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Amchoor: ground mango
4:00 am May 15 - by Stephanie Proctor – Buzz Writer
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We’ve all seen mango in fruit salad and tasted the flavor of it in that refreshing mango-peach juice beverage. Ever thought about seasoning your poultry with it in the powder form?
Amchoor is an East Indian seasoning made by pulverizing sun-dried, unripe mango into a fine powder. It is created mostly in Southeast Asia from amchur, that is, the unripe and sun-dried mangos. Important to note is that the mangos must be green, as this signifies that they are unripe and in their best shape to be dried for use in amchoor.
But what does this powdered fruit taste like? Amchoor gives a tart, sour and tropical taste to the meat and veggies with which it is seasoned. Citric acid, terpenes, aldehyde and esters are primarily responsible for giving amchoor its sour taste, according to www.spice-trade.com, a Web site specializing in the formation and function of spices.
Amchoor may be tough to find in the United States, but not impossible. India is well known for being top producers and consumers of it. The people of India use it to make a refreshing drink known as jaljeera. Jaljeera is a mixture of mint leaves, cumin seeds, amchoor, lemon juice, black salt, cilantro, sugar and cold water that cools you off during a hot summer day. The full recipe can be found at www.festivals.iloveindia.com.
Maybe you’re sick of the usual lemon chicken marinade. Maybe mango-peach juice isn’t quenching your thirst as well as a glass of jaljeera. Maybe it’s time for a taste of something knew. Just as you can grind garlic down to a powder, you can create mango powder as well.
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