plants in general are biochemical virtuosos,
and may operate a number of different
aromatic production lines at once. Some of
the most important production lines are these:
“Green,” cucumber/melon, and
mushroom aromas, produced from
unsaturated fatty acids in cell membranes
when tissue damage mixes an oxidizing
enzyme (lipoxygenase) with unsaturated
fatty acids in cell membranes. This
enzyme breaks the long fatty acid chains
into small, volatile pieces, and other
enzymes then modify the pieces.
“Fruity” aromas, produced when
enzymes in the intact fruit combine an
acid molecule with an alcohol molecule
to produce an ester.
“Terpene” aromas, produced by a long
series of enzymes from small building
blocks that also get turned into
carotenoid pigments and other important
molecules. They range from flowery to