38 Foods That Start With H (Complete List by Category)

Foods that start with H run from breakfast to dessert. Ham, hash browns, honey, hummus, halloumi, horseradish and hot sauce are the everyday ones — alongside haggis, halva, harissa and hominy, plus a handful of fish and fruits you will only meet regionally.

This guide lists 38 foods beginning with H, with what each one is, where it comes from and how it is used.

Foods Starting With H: Complete List

Fish and Seafood

Haddock

A cold-water white fish closely related to cod, distinguished by a black lateral line and a dark thumbprint mark above the pectoral fin. The flesh is finer-grained and slightly sweeter than cod, and it holds together better in a batter, which is why it is the traditional choice for fish and chips in northern England and Scotland. Smoked haddock — undyed, if you can find it — is the base of cullen skink and kedgeree.

Hake

A lean, delicate white fish in the same family as cod, and enormously popular in Spain, Portugal and the Basque country, where it is treated far more seriously than in Britain. The flesh is soft and flakes easily, so it suits gentle cooking — poaching, baking or the Basque technique of cooking it in an emulsified garlic and oil sauce.

Halibut

The largest flatfish in the world, capable of exceeding 200 kg. Like all flatfish it starts life with an eye on each side and one eye migrates across the skull as it matures, so the adult lies on one side with both eyes facing up. The flesh is firm, meaty and very lean, which means it dries out quickly — it is one of the easiest fish to overcook.

Herring

A small, oily, schooling fish that shaped European history as much as any crop — the medieval herring trade underwrote the wealth of the Hanseatic League and the Dutch Republic. Because it spoils fast it is almost always preserved: salted, smoked into kippers and bloaters, or pickled as rollmops and matjes.

Meat and Dishes

Ham

Cured pork leg, split into two broad families. Wet-cured hams are injected or soaked in brine and are usually cooked before sale. Dry-cured hams — prosciutto, jamón, country ham — are salted and hung for months or years, losing a third of their weight and developing flavour through slow enzymatic breakdown, and many are eaten raw.

Haggis

Sheep heart, liver and lungs minced with oatmeal, onion, suet and pepper, traditionally cooked in the stomach lining. The oatmeal is essential rather than filler — it absorbs fat and gives the crumbly texture. It is Scotland’s national dish, eaten with neeps and tatties, and traditional haggis containing lung has been barred from import to the United States since 1971.

Hamburger

The name comes from Hamburg, where minced beef steak was a working-class staple that German emigrants carried to the United States in the nineteenth century. Several American towns claim to have first put the patty in a bun. The key technical point is not to overwork the mince: handling compacts the protein and produces a dense, springy patty rather than a tender one.

Hare

Larger, leaner and far darker than rabbit, with a pronounced gamey flavour. Hare is traditionally hung to develop before cooking and then braised slowly — jugged hare, thickened with its own blood, is the classic British preparation. Unlike rabbits, hares are born fully furred with their eyes open and never live in burrows.

Heart

Heart is a working muscle rather than true offal in texture, and it eats more like a lean steak than like liver — firm, dense and mild, with none of the mineral bitterness of kidney. It is inexpensive and rich in iron and B vitamins. It needs either fast high-heat cooking sliced thin, or long braising; the middle ground makes it rubbery.

Hash and Hash Browns

Hash comes from the French hacher, to chop, and describes chopped meat fried with potato — corned beef hash being the best-known version, historically a way to use leftovers. Hash browns are the potato alone, shredded and fried until crisp. The trick with both is squeezing the moisture out of the potato first, since water prevents browning.

Dairy, Sweeteners and Condiments

Halloumi

A Cypriot cheese with an unusually high melting point, because it is heated in whey during production, which denatures the proteins so they no longer flow when reheated. That is why it grills and fries while holding its shape. It is traditionally made from sheep and goat milk and stored in brine, so it is salty — soaking it briefly before cooking softens that.

Honey

Honey effectively never spoils. Its very low water content and natural acidity make it inhospitable to bacteria, and sealed pots found in Egyptian tombs have been reported as still edible after thousands of years. Flavour and colour depend entirely on the flowers foraged — acacia is pale and mild, buckwheat almost black and malty.

Horseradish

The heat in horseradish does not exist until the root is damaged: cutting or grating ruptures cells and allows an enzyme to convert stored glucosinolates into allyl isothiocyanate. That compound is volatile, so grated horseradish loses its punch within minutes unless vinegar is added to stabilise it. The same chemistry gives wasabi its heat, and most restaurant “wasabi” is dyed horseradish.

Harissa

A Tunisian chilli paste built on rehydrated dried chillies with garlic, caraway, coriander seed and olive oil. Caraway is what distinguishes it from other chilli pastes and is not optional. It is used as a condiment, a marinade and a base for stews, and UNESCO added it to its intangible cultural heritage list in 2022.

Hollandaise

An emulsion of egg yolk, melted butter and acid, and one of the French mother sauces. It is temperature-sensitive in both directions — too hot and the yolk scrambles, too cool and the emulsion separates — which is why it is made over gentle heat with constant whisking and served immediately. Béarnaise is the same sauce with tarragon and shallot.

Hoisin

A thick, dark, sweet-savoury Chinese sauce built on fermented soybean paste with garlic, vinegar and sugar. The name means “seafood” in Cantonese despite containing none. It glazes char siu and Peking duck and is a dipping sauce in its own right.

Grains, Legumes and Vegetables

Hominy

Maize treated with an alkaline solution — lime or wood ash — in a process called nixtamalisation. This is not merely a texture step: it releases bound niacin and makes it nutritionally available. Populations that adopted maize without nixtamalisation suffered widespread pellagra, while Mesoamerican societies that had used the process for millennia did not. Hominy is the basis of grits, pozole and masa for tortillas.

Hummus

Chickpeas and tahini blended with lemon, garlic and olive oil. The proportion of tahini is what separates versions, and Levantine hummus uses far more than most supermarket versions. Peeling the chickpeas, or overcooking them with a pinch of bicarbonate, is what produces genuinely smooth results.

Haricot Beans

Small white beans, also sold as navy beans, and the bean inside every tin of baked beans. They hold their shape through long cooking, which is why they suit cassoulet and slow-baked dishes. Like all dried beans they need proper cooking — a hard boil for at least ten minutes — to destroy lectins.

Hakusai Cabbage

Napa or Chinese cabbage, with pale crinkled leaves and thick white ribs. It is milder and more tender than European cabbage and holds a lot of water, which is why it is salted before being made into kimchi — drawing out moisture so the seasoning penetrates and the texture stays crisp through fermentation.

Heartleaf Ice Plant

A South African succulent whose leaves are covered in glistening bladder cells that store water and salt, giving a crunchy texture and a naturally saline taste. It is eaten raw in salads, needs no dressing beyond oil, and has become a speciality vegetable in Japan and parts of Europe.

Fruits, Nuts and Fungi

Hass Avocado

Around 80% of avocados grown worldwide are Hass, and every one descends from a single seedling grown by Rudolph Hass in California in the 1920s — all Hass trees are grafted clones of that original. The skin darkens from green to near-black as it ripens, which is a useful cue the smooth-skinned varieties do not give you.

Hazelnut

Turkey produces roughly 70% of the world crop, most of it from the Black Sea coast, and a large share goes into chocolate and spreads. Hazelnuts are markedly better toasted — heat drives off moisture and develops the aroma, and rubbing the warm nuts in a cloth removes the bitter skins.

Hami Melon

A cantaloupe relative from Xinjiang in north-western China, where the intense sun and cold nights concentrate sugar. The flesh is crisp rather than soft, closer to a firm honeydew in texture, with pale orange colour and a notably high sugar content.

Honeydew

A smooth-skinned melon with pale green flesh and no netting, unlike cantaloupe. It does not ripen meaningfully after picking, so choosing well matters — look for a creamy rather than white rind and a slight give at the blossom end.

Hawthorn Apple

The small red pome of the hawthorn tree, barely more than a centimetre across and mostly stone. It is too astringent to enjoy raw but extremely high in pectin, which makes it excellent for jelly. In China, hawthorn is candied on skewers as tanghulu and pressed into sweet discs.

Hawaiian Mountain Apple

Not an apple at all but a member of the myrtle family, related to guava and clove. The fruit is bell-shaped with waxy crimson skin and crisp white flesh that is only mildly sweet, with a faint rose fragrance. It bruises easily and does not travel, so it is eaten close to where it grows.

Huckleberry

Closely related to blueberries but with a sharper, more resinous flavour and harder seeds. Huckleberries have resisted commercial cultivation because they depend on specific soil fungi and mature slowly, so nearly all of them are still picked wild — which is why they are expensive and seasonal.

Hedgehog Mushroom

Named for the soft spines beneath the cap in place of gills or pores, which makes it one of the easiest wild mushrooms to identify with confidence — nothing with that spine structure is dangerously toxic. It has a firm texture and a mild, slightly nutty flavour, and older specimens can turn bitter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What foods start with the letter H?

Thirty-eight are covered here, including ham, hamburger, hash browns, honey, hummus, halloumi, horseradish, hot dog, hot sauce, hoisin, hollandaise, harissa, haggis, halva, hominy, honeydew, hazelnut, huckleberry, herring, haddock, hake, halibut, hare, heart, haricot beans, hakusai cabbage, hibiscus, horchata and hush puppies.

Why does horseradish lose its heat so quickly?

Because the heat compound only forms when the root is damaged, and it is volatile. Grating triggers an enzyme reaction producing allyl isothiocyanate, which starts evaporating immediately. Adding vinegar within a couple of minutes stops the reaction and locks the heat in.

Why does halloumi not melt?

Because it is heated in whey during production. That denatures the proteins before the cheese is ever cooked, so they cannot flow when reheated. It softens and browns instead of spreading.

Can babies eat honey?

No — not under 12 months. Honey can carry Clostridium botulinum spores that are harmless to older children and adults but can germinate in an infant’s gut and cause infant botulism. This applies to raw, pasteurised and cooked honey alike.

What is hominy and why is it treated with lime?

Hominy is maize soaked in an alkaline solution, a process called nixtamalisation. It softens the hull and, critically, releases bound niacin so the body can absorb it. Cultures that adopted maize without this step developed pellagra; those that used it did not.

Is a Hawaiian mountain apple an apple?

No. It belongs to the myrtle family alongside guava and clove, unrelated to true apples. The name reflects its shape and crisp texture rather than its botany.

Sources

Infant botulism and honey: national public health guidance. Nixtamalisation and niacin bioavailability: food science literature. Harissa cultural heritage listing: UNESCO, 2022. Hass avocado single-seedling origin: horticultural records.

This article is for general information. Never eat a foraged mushroom or plant unless you are certain of its identification.

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