On Food and Cooking

Others

The  Citrus  Family:     Orange,     Lemon,

Grapefruit, and Relatives

Some    Common  Tropical    Fruits

The vegetables described in chapter 6 are
mainly plant parts with either mild, accidental
flavors (roots, leaves, stalks) or strong
defensive ones (the onion and cabbage
families). We usually cook them, because
cooking improves their flavor and makes
them softer and easier to eat. The fruits
described in this chapter are parts that the
plant creates in order to attract animals to eat
them and disperse the seeds within them. So
the plant fills these fruits with a
mouthwatering mixture of sugars and acids,
endows them with pleasant aromas and eye-
catching colors, and softens them for us:
they’re delicious and beautiful even when
raw. The box on pp. 382–383 summarizes the
essential flavor elements of some common