Seasonings
Seasonings are mixtures of herbs, spices and condiments meant to flavor and boost the taste of your food. Experts say that seasoning and flavoring one’s food is not exactly the same thing if we were to be more precise in definition. According to them salt should not be considered as having seasoning qualities because all it does is improve the flavor of the meat you are cooking. On the other hand, pepper and basil are to be included in the category of seasonings because they transfer a certain flavor the food you are cooking.
Seasonings are widely used in our kitchen and in restaurant kitchens. Sometimes the success of a meal or a dish depends to a great degree on the seasonings that have been added to the food. But then the combination of herbs and spices is not to be done by ear, you need to have a combination that is complementary in what herbs and spices are concerned. Only then can you fully brag about having managing to design a dish successfully. The good use of seasonings also depends on when you add the herbs and spices in the food that is cooking on the stove. That is quite a skill a cook has to acquire taking into account that those herbs and leaves may fade in flavor if they boil far too much or may be too strong if they are added only at the end of the cooking process.
As far as seasonings and condiments are concerned, experts believe they are not one and the same thing. Seasonings are grouped into four categories. Some can be saline and an example here could be salt, others can be acid and rely on vinegar or citric juices, others can be hot and rely on paprika, curry, cayenne pepper or pepper spices, and yet others can be saccharine relying on sugar and honey. Condiments, on the other hand, can be pungent like onion and garlic, they can be hot like mustard, capers, chili, or fatty like butter, animal and vegetable fats or greases.
Most people do not know the difference between seasonings and condiments. However they know what and for what to combine and have preferences in terms of taste when it comes to cooking. Seasonings and condiments companies have made a lot of mixes for the wide customer range and nowadays it is very easy to get the seasonings or condiments that are required for a special kind of dish you are fond of.