Life science-The mysterious fruit in hot pot, drugs or spices?

For those who are addicted to hot pot, such as the life of diners, can Hao eat a spicy delicious hot pot is really a life of joy, that spicy taste can almost around the teeth March and not. However, some recent reports may let cargo hearts of small 99: chafing dish so delicious, is because of bad business add poppy shell! You see, we have a strange fruit in the hotpot ...

Is this the fruit you've seen? Don't worry, it's not a poppy shell. (Figure below)

In fact, as long as the meat stew at home, you will know this dark brown, oval, uneven surface of the guy, but the kitchen is a common seasoning tsaoko just. Although it is true that unscrupulous businesses have illegally added opium poppy, it is wrong for the good to recognize Tsaoko as a poppy.

The poppy shell and Tsaoko mixed, is definitely not a person two people mistake, many media news repeatedly put Tsaoko as poppy Shell to report, let people's fear of poppy shell further escalation-so it is clear who is poppy shell, who is wronged, or very important.

The best known of Poppy, except opium, may be the coquettish flower. But there are quite a few people who know poppy flowers, and few people have really seen poppy fruit. In fact, the shape of the poppy fruit can be glimpsed one or two from its name. "Poppy" in ancient times, refers to a large belly and mouth small crock, and "millet" word we all know that refers to millet. So put these two words together, is the typical image of the poppy fruit: The fruit is round and smooth, like a crock, containing the seeds such as millet. Therefore, Poppy also has "rice shell flower", "rice flower" alias.

In addition to its chic shape, the poppy fruit has a more pronounced feature: At its top, it has a flat plate with a radial edge, as if wearing a crown. This is actually a joint of the poppy stigma. When the poppy fruit matures, the "crown" will open a circle of holes, brown millet seeds fall out of these pores and continue to create new territories. The poppy shell has a smooth surface and a typical "crown" structure with brown seeds inside.

In fact, it is understandable that the poppy fruit is uncommon. After all, opium poppy in our country belongs to the drug original plant, privately planted is illegal. The poppy, after harvesting, separates the seeds that can be extracted from oil and medicine, so it usually breaks the shell. So even in pharmacies, more than just fragments of poppy shells. In cases where the opium poppy was illegally added to the pot, almost all of them were added fragments or milled powders. To really get the full poppy from the pot, the business is too blatant-although the amount of added may not be addictive, but this is an ironclad offense. Tsaoko and its structure

If carefully observed, the difference between the Tsaoko and poppy shells is considerable. Tsaoko lacks the iconic "crown" of the poppy, which is slightly triangular in shape and has a lot of uneven grooves. If bitten, it can be found that there are dozens of of particles gathered in a group, angular small black stone general seed. In fact, at the table to better distinguish: Because Tsaoko is usually thrown into the pot boil.

If you leave the table alone, the poppy and Tsaoko are irrelevant. The opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) belongs to the opium poppy (Papaveraceae) poppy (Papaver) in Dicotyledons and Tsaoko (amomum Tsao-ko) belongs to the Curcuma (Zingiberaceae) cardamom (amomum) in monocots. The relationship between them is more like the relationship between fish and whales.

Ginger plants are known for their rich volatile oils. As one of the distribution centers of ginger plants in East and South Asia, the "Tun" opportunity has allowed people in the region to develop many other flavors of ginger plants. The volatile oils of these plants can bring a sense of fragrance that greatly enriches our taste. The underground tuber of the ginger plant is one of the main warehouses of the volatile oil: we are familiar with Ginger, is the ginger Plant "section chief" Ginger (Zingiber officinale) of the underground stems, is one of the most important spices material, and to turmeric (Curcuma longa) Tuber mill made of turmeric powder, In addition to the fragrance Sinzhi, or to the curry infected with the Golden Star. In addition, Officinarum (Alpinia officinarum), Kaempferia (mountain nai Kaempferia Galanga) and so on, is also a common spice in Southeast Asian cuisine. Ginger and turmeric are derived from the tubers of ginger and turmeric, and the dried turmeric tubers are milled to get turmeric powder.

And Tsaoko, it represents the ginger plant "fruit pie." And ginger, it does not contain the fruit of spicy ginger spicy, and more containing eucalyptus oil, aromatic alcohol, citral and other volatile substances, so it is less spicy ginger, and more sweet taste. With it and stewed meat stew, can go fishy flavor, so it is stewed meat seasoning indispensable part. Plant Tsaoko Fruit.

Of course, the "fruit pie" in the Ginger division is not only Tsaoko. Tsaoko belongs to the cardamom is the fruit sent to the land of the capable. In addition to Tsaoko, white cardamom (amomum testaceum) is also known as the spice plant in cardamom. Unlike the Tsaoko, the white cardamom fruit has a lighter color, a distinctly triangular shape, and is prone to cracking, exposing the dark brown seeds inside. Usually, white cardamom is milled into powder and used as a blend of Chengxhang powder, such as pepper and cinnamon. In addition, common medicinal amomum villosum is also a member of the cardamom genus. However, compared to the previous two, its fruit surface is not a trench but a small thorn, and in use, usually peel, leaving only seeds to use-the name of the resulting.

It also comes from cardamom and the white cardamom.

When it comes to the cardamom genus of tsaoko, many people's first reaction is to describe the "bloom" of adolescent girls. Unfortunately, the idiom "cardamom" does not refer to the Cardamom family, but refers to another family in the Ginger clan--Alpinia (Alpinia zerumbet) or grass cardamom (alpinia katsumadai). Why is that? It turns out that the inflorescence of the genus cardamom is grown directly from the rhizome, close to the ground, while the inflorescence of the genus Ginger is produced from the branches. The February Lunar New Year, it is the time of the mountain ginger rearing bud, the string of white in the bud of the powder through the delicate desire to drop, which has "cardamom willow early February" sentence. The inflorescence of the cardamom plant from the ground is obviously not "Willow", and the color and pattern are inferior to many.

The inflorescence of the Shan Jiang (left) and the inflorescence of the Tsaoko (right) are not a painting wind at all.

So, why originally belong to the "cardamom" of the mountain Ginger, will fall in Tsaoko home? This is probably because although the ginger flowers are big and gorgeous, but because only in the south of China, can enter the central plains and the north, only as a medicinal fruit and seeds, and because these fruit seeds of the shape, smell and the same as spices and herbal use of tsaoko, white cardamom Similar, the ancients did not pay attention to field visits, In the Telemeter classics, the constant confusion and false, so that the name of "cardamom" indiscriminately on a variety of plants. When botanists finally according to the form divides cardamom genus and the genus of ginger, "cardamom" this genus is sadly attributed to Tsaoko's house. At the level of species, however, a considerable number of non-cardamom plants still carry the name "cardamom", still reflecting the chaos of the time.

Comparison of several plant fruits and seeds with "cardamom": A. Alpinia alpinia galanga (red cardamom) B. Grass cardamom Alpinia katsumadai;c, Yan Shan ginger alpinia zerumbet ("grass cardamom"); White cardamom amomum testaceum;e, cardamom amomum subulatum;f, Tsaoko amomum and tsao-ko;g cardamom elettaria.

In addition to the "cardamom" from the genus Ginger, we commonly have spices with the name "cardamom", as well as "cardamom" and "nutmeg", but both are not related to botanical cardamom. Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) Although also a member of the Curcuma, but because of the unique pattern of another genus, called cardamom. Its fruit shape is slightly tsaoko, but more slender, the color is greener, therefore also has "the green cardamom" the said. The Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is far more distant: it belongs to the nutmeg (Myristicaceae) nutmeg (Myristica), which is a tree of up to several meters, and we use a powder made of nutmeg-dried aril or seed-grinding. Cardamom and nutmeg are not native to China, but are derived from southern India and the East Indies. Only they are the same as the genuine nutmeg produced in the south of China, the fruit has a strong and stimulating odor, so it is in the name of "cardamom". The use of nutmeg is the red aril and the inner seed kernel.

Therefore, whether the Tsaoko as a poppy shell, or a variety of chaotic "cardamom", in the final analysis, is committed to "look at the surface does not see the essence of" the error. The world, all things beautiful, only stripped of the appearance of camouflage, grasp the essence of things, can be closer to the truth. In the same way, the essence of doing things well is not lost because of the pursuit of appearances. Like a pot of hot pot, the use of solid materials, sincere hospitality, naturally do not have to worry about repeat customers do not come, and for this purpose illegally added illegal substances, that is the end of the house.