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Brain Food 2.0: Everything you need to know about...

Richard Cornish explains everything you need to know about the ingredient of the moment - and why you need to know about it. Here's some he explained earlier...

56 recipes
Sichuan peppercorns couple a complex lifted flavour with the ability to numb the mouth.

Sichuan pepper

  • Richard Cornish
Originally a way to use up leftover mozzarella, stracciatella now stars on menus all over the land.

Stracciatella

  • Richard Cornish
Delicious but a little fiddly, artichokes are the edible flowers of a type of thistle.

Artichokes

  • Richard Cornish
Kohlrabi is inexpensive, packed with fibre and full of antioxidants.

Kohlrabi

  • Richard Cornish
Neil Perry's warm haloumi salad with pomegranate and lemon dressing.

Halloumi

  • Richard Cornish
Three Blue Ducks' sardines with burrata, charred zucchini and spring onions

Sardines

  • Richard Cornish
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Chipotle adds a unique combination of smoke, tang, umami and chilli heat.

Chipotle

  • Richard Cornish
Turmeric lays down an earthy, slightly bitter and peppery foundation flavour that other spices build on.

Turmeric

  • Richard Cornish
Red miso is fermented longer than white miso, resulting in a more punchy flavour.

Miso

  • Richard Cornish
Brussel sprout and fennel salad.

Fennel

  • Richard Cornish
A jar of homemade preserved lemons also makes a great gift for a friend or neighbour.

Preserved lemon

  • Richard Cornish
Gochujang is used in many of our favourite Korean dishes.

Gochujang

  • Richard Cornish
Black garlic: Lower temperatures and a longer curing time leads to better, deeper flavour.

Black garlic

  • Richard Cornish
Neil Perry's vanilla buttermilk panna cotta with poached quinces.

Vanilla

  • Richard Cornish
Falafel-stuffed portobello mushooms with smooth tahini sauce (top left).

Tahini

  • Richard Cornish
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Adam Liaw's honey and cardamom cheesecake with crushed pistachios.

Cardamom

  • Richard Cornish
Yuzu is very fragrant and used in cooking for zest, peel, and very sour juice.

Yuzu

  • Richard Cornish
Mexican-born Rosa Cienfuegos of Itacate in Redfern uses masa harina to make tortillas for tacos.

Masa harina

  • Richard Cornish
Fresh wasabi has a fat knobbly root that grows as long as your hand.

Wasabi

  • Richard Cornish
Karen Martini's basbousa with pistachio and almond

Rosewater

  • Richard Cornish
Packed with fibre and naturally gluten free: Buckwheat seeds.

Buckwheat

  • Richard Cornish
Nutritional yeast is used extensively in vegan cooking.

Nutritional yeast

  • Richard Cornish
There is no one recipe for XO sauce.

XO sauce

  • Richard Cornish
Bay leaves add a deep savoury note to stocks.

Bay leaves

  • Richard Cornish
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Cacao nibs are bitter but packed with flavour, aroma, essential minerals, and 50 per cent 'good fat'.

Cacao nibs

  • Richard Cornish
Elderflowers make delicious cordial that is exceptionally good with gin, ice and soda on a warm afternoon.

Elderflowers

  • Richard Cornish
Try 'nduja on hot toasted bread or experiment with it in savoury dishes.

'Nduja

  • Richard Cornish
Lemongrass adds a complex tropical flavour to sweet and savoury dishes.

Lemongrass

  • Richard Cornish
Fresh Davidson plum.

Davidson plum

  • Richard Cornish
Chickpea flour is mildly nutty, earthy and gluten-free.

Chickpea flour

  • Richard Cornish
Seaweed in its many forms.

Seaweed

  • Richard Cornish
Brain Food's tip: Look for the words "Imported direct from Korea" when purchasing kimchi.

Kimchi

  • Richard Cornish
Shichimi togarashi is a Japanese blend of at least seven ingredients.

Shichimi togarashi

  • Richard Cornish
With a flavour that sits somewhere between anise and dill, fresh tarragon is a true taste of spring and summer.

Tarragon

  • Richard Cornish
Apply liberally: Treat zaatar like you would pepper.

Zaatar

  • Richard Cornish
'Parmigiano reggiano of the sea': Slices of bottarga.

Bottarga: Everything you need to know

  • Richard Cornish