# Burning My Vegetables



## love2eat (Feb 4, 2006)

I have a few low-sodium diet recipes to share with you. I think it's beneficial to prevent heart diseases. I started my low-sodium diet a year ago, I believe if you start early, it won't be so difficult to adjust your taste buds later. A few years ago, I had trouble to prepare my dad's meal. He had some dietary issues with his elderly person's health problems, which required no salt, no fat, no protein, and no carb... that was no way of living. 

I found roasted garlic can replace salt in stir fried vegetables and pork dishes. Also, I found out by purposely burning certain vegetables slightly can produce some aroma and extra flavor within the dish, like cabbage, green bell peppers, onion, mushrooms and zucchini squash. 

Why does that only work with certain vegetables? Can anyone answer this?


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## Dina (Feb 4, 2006)

Never heard of burning veggies but grilling them with charcoal.  There is a difference.


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## Constance (Feb 4, 2006)

I think you're talking about caramelizing the vegetables, Love. It brings out the natural sugars. Some vegetables have more natural sugars than others, and those are the ones that taste best caramelized.


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## marmalady (Feb 4, 2006)

Think roasted veggies - like roasted red peppers!  Not 'burning' per se, but just bringing out more flavor!


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## auntdot (Feb 5, 2006)

I agree with the posters, they are right as usual. Cooking many veggies a bit longer than we might be used to releases the sugars from the starches.

And potatoes are no exception.

One thing we do is to overbake, if that is the right term, our taters.

Was never a real fan of baked potatoes until we forgot about them one day. Left them in the oven.  The baked spuds we found did not have the the mealy texture we were used to.

Rather the texture was smooth, I don't have a word to describe it, but they were very sweet.  

Now we always 'overbake' our spuds.

The flavor is always better with some butter or sour cream, but for people on restricted diets these are pretty good as is. And a few herbs or spices are always good.

Hope this helps.


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## licia (Feb 5, 2006)

A friend gave us several packages of deer sausage. When I cook them I caramelize the peppers and onions with the sausage. They are delicious. I don't eat the veggies since I like mine still a bit crunchy, but it makes a lot of difference in the taste of the sausages.


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## Claire (Feb 5, 2006)

IF you're looking to replace salt in recipes, a squirt of lemon or lime sometimes will help.  Fresh  herbs are great as well.  But since you can cook out year-round (when we lived in Hawaii we did several times a week -- on our Weber for large pieces of meat or when we had company, on a cheap hibachi when it was just us two), grilling those veggies adds a lot of flavor.  Just toss them in olive oil.  If you're trying to cut the salt, buy Cavendars seasoning in the blue (salt-free) shaker.  I've fooled many people into thinking I put smoked, salted meat into a soup, stew, salad, etc, when in fact all I did was grill the veggies.


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## Gretchen (Feb 5, 2006)

Many vegetables can be roasted and are delicious. Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, root vegetables, etc.


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## love2eat (Feb 6, 2006)

Constance said:
			
		

> It brings out the natural sugars. Some vegetables have more natural sugars than others, and those are the ones that taste best caramelized.



yes, that's it! 
Caramelize is the word. So, the chemistry is in the nature sugar from the vegetable. 
Thanks a lot for the answer!


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## Constance (Feb 7, 2006)

You could also caramelize some of that wonderful fresh fruit you have there in Hawaii, Love.


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