Getting Familiar With The Wide Variety Of Indian Spices

A large variety of spices are grown and consumed in India. They are used for adding flavour to the food and also serve as appetizers and anti-oxidants. Spices are used either in whole form or by chopping into slices or pieces, or by grinding into powder or paste.

Some of the most commonly used varieties of spices in India are listed below.

Chillies: Chillies, known as the king of spices in Indian dishes, are used for making the food hot and spicy. Dried red chillies are used for preparing various curries and food dishes by frying them with a little oil along with mustard seeds and cumin for "tadka". Chilli powder is used in every single Indian household almost in every dish and is amongst the main ingredients used in preparation of Indian pickles.

Pepper: Black pepper is mostly used in powder form either individually or by mixing with other powders. There are two famous food stuffs in South India where it is used in raw form also. They are Bonda and Pongal.

Ginger: Ginger is used in raw form and dry form both. Dry ginger powder has many medicinal benefits too. Ginger is used either by slicing to tiny pieces and frying along with green chilli pieces in oil or by adding it as a paste in the preparations.

Coriander: Coriander seeds are powdered and used along with other spices to add flavour to food. Green coriander leaves are used as a top up flavour to many food dishes.

Turmeric: Turmeric is very important for its medical benefits. It is widely used in powder form in many preparations. It gives a magnificent colour to the dish and adds a different flavour to the food. Turmeric protects our body from allergies and diseases.

Mustard: Mustard seeds are amongst the chief Indian spices. Mustard powder is used for variety of pickle preparations. It is mainly used in "tadka" by mixing mustard seeds in oil in North India as well as South India.

Cumin: Cumin seeds are used along with chillies and mustard seeds for preparing various dishes by frying in oil. Cumin powder is also widely used in preparations such as raita (flavoured curd), chaas (butter milk) etc.

Tamarind: Tamarind is mostly used in South Indian dishes widely. Its juice is extracted and added in preparation of food dishes. It is useful as a preservative for making pickles and chutneys and is the main ingredient of Rasam, the main South Indian dish.

Cardamom: Cardamom is of two types. One is small, green coloured known as small elaichi used in sweet dishes and sweets.

Asafoetida: It is produced from the sap of a plant dried up and powdered. It is useful for digestion of food and gives a good taste to the food, apart from adding fluffiness to dough.

Besides above, there are many other varieties of spices used like curry leaves, onion and onion leaves, mint/pudina, fenugreek/methi, tej patta/bay leaf, tulsi/holy basil, garlic, cinnamon, cloves/lavang, ajwain/carom seed, fennel seed/sonf, black cumin, mango powder, cashew nut, almond, resin, saffron and chironji/charoli. Almost all of these spices are produced by spices manufacturers in India and exported to foreign countries.

Making Comparisons of Activated Bleaching Earth

Are you interested in making comparisons of activated bleaching earth (A B E)? A B E has strong bleaching power and this power in turn allows A B E to absorb color. Red as well as yellow are the main colors that it absorbs. A B E 's most important function is that of bleaching power.

When you compare A B E the thing that strikes you is that fuller's earth of a good quality is very good at bleaching. This bleaching power of fuller's earth is used for absorbing color in oil refinery processes.

When comparing the power of fuller's earth, it is important to take a closer look at what contributes to this power of A B E. This bleaching power depends to a great extent on the surface area which in turn is measured in terms of m2/gram. This surface area is measured with the help of a tool called the B E T analyzer. This tool was created by Stephen Brunauer and Paul Hugh Emmett as well as Edward Teller.

At some oil refineries, the red color is the one that is most easily absorbed by A B E. At other refineries, the yellow color is the one that is most absorbed by fuller's earth. The equipment that is used to measure the amount of red or yellow color absorbed is known as a tintometer or colorimeter. Lovibond is the best brand of tintometer or colorimeter.

When comparing fuller's earth and its bleaching power, you can use Lovibond to measure the red color. This measurement will be 80. To make the comparison you will need to start off by filling a suitable vessel (made from glass) with some crude palm oil that should be measured as much as fifty milliliters. Heat this up till the temperature reaches one hundred degrees Celsius and then enter about two percent of fuller's earth into the Crude Palm oil. Stir this continuously for approximately fifteen minutes and maintain the temperature at between one hundred and ten and one hundred and twenty degrees Celsius.

Filter this mixture through a filter paper and measure the amount of oil that has been filtered. Use Lovibond to measure the oil. This should give you a reading of 20. To find out the bleaching power of activated bleaching earth you will need to perform the following calculation: eighty minus twenty divided by eighty and multiplied by hundred percent = 75%

You can also test other activated bleaching earth while using the same Crude Palm Oil and this will allow you to make comparisons of activated bleaching earth.

Cara Membuat Kertas Daur Ulang

Posted on 22 Februari 2011 by alamendah

Cara membuat kertas daur ulang sebenarnya sederhana dan tidak sulit. Sudah banyak yang membahas cara ini, tetapi bolehlah tips sederhana membuat kertas dengan cara mendaur ulang ini saya sampaikan kembali. Membuat kertas daur ulang merupakan bentuk Recycle sebagai bagian dari 3 R (Reuse Reduce Recycle).

Dengan membuat kertas daur ulang berarti telah mengolah kembali (daur ulang) sampah menjadi barang atau produk baru yang bermanfaat. Sehingga secara tidak langsung cara ini akan mengurangi penggunaan kertas dan sampah kertas.

Sebelum membuat kertas daur ulang. Sobat perlu mempersiapkan beberapa peralatan dan bahan.

Bahan yang dibutuhkan untuk membuat kertas daur ulang:

1. Kertas bekas. Karena judulnya saja membuat kertas daur ulang maka sobat harus mempersiapkan kertas-kertas bekas sebagai bahan utama. Bahan ini tentu akan berbeda jika judulnya mendaur ulang duit.
2. Lem Kayu.
3. Air.
4. Zat Pewarna. Akan lebih baik jika menggunakan zat pewarna alami seperti dari kunyit atau serai dari pada zat pewarna buatan.

Peralatan yang dibutuhkan untuk membuat kertas daur ulang:

1. Screen sablon atau bingkai kayu dengan kain kasa seukuran kertas yang diinginkan.
2. Ember untuk merendam atau sejenisnya.
3. Blender.
4. Papan atau triplek.
5. Kain.
6. Gunting. 

   

   Screen sablon

Langkah-langkah membuat kertas daur ulang:

1. Gunting-gunting kertas kemudian rendam dalam ember selama sehari semalam.
2. Blender kertas dengan perbandingan air : kertas = 3 : 1 hingga menjadi pulp (bubur kertas).
3. Masukkan pulp ke dalam bak atau ember yang telah diisi air seperempatnya.
4. Masukkan zat pewarna secukupnya.
5. Larutkan sedikit lem kayu (satu atau dua sedok makan) dengan air dan masukkan ke dalam bak berisi pulp. Aduk hingga rata.
6. Siapkan papan atau triplek yang sebelumnya telah dilapisi dengan kain. Kemudian basahi papan dengan air.
7. Masukkan screen ke dalam bak, saring pulp hingga air agak hilang dan ratakan. Saat menyaring jangan terlalu tebal.
8. Letakkan screen secara terbalik di atas papan, gogok screen atau kain kasanya dengan perlahan sehingga pulp akan terlepas dari screen dan menempel pada papan.
9. Tutup pulp di atas papan dengan kain yang sebelumnya telah dibasahi air.
10. Langkah nomor tujuh hingga sembilan dapat diulang beberapa kali untuk mendapatkan kertas daur ulang beberapa lapis sekaligus. Jika tidak langsung lanjutkan ke langkah kesebelas.
11. Tutup dengan papan atau triplek dan berikan pemberat di atasnya untuk mengepres.
12. Biarkan selama kurang lebih satu jam hingga kandungan air berkurang. Setelahnya masing-masing pasang dapat dijemur di tempat yang panas. Ingat jemur bersama dengan kainnya.
13. Setelah kering kainnya dapat dibuka dengan hati-hati. Atau jika ingin hasilnya lebih rapi, sebelumnya dapat disetrika terlebih dahulu.
14. Selesai. Kertas hasil daur ulang telah jadi dan dapat dimanfaatkan untuk membuat aneka kerajinan tangan.

So, ternyata emang gak sulit kan untuk membuat kertas daur ulang?. Selain ramah lingkungan dan bermanfaat untuk mengurangi sampah kertas, kegiatan daur ulang kertas bekas ternyata mengasikkan. Jika dilakukan bersama dengan anak atau adik tentunya menjadi aktifitas yang menyehatkan sekaligus sebagai pembelajaran yang berharga.

Hasil kertas daur ulang

Dan bagi saya kegiatan yang berhubungan dengan air, usap-mengusap, aduk-mengaduk seperti dalam langkah-langkah membuat kertas daur ulang ini selalu memberi kesan ceria dan romantis. Apalagi jika dilakukan bersama dengan orang yang spesia