Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook (10 page)

Pumpkin puree

Maple syrup, 100% pure

Sweetener, dry (There are many types on the market, some more natural than others, and which you use is a matter of preference. Most granulated sugar is made from dried cane or beet juice. Some sugars, like white table sugar, are bleached, sometimes chemically and sometimes using charred cow bones.
All
sugar has had the fiber and most if not all of the vitamins and minerals removed, so it should be enjoyed only on occasion. Sucanat has molasses added to it before being dried, giving it a slight flavor of molasses.)

Vanilla extract, pure

The following ingredients are all called for in recipes in this book, although they don’t appear as often as the items in the
Pantry Basics
.

ARROWROOT POWDER
is used as a thickener in sauces in much the same way that cornstarch is. It is the dehydrated root of the plant of the same name, and unlike cornstarch, it is a minimally processed food.

BRAGG LIQUID AMINOS
is a non–genetically modified soy-based product used in the same way you would use soy sauce. Gluten-free, it is also high in amino acids.

BROWN RICE SYRUP
is made by cooking brown rice with enzymes to break down the starches and then straining off the resulting liquid and boiling it down in the same way you would to make maple syrup.

CHIPOTLE PEPPERS
are dried, smoked jalapeño peppers.

DATE MOLASSES
is a cooked version of date syrup (see below) and usually has most of the fibers removed.

DATE SYRUP
is a popular sweetener in Middle Eastern cooking and can be made by soaking dates in water and pureeing the dates with the soaking water to make a syrup.

KAFFIR LIME LEAVES
are a fragrant seasoning popular in Asian cooking, and they have a flavor so distinct that most recipes do not give a substitute for it. The leaves can be found fresh or dried in Asian grocery stores.

KIMCHI
is a popular condiment in Korea, made with cabbage and hot peppers, although vegan kimchi is not as common as kimchi that has been made with some kind of fish. The flavor is very pungent and usually very hot.

KOMBU
, a seaweed that can be found in natural food stores and Asian grocery markets, is used to make beans more tender during cooking and is the base for many broths in Asian soup recipes.