actually become part of our eye, and some
made possible the very existence of us and our
eyes (see box, p. 271). Many turn out to have
beneficial effects on our health. The cook’s
challenge is to preserve the vividness and
appeal of these remarkable molecules.
There are four families of plant pigments,
each with different functions in the plant’s
life and different behaviors in the kitchen. All
of them are large molecules that appear to be
a certain color because they absorb certain
wavelengths of light, and thus leave only parts
of the spectrum for our eyes to detect.
Chlorophylls are green, for example, because
they absorb red and blue wavelengths.
The softening of plant cell walls. The walls