On Food and Cooking

sulfur. The growing plants take up sulfur from
the soil and incorporate it into four different
kinds of chemical ammunition, which float in
the cell fluids while their enzyme trigger is
held separately in a storage vacuole (p. 261).
When the cell is damaged by chopping or
chewing, the enzyme escapes and breaks the
ammunition molecules in half to produce
irritating, strong-smelling sulfurous
molecules. Some of these are very reactive
and unstable, so they continue to evolve into
other compounds. The mixture of molecules
produced creates the food’s raw flavor, and
depends on the initial ammunition, how
thoroughly the tissue is damaged, how much
oxygen gets into the reactions, and how long
the reactions go on. Onion flavor typically
includes apple-like, burning, rubbery, and
bitter notes; leek flavor has cabbage-like,
creamy, and meaty aspects, while garlic
seems especially potent because it produces a
hundredfold higher concentration of initial