Benders'dictionary of nutrition and food technology

189filtrate The liquid that passes through a filter; see filtration.filtrate factor Obsolete name for pantothenic acid.filtration The separation of solids from liquids by passing themixture through a bed of porous material (the filter medium),either under gravity and hydrostatic pressure alone or usingpressure above, or vacuum below, to force the liquid through thefilter bed.See also filter cake; filtrate.fines herbes Mixture of chopped parsley, tarragon, chives, chervil,marjoram and sometimes watercress.fingerware Edible seaweed, Laminaria digitata.fining agents Substances used to clarify liquids by precipitation,e.g. egg albumin, casein, bentonite, isinglass, gelatine.finnan haddock Smoke-cured haddock (named after Findon inScotland).See also arbroath smokie.finocchio Variety of fennel with swollen leaf base; Foeniculumvulgare var. azoricum.fire point The temperature at which a frying oil will sustain combustion;between 340 and 360 °C for most fats.See also flash point; smoke point.fireless cooker See haybox cooking.firkin A quarter of a barrel of beer, 9 Imperial gallons (40 L); also56 lb (25.5 kg) of butter.firming agents Fresh fruits contain insoluble pectin as a gelaround the fibrous tissues which keeps the fruit firm. Breakdownof cell structure allows conversion of pectin to pectic acid, withloss of firmness. The addition of calcium salts (chloride or carbonate)forms a calcium pectate gel which protects the fruitagainst softening; these are known as firming agents. Alum (aluminiumpotassium sulphate) is sometimes used to firm pickles.FISH Fluorescent in situ hybridisation, a technique for locatingspecific regions of DNA in a chromosome using a fluorescentlylabelled DNA probe.fish days Historical; days on which fish, but not meat, could beeaten. Originally decreed by the Church (Fridays, fast days andthroughout Lent); more were decreed in England during the 16thcentury, both to encourage ship building and the training ofmariners, and also, because of the shortage of meat, to permit anincrease in the numbers of cattle. The Vatican rescinded the ruleforbidding Catholics to eat meat on Fridays in 1966.fish, demersal Fish species living on or near the sea bed – thewhite (non-oily) fish such as cod, haddock, halibut, plaice, soleand whiting. Caught by trawls which are dragged along thebottom of the sea, or seine nets. Known in USA as ground fish.See also fish, white.