What's the point of covering a pot of water you've set to boil?
What's the point of covering a pot of water you've set to boil?
A watched pot never boils? Well, put a cover on said pot and it will boil before you know it, even right before your very eyes. Putting a cover on a pot of water you've set to boil is one of those time- and energy-saving tricks that is so obvious that it just may take years for it to dawn on you.
Covering your pot will trap heat, prevent evaporation, build pressure, and get your water boiling faster. Just remember that once you remove the lid, it will take the water a moment to return to a full boil.
Once a prize kept under lock and key in wealthy households, sugar is now ubiquitous and comes in many forms. Most commercial sugar is made from cane or beet root. Here's a look at the most common types of sugar used in the kitchen.
Granulated white sugar: White sugar is highly refined and made from sugarcane or beets. This all-purpose refined white sugar has small but fairly coarse crystals and is used to sprinkle on food, sweeten beverages, or add to dishes during cooking. Golden granulated sugar is a brown sugar made from sugar cane molasses that is similar but has a light brown color.
Castor (caster) or superfine sugar: This refined white sugar has fine crystals that dissolve more quickly than regular granulated sugar, making it a good choice for baking meringues. Golden castor sugar is made from unrefined cane sugar.
Brown sugar: Brown sugar is nothing more than white sugar that has been mixed with molasses to color it and give it a moist texture. Light brown sugar has less molasses than dark brown sugar. Brown sugar should not be confused with raw sugar, which has a similar color and taste but is actually the residue from processed sugarcane.
Turbinado sugar: A sugar cane extract that is made by steaming unrefined raw sugar. It has large crystals and a slight molasses flavor. It's a shade paler than brown sugar and can be substituted for brown sugar in recipes. We like to use turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of muffins, cookies and scones. It holds its texture well and, when cooked, has a nice sweet crunch.
Demerara Sugar: True Demerara sugar is raw or partly refined sugar with large crystals, but some impostors are nothing more than white sugar stained with molasses.
Muscovado Sugar: This raw cane sugar comes in light and dark varieties and is used to make cakes and desserts.
Powdered, icing or confectioner's sugar: This sugar is made by reducing granulated sugar to a powder and mixing it with starch to prevent it from lumping up. It's used to decorate cakes and can also be used in making sweet dishes and baked goods.
What's the difference between jelly and jam?
What's the difference between jelly and jam?
Like jam, jelly (in the North American sense) is a spread made from fruit and sugar that is thickened with natural or added pectin.
Both jelly and jam are made with crushed fruit, but jelly-makers filter fruit pulp once the mixture has been heated so that the resulting jelly is clear and devoid of fruit chunks.
Jelly can be sweet (as in the ever-popular grape jelly), savory (like the mint jelly that accompanies roasted lamb on old-fashioned British tables) or hot (such as jalapeño jelly).
Pectin is the substance that thickens jelly and jam. It is naturally occuring in certain plants and the pectin in fruits like apples and oranges can be activated with heat. If you want to make jelly or jam from soft-bodied cherries grapes or strawberries, which are low in pectin, you need to add pectin powder so they will set.
Pectin in powder form can be added to foods and is widely used as a thickener, gelling agent or stabilizer in fruit juice, fillings and many other foods produced around the world.
Henri Braconnot first discovered the existence of pectin in 1825. It can also be used to regulate the bowels or repair the tobacco wrappers on a cigar.
