Glossary of Terms Used in Feeding America

• absinthe: A strong unsweetened liquor containing oil of wormwood, usually diluted for drinking.
• addled: Rotten or spoiled.
• aitchbone: Slang for H-bone, or hipbone, cut of beef.
• alkanet: A plant used for coloring confectionary.
• alum: A salt with a very astringent effect consisting of crystals usually under one-half inch in size; used to make pickles crisp.
• ambergris: A secretion of the sperm whale valued for its use in perfumes.
• anatto: Coloring ingredient for cheese making.
• angelica: An herb whose leafstalks are candied and whose roots and fruit furnish the angelica oil used as a flavoring for liqueurs and perfume.
• anise: Herb seeds used for flavoring. The flavor is similar to licorice.
• anisette: Anise-flavored liqueur usually served after dinner.
• arrack: Tropical drink distilled from coconut juice, rice, molasses mash and sugar cane juice.
• arrow-root: Nutritious and easily digested starch from finely ground rootstalks of arrow-root plant; used in making biscuits, crackers, custards, and puddings.
• assize: A fixed or customary standard of number, quantity, quality, weight, measure, etc.
• avoirdupois: The system of weights used for weighing everything except medicines, precious stones, and precious metals. In French: "To have a fixed measure."

• baker's dozen: Twelve plus one-the extra one to keep customers returning.
• balm of gilead: A balsam obtained from a small evergreen native to Africa and Asia with a warm bitterish aromatic taste.
• barberry; also, barberries: A shrub which produces tart red berries used in jellies and preserves.
• Beaumont, William: As the post surgeon to Fort Mackinac in 1820, he performed pioneering studies on human digestion using a patient with an open wound in the stomach.
• bergamot: Any of serveral aromatic herbs of the mint family; also refers to a variety of pear and a species of pear shaped orange whose skin is used to make perfumes.
• bizos: Polish sausage made from beef and pork, sauerkraut, and barley all boiled together until thick then sliced.
• blanch: To cover a food with boiling water for a few minutes to whiten or to make removal of the skin easier.
• blood heat; also, blood warm: Temperature which blood is always found to maintain, or 98 degrees farenheit.
• Blot, Pierre: A nineteenth century French chef who traveled to the United States and opened the first French cooking school in New York City in 1865. Known as Professor Bot, he wrote What to Eat and How to Cook It (1863).
• bombazine: A twilled dress fabric; black bombazine was much used for mourning.
• boudin: A meat, poultry, fish or game pudding made into the form of a sausage.
• bouilli: A french term meaning boiled, braised or stewed.
• bounce: An inexpensive drink combining fruit juice with equal parts of water and alcohol.
• bourgoo: A term used for oat meal mush and made just like Indian mush.
• braising: To cook first by browning in a little fat, then to continue by adding a little liquid, covering pan and simmering over low heat till tender. Meats and certain vegetables are prepared this way.
• brawn: Pickled or potted cuts of pork, especially from the head and feet, cooked, cooled in a mould, and usually eaten cold.
• bream: A yellowish fish found in both fresh and salt waters.
• brewis: Bread soaked in broth, drippings of roast meat milk or water, and butter.
• Britannia ware: Utensils made from Britannia metal, an alloy of antimony, copper, and tin.
• bullock: A young or castrated bull.
• bung: Cork or wooden stopper fitted into the bunghole of a barrel or cask.
• bushel: Dry measure containing four pecks or 32 quarts.

• dace: A small fresh-water fish.
• damson: Small dark purple plum originally from Asia Minor.
• daube: A Creole term for a small beef roast, well larded, and cooked with seasonings as pot roast.
• demijohn: Narrow-necked glass or eathenwear container enclosed in a wicker and used for storing cooking oil, liquors and wines. Holds from 1 to 10 gallons and named after Dame-Jeanne, a French term for a large wicker-covered container.
• dessicated: Dried.
• dewberry: A fruit resembling an elongated blackberry, but having a different flavor.
• dodger: A crusty biscuit (e.g. corn dodger)
• Dr. Combe: Dr. Andrew Combe (1797-1847) was a Scottish doctor who wrote and lectured on diet and digestion. His book, The Physiology of Digestion: Considered with Relation to the Principles of Dietetics (New York, 1836) had wide influence in America.
• drachm; also, dram: An ancient Greek weight equaling one eighth of an ounce or three quarters of a teaspoon.
• dredge: To cover with flour, sugar, etc. by sprinkling or dipping the food into the substance with which it is to be covered.
• dross: The scum, waste, or impurities that form on the surface.
• dyspepsia; also, dyspeptic, dispepsia: Indigestion accompanied by loss of appetite, nausea, and/or heartburn. Described by Mrs. Hale as, "An indefinable word implying almost every sort of distress and anguish to which the human frame is subject."

• Edlin, A. (Abraham): An Englishman who wrote an important and influential book on breadmaking, A Treatise on the Art of Bread-making…, (1805).
• elecampane: A large European herb naturalized in the United States; a sweetmeat is made from the root.
• enuresis: Incontinence.
• eschalot: Shallot.

• jalap: The purgative tuberous root of a Mexican plant. Used as a medicinal.
• jigger: Liquid measure containing 1 1/2 ounces.
• Johnny cake: A crisp bread made of cornmeal, water or milk, salt, and sometimes an egg. Also called journey cake, possibly because it kept well and could be taken on trips.
• jujube: Chewy and somewhat gummy candy, offered in various colors, sizes and shapes
• jumbles; also, jumballs: Small cakes or cookies containing grated citrus rind, dropped into a cookie sheet and baked.

• kabob; also, cubbub, kebab: Chunks of meat marinated and roasted on a skewer over an open fire.
• ketchup; also, catsup, catchup: Approximations of the Chinese name for "Brine of Pickled Fish." It is a sauce or condiment made up with mushrooms, tomatoes, or walnuts.
• kipper; also, kippered: To cure fish by splitting open, cleaning, salting, drying, smoking, or preserving in oil or sauce.
• kirsch: Usually means cherry brandy.
• kola nut: Brown bitter nut of two tropical trees cultivated in tropical America. The nut extract is used as a tonic drink.
• kolhraben; also, kohlrabi: Variety of cabbage with a turnip-shaped stem. Eaten raw in salads or boiled and served with a sauce.
• kosher food: Prepared according to Judaic dietary laws, as first determined in Biblical times.

• Neat: Old English name for cattle or ox.
• nephritic: Inflammation of the kidneys.
• night soil: Human excrement, so called because it was usually removed from privies at night.
• noyau: A sweet, white almond-flavored liqueur.

• tammy: A fine linen cloth used for straining soups and sauces.
• tansy: Aromatic herb of the thistle family whose bitter leaves are used for flavoring.
• tapioca: A white, granular, starchy substance obtained by heating the root of the cassava, or manioc plant, which grows in the West Indies. Used as a thickening agent, especially in puddings.
• tartar: Lean raw beef ground fine and mixed with onion, seasonings, and often a raw egg, and used as a sandwich or appetizer. Also an acid substance deposited during fermentation of grape juice, and used in making cream of tartar.
• tartaric acid: Made from argol, a product of fermentation of grape juice. It is used in large quantities for dying, medicine, and all effervescent drinks.
• teal: A small wild duck, which was a much appreciated and popular table bird in 19th century England and America.
• temperate: In cookbooks, to describe one who eats in moderation; also one who does not drink or use in food any intoxicating liquors.
• tench: A fish which is part of the carp family.
• thoroughwort: An herb sometimes used for medicinal purposes. Also called wild hoarhound.
• tincture: A substance which colors, dyes or stains.
• tofu: A mixture of soybean and rice mashed and rolled into thin cake, then fried in oil.
• treacle: English word for molasses.
• trifle: A dessert of sponge cake spread with jam, soaked with wine and combined with fruit, custard or whipped cream.
• tripe: Stomach walls of a meat animal.
• trotters: Feet of calves, pigs, sheep, etc. (e.g., sheep's trotters) used for food and in making calf's foot jelly.
• tumbler: Seamless drinking glass containing 8-12 ounces of liquid.

• unbolted wheat: Wheat not bolted or sifted; coarse.

• vessel: A hollow receptacle of any kind, usually circular in form, as a hogshead, firkin, bottle, etc.
• viands: Provisions, food.
• vichy: A method of preparing carrots, using butter and very little water.
• virdigris: A green or greenish blue pigment used in dyeing, calico printing, and wood preservatives. Also used medically as a dusting powder.

• wallop: To boil with a continued bubbling noise.
• whortleberries; also, whortleberry: Another name for the huckleberry.
• wigeon: Name used for both duck and drake.
• windfalls: Hard pears.

• yelks; also, yolks: The yellow portion of an egg.

The following is a list of reference books that were consulted for the completion of the glossary. Some were used more than others and most useful was Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, second edition.

• Ayto, John, The diner's dictionary; food and drink from A to Z. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
• Braider, Carol, The grammar of cooking. (New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1974).
• Colman, Louis, Alexandre Dumas' dictionary of cuisine. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1958).
• Davidson, Alan, The Oxford companion to food. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
• De Sola, Ralph and Dorothy, A dictionary of cooking. (New York: Meredith Press, 1969).
• DuSablon, Mary Anna, America's collectible cookbooks; the history, the politics, the recipes. (Athens, Ohio: Ohio Unversity Press, 1994).
• Fisher, M.F.K., Funk and Wagnall's cook's and diner's dictionary; a lexicon of food, wine, and culinary terms. (New York: Funk and Wagnall, 1968).
• Herbst, Sharon Tyler, Food lovers companion; comprehensive definitions of over 3,000 food, wine, and culinary terms. (New York: Barron's, 1990).
• Howells, Marion, Hamlyn's illustrated cook's dictionary. (London: Hamlyn, 1969).
• Langsteth-Christiansen, Lillian and Smith, Carol, The complete kitchen guide; the cook's indispensable book. (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1968).
• Neilson, William Allan, Webster's new international dictionary of the English languages econd edition unabridged. (Springfield, Mass.: G.& C. Merriam Company, 1950).
• Shannon, Ellen, American dictionary of culinary terms; a comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the kitchen. (New York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1962).
• Simon, Andre L., A dictionary of gastronomy. (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Company, 1949).
• Wason, Betty, The language of cookery; an informal dictionary. (Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1968).
• Whitfield, Nella, Kitchen encyclopedia. (London: Spring Books, 19--?).