Foods Beginning with H Trivia Quiz

Answer: habanero

Habanero peppers were named with reference to the city of La Habana in Cuba, although they do not play a great role in modern Cuban cooking. Their origin was in the Amazonas. They are modernly produced primarily in the Yucatan of Mexico and in the US.

These small variously-coloured peppers are remarkably hot, typically rated 200,000 to 350,000 Scoville units. They have a lovely floral aroma which they carry into salsas. There is a "heatless" variety called Habanada which preserves the flavour and aroma without the incendiary taste.

Answer: halibut

There are two kinds of halibut in the world - the Pacific Halibut and the Atlantic Halibut - and they both grow to enormous size. There is a verified record of an Atlantic Halibut weighing 515 pounds; there is another record for a Pacific Halibut who weighed 482 pounds. Halibut are flatfish who begin life with one eye on each side of their bodies, one of which migrates to the other side as the fish matures. Halibut fillets are excellent to eat; halibut cheeks are a gourmet's secret desire.

Answer: hard cider

Hard cider is made from apple juice which has been fermented to produce alcohol. They typically contain between 1% and 12% ABV. Hard ciders are popular wherever apples grow. Hard ciders may be sparkling or still. A drink very much like hard cider made with pear juice is called perry. Distilled hard cider or perry becomes fruit brandy. Commercial examples are Applejack (US) and Calvados (France).

Answer: Havarti

Havarti cheese was invented by Hanne Nielsen in 1852 at her farm in Havarthigaard, Denmark. It is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese with tiny holes (called "eyes") throughout. It differs from flødehavarti, which is a lighter version marketed as creamy Havarti.

The taste is buttery and develops a sort of nuttiness with age. All manner of additions (some might say adulterants) are combined with Havarti to produced flavoured cheeses: garlic, chives, bacon, dill, caraway, cranberry, and red pepper.

Answer: hen of the woods

Hen of the woods mushrooms (Grifola frondosa) are also known as maitake in Japan and as ram's head mushrooms or sheep's head mushrooms elsewhere. They are common to China, Europe and North America. Their season is from the end of summer to the beginning of fall.

This mushroom is a perennial which grows at the base of trees, especially oaks. Some mushrooms which appear similar to hen of the woods are toxic, thus caution is required to forage safely. True hen of the woods are a culinary delight.

Answer: herring

The three principal species of herring are found around the world where herring have fished for at least 30 centuries. The largest fisheries are in the North Atlantic, the North Pacific and the west coast of South America. The English word "herring" probably descends from the Old High German word "heri" which meant multitude.

This is in reference to the huge schools in which herring group themselves. Herring are eaten raw, pickled, fried, baked, or smoked; the latter being called kippers. The Dutch make a traditional show of holding a raw herring by the tail and dropping it whole into the mouth and down the throat.

These are called Hollandse Nieuwe.

Answer: hollandaise sauce

Lemon juice is immiscible in butter; raw egg yolks work to emulsify them and create a (somewhat) stable emulsion in hollandaise sauce. The name refers to a Dutch origin but this is historically unclear. Hollandaise sauce is one of the five mother sauces identified by Escoffier.

It may be tweaked with white wine, vinegar, white pepper, and/or cayenne pepper. Perhaps the best-known use of hollandaise is in eggs Benedict. It pairs classically with steamed asparagus, poached salmon and beefsteak. The more adventuresome gastronome might try hollandaise on an open-face bacon, Gruyère cheese and scrambled-egg sandwich.

Answer: honeydew melon

The honeydew melon and the casaba melon are the two principal cultivars of Cucumis melo. They are related to cantaloupe and muskmelon. The honeydew has a yellow smooth skin which contains pale green flesh and some seeds. The honeydew grown extensively in the US is, in fact, the White Antibes cultivar which came from France and Algeria.

The honeydew grown in China are called Bailan. (Chef's secret: Puréed honeydew, to which simple syrup in which fresh ginger has been steeped is added, makes a truly marvelous sorbet, suitable for service on one's Hawaiian honeymoon, for example.)

Answer: HP sauce

The "Britishness" of HP Sauce is emphasized by the picture of Elizabeth Tower, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Bridge on the label. The sauce was invented in Bottesford in the 1850s. It was made in England until the H.J. Heinz Company bought the brand and moved its manufacture to the Netherlands.

The iconic brown sauce is based on tomato and compounded with several vinegars, several sweeteners, ground dates, and tamarind. In 2011, the salt content was significantly reduced in keeping with a change in governmental food policy.

Answer: huitlacoche

There is no doubt that corn smut (Ustilago maydis) is a blight on corn crops causing major losses to crops, especially of sweet corn. In Mexican cooking, the galls of this disease are harvested and used to impart a truffle-like flavour to dishes. The modern Spanish name "huitlacoche" is derived from a Classical Nahuatl word.

The fungus grows on all of the parts of the corn plant above ground and leaves galls, swellings, tumor-like growths. They were used by the Aztecs in cooking; they are a sought-out culinary delicacy in modern Mexico.

At the same time that the US Department of Agriculture is attempting to eradicate corn smut from North American corn crops, certain farmers in Mexico are attempting to induce the pathogen because it is more valuable than the corn.

It cooks up well with egg dishes and in any dish using melted cheese.