Glossary of Cooking Terms

Appelation of Controlled Origin. A French system initiated in 1935 to safeguard the highest quality winemakers and vineyards from those low quality producers who were using the names of the higher quality vineyards on their labels.

Appelation of Controlled Origin. A French system initiated in 1935 to safeguard the highest quality producers of various food products, such as cheese, meat and wine, providing a designation that could be used if the producer achieved specific standards and met certain criteria in order to be assigned this designation, also known as AOC.

A type of mollusk, related to the sea snail, having a flat, oval shell. The flesh can be cooked and is similar in taste to a clam.

A traditional Italian pear that historically been associated with being developed by monks centuries ago.

A sheep's milk cheese from the Basque region of France that is made in the Benedictine Monastery that is the Abbaye de Notre Dame de Bellocq.

A Scottish pastry-like bread that is prepared with white flour and has a savory, buttery flavor.

A sheep's milk cheese that has a firm, hard texture and a natural rind that is yellowish-orange in color.

A term used to describe a variety of food tastes, methods of preparation, food products, food dishes, wines, and liqueurs that come from the Abruzzo region of Italy.

A dry Italian sausage made from choice cuts of fresh pork that are combined with natural seasonings and cured with smoke and chili pepper.

A somewhat bitter, anise flavored liqueur, distilled from wormwood that is produced with a proof of 136 and an alcohol content of almost 70%.

Common in Chinese foods, this is a plant that resembles a fern in appearance but with a very bitter flavor and pungent sulfur-like aroma when freshly picked and eaten.

A very sweet, ruby-red fruit that is much like a small cherry. It grows mainly in the West Indies and is an excellent source of vitamin C.

An artificial sweetener that contains no calories and is most often used for cooking or baking, since it retains its sweetness when heated.

A chemical compound that forms from bacteria and oxygen as they interact with alcohol produced from fermented products, such as beer and wine.

Relishes from East India that are pickled, salted and seasoned. The seasoned flavors can range from sweet tasting to hot and very spicy.

A traditional Mexican sauce or marinade of Mayan origin, that is made by grinding annato seeds with spices, chiles, and added to other ingredients such as fruit to create a mild red paste used to flavor foods.

A rust colored seed that is harvested from the annatto shrub to produce the Achiote spice.

Naturally found in grapes, this essential component contributes to the crispness, sourness, sharpness, and tartness of a wine.

Refers to foods that have a pH of 4.6 or lower. Acidic foods include most fruits, pickled vegetables, jams, and jellies.

A process of adding an acidic solution such as vinegar, wine or lemon juice to foods as they are being prepared in order to tenderize, add flavor, or to create a sour or somewhat acidic flavor.

Describes the quality of sourness, sharpness, and tartness of a wine. It is the taste in the mouth when consumed.

A milk product that has a bacteria additive to improve the digestibility of the milk.

An acidic substance used as food additives that act as control agents to alter food ph levels in beverages and sweets or to serve as levening agents for breads.

To make sour or somewhat acidic. Foods are made sour to enhance the flavor or a solution is made acidic to preserve foods.

A water mixture that has been made acidic by combining lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, or wine with water.

A very tiny ball of pasta that is used mainly as soup pasta. If acini di pepe is unavailable, orzo may be substituted.

The candied pad or paddle (leaf) of the prickly pear cactus that is sweetened by packing the pad in a sugar syrup solution.

A tropical fruit, shaped like a pear, that is served throughout the Caribbean.

A nut that is grown and harvested from the oak tree. Generally, the acorn is not often eaten, due to their higher levels of tannins, which provide a bitter taste to the nut.

A type of winter squash that resembles an acorn in shape and typically measures from 6 to 10 inches in length.

A traditional Italian vegetable soup originating from the Tuscan region of Italy.

A term used to describe wine with overly pronounced acidity (excess sulfur).

One of the naturally occurring chemicals that are produced in food as it is cooked or baked.

Used as a leavening agent in breads and other baked goods, active dry yeast is sold in small packages or in bulk.

A nonalcoholic beverage made from fruit juice, water and sweetener. Depending on the fruit juice used to make the drink, the name of the drink becomes the same as the fruit juice used for its preparation such as, lemonade or limeade.

Originating in Sweden, this variety of blue cheese is produced much like the well known Bleu d'Augverne cheese.

Types of seasonings that are popular in Mexico and the Philippines made from a mixture of ground chiles, herbs and vinegar.

A sauce or paste of Mexican origin made with ground chile peppers, sesame seeds, peanuts, bread or crackers (wheat flour, salt, and corn starch), sugar, vinegar, garlic, pepper, and other spices.

A beverage traditionally served in the Netherlands that is made from egg yolks and brandy.

A small, oval bean, reddish-brown to maroon in color, and native to China. It is usually sold in a dried form, but can also be purchased as a paste or flour.

A Danish pancake that has a round ball-like shape rather than a flattened rounded shape, like a crepe or a traditional flatbread pancake.

A cooking utensil designed specifically for making the Danish pancake ball known as an aebleskiver, ebleskiver or apple dumpling.

A Japanese term used to describe foods that are mixed with a traditional puréed tofu dressing that complements the ingredients.

The process of allowing air to be combined into ingredients to make them lighter and/or create more volume, which may also be referred to as aeration.

When applied to wine, it is the practice of giving wine an opportunity to breathe by opening the bottle and pouring the contents into a glass or or a container in order to expose the wine to volumes of air.

An Italian term used to describe meat that is smoked.

A slightly sweet, tender fruit covered with a shiny skin that ranges in color from purple, which is the most familiar, to red, yellow, green, or white, depending on the variety.

A variety of salt produced from Atlantic waters off the west coast of South Africa near St.

Term describing the taste that remains in your mouth after wine has been consumed, spit, or swallowed.

A form of seaweed that has been dried to be used as a thickener in food. Traditionally used in Asia, it can be substituted for gelatin.