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 All vegetables contain a variety of flavors and aromas that help the digestive glands work more intensively, as well as the absorption of food and digestion. These substances are very diverse in their composition.
Essential oils give vegetables a pleasant taste and smell. Vegetables especially rich in essential oils: onions, parsley, celery, dill, parsnip and others - used for dressing dishes. Essential oils are found in other plants as well.
Glycosides are ether-like sugar compounds that give vegetables their bitter taste. Most of them are found in radishes, radishes, paprika and turnips. Glycosides include tannins, as well as most of the dyes found in plants.
Tannins are often found in the peel of vegetables and berries, there are less of them in the pulp. Under the influence of tannins, fruits and berries darken when dried, hands - when picking blueberries, peeling apples and carrots. Tannins "knit" the mucous membrane (bird cherry fruits, grape seeds and skins, red grape wines), as a result of which the digestion process slows down. If you cut tannin-rich foods with a rusting steel knife, a bluish-black compound with an inky flavor is formed, so fruit should be handled with stainless steel knives and graters only.
Colorants are of great importance for the taste of vegetables and fruits. Green chlorophyll, red anthocyanins, yellow lycopene and carotene also taste, so a change in the color of the fruit also causes a deterioration in taste. Chlorophyll remains in an alkaline environment and dies under the influence of acids. Since it is not allowed to add alkali to vegetables during cooking in order to preserve vitamin C, in order to reduce the effect of acids, vegetables should be boiled in plenty of water without a lid.
The red dye of beets - anthocyanin - dissolves easily in water and turns brownish under the influence of alkali. Therefore, beets should be boiled or stewed in a peel and only then peeled. Beets are not recommended for decorating salads: they paint over all other products, especially eggs.
The yellow dyes are fairly strong and do not dissolve in water. Carotene is better absorbed with fat; therefore, vegetables rich in carotene should be used to prepare salads with a sauce made from vegetable oil, mayonnaise or sour cream.
Organic acids are found in all fruits and berries. The most common are citric, malic, tartaric, oxalic and benzoic acids.
The taste of fruits and berries depends on the amount and composition of acids and the amount of sugar. Malic and citric acids are especially tasty. Juiced milk drinks, in which milk proteins are rolled into flakes, are well digested and therefore good for children. Cranberries and lingonberries contain a lot of benzoic acid, thanks to which they are stored for a long time. Foods rich in oxalic acid - rhubarb, sorrel - are not recommended to be consumed with milk, as oxalic acid interferes with calcium absorption.
When fermented in cucumbers, cabbage and other vegetables and fruits, lactic acid is formed. It gives them good taste and assists in the absorption of other foods, especially meat.
Acetic acid is added to vegetables and fruits when pickling and for dressing. It is also formed in juices and wines when fermented in a warm place.
Enzymes
All vegetables and fruits contain enzymes. In fruits, they cause various processes, for example, ripening, softening, a state of mealy or glazing (apples), etc.
Enzymes found in raw vegetables and fruits are especially important as regulators of the vital activity of microorganisms that develop in the digestive tract. Under the influence of raw food, the intestinal microflora becomes more favorable for humans and microbes form less toxic substances than when eating food subjected to heat treatment. That is why when they have an upset stomach, children are given raw grated apples. In addition, many vegetables and fruits contain enzymes that aid in the digestion of proteins and fats.
The action of enzymes largely depends on temperature: at temperatures below 10 ° C, the processes caused by them slow down, and at temperatures above 40 ° C, enzymes cease to work and do not recover, since they consist of proteins and denature at high temperatures.
Phytoncides
Many vegetables and fruits contain phytoncides - special substances that destroy microorganisms and serve as protection against infectious diseases. Particularly rich in phytoncides are onions, garlic, horseradish, black and white radishhowever, they are also found in the roots, leaves, stems and flowers of most other plants. Essential oils, various dyes and extracts have phytoncidal properties. Some of the phytoncides escape from plants into the air, freeing it from microbes. Due to its phytoncidal properties, garlic and horseradish are used for pickling cabbage. They not only give it a good taste, but also contribute to its better preservation.
The human body receives the above nutrients mainly from vegetables and fruits. Therefore, they must be consumed daily. It is most advisable to prepare salads from vegetables, which provide great opportunities for various combinations. Our table is also enriched by a variety of delicious refreshing fruit and berry drinks. With their help, it is easy to fulfill the requirement of doctors and scientists - to use raw vegetables and fruits for food every day.
Salme Masso. Salads and refreshments
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