Thousands Of Years’ Evolution Inside The Spice Jars

The small spice jars stand quietly in a corner of the kitchen， but you dont know that the temptation of flavor could even stir up numerous wars between different peoples in ancient times； you dont know that many businessmen travelled enormous distance for countless gold by selling foreign condiments， leaving their hometown and families away； you dont know that many scientists tried all kinds of chemical matching method only to produce new flavoring agent. When you smell its flavor， can you sense its thousands of years evolution？

Natural flavor

from altar to kitchen

having a long history in the course of its development， the earliest spice can be traced back to five thousand years ago. As early as the Yellow Emperor （a legendary ruler）and Shennong（patron of agriculture）， the plants gathered was used as medicine to drive away lonely and exorcise. The then people paid much attention to the fragrance released by plants， and they gave aromatic substances like flower， fruits and resin to Gods， producing sacred religious atmoshphere by fragrant flavor.

The earliest record of cooking condiment can be found in Rites of Zhou（from BC1126 to 255）·Lisao （a great work by Qu Yuan）， the application of condiments had bee widely used after the Qing and Han Dynasties.（from 221B.C. to 221A.D.）， and more types had been introduced by import from foreign countries， such as cilantro， rosemary， myrcia and others. Up to now， the number of commonly used condiments has reached several hundreds types in various areas of China.

Synthetic Perfume

from natural to synthetic

Modern time saw the advent of synthetic perfume. It was in 1834 that people obtained synthetic condiments， people made nitrobenzene by a synthetic way. Soon after that， people discovered that methyl salicylate was the main part of wintergreen oil， benzaldehyde the main factor of almond oil， and they produced these perfumes by synthetic approach. Blending is developed on the basis of the advent of natural essential oil and thythetic perfume in succesion. It was in 1868 that people produced coumarin—fragrance of liquorice， and in 1893 people made ionone – fragrant factor of the flavor of violet. As these synthetics appeared in the market gradually， edible essence made its debut in the stage of history.

Edible Essence

from single to diversified

In the beginning， edible essence stood lonely in the market， mostly a flavor released by a certain compound or undergoing processing. Now the situation of a single essence has been replaced by the advent of more edible essences， and the present edible perfume have been synthesized by multi-compounds. Through various application， the edible essence can strengthen flavor of the food. The complete edible essence is basically composed of main pastil， booster， fixative and others.

Though with different features， each type of edible essence contain volatile compoud such as alcohol，phenol， ketone and others. Through blending， many receipts of condiments will be formed. The mixture of different proportion in each perfume produces the change of flavor， just like dispatch officers and men in different way to accomplish various missions of war.

Three major contributors to essence of meat

Essence of meat is a complicated and mixed system， and the mixtures interact together and provide the general perfume generating from heating the meat， combination of different elements developed special flavor. Food scientists found that the taste of cooking meat is mainly from three substances：lipid matter---carbonyl compound； nitrogen-containing compound--- ammonia and amine；sulfocompound--， mercaptan， organic sulfide and sulfuretted hydrogen.

For example， the component of fragrance released by heating the chicken can show that the compound of taste of chicken in essence is sulfuretted hydrogen and carbonyl compound. If we eliminate sulfuretted hydrogen in the flavor， the we will lose the flavor of meat itself； if we remove carbonyl compound， then the smell of chicken will disappear and turn into a flavor similar to beef.

Two major factors of green bean paste

A cup of green bean paste can bring you ice-cool to the bottom of your heart in scorching summer days. Boiled green bean will release faint scent and sand flavor， so when you make mung bean essence， the two flavors should be included. In order to fix fragrance， we can make good use of such compounds as vinyl alcohol， DMOB， while the sand flavor can be stimulated by an element of methyl anthranilate， which can release sand flavor similar to starch， it is indispensable in essence of mung bean， also can be found in fragrance of ormosia and lotus paste.

Secret weapon of essence of Luzhou-flavor liquor

Luzhou-flavor liquor ranks first in the output of well-renowned liquor， such as Wuliangye， Luzhoutequ， Jiannanchun， Yanghe Daqu wine and others. The specific properties of such liquor is full-bodied aroma， mellow taste， sweet and long aftertaste. What makes liquor of this kind such special flavor？ Actually speaking， the elements of the major fragrance is ethyl hexanoate and ethyl butyrate. The content of ethyl hexanoate of Luzhou-flavor liquor is dozens times of that of soy sauce flavor type. The taste of full-bodied aroma and mellow taste is caused by substances like glycerol， butanedione， 2，3-butanediol. In addition， the existence of organic acid plays an important role in coordinating liquor flavor.

Edible essence， condiment， as well as special aroma enhancement and other cooking skill will improve and enrich food flavor greatly， which embodies human beings permanent pursuit of flavor， we hold the same view with our ancestors in this aspect.