QUALITY
– THE TASTE
Here's
an interesting topic! No?
There
is so much to tell, and it concerns many people.
This
is probably one of the topics my relatives most often mention, except for
pesticides and organic, of course.
But
first, what's the flavor?
This
is a series of chemical compounds naturally secreted by the plant, depending on
its needs.
The
plant is not trying to make us happy, it seeks above all to satisfy its own
needs of multiplication, extension, and self-defense.
Some
aromatic compounds are designed to attract animals to disperse the seeds,
others are rather repellent, irritating or toxic compounds, intended to avoid
the destruction of the seed or the plant itself, by animals.
In
short, what is the specificity of each food, comes from the own botanical
history of each type of plant.
Among
the compounds that make up the flavor, we find first the aromatic compounds,
specific to each species, then acids, sugars, astringency and bitterness.
But
these compounds are present in varying proportions depending on the evolution
of the vegetative cycle of the plant.
Thus
some species protect their seeds, too young, by unpleasant compounds and make
them attractive when they are ripe, to make them attractive, with flavors or
sugars.
This
is for example the case of peach, whose seed, when young, is rich in
hydrocyanic acid or prussic acid, a highly toxic compound, to protect it.
Later, the prussic acid level is reduced or disappears when the wood of the
stone is hard, so the seed is protected. Then the fruit maturation phase can
begin with the appearance, in the last days, of flavorings and sugars intended
to make it attractive for big animals, wild boar or deer, for example, who will
eat and participate in the dispersion of the cores, so of the seeds.
Picture: http://i64.servimg.com/u/f64/16/14/36/76/fruit10.jpg
The
components that make the flavor of a fruit or vegetable are produced by the
plant, usually in the final days before physiological maturity. In other words,
a fruit or a vegetable harvested too early will not yet have reached its
optimum taste potential.
The
same food, picked overripe, has lost some of its characteristics. Indeed, with
maturity, flesh oxidizes by senescence effect, and aromas to, a fermentation
process begins for causing the fall of the fruit, and attracting other animals,
such as flies, to decompose the flesh, which profoundly changes the
characteristics of the food, which may even make it inedible.
That's
why when I hear people say that nothing beats a fruit ripened on the tree, I
say it depends. Some fruits, like many pears or plums, will be better if picked
earlier and then refined. It's a question of balance between the components of
the flavor, and the texture of the flesh.
My
mother, on the phone, told me a few days ago, that she bought in Bordeaux,
strawberries a new variety (I forgot the name), absolutely delicious. A few
days later, 200 km away, she decided to repeat the experience but, oh
disappointment, the strawberries, though of the same variety, were tasteless.
Picture: http://static.ladepeche.fr/content/media/image/large/2013/05/12/201305121059-full.jpg
That's
agriculture. We grow living beings, subject to various conditions, whose
physiology depends primarily on climatic conditions, with different farmers,
each one with his own way of working.
To
get a quality product (for simplicity, I'll speak about fruit, but it affects
almost all crops, vegetables, roots, seeds, leaves, etc.), it will be necessary
to meet several fundamental conditions:
-
A genetic quality potential. Subject to the same
environmental conditions, there are delicious varieties and some not. If the
farmer cultivates a variety with low flavor potential, he will never get an
excellent fruit. So that's the first point, for the farmer, not to be mistaken
in choosing the variety.
-
Appropriate cultivation
conditions.
You will perhaps think about organic farming, not me. Cultivation method does
not matter as regards flavor. There comes into account a concept of balance. A
plant needs leaves for the synthesis of sugars and aromas by photosynthesis. If
the plant is too weak, the quality will be lower by its lack of capacity to
feed the fruit, except if let a very low crop, unprofitable for the farmer. But
if the plant is too strong, the quality will also be low, because synthesized
elements will be consumed by the excess of vegetation, not by the fruit. Come
on into play the soil, fertilization, irrigation, pest control, various
mechanical work, in short, all actions that directly or indirectly act on the
balance of the plant.
-
Climatic conditions. This is a key factor, but
totally out of the control of the farmer. If you did everything to perfection,
from beginning to end, but you end up, on the eve of the harvest, with heavy
rains or simply a covered sky for days, the taste will fall very significantly.
See in this regard, my two recent articles https://culturagriculture.blogspot.com.es/2016/04/76-bad-weather-7-lack-of-light.html
and https://culturagriculture.blogspot.com.es/2016/05/78-bad-weather-9-rain.html
-
Harvest conditions. Another key factor, but
this one passes by the decision of the farmer or, to be more exact, by the
decision of the commercial organization on which depends the farmer. According
to the destination of the product, it will be picked at its point of maximum
taste, for direct sales for example, or it will be harvested for a consumption
in the 48 or 72 following hours, for a local market through wholesalers, or it
will be picked up for a consumption in the 4 to 7 following days or more, in the
case of a distant shipping. Under these conditions, you will have more chance
of finding tasty fruits and vegetables by going directly to the farmer, to buy
seasonal produce.
-
Storage conditions. This is a key point,
especially for distant expeditions. Why? In fact, to delay the previous point,
the picked fruit for distant shipping or conservation, can be harvested in
conditions very close to those of products for consumption to 48 or 72 hours.
The difference comes mainly of storage conditions. Here we enter a field where
technology plays a vital role. I will devote a special chapter, because there
is a lot to say. Yet it is important here to note that a fruit of excellent
eating quality, but poorly preserved, may be disappointing or bad at the time of
consumption. And for detractors of food preservation, who are becoming more
numerous, it should be noted that this is a key aspect for reducing food waste
worldwide.
-
The plant health aspect. I refer especially to rot
in conservation that can completely change the taste of food. In general, they
are easy to spot, yet some fungi, or the majority of them in the initial phase,
are sometimes difficult to see, but could have time to affect the flavor of the
food. We return therefore to the storage conditions.
How does one determine the taste
possibility of a food?
Aromatic
compounds are very difficult to measure. They are even so hard to measure, for
highly aromatic (and high value) products like wine, chocolate, coffee, tea or
cigars, that we don't measure the aromas, but we call professional tasters,
responsible to characterize each type of product, since we are unable to do it
otherwise.
Currently,
the market has simplified the taste problem, by limiting it to very simple
measurements, like sugar and acidity. I offered you a full article on measuring
quality in the orchard. I suggest you to read it again. https://culturagriculture.blogspot.com.es/2014/06/20-measure-quality-in-orchard.html
One can
simply add that sugar and acidity are quality criteria, but are not sufficient
to warrant a real high taste level. If you eat a very sweet strawberry, with
the just acidity to balance the taste, but without flavorings, you take a
limited pleasure.
This is one
of the big problems of agricultural production. It is almost impossible in
agriculture to produce food with regularly good taste, from one week to
another, or from one year to another. Wine lovers know this well, since they
prefer some years with better quality.
This affects
the entire agricultural production.
This
"weakness" has been widely used by companies specialized in dairy or
meal products, extolling the taste regularity of their specialties. Obviously,
it's so much easier when you can homogenize the taste by adding aromatic
extracts.
Farmers
can't do it, except if producing in greenhouses, or in countries with
particularly steady climate, what are doing some major food groups, enjoying by
the way low wages in tropical countries of Africa or South America.
By the way,
if you are told that melons are injected with sugar, I authorize you to laugh
out loud. It is pure urban legend, invented and spread by ignorant or
malicious.
The drop which escapes by a crack around the tail, is only a recognizable sign in the field, of the state of
maturity and of a high taste potential of the melon. The farmer is only observing
which the best fruit is. This is a test for harvest, not a manipulation.
Picture: http://www.rustica.fr/images/recolte-melon-1401-rust-l750-h534-c.jpg
The flavor
is a real problem in agriculture, since it is one of the most difficult
characters to control.
The market
looks more and more to the taste, which is normal, and even desirable. Yet we
are not currently able to guarantee the taste.
The market
does not understand these difficulties, or does not accept them. In fact, the ignorance
of the consumer, makes that the retailer does not want to disappoint him, and
requires the farmer a minimum quality, actually a simple sugar level for
fruits.
An aromatic
fruit but little sweet will be denied, but a sweet and tasteless fruit will be
accepted.
As you see,
there is still much progress to make to ensure an adequate minimum quality.
These advances come first by varietal selection,
to be able to sow or plant only varieties that have a high gustatory potential.
