by Tom Stobart
Spring onions, green onions or scallions can be derived from several species, harvested young for use in salads. If the leaf in cross section is flattened (with a convex outer surface and concave inner one), then it is a cepa onion, and a real ‘spring onion’. If the leaf is circular in section, then it will probably be what in Britain is known as a Welsh onion, a variety of A. fistulosum, which is also called the Japanese bunching onion and is much cultivated in the Orient. Both these species have hollow leaves.
Another oriental onion, the Chinese chive, Cuchay or Cantonese onion (A. tuberosum) grows wild in China. It is a bigger plant than the European chive and has flat, solid leaves. The flowers taste of a mixture of onion and honey and can be used in salads. The *chive proper (A. schoenoprasum) is very widely distributed around the world and has a thin, grass-like, round sectioned and hollow leaf, like the Welsh onion but much smaller. The sand leek A. scorodoprasum, grows wild in sandy soils from Scotland to the Caucasus and over most of Europe. The flavour is like mild garlic and it is cultivated occasionally. This species is sometimes called the rocambole, a name which is also used for some forms of garlic. The *shallot is now considered to be a variety of A. cepa, as are the Tree onion and the Egyptian onion, both of which produce clusters of small bulbs on the stems instead of (or as well as) flowers.
[Onion – French: oignon German: Zwiebel Italian: cipolla Spanish: cebolla]
ORACHE. See spinach.
ORANGE is a word derived from the Arabic narañj. Oranges came originally from the Orient, but their history has not been established with certainty. Bitter oranges, brought by the Arabs, may have been the first to be introduced to Europe. The first sweet oranges may have been those brought back by Vasco da Gama when he returned from his first voyage round the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. After that, they quickly spread to the West Indies and the warmer parts of America. Oranges were grown under glass in orangeries in more northern countries such as Britain, but could grow well in the ideal climate of the Mediterranean. The loose-skinned oranges, such as the tangerine, were not introduced to Europe until the early 19th century and to America until later still, although they had been popular in Japan and China for centuries.
Oranges belong to the *citrus group of the rue family (Rutaceae) and all require warmth. Oranges grown in the tropics often remain green when ripe, but the same varieties from climates like that of the Mediterranean normally go orange. Cold storage or treatment with gas will turn them orange. For sales purposes, oranges may be dyed to make them more orange (in the US this must be indicated with a colour-added stamp) when orangeness is no criterion of excellence. The practices of dyeing oranges and waxing the skins are not a good thing if you want to use the peel for grating. Except in the tropics, oranges usually are ripe during the winter months. In Spain, which has a typical orange-producing climate, the orange season begins with the small loose-skinned oranges (mandarins, satsumas and clementines), which reach a peak at around Christmas – hence the association of tangerines with Christmas stockings. By January the big navel oranges are ripe, while the supply of loose-skinned oranges declines, and the bitter Seville oranges for marmalade are also coming in. The season ends with blood oranges. This pattern is more or less repeated in the US (which is now the world’s largest producer of oranges) and the rest of the year is covered by imports.
Tight-skinned sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis) include the most popular oranges for eating and for juice. Among them is the Washington navel, a fine, usually seedless, dessert orange with the characteristic navel at the flower end. Navels were introduced to the US from Brazil in the 19th century, and get the name Washington because that is where they were first grown. (They are also called Riverside, where they became established in California, and Bahia, where they came from in Brazil).The Shamouti variety, which is large and seedless, originally came from Israel Qaffa oranges), but are now also grown in Cyprus and elsewhere. The other predominant sweet orange variety is the Valencia, a late one with a long season. Blood oranges usually have thin skins and are difficult to peel but have plenty of sweet reddish juice. In general, sweet oranges tend to be uninteresting if used in cooking. Perhaps these oranges should never be cooked as they usually acquire a taste like weak marmalade. Mixed into fruit salads, put with nuts and cheese, or into everything-but-the-kitchen-sink salads, orange sections are more often than not a mistake, as they tend to obtrude. They do not marry well with wine.
Loose-skinned oranges (Citrus reticulata) include mandarins, tangerines and satsumas, but perhaps not clementines which may be a tangerine X sweet orange cross. In any case the names have become confused. Mandarin denotes a Chinese origin, and tangerine should refer to a variety that was originally shipped from North Africa through Tangiers. The satsuma was originally Japanese, very small; it is hardy, standing quite a bit of cold compared to other citruses, and has very few, if any, seeds. Clementines, hybrid or not, are between a tangerine and an orange in character and are commonly grown in North Africa and Spain. King oranges may also be a cross. The variety was introduced into the US in 1882 as a heavy bearer, resistant to cold, but is not popular. The West Indian ortanique, with a thin, tough skin and flattened fruits, is probably a tangerine X orange cross; it is juicy and stores well. Tangerine X orange crosses are called tangors and include the Temple orange, which makes excellent eating. Tangelos, which are easily confused with tangors, are tangerine X grapefruit hybrids. Among them are the ugli, which is a bit like a sweet, loose-skinned grapefruit and may be very large, and the Minneola tangelo, which is a smooth, dark orange and has a nipple at the stem end. As in all citrus fruits, the skin of oranges is the packaging. You should reject fruit in which the skin is bruised – and loose-skinned oranges are more perishable than the tight-skinned kinds – but you should not allow yourself to be beguiled too much by nature’s packaging. Thus, the Honey tangerine is very sweet but may not look so good from the outside. Tangerine peel is very different in scent from orange peel just as the fruit has a different taste); it is used dried as a flavouring in Chinese cooking. The peel can easily be dried by threading it on a cotton and hanging it in a warm place, but home-dried tangerine peel is likely to have a weaker flavour than that imported from China. The peel of fresh tangerines can be grated and used as a change in dishes that are normally flavoured with orange peel. As a child, I asked for it in icing for Christmas cakes because I detested the taste of bitter almond.
Bitter oranges, Seville oranges or sour oranges (Citrus aurantium) are the most important in cooking. A typical bitter orange has a rough, tough, dark orange skin; it is very aromatic, but the pulp is sour, astringent and full of seeds, indeed virtually inedible. Although the juice is excellent when properly sweetened and is used in drinks, the important part of a bitter orange is its skin. Some varieties provide the basic flavouring for Curacao and orange-flavoured liqueurs such as Aurum, Grand Marnier and Cointreau. Dried bitter orange peel is a standard ingredient in the bouquet garni used in the South of France. lt is very easily dried, keeps up to two years and will be treasured as a flavouring by anyone who discovers it.
The passion for orange marmalade is particularly British; large quantities of bitter Seville oranges are imported every year for marmalade. Other, rather inferior bitter oranges come from Sicily (Malaga and Palermo). Given a good recipe, the goodness of marmalade depends entirely on the quality of the bitter oranges – something which cannot be judged by eye because as usual the best are often not the best looking. Oddly enough, it is difficult to buy Seville oranges in Spain, and our supply has often to be stolen from the park. Bitter orange trees, which are to be seen on roadsides in Mediterranean towns, may be recognized because they are large, thorny and have broadly-winged leaf stalks. They are also grown for the large flowers, which are used in the perfumery business. They are the basis of oil of neroli or bigarde oil (named after Anne Maria de Ia Tremoille, Princess of Nerole, who is supposed to have discovered it around 1670), which smells like eau de cologne. The flowers can also be m
ade into a sweet aromatic jam by those who like shatteringly sweet things. Oil of petitgrain is produced by steam distillation of the leaves (other types come from the leaves of lemon and tangerine) and is used commercially as a flavouring in many foods, just as the leaves of oranges and lemons can be used as a flavouring in home cooking.
Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) is used mainly in perfumery as a source of an aromatic essential oil. It may be an orange cross, a smaller tree than the lemon or orange and grown particularly in Sicily and Calabria. The fruits are preserved and candied. In this respect its uses are similar to the *citron.
Calamondin may be a mandarin variety, a hybrid between a kumquat and a mandarin or a separate species (Citrus mitis); it originated in the Philippines. Calamondins are frequently grown for ornament and have small orange-like fruits which can be candied.
[Orange – French: orange German: Apfelsine, Orange Italian: arancia Spanish: anaranjado]
ORCHIL See cudbear.
OREGANO or wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare) is a herb that is closely related to *sweet marjoram but is more pungent. It grows on calcareous soils in most countries in Europe, but there is a great difference between the flavours of leaves gathered in southern Italy, or those from, say, the South Downs of Britain, and of the rigani sold in Greece (where the name covers a number of Origanum species). In regional dishes, the authentic flavour can depend on obtaining the herb from the correct source.
Oregano is perhaps best known for its use in Italian cooking, but nowadays it is used all over the world in regions influenced by Mediterranean cooking. Fortunately it dries well, so fresh oregano is rarely necessary. Dried rigani from Greece includes flower buds as well as leaves.
[Oregano – French: origan German: Oregano Italian: origano Spanish: oregano]
ORRIS. The dried aromatic roots of a species of iris (Iris pallida) that is a native of Dalmatia. The smell is reminiscent of violets, but the taste is bitter. Though it was much used as a flavouring in the past, orris will rarely if ever be called for these days. It is still used commercially as the basis for ‘violet’ scents and flavours.
[Orris – French: racine d’iris German: Veilchenwürzel Italian: radice di giaggiolo Spanish: raiz de iris orentina, raiz de lirio]
ORSEILLE. See cudbear.
ORTANIQUE. See orange.
ORTOLAN. See birds.
OSMOSIS. I gained a rudimentary idea of osmosis at an early age from a French reader full of stories in which a know-all father imparted his encyclopaedic knowledge to his boys. In this case, he filled a bladder with sugar solution, and suspended it in fresh water. The sugar could not pass out of the bladder, but the water could pass in, and did so till the bladder burst – a case of nature trying, as usual, to iron out differences and make everything equal. The force that bursts the bladder is osmotic pressure, the bladder is a semi-permeable membrane (it lets the water through but not the sugar) and the whole phenomenon is known as osmosis. The walls of living cells are semi-permeable membranes. If cucumber slices are sprinkled with salt or put in brine, osmosis makes them wilt and water comes out of their cells. Osmosis in the other direction happens when wilted plants that are put into water regain their turgidity.
[Osmosis – French: osmose German: Osmose Italian: osmosi Spanish: osmosis]
OSTRICH (Struthio camelus) was originally domesticated, selected and farmed for its feathers, mainly in South Africa. At one time, they were hunted almost to extinction, but huge fortunes were made by rearing them. The feathers are no longer fashionable for stoles or fans and are not even needed by nude dancers these days, but ostrich farms still exist. The skin makes a fashionable leather and the meat is dried to make *biltong. The eggs, which are equivalent to at least a dozen hens’ eggs, are good, though strongly eggy in flavour.
[Ostrich – French: autruche German: Strauss Italian: struzzo Spanish: avestruz]
OXALIC ACID (COOH)2 occurs in many plants, usually in the form of its potassium, sodium or calcium salts (oxalates).The acid and its salts are poisonous in any quantity. Some people are allergic or particularly susceptible to oxalic acid poisoning and should avoid spinach, sorrel, wood sorrel and rhubarb. Rhubarb leaves contain a much higher concentration of oxalic acid salts than the stems and, although they are sometimes eaten, have caused fatal poisonings. The poison is more active when the leaves are cooked in soft water. Herbalists contend that plants containing oxalic acid should be avoided by gout sufferers, probably not because of any casual connection, but because anything unwholesome is likely to act as a trigger, there is however, no medical evidence to confirm this. Oxalic acid inhibits absorption by the body of calcium and iron which have insoluble oxalates. For this reason, spinach, which contains 10 times as much iron and 20 times as much calcium as cabbage does, is not as good a source of these elements as it might appear to be.
[Oxalic acid – French: acide oxalique German: Oxalsäure Italian: acido ossalico Spanish: ácido oxalico]
OYSTER. Cut of *bacon.
OYSTER. Morsel of meat in the back of poultry.
OYSTER. The many species of oyster are distributed in all except polar seas: the museum at Arcachon, an oyster-growing centre in south-western France, exhibits a collection of over 300 types from around the world. They vary in form from the neat, flat oysters typical of Britain through the rough, misshapen oysters which have to be broken off rocks with chisel and hammer to strange oysters such as zig-zag shaped, purple shelled Cock’s comb oyster (Lopha cristagalli) of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The native British species is the Common European oyster or Flat oyster (Osirea edulis) which retains its eggs within the shell until fertilization. This makes them nasty to eat in the breeding season, which is in summer when there is not an R in the month. Other oysters, like the Portuguese oyster (Crassostrea angulata) and the American oyster (Crassotrea virginica) do not retain their eggs and can thus be eaten all the year round, although they are better at some times than at others, and may have an official season. Oysters vary considerably in flavour and texture, not only with the species but also with the place in which they are fattened. Because oysters are rather vulnerable to enemies, such as the Slipper limpets, and to severe winters, oyster beds get killed out from time to time, and have to be re-laid. Oysters introduced from elsewhere very often take on much of the flavour that is characteristic of their new home.
For commercial purposes oysters are cleaned by a sophisticated process which involves placing them in tanks of clean seawater under ultra-violet light for about a day and a half. Oysters, like other bivalves, feed on small organisms and other material that they filter out of the water, but they can equally pick up organisms of typhoid and salmonella from polluted water or the poisonous diatoms such as those that create the red tides. In clean water, they will gradually sweep harmful organisms out with the currents they create, and any such organisms will not infect the water but in treatment will be killed by the ultra-violet light.
You can eat oysters directly from the sea – this was the norm in the past and still is in many countries – but only with suitable care. They are safer in primitive countries where there are less sewers emptying into the sea. Oysters for eating raw should be alive and fresh. Opening oysters can be risky; even the skilled sometimes knife themselves in the hand. The usual method – but not the only one – is to hold the oyster in the left hand with the round side down (you do not want to lose the juices); it is best to use a cloth to protect the hand in case the knife slips. Wiggle the knife point between the two halves of the shell close to the hinge, and twist to crack it. (In species with beaks, the projections may have to be broken off with pliers first.) Push the knife in and sweep the blade carefully across, keeping the point tight against the upper shell – the object is to cut the muscle attachment as close to the upper shell as possible and not to damage any other part of the animal. Take off the flat shell, and either lay the oyster as it is on the dish or (the usual British way) slip the knife under the oyster to cut it free from the bottom shell with
out spilling the juices and turn the oyster over, top side down and ready to eat. Some types with large beards need to have them cut off but usually this is hardly necessary. When oysters are eaten raw on the half shell, a squeeze of lemon, cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce and brown bread and butter are some of the common accompaniments. Many oyster fanciers prefer them with no additions at all.
Cooking oysters is tricky as heat makes them tough. They should only just curl. Long cooking will make oysters disintegrate as they do in a steak, kidney and oyster pudding. For this, frozen oysters can well be used, but the slightly fishy taste they give can be a mistake. The adding of oysters to this dish stems from the days when oysters were cheap, not the luxury which they usually are now, and the oysters used may well have been pickled oysters.
The quality of oysters is reflected in their price. Names are locally important but the oysters will probably have been bought from somewhere else and laid in the fattening grounds from which they take their taste and their name, often in an estuary where the slightly brackish water makes the oysters fat (if it is too fresh, they get bloated and soft; they die if the salt concentration is under 3%).They are graded by size.
Oysters are also sold shucked – removed from their shells. In this form they can be packed in cardboard or plastic boxes and kept on ice (they last 7-9 days) for use mainly in cooking. Shucked oysters are also sold frozen, canned, or smoked. Frozen oysters will keep in the freezer for a month, but cannot be held in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator for more than a few days. Dried oysters are a Chinese ingredient.
Portuguese oysters or Ports (Crassostrea angulata) are much more irregular in shape than the flat oyster and much more like the American Virginia Oyster. Less prized than the flat oyster and best cooked, though mostly eaten raw, Ports are in season all the year. They prefer warmer waters but were introduced into the Bay of Arcachon on the Atlantic coast of France by accident when a ship with live oysters aboard sank there. They have recently been re-laid in British waters as well.