Foods Beginning with V Trivia Quiz

Answer: vanilla

There are several varieties of the vine Vanilla planifolia, grown mostly in Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico, Tahiti and Réunion Island. The Aztecs called it "tlīlxochitl"; the word vanilla is from the Spanish meaning little pod. It is expensive because it is hard to produce.

A vine blooms for a very short time (in hours) and must be fertilized by hand. It is marketed primarily as whole pods or as vanilla extract in alcohol. Artificial vanilla flavourings, called methyl vanillin and ethyl vanillin, are used commercially. Vanilla is widely used in foods and beverages. Vanilla ice cream wouldn't work without it; many baked goods are vanilla-forward. [Chef's note: Vanilla is like love. You may settle for a cheaper variety but it is never as good as the real thing.]

Answer: veal

In the same way that lamb is juvenile mutton and kid is juvenile goat, veal is the meat of beef calves slaughtered before maturity. Almost all veal is the meat of young male dairy cattle (bull calves) which are unnecessary to the production of milk. Veal has numerous culinary uses. In Italy, veal parmigiana. In France, escalope de veaux and blanquette. In Austria, Wiener Schnitzel. Demi-glace made from the bones of veal is of very high quality. Calves' stomachs are an important source of rennet for cheesemaking.

Answer: vegetable fern

There are many different edible ferns. The "vegetable fern" (Diplazium esculentum) is an important food source in Asia and Oceania. Young fronds (the old ones are tough) are either used fresh in salads or stir-fried in cooked dishes. There are many names for this vegetable: "pakô" in the Philippines, "pucuk paku" and "paku tanjung" in Malaysia, "sayur paku" in Indonesia, "dhenki shaak" in Bengali, "ningro" in Nepali, and "phak khut" in Thailand. "Yum Phak Kood" is a Thai dish of blanched vegetable ferns served with blanched prawns in a sauce of lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chili and shallot.

Answer: velvet bean

Probably more cattle eat velvet bean plants (Mucuna pruriens) than do people. It grows widely under a variety of names: monkey tamarind, Bengal beans, Florida velvet beans, Mauritius velvet beans, Yokohama velvet beans, cowage, cowitch and Lyon bean, among others.

It is fed to animals as silage. It is agriculturally valuable as a crop grown in fallow fields which fixes nitrogen in the soil (as do all legumes). The beans are eaten cooked (boiled, mostly) and are also fermented into a food very much like the "tempeh" popular with vegetarians, called "Benguk tempe." Velvet bean figures in Indonesian and other Eastern gastronomies.

The beans are boiled, dried, ground and the powder used like flour in chapati dough to make buns and bread. The whole cooked beans are added to curries, dals and pulao.

Answer: venison

The English word "venison" derives from the Latin word "venari" meaning to hunt or pursue. In about the 11th century, the term entered English meaning the meat of any animal that was hunted (including pigs, goats and rabbits). In South Africa, it means antelope meat.

The common English usage is to describe the meat of elk or deer. [I have heard it used by Canadians to describe the meat of caribou/reindeer.] The meat is similar to beef, tender, leaner than beef, and mildly flavoured. There is so little fat in venison that some other animal fat must be added to sausage ground from trim to make it palatable. Hunters provide much of the venison consumed in the US but there are extensive deer-farming enterprises in New Zealand and Tasmania which create an international market.

Answer: vermouth

There are basically two types of vermouth: sweet and dry. This fortified wine can be enjoyed by itself but is commonly mixed with other alcohols to produce cocktails. Sweet vermouth goes in a Manhattan; dry vermouth goes in a martini. Vermouth is made by infusing white wine with "botanicals": cardamom, chamomile, cinnamon, cloves, citrus peel, coriander, ginger, hyssop, juniper berries, marjoram, nutmeg, quinine, wormwood and other herbs, roots, barks, flowers, seeds, and spices.

It is then fortified with brandy, neutral spirits or other fortified wines.

The French noun "vermouth" is derived from the German noun "Wermut" meaning wormwood. Wormwood was a principal ingredient in vermouth until several governments decided that it turned Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde and banned its use. [Chef's tip: classic sauces may be varied by using vermouth in place of the natural wine normally included to produce interesting results.]

Answer: vinaigrette

Perhaps the simplest way to dress a salad is to pour a bit of vinegar and a bit of oil on it, add salt and pepper, and toss. When these saucy elements are brought together, the result is called vinaigrette. The most common acid element is vinegar but excellent sauces can be made from the juice of lemons, as well.

The typical oil is olive oil but there is an amazing variety of oils which can be used successfully: walnut, hazelnut, peanut, sesame, rice bran, as well as many neutral oils. The addition of salt, pepper, aliums, mustard, herbs and spices enhances vinaigrettes.

A mixture of three parts oil to one part vinegar, whipped unmercifully, will create an emulsion which will last through service. The bottled ones at the grocer's have chemical stabilizers added to them to prevent them from breaking into one layer of vinegar and another of oil. Vinaigrette is not only a good salad dressing but may also be used as a cold sauce and as a marinade.

Answer: vinegar

Sugar, water and yeast make carbon dioxide and alcohol. Alcohol and acetobacter make acetic acid (vinegar). The Babylonians understood this and made vinegar around 3000 BC. Almost anything with alcohol in it can be used to make vinegar: sake, beer, wine, cider.

The English word vinegar derives from the Old French "vyn egre" which derived from the Latin "vinum" meaning wine and "acer" meaning sour. Modern vinegar is a solution of 5-8% acetic acid by volume. It is used in pickling, in sauces, as an ingredient in condiments, as a beverage (called a shrub), and as a household cleaner. Vinegar keeps for a long time because, in one sense, it is already spoiled.

Answer: vodka

There are at least three sorts of vodka, arising from different cultural histories. These are the Russian, the Polish and the Swedish. It has been made traditionally of fermented cereal grains but, in more recent times, of potatoes. The beverage may be drunk neat -- at near-freezing temperature -- or mixed in cocktails such as the vodka martini, the screwdriver, the Moscow Mule and the Bloody Mary.

In Slavic languages, vodka means water (of which there is plenty in a bottle of vodka). Compare this with the Latin "aqua vitae" meaning water of life with reference to a similar medieval alcoholic beverage.

At one time, US law defined vodka as being without "aroma, taste, or color." To people who know it well, that seems a slander. Vodka serves as an ingredient in a variety of recipes, e.g. vodka sauce for pasta, and pie crust.

Answer: Viognier wine

Viognier grapes were grown in the Rhône by ancient Roman occupiers of the area. The grape is now grown not only in France but in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, Greece and Japan. The wine produced from this grape is full bodied and highly fragrant. The variety is difficult to make and loses its aromatic notes if poorly handled. Most Viognier wine is drunk young as it does not improve with age in the bottle and may actually lose some of its floral notes over time.