Fruit

It may be money that makes the world go ’round, but it’s oxidation that makes the world run down. The same cascade of reactions that converts shiny metal to rusty junk converts richly flavored and colored foods to rancid and pale-looking, and ravage the human body by causing an array of debilitating diseases and conditions. “Consumers are becoming more and ...

Condiments enhance flavors and textures and permit instant customization of foods. Every cuisine has its typical condiments, developed through time to mask, enhance and ultimately make craveable foods. Condiments can include both dry mixtures and sauce-like blends. Some dry mixtures blend herbs and dry seasonings like smoke flavors, salt, dried cheese or chiles, or other flavors. Some wet condiments add ...

The cranberry (Vaccinium spp.) is the fruit of three or four subspecies of evergreen shrubs, cultivated in bogs throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Harvest occurs in the autumn, primarily September and October, when the berry turns its characteristic deep-crimson color. Approximately 95% of the domestic cranberry crop is processed into juice, sauce and dried fruit (either sweetened or unsweetened—mostly the former), ...

Many product designers are turning to “superfruits” to deliver health benefits, as well as flavor and color. Superfruits have higher levels of nutrients than average and often contain novel compounds not found in any other fruit. “For example, the goji berry contains unique and very healthy compounds called Lyceum barbarum polysaccharides, which are found in no other food,” says Lindsey ...

This article has been derived in part from a series of entries in Douglas J. Peckenpaugh’s blog, Doug’s Domain. Step backward in time just a handful of years and, outside of globally oriented botanical circles, a mention of fruit with names like “açaí,” “goji” and “mangosteen” would have likely elicited curious shrugs and blank stares. Now, those fruit and others are ...