varieties of Capsicum
annuum known as sweet peppers. Bell peppers contain a recessive gene that
eliminates capsaisin, the alkaloid that causes "hotness" in other
plants in the genus Capsicum.
The bell-shaped fruit
of Capsicum plants have a variety of names depending on place and
type. In many European and some other countries, they are called paprika, and
sometimes referred to by their color. For example, the Dutch words "groene
paprika" and "gele paprika" refer to green and yellow fruits,
respectively. Likewise, in Hungarian German, Polish, Japanese, and Korean, the word
"paprika" is used for the fruits, either the bell
pepper or even hot pepper, of which the spices are made.
However, paprika more
commonly refers to the powdered spice made from various capsicum fruit. A spice is
any dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or
other part of a herbaceous or
woody plant used in nutritionally insignificant
quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavoring, or
sometimes as a preservative. Paprika as a spice is a powder made by drying and
grinding the pods of bell peppers, typically the pods of red peppers (Herbst
2001). The seeds are removed from the pods, the pods dried, and then ground.
Because the pods are quite tough, several grindings may be necessary to produce
a powder with proper texture (Herbst 2001).
The paprika spice generally
ranges in color from deep blood-red to bright orange-red, and the spice tends
to be mild. However, more pungent and hot forms of spice called
"paprika" also are known (Herbst 2001), although these hot varieties
are not actually made from bell peppers, but rather chili peppers.
Paprika is used as an
ingredient in a broad variety of dishes throughout the world, and is
particularly popular in Hungary and neighboring countries. Hungarian cuisine
has used paprika for a long time as a mainstay flavoring rather than only as a
garnish (Herbst 2001). It also is integral in Mexican and Portuguese cuisines
(GMF 2008). Paprika is essential for the flavoring of Louisiana Creole dishes
(GMF 2008).
Paprika (known as pimentón in Spain, colorau in Portugal,
and chiltoma in Nicaragua—but
these "paprikas" are not made exclusively from bell peppers, other
varieties are used, and there are several hot and sweet "paprikas")
is principally used to season and color rices, stews, and soups, such as
goulash. In Spain, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey,
and Portugal, paprika is also used in the preparation of sausages as an
ingredient that is mixed with meats and other spices. Paprika may be smoked for
additional flavor.
Paprika is unusually
high in vitamin C. The capsicum peppers used for paprika contain
six to nine times as much vitamin C as tomatoes by weight. Hungary's Albert
Szent-Györgyi, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in
1937 partially for his work with vitamin C, used paprika as a source of vitamin
C in 1932 (NLM). This was no problem given that he was working in Szeged, the
paprika capital of Hungary.
High heat leaches the
vitamins from peppers, thus commercially-dried peppers are not as nutritious as
those dried naturally in the sun.
Source :
3. Parsley
Parsley is a popular
culinary and medicinal herb recognized as one of the functional food for its
unique antioxidants, and disease preventing properties. This small leafy herb
is native to the Mediterranean region. It is a biennial plant belonging to the Apiaceae family,
of the genus; Petroselinum. Its botanical name isPetroselinum crispum.
The herb is a small
plant featuring dark-green leaves that resemble coriander leaves,
especially in the case of flat-leaf parsley. However, its leaves are larger by
size and milder in flavor than that of leaf-coriander. The herb is widely
employed in Mediterranean, East European, and American cuisine.
There exist several
cultivars of parsley growing across the Europe. Italian or flat leaf
parsley (Petroselinum crispum neapolitanum) is well-known around
Mediterranean countries and has rather more intense flavor than curly leaf
parsley.
Mitsuba (Cryptotaenia
japonica) is a garnish herb used in Japan and China as an alternative to
parsley. It has similar flavor and appearance to that of European flat-leaf
parsley.
Health Benefits of
Parsley
Parsley is one of low
calorific herb. 100 g of fresh leaves carry just 36 calories. Additionally, its
leaves hold zero cholesterol and fat, but rich in antioxidants, vitamins,
minerals, and dietary fiber. On the whole, the herb helps in controlling blood
cholesterol and may offer protection against free radical-mediated injury and
cancers.
Parsley contains health
benefiting essential volatile oils that include myristicin, limonene,
eugenol, and α-thujene.
The essential oil, Eugenol, present
in this herb has been in therapeutic application in dentistry as a local
anesthetic and antiseptic agent for teeth and gum diseases. Eugenol has
also been found to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics; however, further
detailed studies required to establish its role.
Parsley is rich in
polyphenolic flavonoid antioxidants, including apiin, apigenin,
crisoeriol, and luteolin;and has been rated as one of the plant sources with
quality antioxidant activities. Total ORAC value, which measures the
antioxidant strength of 100 g of fresh, raw parsley, is 1301 µmol TE (Trolox
equivalents).
The herb is a good
source of minerals like potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, and
magnesium. 100 g fresh herb provides 554 mg or 12% of daily required levels of
potassium. Potassium is the chief component of cell and body fluids that helps
control heart rate and blood pressure by countering pressing effects of sodium.
Iron is essential for the production of heme, which is a critical
oxygen-carrying component inside the red blood cells. The human body uses
manganese as co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase.
Additionally, the herb
is also rich in many antioxidant vitamins, including vitamin-A,
β-carotene, vitamin-C, vitamin-E, zeaxanthin, lutein, and cryptoxanthin.
The herb is an excellent source of vitamin-K and folates. Zeaxanthin helps
prevent age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) in the retina (eye) in the
elderly population through its antioxidant and ultraviolet light filtering
functions.
Fresh herb leaves are
also rich in many essential vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5),
riboflavin (vitamin B-2), niacin (vitamin B-3), pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) and
thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins play a vital role in carbohydrate, fat
and protein metabolism by acting as co-enzymes inside the human body.
It is, perhaps, the
richest herbal source of vitamin-K; provide 1640 µg or 1366% of recommended
daily intake. Vitamin K has been found to have the potential role in bone
health by promoting osteoblastic activity in the bones. It also has an
established role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease patients by limiting
neuronal damage in their brain.
Wonderful! Humble
parsley has just 36 calories/100 g, but their phyto-nutrients profile is no
less than any high-calorie food sources.
This unique herb
provides:
38% of folates,
220% of vitamin C,
281% of vitamin A,
1366% of vitamin K,
14% of calcium,
77.5% of iron and
5561 mcg of zeaxanthin.
5054 mcg of carotene-beta
(Note: the values are in % of RDA per 100 g (RDA-Recommended daily allowance))
