On Food and Cooking

also contributes to the flavors of ripe strawberries and pineapples). Most supermarket tomatoes are picked and sh ...

particular sulfur compound (a thiazole). Because tomato leaves have a pronounced fresh-tomato aroma thanks ...

Tomato anatomy. The fruit wall is especially rich in sugars, amino acids, and aroma molecules, the je ...

they’re brought back to room temperature. Fully ripe tomatoes are less sensitive, but lose flavor due ...

“sticky fruit”), that helps it keep well for several weeks. The tomatillo remains green when ripe ...

This spicy aspect of the chillis is what inspired Columbus to call them peppers, though they’re ...

green. The familiar green bell pepper has a strong, distinctive aroma thanks to a particular compound (isobuty ...

capsicums develop a thick, smooth consistency when cooked and pureed for a soup or sauce. Eggplants, or Aubergin ...

and orange-and purple-skinned, pea-and cucumber-and melon-sized, very mild and intensely bitter. Most market ...

eggplants shrink down to a relatively small volume when cooked. The other is that when fried, raw eggplant ...

The Squash and Cucumber Family The squash or cucurbit family, the Cucurbitaceae, has made three broad contributio ...

largest fruits of any plant. Most cucurbits produce a particular form of berry called a pepo, with a prot ...

Their tough, dry skin and hollow structure encourage their use as edible containers; they can be filled ...

Luffa, ridged gourd Luffa acutangula Bottle gourd, cucuzza, calabash Lagenaria siceraria Bitter gourd, bitter melon Momord ...

There are scallops or pattypans, flat and scalloped around the edges; crooknecks and straight necks ...

flavored liquid for use in salad dressings, poaching fish, and other procedures. The distinctive ...

distribution. They tend to be short and thick, with a relatively tough skin, dry flesh, prominent ...

gherkins are the abundant prickly fruits, round and about 1 in/2 cm long, of yet another African relative. Bitt ...

dried to make containers and ornaments. Italians call the immature fruits cucuzze, and peel and ...

Chayote or Mirliton Chayote is the squash that seems least like a squash. It’s the fruit of a C ...