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ABALONE and ORMER. These flattened molluscs of the genus Haliotis, the seaears, are best known for their ornamental shells, which have a row of holes and a fine mother-of-pearl lining. They have almost lost their spiral shape and creep around in a limpet-like way eating the algae on rocks below the low tide mark. The edible part is the muscular foot which serves the creature for both anchorage and locomotion. After the animal has been taken out of its shell, the dark-coloured visceral hump (the guts) must be removed. The remaining foot should be beaten soundly to break up the muscle fibres. Otherwise it will be exceedingly tough.

Ormers are small European abalones which are found as far north as Guernsey, although they have become very scarce; they are very rare in Jersey (which is too far from the Gulf Stream) and are almost absent from Britain. The name is a Channel Islands corruption of the French ormeau or oreille de mer. Ormers may be gathered from the rocks at spring low tides. They are out of season in the summer, when they are at their toughest. Some authorities distinguish the slightly smaller Mediterranean ormer (Haliotis lamellosa) from the Atlantic ormer (H. tuberculata).

Abalone is the Californian Spanish name for the species of Haliotis found in warm seas; they are commonly much larger and finer in flavour than ormers. The true abalone is the Red abalone (H. rufescens), which is fished in southern California and traditionally prepared for market by Japanese girls whose forebears would have eaten them in their own country. Other species, such as the Black abalone (H. cracherodii), are popular in Mexico. Indeed, abalone are eaten wherever they occur in sufficient numbers. In Australia, they are known as mutton fish. In Japan, they are famous as awabi or turbo, and the fishing was done traditionally by almost naked girls, called ama, who went down to a depth of 12 m (40 ft), wearing no more than a G-string and carrying a large stone to help them sink.

In countries where abalone is found, the foot, cleaned and pounded, is sold by weight, fresh and sliced. lt can be eaten raw or cooked. Fresh or frozen slices may be covered with breadcrumbs and fried like cutlets, but they must be cooked on each side for no more than a minute or they will become tough. Recipes can be found in American, Japanese and Chinese cookery books. In China, abalone is often dried; it is then called pao yü and must be soaked for four days in fresh water before use. In Europe, canned abalone is available. The cream-coloured foot should be sliced; it may be served in a salad or as part of an horsd'oeuvre.

[Ormer – French: oreille de mer, ormeau German: Seeohr, Ohrm uschel Italian: orecchia marina, orecchia di San Pietro Spanish: oreja de mar]

ABELMUSK. Seemallow.

ABUTILON. Seemallow.

ACETIC ACID (C[H.sub.3]COOH).This, the acid of *vinegar and of spoiled wine, is an important organic acid formed when alcohol is oxidized by acetic-acid producing bacteria. These are aerobic – they require oxygen from the air – and so cannot spoil a properly corked bottle of wine, but can turn it sour after it has been opened. Natural wine vinegar will contain 5-10% acetic acid. Acetic acid is an important flavouring, and traces of it are responsible for a pleasant tang in yoghurt and cheese.

As acetic acid is volatile, the strength of vinegar can be increased by distillation or conversely weakened by long boiling. Industrially, acetic acid can be made from coal and limestone. (They are heated together to make calcium carbide. This, slaked, makes acetylene gas, which in turn is converted to acetic acid.) Pure acetic acid looks a little like a mixture of ice and water, which is why it is known as glacial acetic acid. Being a highly-corrosive substance, it is not one to keep in the kitchen, but suitably diluted (to 5%), and often coloured with burnt sugar, it is used in cheap pickles and as a vinegar substitute, which turns up in fish and chip shops labelled Non Brewed Condiment. It also is added to natural vinegar (like fortifying wine with alcohol) to make it keep better, since dilute vinegar is open to attack by bacteria which change acetic acid into carbon dioxide and water. Acetic acid is a stronger preservative than other kitchen acids (citric, lactic and tartaric), and even at the same *pH is more toxic to spoilage organisms, though less so than benzoic acid (see preservation). Even a 1% solution strongly inhibits most bacteria, though not moulds. These qualities make vinegar effective in pickling.

[Acetic Acid – French: acide acétique German: Essigsäure Italian: acido acetic Spanish: ácido acético] ACIDS. From the Latin acidus (sour) – all sour foods contain acids. Sourness is an important taste and is supplied by acids in many natural ingredients, such as acetic acid in vinegar, citric acid in lemon juice, tartaric acid in wine and unripe fruit, malic acid in sour apples, lactic acid in sour milk, and oxalic acid in sorrel and rhubarb.

Although naturally-occurring sour ingredients are the ones most commonly used in cooking, there is sometimes a need for pure acids such as citric and tartaric, which may be bought as crystalline powders. Even hydrochloric and sulphuric acids, which are highly corrosive and dangerous, have some relevance to food.

Acids are highly active chemicals: even rather weak ones will attack iron, zinc (on galvanized articles) and, more slowly, lead and copper in the circumstances in which they may occur in the kitchen. The resulting salts of zinc, copper and, above all, lead are poisonous. On the other hand, for practical purposes, organic acids do not attack enamel, stainless steel, tin (on cans or tinned pans of brass or copper), aluminium, silver or gold. Wooden tubs, china, stoneware, enamel and plastics are also resistant, but acids should not be kept in marble mortars, which they will dissolve, in earthenware vessels with low-fired glazes that are high in lead content, or in high-lead crystal glass bottles – the last two are potentially dangerous. Acids dissolve carbonates (marble, limestone, chalk, washing soda) and bicarbonates (baking soda), giving off a fizz of carbon-dioxide gas. This property is used in sherbets, fruit salts and baking powders. Acids are always neutralized by *alkalis, and the two cannot exist together. It is no good mixing fuming hydrochloric acid and caustic soda together to make a double-acting cleaner – one will neutralize the other with some violence. In theory, fruits can be made less sour by adding soda or lime. Home winemakers sometimes temper rhubarb by adding chalk, which is quite logical, but the salts formed can taste nasty and may be purgative. Sugar, on the other hand, does not neutralize acids but produces a pleasant sweet-sour sensation in the mouth.

Adjustment of acidity, and therefore of sourness, is a fundamental operation in cooking, which is why a last-minute squeeze of lemon juice can be so important in finishing a dish. Fruits with insufficient acidity are insipid. A wine with less than 0.2% acid will be uninteresting and moreover will not keep, while one with more than 1.5% will be too sour.

Acids above a...