and presses the surrounding cytoplasm (p.
261) against the cell membrane, which in turn
presses against the cell wall. The flexible wall
bulges to accommodate the swollen cell. The
pressure exerted against each other by many
bulging cells — which can reach 50 times the
pressure of the surrounding air — results in a
full, firm, turgid fruit or vegetable. But if the
cells are low on water, the mutually
supporting pressure disappears, the flexible
cell walls sag, and the tissue becomes limp
and flaccid.
Water and walls determine texture. A
vegetable that is fully moist and firm will
seem both crisp and more tender than the
same vegetable limp from water loss. When
we bite down on a vegetable turgid with
water, the already-stressed cell walls readily
break and the cells burst open; in a limp
vegetable, chewing compresses the walls
together, and we have to exert much more