Worried about your diet?

Abstract

Fruit is supposed to be enormously important in terms of our (ill‐defined) general health. Although no‐one knows what five portions are, and the data for specific disease risks are few, the public health message to eat fruit and vegetables is clear—rather like ‘Go to work on an Egg’ or ‘Drink a Pint of Milk a Day’. But this sceptical view does not conceal the fact that ripe fruits are an important part of the human diet. The maturation and ripening of fleshy fruits varies considerably in style among plant species and involves changes in colour, texture, flavour and smell, all of which must be co‐ordinated. These changes are also accompanied by changes in nutritional values. Those accustomed to human crises and the use of words in a particular way must adopt a Tweedeldumic point of view here, for there are two types of ripening: climacteric and non‐climacteric. In climacteric ripening, there is a burst of respiration at the beginning of the process …