All Ingredients

Light corn syrup is used to make everything from candy to fake blood at Halloween.

18 - 30% fat Unlike heavy cream, lower-fat substitutes like light cream, half-and-half, and evaporated milk tend to "break" or curdle when added to sauces. To prevent this from happening, heat the sauce over low or medium heat, or reduce the cream substitute before adding it to the sauce. Don't let the sauce boil. Cream sauces made with lower-fat cream substitutes also tend to have less body; to correct for that, consider adding 1 tablespoon flour or 2 teaspoons cornstarch to the sauce for every cup of evaporated milk substituted. Stir the thickener into a paste first to prevent lumps.

30 - 36% fat Unlike heavy cream or whipping cream, lower-fat substitutes like half-and-half and evaporated milk tend to "break" or curdle when added to sauces. To prevent this from happening, heat the sauce over low or medium heat, or reduce the cream substitute before adding it to the sauce. Don't let the sauce boil. Cream sauces made with lower-fat cream substitutes also tend to have less body; to correct for that, consider adding 1 tablespoon flour or 2 teaspoons cornstarch to the sauce for every cup of evaporated milk substituted. Stir the thickener into a paste first to prevent lumps.

This is a mixture of pureed prunes and apples that serves as a fat substitute in baking.

These small Italian olives are brine-cured.

This is an expensive and light French apéritif made with wine and brandy. There are two versions: Lillet Blonde (white) and Lillet Rouge (red).

With their buttery flavor, lima beans are great in soups or stews, or on their own as a side dish. The most popular varieties are the small baby lima bean = sieva bean and the larger Fordhooks. You can get limas fresh in their pods in the summer, but many people prefer to use dried lima beans. Shelled frozen limas are a good substitute for fresh, but canned limas aren't nearly as good. The biggest downside is that lima beans are harder to digest than other beans.

This is a very stinky and salty German washed rind cow's milk cheese. It's too strong to serve with most wines, so it's often served with beer. Use within a few days after purchasing. For best flavor, serve at room temperature.

These tart green fruits are similar to lemons, but they're more acidic and have their own unique flavor. Varieties include the common Persian lime = Tahiti lime and the smaller, less juicy, and more acidic Florida key lime = key lime = Mexican lime. When buying limes, select specimens that are dark green, smaller, thin-skinned, and heavy for their size.

This is a cross between a lime and a kumquat. It's similar in size and shape to a kumquat, but with a green or yellow-green skin. It has a strong lime flavor.

This excellent lemon-flavored Italian liqueur is often stored in freezers so that it can be served ice cold. It's hard to find in stores, but easy to make at home.

This delicious and fragrant rye bread is usually flavored with molasses, anise seed, and orange peel. Despite its exquisite flavor, it's hard to find in the United States.

These tart relatives of the cranberry grow only in cold climates. They're often made into jams, juices, sauces, syrups, or compotes. Scandinavians like to serve sweetened lingonberries with game.

The French use these for their cassoulets.

This is a spicy Portuguese smoked garlic sausage. You need to cook it before serving it.

Linguine ("little tongues" in Italian) consists of long, slender ribbons of pasta. It's often served with clams or shrimp.

Liqueurs are mixtures of spirits, sweeteners, and flavorings like herbs, fruits, nuts, and flowers. They're sometimes served as after-dinner drinks, but they're more often poured on desserts or mixed into cocktails, milk, or coffee. Some cooks buy miniature bottles of liqueurs to conserve on money and cabinet space.

Liquid honey is the most popular form of honey. It's extracted from the comb and is often pasteurized.

This is a very potent seasoning that imparts a smoky flavor to meat, fish, and vegetarian mock meat products. A little goes a long way.

This category includes various syrups, honey, and molasses.

Liquor refers to distilled alcoholic beverages like whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, tequila, and brandy. These are almost always more potent than fermented alcoholic beverages like beer and wine. It's best to store liquor in a cool, dark place, and to drink it within a year after opening the bottle. Unlike wine, liquor stops aging once it's bottled. Don't confuse liquors with liqueurs, which are made with liquor but sweetened and flavored with herbs, fruit, spices, flowers, nuts, or roots.

his popular Chinese fruit is about the size of a walnut, with a bumpy red shell encasing white translucent pulp that's similar in texture to a grape. The flavor is sweet, exotic, and very juicy. Don't eat the shell or the seed. Fresh litchis are available from May to July. If you can't find them, canned litchis are a good substitute. Don't confuse fresh litchis with litchi nuts, which are sun-dried litchis that have a much different texture.

These are sun-dried litchis. The outer shells are brown and the meat inside looks like a large raisin. Look for them in Asian markets.

This excellent French cow's milk cheese is in the washed-rind or "stinky" family. Though pungent, it's not as overpowering as Limburger. The rind is edible, but it's not for faint-hearted.

Liver is rich in iron and Vitamin A and has an unabashed flavor that nicely complements that of its usual companion, onion. Calf's liver is considered to be the best, but lamb liver and beef liver are almost as good and much less expensive. Liver can be cooked with dry heat, say by grilling or sautéing it, but it becomes very tough if it's cooked beyond medium rare. Since liver has very little fat, you might want to baste it or lard it.

This is a family of pork liver sausages that are creamy enough to spread. One variety is braunschweiger, which is smoked liverwurst.

These popular Chinese egg noodles are often used to make lo mein, in which the noodles are stir-fried along with the other ingredients. They come in various sizes; use the flat ones for stir-fries and the round ones for soups. They're available fresh, dried, and frozen in Asian markets.

This roe turns a lovely coral color when cooked.

These are actually white mushrooms that have been coated by a red fungus.

This liqueur is made with Scotch and flavored with honey and herbs.

These are like blackberries, only they're dark red when ripe and more acidic. They're especially good in pies and preserves.

This mild, tender lettuce has ruffled red edges.

Look for this in Indian or Southeast Asian markets. The seeds come in clumps that look like tiny pine cones.

These oblong potatoes have a medium starch content, and are valued for their versatility. They're good to keep in the pantry as an all-purpose potato.

Long-grain rice has slender grains that stay separate and fluffy after cooking, so this is the best choice if you want to serve rice as a side dish, or as a bed for sauces. American long-grain rice (which includes Carolina rice) has a somewhat bland flavor, and is what cookbooks usually have in mind when they call for long-grain rice. Patna rice is a mild rice grown in India. Basmati rice, another Indian import, has a nutty taste and goes well with many Indian and Middle Eastern dishes. Jasmine rice is also aromatic, and usually less expensive than Basmati. It often accompanies Thai and Vietnamese dishes. Americans have crossed Basmati with American long-grain rice to get popcorn rice, which is milder and less expensive than basmati. Another hybrid is wild pecan rice, which retain most of the bran for a nutty, chewy flavor.

Longans are very similar to lychees and rambutans. You can buy them fresh (in the summer), dried or canned.

Longanisa is a Filipino sausage that resembles a chorizo. It's often served for breakfast in the Philippines.

These are popular in Asia, where they're eaten raw and cooked into sauces that accompany meat. They bruise very easily, which may explain their rarity in American markets

These leaves open up like butterfly wings, each about two feet high. They're often wrapped around rice and other fillings, to which they impart an earthy aroma when the bundles are steamed. The leaves are available either fresh or, more commonly, dried in Asian markets. Soak them for at least an hour in warm water before using, and keep fresh leaves in a cool, dry place or else freeze them.

Slices of the lotus root have a beautiful pattern. The fresh version is available sporadically; if not, the canned version is almost as good. Rinse and drain before using. Look for it in Asian markets.