Fruits and Veggies Flashcards
(32 cards)
What differs a fruit from a vegetable?
Fruits are pulpy, edible material that grows around seeds after a plant has flowered while veggies are any other part of the plant.
What are the fibers that make up a plant cell?
Cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and lignin
What is cellulose responsible for?
Cellulose is a major component of cell walls, most abundant, and responsible for giving the plant structure. It is a long chain of glucose that cannot be digested because humans lack the proper enzyme to do so.
What is hemicellulose and pectin responsible for?
Intra- and intercellular cement that gives firmness and elasticity to cells.
What is unique about Lignin?
It is not a CHO and must be removed, it cannot be softened via cooking. As a plant gets older its lignin concentration increases making it stronger.
What are plastids?
Organelles that sore substances such as starch and pigments
What plastid is responsible for storing starch and water?
Leucoplasts
What plastid/s is/are responsible for color?
Chloroplasts (green), chromoplasts (carotene/orange or xanthophyll/yellow/brown), vacuoles (anthocyanins/red/blue).
What plastid is responsible for texture and flavor?
Vacuoles
How does intercellular air space affect a vegetable/fruit?
Adds volume and crispness. Fruits and veggies would otherwise be soft and flaccid. Apple - 20%-25% air Peach - 15% Potato - 1%
What are the three major groups of plant pigments?
Carotenoids (yellow, orange, red). Chlorophylls (green). Flavonoids (anthocyanins (blue-red), anthoxanthins (cream/white), and betalains (purplish-red))
What are the three kinds of flavonoids?
Anthocyanin = red-purple / anthoxanthin = cream/white / betalains = purple-red/yellow
What are phytochemicals?
Plant compounds that are not required nutrients but can serve many functions to protect our health such as antioxidants, phytoestrogens, and anti-inflammatory agents.
Name four phytochemicals
Lycopene, genistein, luteolin, polyphenols.
What additives can be added to veggies?
Some veggies have wax coatings, some canned veggies may contain EDTA (preservative), and flavoring agents (Salt, sucrose), and sodium bicarbonate to clean veggies and neutralize the flavor.
What are legumes?
All legumes grow as seeds within a pod.
What is a pulse?
Legume crops that are harvested solely for the dry seed.
What are excluded from pulses?
Vegetable crops such as green beans and green peas and seeds grown for oil such as dried soybeans and peanuts.
What is tofu?
Cheese made from soy milk, coagulants used to precipitate protein from the “milk”.
What is texture vegetable protein used for?
Often used to extend ground meats and lower costs. USDA limits to no more than 30% of any product.
What are meat analogs?
Imitation meats made by blending soy protein with vegetable proteins, CHOs, fats, vitamins, minerals, colorings, and flavors. Fake meat.
What are non-soy meat analogs made from?
Pea protein.
Why should you cook veggies?
Increases palatability, increases digestibility, changes flavor and texture, kills micro-organisms, and decreases bulk.
How does texture change during cooking of a veggie?
Starch gelatinizes, cellulose softens (decreasing bulk) and turgor (the pressure exerted by fluids in a cell that presses the cell membrane agains the cell) reduced due to water loss.
