TIDBITS | Arkansas Democrat Gazette (2024)

LITTLE ROCK — SPELLING MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Perhaps you've noticed that a certain wide-noodle pasta is spelled lasagne on a package, but your recipe is spelled lasagna. Is this a case spelling option, as in the transliteration of kebab or kabob, or is there a reason for the difference in spelling?

Turns out there is a reason, a significant one. In the Italian language, lasagna is singular; lasagne is plural. In English, we normally just add an "s" to make a word plural. In Italian, nouns and adjectives are designated as masculine or feminine. The plural for lasagna, a feminine noun, changes the "a" to "e". Masculine nouns ending in "o" are changed to end in "i" to indicate plural.

RENNET REVIEW

One definition of the word junket, according to Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, is "an excursion, as by a public official, paid for out of public funds."

But there is also a culinary definition: "Milk sweetened with flavor and thickened into curd with rennet."

OK? What is rennet? Webster's continues: It is "a membrane lining the stomach of an unweaned animal, from which an extract of the membrane containing rennin."

And rennin? "A coagulating enzyme that can curdle milk, found in rennet."

You don't hear much about junket or rennet anymore, but it is used to make smooth custards and some ice creams. It's usually available in supermarkets.