Foods That Start With I

In this article, I am providing an exhaustive list of foods that start with the letter I. Discover the entire food vocabulary!

Icaco

The Chrysobalanus icaco species, also known as icaco, paradise plum, or cocoplum, is grown in two varieties with edible fruit and seeds.

This is a tropical fruit, cultivated in the tropical coastal area of Africa, the Caribbean, and North and South America.

The fruit can vary from pale yellow and round or dark purple and oval-shaped.

It has a sweet, but very mild flavor, so it is mostly consumed cooked in jams, while the seed kernel can be ground into a powder and used as a spice.

Ice Cream

Smooth and creamy frozen dessert, made from milk or cream, eggs, and sugar (or other sweeteners).

It can be flavored by adding chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, fresh or dried fruits, nuts, or spices.

Ice cream can be eaten as a dessert or a snack, served in a cone, in a bowl, or on a stick.

It is the main ingredient in ice cream cake and ice cream sandwiches.

It can also be served with other desserts, usually added frozen on warm pieces of pies, tarts, or cakes to slowly melt.

Ice cream is commercially made using a machine called the ice cream maker, but it can also be made using an electric mixer or blender.

Ice Cream Cake

A cake with ice cream filling between layers of cake.

Slightly melted ice cream is placed on a layer of sponge cake, gently spread, and topped with another cake layer.

This is repeated if there is more than one layer of ice cream and cake used.

The cake is then kept in the freezer (to prevent ice cream from melting) until firm and later decorated with frosting or whipped cream.

This creamy, fluffy cake can also be made of two layers of ice cream with one layer of cake in between.

It can include additional layers of crushed cookies or candies.

There is also a non-baked variety.

This type of cake is especially popular in the United States and Australia.

Ice Cream Rolls

A popular variety of ice cream originally invented in Thailand.

It is also known as rolled or stir-fried ice cream, because of the special method of preparation.

This frozen dessert is made by pouring sweetened milk or cream on a cold steel surface over fruits, chocolate bars, or other sweet flavorings.

Using metal spatulas, the mixture is chopped until creamy and spreadable.

Next, it is being spread very thinly and, starting on one side, scraped and rolled.

Rolls are stacked vertically in a serving cup, topped off with chocolate, caramel, or fruit sauce, crushed cookies, or fresh fruits, and served.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Creamy frozen dessert, made with two biscuits filled with ice cream.

In the United States, it was originally created as a street snack, but nowadays it can be found in supermarkets or in restaurants where it is served as a dessert.

This popular treat comes in varieties with wafers or chocolate chip cookies instead of soft biscuits.

They can also be sold as half-dipped in melted chocolate, or with only one half of ice cream sandwiched between two cookies, while the other half is dipped in chocolate.

Ice cream soda

Ice cream soda is a chilled beverage that consists of ice cream in either a soft drink or a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.

When root beer and vanilla ice cream are used together to make the beverage, it is typically referred to as a root beer float (the United States and Canada).

Ice Pop

Frozen snack served on a stick. It is also referred to as a popsicle and sometimes described as ‘’a frozen juice on a stick’’.

It is milk or water-based and flavored with fresh fruits, but other sweet flavors like vanilla and chocolate can also be used.

Unlike ice cream, ice pop gets fully combined before freezing, so it is in a solid form.

Iceberg Lettuce

Iceberg, also known as crisphead, is a type of lettuce with tight, dense heads, that consist of pale green leaves and a white center.

It is cultivated in cold climates and it is the most widely consumed type of lettuce worldwide.

It has a crisp texture, but little flavor. Iceberg is not as nutritious as other lettuces, but it is a good source of vitamin A, K, and folic acid.

Icing

A smooth and creamy mixture of powdered sugar and water or milk used to cover and decorate cakes and other baked desserts.

It can also contain egg whites, butter, or cream cheese to become thicker and rich in taste, or food coloring, when used as a decoration.

Icing can be poured as a glaze over cakes and baked cookies or it can be piped as a cream over cupcakes using a pastry bag.

It is used as a filling between cake layers as well.

Idaho Potatoes

In the United States, russet potatoes are known as Idaho potatoes.

This is a variety of high-quality oblong-shaped potatoes with thin dark brown skin.

Russet potatoes are most commonly used for crispy deep-fried french fries, but they are also suitable for mashing and baking.

The name Idaho potatoes can also refer to the other types of potatoes cultivated in Idaho, including red potatoes and Yukon Gold.

Idiyappam

Indian type of flat rice noodles made from rice flour, water, and salt.

 They are shortly steamed and served with curry, vegetable stews, grated coconut, or coconut chutney.

This is a traditional breakfast or dinner meal, but it can be street food as well.

Idiyappam can be found under various other names, such as string hopper, indiappa, noolappam, nool puttu, and chomai.

Apart from India, idiyappam is prepared in Southeast Asian countries, where it is known as putu Mayang (in Indonesia) and putu mayam  (in Malaysia and Singapore).

Idli

Indian breakfast dish consisting of rice and black lentils shaped into small rice cakes.

Idli is a specialty of Southern Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine.

The preparation of idli starts with finely grinding previously soaked black lentils and rice, and combining them into a thick batter.

Next, the batter is poured into special round idli molds.

Idlis are steamed for 10-30 minutes until fluffy and spongy.

Being mild-flavored, they are served with spicy Asian specialties, like fish curries or sambar (a type of spicy Asian vegetable stew).

Ilama

Tropical fruit of Annonaceae family, native to Central America.

It is cultivated in two varieties: sweet-flavored green or pink ilama, which has a sour and pungent taste.

Ilama fruit is ovoid or heart-shaped.

It consists of dry or juicy flesh with seeds and a pale green to purple-colored skin coated with a dense gray-white bloom.

This fruit is a good source of calcium and phosphorus.

It is mostly consumed freshly picked because it turns bad within a couple of days.

Illawarra Plum

Illawarra plum is a dark blue, berry-like fruit of the brown pine, a large evergreen tree that can grow up to 40 m tall, although the average height of this plant is 8 – 12 m.

This is a species of Podocarpus, native to Australia.

The fruit of this plant is juicy and slightly sweet, with a texture similar to grapes.

It is often consumed raw but can be made into jelly, jam, sauce, and compote too.

It is high in antioxidants and vitamin C.

Imarti

Imarti, known also as Amrita, is an Indian sweet snack with a shape that resembles a flower.

It is made from ground vigna mungo bean combined with saffron which adds the distinctive orange color this dessert is known for.

The butter is deep-fried and dipped in sugar syrup.

The syrup is seasoned with cloves, cardamom, saffron, kewra, and camphor.

Imarti is a popular street food served at festivals in India.

Inca Berry

Inca berry or Physalis peruviana is a tropical fruit of the family Solanaceae.

Being related to the tomato, it resembles a miniature one by appearance and taste.

This is a round-shaped, yellow to orange berry, grown inside the inedible green calyx.

The berry has a mildly sweet taste, very similar to a tomato.

It is native to the high-altitude tropical regions of South America, where its cultivation was started by the Incas.

These berries are full of antioxidants and fiber, and a good source of potassium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamins B and C.

They are consumed raw or dried, mixed in breakfast cereal or baked desserts.

They are especially tasty in chocolate-flavored desserts, like muffins, brownies, and cookies.

Indian Almond

Edible tropical fruit of the Terminalia catappa tree of the white mangrove family.

This is a drupe, green when unripe and yellow when mature.

It can be found in the tropical areas of Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas, where it is known under various names, including country almond, Malabar almond, and tropical almond.

Indian almond is rich in various minerals (calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and others).

It has a nutty, sweet taste, similar to almonds and hazelnuts.

Indian mustard

The mustard seeds used in Indian cooking are tiny and black or dark brown in color.

The seeds have a faint spicy smell much like curry leaves.

They taste just like mustard in its paste form.

Mustard seeds are from the mustard plant, which belongs to the Cruciferous plant family.

Other vegetables belonging to this family are cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage.

Indian Pea

Indian pea, also known as grass pea, is a legume classified as species Lathyrus sativus.

It is native to Asia and East Africa where it is considered one of the most valuable crops because it is able to withstand drought, when every other legume dries out, or even floods.

It can be used to make pea flour that is cooked in various meals.

The consumption of this legume is limited.

 It can’t be consumed in large quantities, because it contains neurotoxic amino acids that may cause permanent paralysis.

Indian Squash

A small fruit of a squash-like plant of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to India.

It is also known as apple gourd, tienda, and Indian baby pumpkin.

The plant is cultivated for its fruit, which is actually used as a vegetable in Indian and Pakistani cuisine.

It consists of a round-shaped white flesh, covered with green skin with tiny, soft hairs, similar to zucchini.

The flesh is tender and juicy, while the skin is edible only when unripe.

Instant coffee

Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enable people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to the powder or crystals and stirring.

Instant coffee is commercially prepared by either freeze-drying or spray drying, after which it can be rehydrated.

Instant coffee in a concentrated liquid form is also manufactured.

Advantages of instant coffee include the speed of preparation, lower shipping weight and volume than beans or ground coffee (to prepare the same amount of beverage), and long shelf life—though instant coffee can spoil if not kept dry.

Instant coffee also reduces cleanup since there are no coffee grounds, and at least one study has found that it has a lower environmental footprint than other preparation methods.

Instant oatmeal 

Instant oatmeal uses the exact same oats as old-fashioned rolled oats, only they are rolled a little bit thinner and cut finer so that they cook very quickly.

However, since instant oatmeal can often be found in single-serving packets, it is more often than not sold in all kinds of fun flavors.

Those flavors are usually what lead us astray because a LOT of sugar is added to them.

Iodized salt

Iodized salt is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the element iodine.

The ingestion of iodine prevents iodine deficiency.

Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Deficiency also causes thyroid gland problems, including “endemic goiter”.

In many countries, iodine deficiency is a major public health problem that can be cheaply addressed by purposely adding small amounts of iodine to the sodium chloride salt.

Iodine is a micronutrient and dietary mineral that is naturally present in the food supply in some regions, especially near sea coasts but is generally quite rare in the Earth’s crust since iodine is a so-called heavy element, and the abundance of chemical elements generally declines with greater atomic mass.

Where natural levels of iodine in the soil are low and the iodine is not taken up by vegetables, iodine added to salt provides the small but essential amount of iodine needed by humans.

Irish Cream

A  type of liqueur with Irish whiskey as a base, mixed with cream and other flavorings like vanilla, honey, chocolate, coffee, and many others.

It can be consumed on its own, mixed in cocktails and Irish coffee, or used to flavor desserts.

The first Irish cream created was Baileys, made of cocoa flavor, which is enjoyed worldwide, especially in Europe, the United States, and Canada.

Irish Stew

A cooked dish made of lamb or sheep meat and a combination of vegetables.

Most commonly potatoes, onions, and carrots are used, seasoned with parsley and thyme.

The mixture is slowly simmered in water or stock for at least two hours.

Ir is served warm with a slice of bread.

This stew is a national dish of Ireland, but it is prepared in other countries, with some modifications of the traditional recipe.

Italian Ice

A type of frozen dessert similar to sorbet, but less smooth and icier.

It is also known as water ice.

This sweet treat is made of fruits (lemon, cherry, raspberry, strawberry, or orange are often used), fruit juice or puree, blended with ice and sweetener, and frozen until served.

It is considered an alternative to ice cream, but unlike ice cream, Italian ice doesn’t contain any dairy products or eggs.

Italian Pearl Barley

Italian pearled barley, also known as orzotto, is nutty and sweet barley with a chewy texture.

It is very versatile and can be used as a substitute for pasta and rice, cooked in risotto and stews, or served as a side dish.

It is smaller than the regular barley and it can be cooked in half the time, in about 20 minutes.

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