On Food and Cooking

plants in general are biochemical virtuosos, and may operate a number of different aromatic prod ...

citrusy, minty, herbaceous, and piney (p. 391). “Phenolic” aromas, produced by a series of enzymes from an ami ...

reminded us: Some gnarly apple which I pick up in the road reminds by its fragrance of all the wealth ...

worse. (Exceptions include plant parts designed to hibernate, for example onions and potatoes.) Plant cells are ha ...

where they come from, and how they behave when the food is cooked. Vegetables Aroma Examples Chemicals resp ...

Onion-like, mustard-like Onion family Sulfur compounds Floral Edible flowers Alcohols, terpenes, esters Aroma Origin Character ...

Fresh Mushroom crushing; enzyme action on unsaturated cell membrane lipids cooking (stops enzymes, alters chemicals) Cabbag ...

“Fatty,” “creamy” Peach, coconut Lactones Caramel, nutty Strawberry, pineapple Furanones Tropical fruit, “exotic,” musky Grap ...

warming anise, basil, vanilla compounds Pine-like, mint-like, herbaceous Preformed Strong, persistent Spicy, warming Preform ...

mainly attacked by bacteria, which grow faster than other microbes. Species of Erwinia and Pseudomonas cause ...

slow their inevitable deterioration. This begins with choosing and handling the produce. Mushrooms as wel ...

The Storage Atmosphere The storage life of fresh produce is strongly affected by the atmosphere that surrounds ...

carbon dioxide, and just enough oxygen (8% or less) to keep the plant cells functioning normally; and they ...

and one damaged lettuce leaf can speed the decline of a whole head. Recently, manufacturers have introduced pr ...

The most effective way to prolong the storage life of fresh produce is to control its temperature. Cooling slow ...

avocados darken and fail to soften further; citrus fruits develop spotted skins. Foods of tropical and subtropi ...

crystallizes, enzymes and other reactive molecules become unusually concentrated and react abnormally. The other ...

reduce enzymatic and other chemical activity, some reactions are actually enhanced by the concentrating ef ...

liter) can also improve the texture of frozen fruit by being absorbed into the cell-wall cement, which becomes ...

fruits are mainly carbohydrates, and carbohydrates are robust molecules; even boiling temperatures simply disperse ...