On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1178

theprocessorallproducedifferentproportions
of intact and broken cells. The more
thoroughlythecellsarebroken,themoretheir
contentsareexposedtoeachotherandtothe
air, and the more their flavor evolves. A
coarse pesto will have a flavor most like the
flavoroffreshbasilleaves.
Cooked Purees: Vegetables, Applesauce
Most vegetable purees are made by first
cooking the vegetable to soften its tissues,
breakapartthecells,andfreetheirthickening
molecules. Some that develop an especially
suave smoothness have cell walls rich in
soluble pectin, which escapes from the
softened wall fragments during pureeing.
Thesevegetablesincludecarrots,cauliflower,
andcapsicumpeppers;morethan75%ofthe
cell-wall solids in capsicum puree is pectin.
Many root and tuber vegetables (though not
carrots) contain starch granules, which when
cooked absorb much of the water in the


vegetable and make it less watery. However,
such vegetables are best crushed gently,
without breaking open the cells. Thorough
pureeingthatliberatesthegelatedstarchturns
thevegetableintoasuper-thickpotatogravy,
glueyandstringy.
Eventhoughfruitsarepresoftenedby
ripening,cooksoftenheatthemtoimprove

theirtexture,flavor,andstoragelife.Oneof
themostpopularcookedfruitsaucesis
applesauce,whichismeanttohaveacertain
coarsenessandyetnotseemgrainy.Thecells
ofdifferentvarietieshavedifferenttendencies
toadheretoeachother,andthattendencycan
changewithtimeinstorage.Mostofthesoft
varietiesusedtomakesauceproducefinergrainedpureeswithtime,whiletheMacintosh
producescoarserones.
TomatoSauce:TheImportanceofEnzymes
and Temperatures The most familiar
vegetable puree in the West, and perhaps in