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 Spice substances (spices) - products of plant origin - are added to food in small quantities to give it a pleasant taste and smell. Spices cause increased secretion of digestive juices and therefore increase the absorption of food.
Spices are classified according to the parts of the plant that give them:
1) seeds - mustard, nutmeg;
2) fruits - vanilla, cardamom, pepper, cumin, anise, coriander);
3) flowers and their parts - carnation, saffron;
4) leaves - bay leaf, dill, parsley, tarragon;
5) bark - cinnamon;
6) roots - ginger sweet (licorice root).
In addition to these spices, there are hundreds of other gingerbread plants used by the population for food, but not introduced into industrial production.
Spices contain either essential oils or insular substances. In bakery, spices are used to add flavor, odor, and sometimes color to bread products; some of them affect the fermentation process (anise, caraway seeds, etc.). Spices are used in large quantities in flour confectionery products. The most commonly used in bakery and flour confectionery products are vanilla, caraway seeds, coriander, saffron, cinnamon, cloves.
Vanilla
Vanilla - The pods of some species of the orchid plant. It grows only in tropical countries. Vanilla bred by cuttings on trees. The cuttings take root into the bark and reach 15 m in length, twining around the trees in the form of liana. Vanilla flowers have a delicate scent.
Felli fruits (pods) are 12-25 cm long and 4-8 mm wide; they are filled with a balsamic gelatinous content containing small seeds. The fruits are harvested unripe, dried in the air, wrapped in bunches in woolen cloth for fermentation in the sun. Then, in the sun, they are finally dried open, sorted by length and packed in stainol (foil) or tied in bundles of 50 pieces. and stored in a tightly closed container.
The pods are fleshy sticks covered with a slightly shiny dark brown skin with longitudinal wrinkles. The subtle aroma of the pods characteristic of vanilla is due to vanillin, the content of which ranges from 1.16 to 2.75%, depending on the variety.
A good vanilla should have pods that are long, flexible, intact, abundantly filled with content, thin skin of good color and with a slight oily sheen. During storage, the pods are sometimes covered with small vanillin crystals.
Vanillin is also found in a number of other plants, in particular it is found in small quantities in sugar beets.
Vanillin can be obtained artificially from various raw materials. The quality of synthetic vanillin differs little from natural.
Anise
Anise is a two-seed fruit, an annual plant from the umbrella family.
In the USSR, it was cultivated in the Voronezh region and other areas. Anise culture is common in many countries of Europe, Asia and America. Soviet anise was considered the best in the world in terms of essential oil content (2.4 to 3.2%).
Anise seeds are small: 1 kg contains up to 500 thousand double seeds. The seed is ovoid, slightly compressed from the sides, the color is brown with a green tinge, the taste is sweet, the smell is pleasant.
Anise oil is extracted from anise, which consists of anethole (80-95%), extragol, anisic aldehyde and other substances.
Anise should be stored in tightly closed boxes and barrels to reduce the loss of essential oil.
Anise is used in baking in various types of bread made from rye flour and in baked goods, it is added to confectionery products, as well as to many dishes.
Coriander
Coriander (kolyandra, kishnets, bifora) is a two-seed fruit of an annual plant from the umbrella family.Cultivated in the Voronezh and other regions. Recently, the area of distribution of coriander has expanded significantly, as it can ripen in more northern regions.
Coriander seeds are almost round in shape. Its fresh fruits have an unpleasant odor, but after drying they acquire a characteristic aroma, coarser than that of anise.
The aroma of coriander depends on the essential oil it contains (1.5-2%), which contains linalool (60-80% by weight of the oil).
Coriander in baking it is used both in rye flour products and in other bakery products.
Caraway
Caraway - a biennial plant from the umbrella family, it is found growing wild throughout Europe, the Caucasus and Siberia, and is also cultivated in the USSR, mainly in the Rostov region of the Yaroslavl region.
The caraway fruit is a two-seed, contains on average 6% essential oil, the main component of which is carvone.
Used in the same types of bread as coriander; it is also used in confectionery and in the preparation of cheese and alcoholic beverages.
Saffron
Saffron is a plant from the iris family. It is cultivated in the Baku region of Azerbaijan. Its culture is very laborious: the flowers are harvested as soon as they bloom, the stigmas are plucked out and dried over hot coals. From 1 hectare, 20 kg of dry saffron are obtained.
Dried saffron stigmas are added to some rich types of bread: saffron buns, muffins and other products. Saffron gives the products a special taste, due to the content of essential oil (0.6%) in it, and the characteristic color, which depends on the dye contained in it chrotsic or polychrontes.
Saffron sometimes falsified by the addition of flower pistils. To determine falsification, saffron is ground into powder and sprayed on the surface of the water, while all the particles of real saffron give a yellow coloration around them. When consumed, saffron is boiled with water, and the infusion (water extract) is used in the dough.
Carnation
Carnation - dried flower buds of a clove tree from the myrtle family, native to tropical countries. The clove tree is evergreen: it blooms twice a year (in June and December). The aromatic smell of cloves is characteristic of the oblong, sharp (lanceolate) leathery leaves, flowers and bark. Flower buds, initially green, gradually take on a light red color; at this time their smell is most intense. The collected buds are dried in the sun or in dryers almost over bare fire.
The length of the carnation is 10-16 mm (large varieties) and 4-10 mm (small varieties). The aroma of cloves depends on the essential oil (10.2-26.6%), containing the alcohol eugenol (90-92%).
Cloves in the form of dried flower buds are used as a spice (in gingerbread production); but a lot of it goes to get the essential oil used in perfumery and for the production of vanillin.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is the bark of an evergreen cinnamon tree from the laurel family. Two varieties of cinnamon are most important: Ceylon and Chinese.
The bark is removed from the cut branches, tied into bundles and lies for several days, then the top layer is scraped off from it. The bark tubes are dried, inserted into one another and finally air-dried.
The aroma of cinnamon is due to the essential oil (less than 1%), the main constituent of which is cinnamaldehyde.
Cinnamon in powder form is used for making gingerbread dough, as well as for the preparation of meals, liqueurs and perfumes.
An artificial cinnamon essence is also produced.
From the book: Sarychev B.G. Technology and technochemical control of bakery production. M .: Pishchepromizdat, 1956
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