Benefits of Powdered Ingredients vs. Liquid or Paste Ingredients
Have you considered how the format of your ingredients impacts the flavor of your dish?
When comparing powdered ingredients with liquid or paste ingredients, consider curry. Sure, it may seem like a no-brainer that curry is curry, but when it comes to the role format plays with ingredients, the difference between curry powder and curry paste can deliver two entirely different dishes from a cooking or dining perspective. Let’s examine how powdered, liquid and paste ingredients differ.
The Benefits of Powdered Ingredients
Powdered ingredients (also known as dry ingredients) are excellent flavor enhancers.
A jalapeno pepper, for example, reaches powdered form when the chili is dried and then ground. At this point, the results are 100% jalapeno. The texture, which translates to “mouthfeel” is very similar throughout and this powdered ingredient now has a long shelf life.
Like most powdered ingredients, it also blends easily – meaning we can add it to other ingredients to create a mix or just add it directly to a recipe. The same is true of other dry ingredients – Curry, paprika, cinnamon, etc.
Overall, the strengths of powdered ingredients include their very long shelf life, the consistent mouthfeel and texture, their ability to blend with other components and their ease of use in recipes. Typically, powdered ingredients offer strong flavors, which can diminish as the product ages or if it’s not stored correctly.
The Benefits of Liquid Ingredients
As expected, liquid ingredients are smooth. In fact, compared to powdered and paste ingredients, there is almost no texture. (This is because powdered ingredients often blend nicely but retain some texture, and paste ingredients can range in texture from chunky to smooth.)
The shelf life of liquid ingredients varies by the ingredient, but most can live on a shelf unopened for 1-2 years and be fine. Once opened, however, the shelf life of liquid components is radically shortened and can be as short as a few days.
Liquid products generally blend easily, but their short shelf life means they need to be used quickly. There’s typically some form of preservative in liquid ingredients, and you may encounter things like stratification from settling. This is when a canned curry sauce, for example, separates so the coconut milk is solidified at the top while the rest of the ingredients are still liquid.
The Benefits of Paste Ingredients
Most shoppers are used to buying curry in paste form. Paste ingredients are mixed with oil to get that paste texture which means you’re usually getting two ingredients or more – the curry powder and now oil.
And oil is beneficial on several fronts. First, it helps to keep the curry powder “active.” By “active” we mean that the flavors are ready. When you have a dried spice, there is some reactivation needed. Generally, reactivation of a dried spice occurs with the addition of liquid or oil. There is also some leeching that occurs with paste because the oils from the ingredients can mix with the oil that is used to cause the product to become a paste.
The oil in paste ingredients also helps to translate flavors. Oil is a beautiful mechanism for blending flavors, which leads to an improved mouthfeel – a delight as we consume food. The addition of oil also means that sometimes extra steps are added to a recipe to activate the paste product.
Curry paste is warmed or fried before adding other ingredients. Doing so liquefies the oil which then sticks to or combines with other elements to prevent clumping. Again, the shelf life of paste is much shorter than dry ingredients. That’s the oil at work. Oil does a great job of preserving components, but it can also go rancid and ruin the ingredient altogether.
Basically, paste ingredients have a shorter shelf life compared to powdered ingredients, but you often have more texture with paste ingredients than with powdered ingredients. That added texture can add to the authenticity of your meal.
Comparing Liquid vs. Powder vs. Paste Ingredients
Powdered ingredients offer a chef many benefits over both paste and liquid ingredients. The primary advantage of powdered ingredients is the longer shelf life and even consistency in texture. A jar of curry powder, for example, will last far longer once opened than a jar of curry sauce or curry paste. And the longer an ingredient lasts, the more benefit it has – especially when you only need a little bit of that ingredient.
Another benefit of dry ingredients is that they’re mostly natural ingredients and free of preservatives. With both paste and liquid products, you often have preservatives which can interfere with the savory enhancement of the component, as well as prevent clean labeling options.
Some recipes are better with paste than they are with powdered or liquid ingredients thanks to the oils in the paste. To that end, some forms of curry cook better with paste ingredients over dry ingredients. With paste, you gain a more extensive array of textures and sometimes more intense flavors.
The primary benefit of a liquid ingredient is that it is ready to use and easier to mix into a recipe. The downside is that, once opened, the product spoils quickly. In dishes where you want a variety of textures, liquid ingredients fall short.
Which Type of Ingredient is Right for You?
For the best, all-natural powdered ingredients, visit www.nikkenfoods.com and pair up with our in-house food scientists to find the perfect addition to bring out the best flavor in your next dish.
