Recipes starting with R

The White Mustard is an erect annual, about a foot or more in height, with pinnatifid leaves and large, yellow, cruciferous flowers. It closely resembles the Black Mustard, but is smaller. The fruit of the two plants differs considerably in shape, those of the White Mustard being more or less horizontal and hairy, while Black Mustard pods are erect and smooth. The pods of White Mustard are spreading, roundish pods, ribbed and swollen where the seeds are situated, and provided with a very large flattened, swordshaped beak at the end.

Each pod contains four to six globular seeds, about 1/12 inch in diameter, yellow both on the surface and internally. The seed-coat, though appearing smooth, on examination with a lens, is seen to be covered with minute pits and to be finely reticulated.

The stems are erect and shrubby, biennial, with creeping perennial roots. Flowers: Royal purple or bluish pink, showy, fragrant, 1 to 2 in. broad, loosely clustered at top of stem. Calyx sticky-hairy, deeply 5-parted, with long, pointed tips; corolla of 5 rounded petals; stamens and pistils very numerous.

Stem: 8 to 5 ft. high, erect, branched, shrubby, bristly, not prickly. 
Leaves: Alternate, peti-oled, 3 to 5 lobed, middle lobe largest, and all pointed; saw-edged lower leaves immense. 
Fruit: A depressed red berry, scarcely edible.
Preferred Habitat: Rocky woods, dells, shady roadsides.
Flowering Season: June - August.

It is a low shrub with large red flowers. The root, as found in commerce, consists of long, cylindrical pieces, varying in thickness from 1/4 to 1/2 inch or more (long Rhatany), or a short, thick portion, knotted, and as large as a man's fist (short, or stumpy Rhatany).

The bark of the root is thin, readily separable, rough and scaly; of a dark, reddish-brown colour outside, and bright brownish-red within. It breaks with a somewhat fibrous fracture, is tough and difficult to powder, and has a strong, purely astringent taste, tingeing the saliva red when chewed. The central woody portion is very hard and almost tasteless. Neither bark nor wood has any marked odour. As the virtues of Rhatany reside in the bark, the smaller pieces are preferable.

This plant grows from a large bulb which can be up to 20 cm wide and weigh a kilogram. Several bulbs may grow in a clump and are usually just beneath the surface of the soil. In the spring, each bulb produces a rosette of about ten leaves each up to a meter long. They are dark green in color and leathery in texture. They die away by fall, when the bulb produces a tall, narrow raceme of flowers. This inflorescence can reach 1.5 to 2 m in height. The flower is about 1.5 cm wide and has six tepals each with a dark stripe down the middle. The tepals are white, with the exception of those on the red-flowered form. The fruit is a capsule up to 1.2 cm long.

This leafless, cactus-like plant is a glaucous perennial growing 6 feet or more in height. Its ascending stems are fleshy and 4-angled, each side of the stem about 1 inch in width. The stems have spreading branches whose angles are clothed with divergent, horizontal stipules of a spinescent character taking the place of leaves. These are arranged in pairs and converge at the base into an ovate, somewhat triangular disc; above each pair of spines is a depressed spot indicative of a leaf-bud.

The flowers, which are borne on stalks on the summits of the branches, are 3 in number, 2 of them being borne on pedicles. The branches abound in a milky juice, which exudes and concretes on the surface of the plant when it is wounded.

Rice is an annual plant with several jointed culms or stems from 2 to 10 feet long, the lower part floating in water or prostrate, with roots at the nodes, the rest erect. The panicle is terminal and diffuse, bowing when the seed is weighty. It is probably indigenous to China, and certainly to India, where the wild form grows by tanks, ditches and rivers. It was early introduced into East Africa and Syria, and later into America, where it already appears as a native plant. In Europe, rice was brought into the Mediterranean basin from Syria by the Arabs in the Middle Ages, but is now grown largely only in the plain of Lombardy, and a little in Spain. In England it has been cultivated merely as a curiosity, and may be seen in the hothouses of most botanic gardens, treated as a water plant. The Cingalese distinguish 160 kinds, while 50 or 60 are cultivated in India, not including the wild form, from which the grain is collected, though it is never cultivated. Most kinds require irrigation, but some need little water, or can be grown on ordinary, dry ground. Oryza (the classical name of the grain), or the husked seeds, is called Bras by the Malays, and Paddy when it is enclosed in the husk. Carolina and Patna rice are the most esteemed in England and the United States. The grain of the first is round and flat, and boils soft for puddings; the latter has a long and narrow grain that keeps its shape well for curries, etc. The flour procured from the seeds is called Oryzae Farina, or rice flour, commonly known as ground rice. The granules of rice starch are the smallest of all known starch granules.

Rose plants are usually shrubby, in appearance with long drooping canes and grayish green leaves. The flowers are round and globular, with thin overlapping petals that are highly scented. The shrub is erect, with a height of 3 to 6 feet. The branches are closely covered with nearly straight prickles. The shoots of the plant are also erect. The leaves are unequally pinnate and there are 5 to 7 leaflets, which are oblong or ovate. The flowers of rose plant, which account for the petals, are large and pinkish or red in color. The flowers vary in hues, form and size. There are 100 documented varieties of flowers from this plant.

Rosemary is an aromatic evergreen shrub that has leaves similar to hemlock needles. The leaves are used as a flavoring in foods such as stuffings and roast lamb, pork, chicken and turkey. It is native to the Mediterranean and Asia, but is reasonably hardy in cool climates. It can withstand droughts, surviving a severe lack of water for lengthy periods.

Forms range from upright to trailing; the upright forms can reach 1.5 m (5 ft) tall, rarely 2 m (6 ft 7 in). The leaves are evergreen, 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) long and 2–5 mm broad, green above, and white below, with dense, short, woolly hair. The plant flowers in spring and summer in temperate climates, but the plants can be in constant bloom in warm climates; flowers are white, pink, purple or deep blue.

This small tree is very slow growing, reaching about 10 m in height with a trunk diameter of 60 cm. The tree is essentially evergreen throughout most of its native range. The leaves are compound, 2.5 to 3 cm in length, and 2 cm wide. The blue flowers have five petals that yield a bright-yellow-orange fruit with red flesh and black seeds.

A perennial herb or small shrub with a bad smell. Grows erect up to 1 meter high with leaves that alternate, are twice or thrice divided and are 1.5 -2 cm long. The greenish yellow, tiny flowers with fringe petals are born in terminal clusters