Glossary Recipes O!

 
 A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavour, colour, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth.Spices, however, are dried and often ground or grated into a powder.

 
 Many of these substances are also used for other purposes, such as medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery or eating as vegetables. For example, turmeric is also used as a preservative; liquorice as a medicine; garlic as a vegetable. In some cases they are referred to by different terms.

 
 Contents: Octopus | Olive | Onion seeds | Opal basil | Orecchiette | Oat Straw | Oriental Waterplantain | Ox-Knee Root | Ostrea gigas | Ocimum sanctum | Olea europaea | Onosma bracteatum | Operculina turpethum | Orchis mascula | Origanum marjorana | Oroxylum indicum |

 
  Octopus:An eight armed cephalopod found worldwide in warm seawater. The tentacles and head flesh of larger animals are usually cooked after pounding to soften the tissues.

 
  Olive:Botanical Name:olive
The oval fruit of a long-living evergreen tree "Olea europa" which grows in areas with hot summers and cool winters. The fruits, up to 4 cm long, are green when unripe and turn black when fully ripe. Both green and black olives are eaten raw, the green after treatment. Both kinds may be fermented in a 10% brine. The black are often partially dried and stored in oil. The fully ripe black olives are the source of olive oil.

 
  Onion seeds:Used in India as a spice, often fried with vegetables.

 
  Opal basil:Botanical Name:opal basil
A variety of basil with a heavy perfumed scent.

 
  Orecchiette:Botanical Name:orecchiette
Small ear shaped or shell-like pasta shapes (Italian)

 
  Oregano:Botanical Name:Oregano
A more aromatic and strongly-flavored herb "Oregano vulgare" than the marjorams. It has a slightly sprawling habit and white or pink flowers. Available dried or fresh and used with meat, sausages, in salads and in many Italian dishes.

 
  Oat Straw:Botanical Name:Avena sativa, A. fatua
English Name:Oat Straw Flower Tops
Common Name:Groats, Haber, Hafer, Oatmeal
The herb known as oat straw refers to the whole plant, including the leaves and stems. These parts of the plant are dried and chopped, and used in both internal and external forms by traditional herbalists. The grain itself is harvested in late summer, and milled to produce oatmeal and oatbran. Oatmeal, the ground grain, has a high silica content, and can be used externally for skin problems. Oat bran, produced from the coarse husks of the grain, is helpful for reducing cholesterol levels.

 
  Oriental Waterplantain:Botanical Name:Tuber of Alismatis (Aisma orientalis.Sam.Juzep.)
English Name:Oriental Waterplantain Rhizome
Scientific name:Alisma plantago-aquatica
Common Name:Common waterplantain
Alisma, the Latin name for water plantain and ancient Greek name, adopted by Linnaeus from Dioscorides. Perhaps itself derived from the Celtic, alias, "water" plantago-aquatica, from the Latin, plantago, "plantain", and aquatica, "in water"; hence, "water plantain". The name Plantago is a misnomer, applied by early botanists impressed with the similarity of its leaves to those of the plantain, while ignoring the many significant dissimilarities (flower, fruit, etc.).

 
  Ox-Knee Root:Botanical Name:Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae
English Name:dry root of Achyranthes bidentata Bl.
Common Name:Achyranthes bidentata; Sichuan Ox Knee Root(Szechwan Ox-Knee Root); Cyathula Root; Chuan Niu Xi;Niu Xi;China Niu Xi.
The root of Achyranthes bidentata Blume., a perennial plant, of the family Amaranthaceae. Native to east Asia, the plant is grown in forest edges, the sides of streams and shrubberies in China,India, and Java.

 
  Oriental garlic chives:Botanical Name:Allium tuberosum Rottler
English Name:Chinese chives, Chinese leek, garlic chives, Oriental garlic, Oriental garlic chives.
Common Name:Chinese Leek,Chinese Chives.
The Chinese Leek, also known as Chinese Chive, has a long history in Chinese kitchens as well as the medicine cabinet. Both of the varieties described below have a delicate garlic-chive flavor. The leaves can be prepared in stir-fries, egg dishes, meat or fish dishes, or even by themselves. The oriental people make a tempura snack by tying the leaves into a bundle, dipping them in batter, and deep-frying them. The pretty, star-like white flowers make this herb an attractive addition to the garden. If they're not being used in a vase on the table, the flowers and flower buds can be part of your meal. The flowering stems retain their color when cooked and can be steamed as you might prepare asparagus. Flower buds are tasty in a salad, dressed with a little oil. In Asia, the flowers are sometimes ground into a spice.

 
  Ostrea gigas:Botanical Name:Concha Ostrea
English Name:Ostrea(Crassostrea)gigas
Shell of Ostrea gigas In elongated pieces, dorsal and ventral edges almost parallel, 10~50 cm long, 4~15 cm high. The right shell relatively small, scales strong and thick, arranged in laminated or laminating striated order. The outer surface smooth or with several depressions. Pale purple, grayish-white or yellowish-brown; the inner surface porcelain white, without denticles at both sides of the umbo. The left shell with deep depression, scales bigger and more rough than those of the right shell, attachment surface of the umbo small. Texture hard, fracture laminated, white. Odourless; taste, slightly salty.

 
  Ocimum basilicum:Botanical Name:Ocimum basilicum
English Name:French Basil, Sweet Basil,Common Basil
Sanskrit / Indian Name:Vanatulasi, Munjariki,Surasa, Varvara
An erect, almost glabrous herb. It yields a volatile oil (Oil of basil).It is also useful in various types of coughs, headaches, earaches, nasal catarrh and croup.
The seeds of the plant are odorless with an oily, slightly pungent taste. When steeped in water, they liberate a mucilage which is semitransparent and nearly tasteless. The mucilage (9.3%) yields on hydrolysis uronic acid, glucose, xylose and rhamnose. The seeds contain a drying oil with the following fatty acid composition.The unsaponifiable fraction is reported to contain ß-sitosterol,oleonolic acid and ursolic acid.
The plants are considered stomachic, anthelmintic, alexipharmic,antipyretic, diaphoretic, expectorant, carminative, stimulant and pectoral. An infusion of the plant is given for cephalalgia and gouty joints and used as a gargle for foul breath. The juice of the leaves has a slightly narcotic effect and allays irritation in the throat. The roots, bark and leaves are cyanogenetic. Alcoholic extracts of leaves and aqueous extracts of flowers possess antibacterial activity against Micrococcus pyogenes var. aureus. The seeds possess demulcent, stimulant, diuretic, diaphoretic and cooling properties;useful in diarrhoea and dysentery.

 
  Ocimum sanctum:Botanical Name:Ocimum sanctum / O. tenuiflorum
English Name:Holy Basil
Sanskrit / Indian Name:Tulasi, Vishnu priya
An erect, herbaceous, much-branched, softly hairy annual with purple or crimson flowers. The plant is sacred for Hindus.
The leaves yield a volatile oil, which is reported to possess antibacterial,anti-inflammatory and insecticide properties. An aqueous decoction of the whole dried plant is reported to lower blood sugar level.
The juice of the leaves possesses diaphoretic, antiperiodic, stimulating and expectorant properties; it is used in catarrh and bronchitis and is applied to the skin in ringworm and other cutaneous diseases.

 
  Olea europaea:Botanical Name:Olea europaea
English Name:Common Olive
Indian Name:Jaitun
It is a small tree cultivated for its oil bearing fruits. The fruits are one-seeded drupe, greenish when young and purplish black on mature. Young fruits are extremely bitter and oily. The oil is non-drying oil varying in color from pale yellow to greenish brown with mild odor and bland taste. It contains polyphenols, antioxidants and vitamins A, B, E and K. It nourishes, protects, and softens skin and prevents chafing. It has soothing and anti-microbial properties.

 
  Onosma bracteatum:Botanical Name:Onosma bracteatum
English Name:Sedge
Sanskrit / Indian Name:Gojihva
A perennial roughly hairy herb, the dried leaves of which are used as the drug.The drug is used as a tonic, alterative, demulcent, diuretic and refrigerant; it is useful as a spasmolytic.

 
  Operculina turpethum:Botanical Name:Operculina turpethum / Ipomoea turpethum
Sanskrit / Indian Name:Nishotra, Triputa, Trivruth
Operculina turpethum is a large perennial twining climber with milky juice white flowers and fleshy-branched roots.
It's principal constituent is a glycosidic resin. The drug is used as a purgative.

 
  Orchis mascula:Botanical Name:Orchis mascula
English Name:Salep Orchid
Sanskrit / Indian Name:Salabmisri
A genus of terrestrial orchids which yield the Salep of commerce.
The tubers contain a bitter principle and a volatile oil. They are used as a farinaceous food, nervine tonic and aphrodisiac. They yield a lot of mucilage with water and form a jelly that is supposed to be nutritious and useful in diarrhea, dysentery and chronic fevers.

 
  Origanum marjorana:Botanical Name:Origanum marjorana
English Name:Marjoram
Sanskrit / Indian Name:Marubaka
It is an aromatic herb, found in high temperate Himalayas with perennial rootstock and purple or pink corymbose cymes. It is an excellent external applicationfor sprains and bruises.

 
  Oroxylum indicum:Botanical Name:Oroxylum indicum
Sanskrit / Indian Name:Shyonaka
A small to medium sized deciduous tree with a light grayish brown, soft, spongy bark.
The root bark is tonic and astringent and useful in diarrhea and dysentery; it is diaphoretic and is used in rheumatism. The stem and root barks contain three flavone-coloring matters, viz. oroxylin-A,baicalein and chrysin. The bark also contains traces of an alkaloid,tannic acid, sitosterol and galactose.

 
 Browse Pages:  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z