were great connoisseurs a century ago, and
Edward Bunyard wrote that by storing apples
properly in a cool place and tasting them
periodically, the apple lover could “catch the
volatile ethers at their maximum
development, and the acids and sugars at their
most grateful balance.” Apples do become
more mellow with time because they consume
some of their malic acid for energy. Much of
their aroma comes from the skin, where
volatile-creating enzymes are concentrated.
The distinctive aroma of cooked apple pulp
comes largely from a floral-smelling
fragment of the carotenoid pigments
(damascenone).
Fruit Aroma Compounds: Esters
Many fruits owe their characteristic aroma
to chemicals called esters. An ester
molecule is a combination of two other
molecules, an acid and an alcohol. A
typical plant cell contains many different