clear that ripening is a last, intense phase of life.. As it ripens, the fruit actively prepares for its end, organizing itself into a feast for our eye and palate.. Food Words: Ripe, Cl
Trang 1clear that ripening is a last, intense phase of life As it ripens, the fruit actively prepares for its end, organizing itself into a feast for our eye and palate
Food Words: Ripe, Climacteric
Our word ripe began as an Old English
word meaning “ready for reaping,” and like
reap comes ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning “to cut.” River, rope, row, and rigatoni are all relatives Climacteric can be traced back to a root
meaning “to lean,” which led to the Greek
climax, “ladder,” then offshoots meaning
“rung” and therefore “a dangerous place,”
and finally climacteric itself, meaning a
critical stage in life — whether a human’s
or a fruit’s
Fruits: Their Potential for Improvement after Harvest, and Optimal Storage Temperatures
Trang 2by a host of enzymes, which break down
complex molecules into simpler ones, and also generate new molecules just for this
moment in the fruit’s life There is a single trigger that sets the ripening enzymes into action The first clues to its identity came
around 1910 From the Caribbean islands
came a report that bananas stored near some oranges had ripened earlier than the other
bunches Then California citrus growers
noticed that green fruit kept near a kerosene stove changed color faster than the rest What secret ripening agent did stove and fruit have