COMMODITIES: SHORTENING (FATS & OILS)

Fats are solid at room temperature and melt when heated. Those used in cooking include butter, margarine, lard, suet, and hydrogenated fat.

Oils are liquid at normal temperatures but solidify at lower temperatures. Those commonly used in cooking are peanut (groundnut/arachide) oil, coconut oil, mustard seed oil, sesame (till) oil, olive oil, and safflower oil.

Shortenings of fats that are used in the baking industry and confectionery.

Hydrogenation Of Oils
The conversion of oil into fat is known as hydrogenation. The process changes the physical properties of the oil.
Hydrogenation consists of treating oil under suitable pressure and temperature with hydrogen, in the presence of a catalyst, usually Nickle (Ni). Under these conditions, the unsaturated fatty acids present in the oil combines with the hydrogen. This chemical process brings about a physical change and the liquid oil change into solid fat. The unsaturated fatty acids are chiefly those of the oleic type and are converted into solid stearic acid. The varying consistencies available in fats is due to the process of hydrogenation being stopped at various stages.

Shortenings
Fats can be used as shortenings or as a cooking medium. In confectionery, fats impart their characteristic flavor as well as shortening qualities. Their effect is to coat and break down the gluten strands, so that instead of being hard and tough to eat, foods containing shortening break off short and melt readily in the mouth.

Factors to look for in Shortenings:

Creaming Value
This affects the volume of the item eg: cakes. The amount of air incorporated during creaming increases the volume of the item.

Shortening value
The shortness gives to the end product. Shortness is a quality essential in products such as biscuits & cookies.

Stability
Refers to keeping quality and shelf life.

Consistency
Hardness or Softness depending on the purpose. Hardness for puff pastry and softness for cakes.
Water absorption will also affect the emulsification value of the shortening.

Power
As for shortening agents, fats add to the nutritional and satiety values of flour mixtures like doughs and batters. They also contribute to the taste and flavor. The type of fat and the way it is incorporated will affect the texture (eg: shortcrust pastry and flaky pastry). Baking must be done at correct temperatures. As the fat melts during baking, it must be absorbed by the flour. If the heat is insufficient, the melted fat will run out and result in a hard product. Fat which has been broken up into small particles during creaming will be more easily absorbed than fat left in large pieces.

Fat as a frying medium

Fat as a frying medium function in three ways:

• It serves to transmit heat to the articles of food to be fried.
• It adds to the nutritive value (calories).
• It contributes to the flavor and taste and texture of the food.

Fat used as a frying medium must have:

• High smoke point
• Low congealing point
• Low moisture content
• High stability
• The acceptable flavor which is neutral

THICKENING AGENTS

Thickening agents give body, consistency, and palatable when used. They also improve the nutritive value of the sauce. Flavoured liquids are thickened and converted into soups, sauces, gravies, and curries, etc. In other words, binding agents are used to transforming the stocks into sauces.

There are various types of thickening agents, which are used in modern day cookery. They are as follows:

• Starches
• Flour
• Roux
• Beurre Manie
• Fruit and Vegetable Puree
• Egg yolk
• Cream
• Butter
• Blood

Starches

Starches derived from roots and vegetables are among the oldest and the most versatile thickener for sauces. They are efficient and inexpensive and that they can be used without imparting flavour of their own.

Starches should be combined with liquid and heated to almost boiling temperature to be effective. Some starches are purer than others. Cornstarch, arrowroot starch, and potato starch are almost pure starches and produces shiny sauces, whereas flour contains protein, which gives a mat appearance to the sauces.

Cornstarch

Of the purified starches, cornstarch is the most familiar. They should be used at the last minute for the thickening of the sauces and the cooking liquid that are being served. When it is cooked for long time then it looses its thickening power. Cornstarch is first mixed in water and then used to thicken the sauces and soups.

Arrowroot

Arrowroot is the best of the purified starches because it remains stable even after prolonged cooking. It is used the same way as cornstarch.

Potato Starch

Although potato starch is one of the first starches to be used in French cooking, it has never been popular as a sauce thickener. It is used the same way as the cornstarch and like cornstarch it tends to break down after prolonged exposure to heat.

Flour

In western cooking, flour has long been the most popular thickener for the sauces. It can be used in several ways. Although flour has largely been replaced in recent years by other thickeners. It is still the appropriate choice for many country style and regional dishes. Liquid in which flour is to be added must be degrease before the flour is incorporated. Flour binds with lamb and holds it in suspension throughout the liquid, making it difficult to skim. Result is a greasy, indigestible sauce with a muddy texture and flavour.

Roux

The most common method of thickening liquids with flour is to prepare a roux, by cooking the flour with an equal weight of butter. This enhances the flavour of the flour and eliminates the lumps. Because flour contains proteins and other compounds that imparts flavor, sauces thickened with roux are usually skimmed for thirty minutes once they have been brought to simmer to eliminate the impurities. Although the stock is skimmed before the roux is added, further the sauce is skimmed to eliminate the butter, impurities in the flour.

There are three types of roux:

1. White roux
2. Blonde roux
3. Brown roux
4. White roux

It is prepared by cooking flour and clarified butter for approx. 5 minutes over slow heat and stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. It is used for Béchamel sauce and thick soups.

Blond roux

Is made from fresh butter and flour. The preparation of butter and flour are the same as for white roux. It is made more rapidly and should be made at the last before using. Its colour should be pale gold. It is used for volute sauce and for some soups.

Brown roux

cooking flour in bouillon fat in the oven, gently and for a long time, removing from time to time to stir, makes it. This roux should be of light brown colour. It is used for brown sauce and demiglace.

How to combine roux and liquid

When you have a hot roux, combining it with a liquid is a two-step process. In step 1, you add part of your liquid, cold to the hot roux, blending it in with a whisk. In step 2 you blend in the rest of the liquid hot.

When you have cold roux, you can combine it with hot liquid, over heat, by blending it in with a whisk a little at a time.

Do not try to combine hot roux with hot liquid and cold roux with cold liquid.

Beurre manie

Like roux, beurre manie contains equal part by weight of butter and flour. It differs from roux because it is not cooked and is usually added at the end of the sauce’s cooking rather than at the beginning. It is most often used to thicken stews at the end of the cooking when the braising liquid is too thin.

The beurre manie should be added little by little in boiling stock whisking continuously so that lumps do not form.  Unlike roux the beurre manie should not be cooked once the sauce is thickened otherwise the sauce will a floury taste. One of the peculiarities of flour is that develops a strong floury taste after two minutes of coking that begins to disappear as the cooking progresses.

Fruit and vegetable puree

Some times fruit and vegetable puree are used in thickening sauces and soups. The puree soups are the best example of the same.

Egg Yolk

Because they thicken sauces in several ways, egg yolks are versatile liaison. They provide base for emulsified sauces, such as mayonnaise and hollandaise, and are used in conjunction with cream to finish the cooking liquid of poached meats and fish.  Not only form emulsion of fat and liquid but also combines with air so that they be used for sabayon sauce.

Sauces containing yolk should not be boiled unless they contain flour, which stabilises them. When combining egg yolk with liquids, be sure to combine some of the liquid separately before returning the mixture to the saucepan. If the egg yolks are added directly into the hot liquid then they are liable to coagulate as soon as they get in contact with the heat.

Cream

In recent years thickened cream has replaced roux as the thickener, becoming base for white sauces.

Precaution should be taken in reducing cream. Quick whisk should be given to the cream otherwise they become granular and may break. Always use large saucepan, three times the volume of the cream otherwise flames from the sides can discolour the cream.

Whenever cream is used, as a thickener in a wine based sauce, are sure to reduce the wine otherwise they giving an unpleasant flavor. The cream used in conjunction with egg yolk, butter, and flour gives a better result.

Butter

When butter is whisked into a hot liquid, it forms an emulsion, similar to the action of egg yolk. The milk solids and proteins contained in the butter acts as emulsifier and give butter sauce their sheen and consistency. Because the milk solids in the butter are what maintain the emulsion, sauces and cooking liquids cannot be thickened with clarified butter. In fact cold butter is proffered to hot butter in thickening of the sauces.

Blood

Blood has long been used in cooking to finish sauces for a braised or roasted game, poultry, or rabbit. Blood not only deepens the sauce’s flavor but also acts as a thickener. The blood must be mixed with a little amount of vinegar to avoid coagulation.

• Sugar is not only added to food for taste, but also for functional reasons.
• Sugar alternatives or low sugar foods may not be healthier.
• Removing sugar can be technically challenging.

Important roles of sugar

Aside from making some foods more palatable and providing kilo joules, sugar has a number of important properties that contribute uniquely to a food’s appearance, texture, and shelf-life. It’s, therefore, an important ingredient in both the foods we make at home and the manufactured foods on our supermarket shelves. Reducing or removing sugar from a product often requires replacement with a number of substitute ingredients to achieve the same quality, taste and texture profile.

Let’s see some major roles:

As a bulking agent

Sugar contributes to the texture of food, such as in meringue and biscuits. This is an important role of sugar in most baking applications.

As a preservative

Sugar helps to prevent or slow the growth of bacteria, molds, and yeast in jams and other preserves. It also helps to prolong the shelf life of many foods on our supermarket shelves by acting as a humectant – maintaining and stabilising the water content in foods.

Enhancing flavor

Adding a little sugar to nutritious foods such as sour fruits (frozen berries or rhubarb), or porridge, helps to make them more palatable. Sugar also enhances fruit flavors in foods.

For colour

On heating, sugar breaks down to produce the colour and desirable flavor that characterises many cooked foods. This is caused by sugars reacting with proteins as they break down in the cooking process, called the Maillard reaction. A sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon on top of fruit muffins makes for a browned crunchy topping and gives a nice texture.

Adds viscosity

Sugar provides body in drinks and semi-liquid foods like syrups, chutneys, and sweet sauces.

As an anticoagulant

When it’s heated, sugar delays the coagulation of proteins (change in liquid form to solid or semi-solid form), such as in baked custards and other desserts.

TYPES OF SUGAR

Granulated Sugar

Granulated sugar is also known as white sugar, or “regular” sugar. It is further classified in to various types based on colour and grain size. According to the Indian Standards Specifications (ISI), there are around 20 grades of sugar based on the grain size and colours. The colour series has four grades designated as 30,29,28 and 27, while the grain size has five grades namely A, B, C, D, E. Bulk of production in the country is of C, D and E grains, branded as large, medium and small and has colour specification of 30. The D grade produced in the country is comparable to world standards.

Brown Sugar

It is used in home and food industry to develop the rich molasses type flavor in cookies, candies and similar products. It consists of sugar crystals coated in molasses syrup (Molasses or treacle is a thick syrup by-product from the processing of the sugarcane or sugar beet into sugar. In some parts of the U.S., “molasses” also refers to sorghum syrup.) with natural flavor and colour. Many sugar refiners produce brown sugar by boiling a special molasses syrup until the brown sugar crystals are formed. A centrifuge spins the crystals dry. Some of the syrup remains giving the sugar its brown colour and molasses flavor. Other manufacturers produce brown sugar by blending special molasses syrup with white sugar crystals.

Liquid Sugar

Liquid sugars were developed before today’s methods of sugar processing made transport and handling granulated sugars practical. Liquid sugar is essentially liquid granulated sugar and can be used in products wherever dissolved granulated sugar might be used.

Invert Sugar

Inversion or chemical breakdown of sucrose results in invert sugar, an equal mixture of glucose and fructose. Available commercially only in liquid form, invert sugar is sweeter than granulated sugar. It is used in the carbonated beverage industry
and in food products to retard crystallisation of sugar and retain moisture.

Various Forms of Sugar

Sugar is available in many different forms. Some various forms of sugar are white sugar, caster sugar, granulated sugar, icing sugar, decorating sugar, vanilla sugar, cube sugar, jam sugar, jelly sugar, granulated brown sugar, soft brown sugar, demerara sugar, muscovado sugar, sugar syrup.

White Sugar

Refining raw sugar obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet, removing all impurities, makes white sugar.

Caster Sugar

Caster sugar is white, granulated sugar with very fine sugar crystals. It is also called superfine sugar, ultra-fine sugar or bar sugar. It is best used in baking and desserts, in the making of cakes, mousses, and drinks, as well as in foods and pastries that are sprinkled, rolled or coated with sugar. Also known as Breakfast sugar. In dishes where sugar is to be whipped with eggs, cream, etc, it is best to use superfine sugar.

Granulated Sugar

Regular granulated sugar has coarser crystals than caster or superfine sugar. It may be used in making preserves, jams,
marmalade and sugar syrups. In making jams, marmalade, preserves, etc, superfine sugar can be replaced with coarser granulated sugar.

Icing Sugar

Icing sugar, also known as confectioners’ sugar, is made of white sugar ground into a smooth, white powder and used in icings, confections, drinks etc. There is usually an amount of starch mixed in icing sugar to prevent clumping. Also differently coloured or flavoured icing sugars can be found on sale.

Decorating Sugar

This white, large crystal sugar is unevenly shaped and used to sprinkle on top of sweet buns and other baked goods for garnish. It may also be called pearl, sanding, coarse or crystal sugar. There are also coloured decorating sugars
on sale.

Vanilla Sugar

A rather good substitute for real vanilla, vanilla sugar is powdered or granulated white sugar flavoured with real vanilla bean. Usually, there are little black dots of powdered vanilla bean or seeds visible in the sugar. Vanilla sugar is used instead of vanilla bean to give vanilla flavor to various sweet baked goods, desserts, whipped cream, and beverages. It is added to foods only in a small amount (usually 1 – 2 teaspoons per a batch of batter, dough etc).

Cube Sugar

Also called lump sugar, sugar cubes are made by molding and drying moistened, hot granulated sugar. Coming in various forms and colours, lump sugar is mainly used to sweeten various hot drinks. In cooking, lump sugar and sugar cubes may be used instead of granulated sugar in recipes where sugar is melted, like syrups and caramel. Sugar cubes are also used in desserts like Crepes Suzette, where they are rubbed against the zest of citrus fruit to absorb their essential oils, in order to flavor the dish. Lump sugar can be ground into granules or powdered using a mortar, a blender or a food processor.

Jam Sugar

Jam sugar is a special gelling sugar used in making jams, marmalade, jellies, and other preserves, instead of regular white sugar. It consists of white, granulated sugar (about 98 %) added with natural fruit pectin (E440, gelling agent), citric acid (E330, antioxidant) and potassium sorbet (E202, preservative). When using jam sugar, the cooking time of various preserves is often reduced, thus better maintaining the flavors, colours, and vitamins of the fruits and berries used. Jam sugar cannot be used instead of regular sugar in baking or cooking, but only in making of jams, marmalade and fruit compotes or soups.

Jelly Sugar

Jelly sugar is used to decorate desserts and pastries and to make set, clear dessert jellies. Jelly made with jelly sugar is spooned or brushed over berry and fruit garnishes to give them a thin and shiny, protective jelly coating. Jelly sugar is not suitable to be used in milk-based jellies and puddings or in canning and preserving. Jelly sugar consists of white, granulated sugar, glucose syrup, natural fruit pectin (E440, gelling agent) and citric acid (E330, antioxidant).

Granulated brown sugar

Regular granulated brown sugar is made by coating white sugar with a layer of dark molasses. It has loose, non-sticky sugar crystals with the colour ranging from light to dark brown. This type of brown sugar has a light, clean molasses flavor and coarser texture than white, superfine sugar. Granulated brown sugar can be replaced for example with demerara sugar.

Soft Brown Sugar

Soft brown sugar is made by coating white sugar with a layer of dark molasses. It is firmly packed, moist and slightly sticky, and has a stronger molasses flavor than brown, loose sugar. Soft brown sugar should be stored wrapped airtight to prevent it from drying and hardening into a clump.

Demerara Sugar

Named after the Demerara area of Guyana, the coarse-grained demerara sugar is brown, partially refined raw sugar-containing some residual impurities. The colour of demerara sugar varies from golden brown (e.g. turbinado sugar)
to dark brown, with a strong dark molasses flavor. Demerara sugar can be used to sweeten and flavor various hot beverages, and it is used in fruit and berry desserts or in making candies and toffees. Depending on its colour, texture, and depth of flavor, it can be used to replace granulated or soft brown sugar in many sweet and savoury dishes. Turbinado sugar is a further refined type of demerara sugar with a pale colour and a mild flavor.

Muscovado Sugar

Muscovado sugar is the darkest of the partially refined brown raw sugars. It has slightly sticky crystals, with the colour varying from light to dark brown. Muscovado sugar can be used to flavor tea, coffee and other beverages. It brings deep and dusky flavor of molasses into various dishes and desserts. Light muscovado sugar can be used to replace soft brown sugar in cooking and baking.

Sugar Syrups

Heating a measured quantity of sugar and water to boiling to dissolve the sugar and then boiling very briefly until the syrup is clear makes simple sugar syrups. Cooked sugar syrups differ from simple syrups in that they are left to boil until the water evaporates and the sugar cooks to a higher temperature. (The quantity of water used to make a cooked sugar is not crucial because it will be completely boiled off; you need use only enough to dissolve the sugar and in fact, some professionals do without the water entirely). Cooked sugars are categorised by different stages of cooking, from the softball stage at a temperature of about 240ÚF, through a hard bill, light crack, hard crack and finally to caramel, which measures well over 300ÚF, depending on the darkness of the colour