All Ingredients

Indians use this to make desserts and drinks.

This is a family of sweet kidney-shaped beans that comes in different sizes and colors. Varieties include cannellini beans, flageolets, and red kidney beans.

Kidneys are nutritious and, if properly prepared, delicious. It's often hard to find them in markets, though, since many of them are ruined during the meat inspection process. Veal kidneys and lamb kidneys are prized for their tenderness and delicate flavor. They can be grilled or sautéed, though they become tough if overcooked. Pork and beef kidneys are tougher, and need to be cooked slowly using moist heat.

Kielbasy are smoked Polish sausages made with pork and/or beef and flavored with garlic, pimento, and cloves. They come already cooked, but most people heat them before serving.

This Korean specialty is made with cabbage, vinegar, garlic, and hot chile peppers, all of which are put into jars and allowed to ferment. It's spicy and very good.

These dark kimia dates are grown widely in southern Iran. They are moist and soft.

These have long, spindly legs and are found off the coast of Alaska and Japan.

This short, versatile cucumber is used for both slicing and pickling. It's small, with bumpy yellow or green skin. Like the English cucumber, it has a thin skin and inconspicuous seeds.

This colorless cherry brandy is made primarily in Germany. French kirsch isn't quite as dry.

These are flat and slippery Japanese wheat noodles. They're served both hot and cold.

This Jewish specialty consists of beef intestines stuffed with matzo meal, onion, and suet.

Kittely is a small round eggplant. It is used in soups and stews.

This melon has a gorgeous orange rind with spikes--poke a stick in it and you'd have a medieval mace for a Halloween costume. The yellow-green flesh has the consistency of jello, and tastes a bit like cucumbers.

This small, oblong fruit is has fuzzy brown skin and beautiful green flesh dotted with edible black seeds. It tastes like a cross between gooseberries and strawberries. It's very versatile--you can eat it as a snack, blend it into sauces or sorbets, or peel and slice it as a garnish. It also contains an enzyme that tenderizes meat. Select kiwis that are hard, and allow them to ripen at room temperature for a few days.

These smoked beef sausages are seasoned with lots of garlic. They should be cooked before eating, and they're often served like hot dogs or smothered in sauerkraut.

This German cheese is easy to spread. It's great on crackers and rye bread.

A kohlrabi resembles a turnip, only it's sweeter and more delicately flavored. It's light green and sometimes sold with its edible greens attached. It can be eaten raw or cooked. Choose small ones, and peel before using.

These can be cooked just like Swiss chard. Remove the stems first if they're too thick.

Koji is the mold used to make koji foods like koji rice, other grains and soy beans. It is can also used to make sake.

Koji rice is made by fermenting rice with the koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae). It is an ancient practice stated in japan over 1000 years ago. The koji fungus can also be added to grain and beans. Koji rice is often used in brewing sake.

This Indian souring agent is made from dried mangosteen peels. It's often used in fish dishes. Look for it in Indian markets.

These bitter nuts are loaded with caffeine, and Africans like to chew on them throughout the day. One downside is that they turn your teeth orange.

This Hungarian sausage is similar to Polish kielbasa, except that it has paprika added to it.

This German rye bread has a fine texture and is often thinly sliced.

Like other sea vegetables, konbu is rich in minerals. It's very popular in Japan, where it's used to flavor dashi, a soup stock. Konbu is usually sold dried, in strips or sheets. Choose konbu that's very dark, almost black, and don't wipe off the white residue that often appears on the surface; it's very flavorful.

This African green is very hard to find fresh in the United States, and the canned version is terrible.

These Korean noodles are made with buckwheat flour and potato starch. They're usually served cold, but sometimes added to soups. Boil the noodles for about 3 to 4 minutes before using.

Korean sweet potato vermicelli (which they call tang myon) is very slender, and has a somewhat rubbery texture. Korean buckwheat noodles are also chewy, and usually served cold. Koreans are also fond of rice sticks and Chinese egg noodles.

A Korean specialty, these long, chewy noodles are made with sweet potato starch. Before using, soak them in hot water for about 10 minutes, then add them along with some broth to stir-fries.

This salt was developed for the preparation of kosher meats, but many cooks prefer it over table salt. It has coarser grains, so it's easier to use if you, like professional chefs, toss salt into pots with your fingers, measuring by touch. Most kosher salt is also flaked, giving each grain a larger surface area. This helps the salt adhere better, so it's great for lining margarita glasses, and for making a salt crust on meats or fish. Kosher salt also is preferred over table salt for canning and pickling. Like pickling salt, kosher salt is free of iodine, which can react adversely with certain foods. Some brands of kosher salt contain yellow prussiate of soda, an anti-caking agent, but unlike the anti-caking additive in table salt, it doesn't cloud pickling liquids. The only drawback to using kosher salt for pickling or canning is that the grains are coarser and flakier, and can't be packed as tightly into a measuring cup as pickling salt. This raises the risk that the salt won't be properly measured. To get around this problem, measure by weight instead of volume. With its large grains, kosher salt isn't a good choice for baking. Look for boxes of it in the spice section of your supermarket.

This is wine that's been made in accordance with Rabbinical law. Most people think of them as syrupy-sweet screw-top wines made with Concord grapes, but some kosher wines are now being produced that are indistinguishable from quality non-kosher wines. Unless pasteurized, a wine can only remain kosher if it's poured by an observant Jew. Bottles of pasteurized wine sport the label "mevushal."

This is like bologna, only it's studded with chucks of ham. You can serve it cold in sandwiches, or fry it for breakfast.

Jewish cooks use these to make kreplach, a kind of Jewish ravioli.