for vegetables meant to hold their shape in a long-cooked meat dish, or potatoes in a potato salad, or for foods to be preserved by canning It’s also valuable for boiled whole potatoes and beets, whose outer regions are inevitably over-softened and may begin to disintegrate while the centers cook through These and other long-cooked root vegetables are usually started in cold water, so that the outer regions will firm up during the slow temperature rise Firm-able vegetables and fruits have an enzyme in their cell walls that becomes activated at around 120ºF/50ºC (and inactivated above 160ºF/70ºC), and alters the cell-wall pectins so that they’re more easily cross-linked by calcium ions At the same time, calcium ions are being released as the cell contents leak through damaged membranes, and they cross-link the pectin so that it will be much more resistant to removal or breakdown at boiling temperatures Persistently Crisp Vegetables A few underground stem vegetables are notable for retaining some crunchiness after prolonged cooking and even canning These include the Chinese water chestnut, lotus root, bamboo shoots, and beets Their textural robustness comes from particular phenolic compounds in their cell walls (ferulic acids) that form bonds with the cell-wall carbohydrates and prevent them from being dissolved away during cooking Flavor The relatively mild flavor of most vegetables and fruits is intensified by cooking Heating makes taste molecules — sweet sugars, sour acids — more prominent by breaking down cell walls and making it easier for the cell contents to escape and reach our taste buds Carrots, for example, taste far sweeter when cooked Heat also makes the food’s aromatic molecules more volatile and so more noticeable, and it creates new ... their cell walls (ferulic acids) that form bonds with the cell-wall carbohydrates and prevent them from being dissolved away during cooking Flavor The relatively mild flavor of most vegetables and fruits... after prolonged cooking and even canning These include the Chinese water chestnut, lotus root, bamboo shoots, and beets Their textural robustness comes from particular phenolic compounds in their cell walls (ferulic acids) that form bonds... and making it easier for the cell contents to escape and reach our taste buds Carrots, for example, taste far sweeter when cooked Heat also makes the food? ??s aromatic molecules more volatile and