How to add flavor and texture to dishes without artificial additives: tips

In the home pantry, you can find natural ingredients that can perform the functions of artificial additives, namely: to give color, thicken, sweeten, extend shelf life and enhance flavor.

Among them are turmeric, flax seeds, stevia, onions, and aromatic herbs. At the same time, it is important to remember that processed foods contain additives with unknown, undesirable or directly harmful effects on health, according to cuerpomente.com.

Adding color

Instead of artificial colors, it's better to use spices or other natural products. For example, turmeric and saffron provide a yellow color, blueberry juice provides a blue color, and spinach provides a green color. In addition, they enrich the dishes with their beneficial properties.

Thickening

Some additives used to add texture to processed foods alter the microbiota. However, at home, you can thicken dishes or their components with healthy ingredients. Some of them, on the contrary, promote the growth of beneficial intestinal flora. For example, mucilage from hydrated flax or chia seeds, agar-agar, and coconut flour.

Sweetening

It is not necessary to use artificial sweeteners in your recipes. Instead, stevia leaves, maple syrup, dates, dried apricots, and mashed bananas are all good options.

Extend the shelf life

You can avoid many artificial preservatives by not eating processed foods. However, to keep homemade food longer, you need to add onions, rosemary, lemon, garlic, cayenne pepper, or salt to your recipes.

Flavor enhancers

In industrial products, flavor enhancers often encourage you to eat more of them or hide low-quality ingredients. Monosodium glutamate is among the most common. At home, you can enhance flavor by enriching recipes with nutrients such as spices, aromatic herbs, salts, and flavored oils.