SPICEography 
Toasted sesame oil is one of the more popular oils for cooking Chinese and Japanese dishes. It is responsible for some of the distinctive flavor notes of those cuisines. If you are out of it, you run the risk of bland and boring food. You can get many of the …
Toasted sesame oil is a version of sesame oil, which is believed to have first been used in Mesopotamia and Assyria. The sesame plant may first have been used in either India or Africa. It made its way to China at some point. According to some sources, the Chinese were …
Plum sauce and duck sauce are not the same. It is important to understand this since there are so many differing views on the matter. Many (mostly Western) cooking resources claim that they are the same ingredient. They are both versatile condiments, and it is a good idea to have …
Plum sauce and hoisin sauce are two sweet, sticky sauces that have many applications in classic Chinese dishes. If you plan to cook a lot of traditional Chinese food, you should keep both of them in your refrigerator. If you are trying to decide between plum sauce and hoisin sauce, …
Plum sauce is a classic Chinese condiment with a sweet, spicy and fruity flavor profile. It has a thick and sticky consistency that allows it to cling to the surfaces of fried foods. It is distinctive enough that you should make an effort to find the real thing if at …
Plum sauce history Plum sauce is a Chinese condiment originally made from a stone fruit referred to as the Chinese plum. This is where it gets tricky as there are multiple plum species called Chinese plums. Prunus mume, Prunus salicina and Eriobotrya japonica are all grown throughout Asia and are …
Light olive oil and extra virgin olive oil are two popular forms of the same oil. They are not always interchangeable. If you want to make a substitution or want to decide between them, you should learn what each will bring to a dish. Let’s take a look at light …
Margarine and olive oil are both widely used as healthier butter substitutes. How healthy are they? Does it matter which one you use? The answer to both questions: it depends. Let’s compare these two popular fats in this SPICEography Showdown. How does margarine differ from olive oil? Margarine and olive …