The cauliflower mushroom looks just like a sponge, lifted from the sea and dried. They range from a creamy colour, like the cauliflower after which they are named, through to light brown-yellow to yellow-grey. By this stage they are inclined to be inedible and should be picked while they are still creamy coloured. It is a good mushroom for drying and becomes gelatinous when rehydrated, making it good for soups. It must be carefully cleaned as it envelopes everything as it grows and the folds can conceal all sorts of inedible things. (If gathering mushrooms you must be absolutely certain what you have before you eat them as many are very poisonous.)
Cayenne pepper is ground, hot red chilli. They are tapered and contain twice as much capsaicin as red peppers, which is why they provide so much heat to food. Chillis are often available in dried or powdered forms. Color is not necessarily a guide to the heat, which is measured in Scoville units (named after Wilbur Scoville). Generally speaking the scale goes from small and pointed, with thin skins, having the most heat through to large and blunt having the least. The greatest heat is contained in the membranes and seeds.
A variety of chilli which is tapering and ripens from green to red.
A variety of yellow chilli which is tapering in shape.
A docile, domesticated version of the black duck, a favoured variety of wild duck, used for egg and meat production. It is said that a miller near Lake Cayuga in New York State captured two wild black ducks and pinioned them. The offspring produced well-flavoured meat. dult Cayuga ducks weigh around 3 kg (6 lb), and are characterised by a black bill and black plumage which is iridescent green in certain lights and with black shanks and toes. Ducklings have black plumage.
