Ullaline

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Ullaline
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Flora
Official Name Ullaline
Common Name Ulpa, Salt Flower, Pseudo-salt Flower
Classification Flower
Common Use Culinary
Origins Unknown
Habitat Altaleï

Ullaline is a unique crop grown on plantations across the west for the culinary market. The flower and its byproduct became popular as the Teledden developed an aversion to salt; the fine white seeds of the Ullaline flower have a similar taste to salt, though without whatever element the Teledden find so abhorrent. As a result, it exploded in popularity and is now a major crop across Altaleï and Westwynd. This has resulted in normal salt often being disregarded, with it existing in such abundance that it is often a cheaper alternative than the Ullaline byproduct.

History

Ullaline has a vague history, but it is assumed to have arisen during the height of the Allorn Empire. There is discussion among many herbalists as to if the plant is artificial in origin due to the unnatural byproduct of the plant. No known flower or crop known in Aloria produces a salt-like substance, or indeed any material that tastes so closely to a mineral element. It is therefore suggested by these theorists that, with their advanced knowledge, the Teledden used Magic and highly complex breeding techniques against a wild flower to sharpen its taste while also making it a perfect plantation crop. Regardless of its true origins, since the height of Allorn power, Ullaline has seen extensive use by the Teledden for their cuisine. No world event, not the Wildering, the L'Elvellen War, or the recent Dread War has ceased the production of this key culinary ingredient for their society. In fact, after the Wildering, the Ailor of Ithania and others in Westwynd came to grow and harvest the plant as well as an alternative to salt. The refined substance, commonly called Ulla Powder, is so common that it has driven the price of salt down in the entirety of Altaleï and Westwynd. Stockpiles of the substance sit idle while Ullaline is bought and used at a far faster rate in this home market. The substance has not expanded much beyond Daen though, largely being seen as a culinary fad of the region, though specialty shops sell it across the Regalian Empire to Teledden subjects and chefs for their dishes.

Appearance

Ullaline is a squat flower, growing barely one foot from the ground. The flower grows on one of a clump of pale green stalks, with as many as six capable of emerging from a single planting point. The flower is made up of six reniform-shaped, overlapping petals of various dark shades of orange verging into brown, though with a center drizzled with white dots and marks. At the center of the flower are the seeds, bright white, with a sharp oval shape and easily distinguishable from the surrounding material; a single Ullaline can yield up to nine such seeds, though most amounts are in the lower numbers. The plant flowers within three weeks of being planted, though if left alone, they can survive for as long as a year before dying naturally.

Uses and Abilities

Ullaline seeds have a sharp, salty taste to them not caused by salt itself, instead being a result of a concentration and then solidification of plant nutrients in the flower’s seeds. These seeds can then be dried (often quite quickly) and ground down into a powder, appearing much like normal salt. The only real difference is the taste picked up by Teledden taste buds. Obviously, Ullaline Powder sees extensive use in Teledden cuisine, but other regions beyond the control of Teledden powers like Ithania and the Daen Ailor states also make use of the substance. The one problem with Ullaline is that it can’t be used to cure meats, denying its use in the naval industrial complex.

Trivia

  • Asha slaves are most preferred in the harvesting of Ullaline, given that their claws easily pluck the delicate seeds out of the flower head.
  • Ullaline Powder is sometimes shortened to Ulpa, to sound less sterile or non-food related.

Accreditation
Writers HydraLana
Processors FireFan96, WaterDruppel, TheBioverse, AlphaInsomnia
Last Editor HydraLana on 11/19/2023.

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