What is champagne vinegar? Champagne vinegar is also known as vinaigre de Reims or Reims vinegar because it comes from Reims. Reims is a town in France’s Champagne region. Champagne vinegar is a wine vinegar made from Champagne wine, so its history is closely tied to that of the wine. …
Black cardamom is a useful spice that is related both to green cardamom — a better known and possibly more versatile spice — and to ginger. Unless you cook a lot of Chinese or Indian food, you may not always have black cardamom on hand. If running out and grabbing …
What is black cardamom? Black cardamom is one of those spices that has a variety of aliases. Black cardamom also goes by Nepal cardamom and brown cardamom, among other names. Like its relative green cardamom, black cardamom belongs to the Zingiberaceae family, so it is also related to ginger. The …
Lampong pepper gets its name from Lampong Province in Southern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Lampong part of the pepper’s name and in the name of the Sumatran province is sometimes spelled Lampung. Lampong pepper’s botanical name is Piper nigrum — AKA black pepper — and it is called lada in Indonesia, …
Black lava salt is a gourmet salt used to enhance food with more than just a salty flavor. Black lava salt doesn’t contain any lava as the name might lead you to believe; rather, it is a table salt colored with activated charcoal. Most black lava salt comes from one …
What are Malabar peppers? Malabar pepper refers to one of the two types of peppercorns to come from the Malabar Coast of India. The other famous peppercorn is the Tellicherry peppercorn, which is the higher quality of the two. Tellicherry peppercorns are the best 10 percent of Malabar peppercorns. In …
What is timut pepper? Timut pepper — also called timur pepper — is a spice that is native to the Himalayan region. The botanical name of the timut pepper plant is Zanthoxylum alatum, and its fruit is a small berry with a reddish-brown color. Timut pepper berries are dried before …
Alaea salt is a kind of sea salt from Hawaii. Alaea salt is otherwise called Hawaiian red salt and has been used by native Hawaiians since ancient times. The early Hawaiians used alaea salt to preserve seafood like fish and octopus that they used to sustain them during long voyages …