6 New Ingredients You Probably Haven't Tried
By Nicola Lando
-
November 1st, 2019
Now you can make blue corn tortillas! The blue cornflour isn't just a different colour to normal masa harina, it also has a different flavour. Serve blue tortillas Mexican streetfood style with cuitlacoche & courgette or squash flowers.
Made from the juice of unripe and unfermented grapes, this verjuice is sweet and floral, with a very gentle acidity - use when lemon juice or vinegar might be too tart. This makes the verjuice a great ingredient for deglazing pans, or introducing a little acidity to cut through a rich sauce.
A favourite of Modernist chefs, N-Zorbit lets you make instant ‘soils’. It’s famous as an ingredient in kombu, anchovy & grapeseed oil sand for Heston Blumenthal’s Sound of the Sea. Though perhaps start off with making peanut butter powder, or olive oil soil.
China’s Sichuan pepper gives your mouth an icy ‘prickle’ sensation – and this infused oil intensifies it! Drizzle over Chinese dishes, experiment with a tiny dash over seafood, or even shaken in a cocktail.
Japan’s umeboshi plums bring a salty sour kick to your cooking. So loved in Japan, they were eaten to restore a Samurai’s strength after battle. During the day, we add a dot of umeboshi paste to onigiri rice balls. And in the evenings we love a dash stirred into a gin Collins cocktail.
Yes, insects are edible. And with a staggering 69% protein, you could say these crickets are a superfood! Sprinkle over tacos or guacamole, or even carrots with hummous a wholesome snack.
About the author
After a stage as a chef at a London Michelin-starred restaurant Nicola became obsessed with seeking the best flavours from around the world. She started Sous Chef in 2012, and is always sharing her knowledge of ingredients and writing recipes to showcase those products. Learning from the products, Sous Chef's suppliers and her travels, Nicola has written the majority of the recipes on the Sous Chef website, all of which are big on flavour.
