Both vine ashes and egg whites are alkaline
substances and do transform the wine’s
color — though when I’ve tried this with
eggs, the result is not so much a white wine
as a gray one.
Texture We’ve seen that the texture of
vegetables and fruits is determined by two
factors: the inner water pressure of the
tissue’s cells, and the structure of the cell
walls (p. 265). Cooking softens plant tissues
by releasing the water pressure and
dismantling the cell walls. When the tissue
reaches 140ºF/60ºC, the cell membranes are
damaged, the cells lose water and deflate, and
the tissue as a whole goes from firm and crisp
to limp and flabby. (Even vegetables
surrounded by boiling water lose water during
cooking, as weighings before and after will
prove.) At this stage, vegetables often squeak
against the teeth: they’ve lost the crunch of
turgid tissue, but the cell walls are still strong
and resist chewing. Then as the tissue
barry
(Barry)
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