fruits, especially the balance between sweet
and sour that provides their taste foundation.
The Making of Fruit:
Ripening
Among all our foods, fruits are unique in the
way that they progress from inedibility to
deliciousness. Immature vegetables and young
meat animals are at their tenderest and most
delicate, but immature fruits are usually at
their least appealing. We may still eat and
enjoy them — green tomatoes, green papayas,
green mangoes — but we treat them as
vegetables, cut them small for a salad or cook
or pickle them. In order to graduate from
vegetablehood, fruits must undergo the
process called ripening, which creates their
distinctive character.
Before Ripening:
Growth And Expansion