others, we separate the food’s flavor or color
from its flavorless, colorless cell-wall fibers
or abundant water, and produce a concentrated
extract of that food’s essence.
Purees The simplest deconstructed version of
fruits and vegetables is the puree, which
includes such preparations as tomato and
apple sauces, mashed potatoes, carrot soup,
and guacamole. We make purees by applying
enough physical force to crush the tissue,
break apart and break open its cells, and mix
cell innards with fragments of the cells’ walls.
Thanks to the high water content of the cells,
most purees are fluid versions of the original
tissue. And thanks to the thickening powers of
the cell-wall carbohydrates, which bind up
water molecules and get entangled with each
other, they also have a considerable, velvety
body — or can develop such a body when we
boil off excess water and concentrate the
carbohydrates. (Potatoes and other starchy