In the “Add a pinch of sugar” thread, many of you mentioned other things you like to add to boost the flavor in your dishes - MSG, tomato powder, soy sauce, etc. What’s an ingredient you find that you love to add to dishes to improve the flavor (or aroma, texture, or maybe even the way it looks)?

I am a big fan of mushroom powder. It adds a nice boost of umami with some additional flavor that comes along for the ride. Just throw some dried mushrooms into a spice grinder and grind until powder.

  • The Giant KoreanOPMEnglish
    3•11 months ago

    Pomegranate molasses is fantastic. I’m really curious about apple syrup - I’ve been seeing a lot of it lately online.

    Celery leaves are delicious! I love them in stir fries and salads.

    I feel like I read that tomato leaves aren’t actually toxic. I think I’ve even seen recipes using them sautéed. I love how they smell. I’ll have to do a search on they and see if I can find it. Using a few in sauce seems like a great idea.

    Edit: not what I was looking for, but there is this: https://www.foodrepublic.com/1291167/things-didnt-know-about-tomatoes/

      • The Giant KoreanOPMEnglish
        3•11 months ago

        I always thought they were toxic too until recently. I guess everyone thinks that because they’re in the nightshade family. I’m def going to try putting some leaves in my sauce when I make sauce next year!

        OK, gotcha. I’ve made some syrup before, but I’ve only ever used it to make homemade apple liquor (measure it out, cook down to a syrup, then reconstitute with booze until back to the original volume and add spices). I’ll have to try the syrup in some other ways.

          • The Giant KoreanOPMEnglish
            2•11 months ago

            Please post if you end up making the hooch! Banana hooch sounds great. I’ve been meaning to try making fruit wine or mead forever. I’ve never heard of tempoyak before but it actually sounds like it would be pretty good.

              • The Giant KoreanOPMEnglish
                2•11 months ago

                Hmm OK. I might give the tempoyak a try sometime!

                I have a few books on brewing mead, I just need to pull the trigger and make some. I’ve got some old brewing equipment from when I brewed beer a few times. We have a crabapple tree, so I eat thinking of brewing a crabapple cyser, but will probably do a straight up mead first.