When a fruit ripens, it gets sweeter over time. Are the sugars already there for the fruit to get sweeter or how does it gain “sweetness” over time?
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Sort of. Before the fruit is ripe, it is full of starch. Starches are basically long molecular chains of simpler sugars like glucose and fructose. Even though it’s essentially made of sugar, starch doesn’t taste sweet to us because the molecule doesn’t interact with our taste buds.
As fruit ripens, enzymes break down the starch into simpler sugars, and thus they become sweeter.
Other have covered. Fruit has starch which converts into sugar over time as it ripens. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat thing that are not ripe. Many unripe food appear in cuisines.
Fried Green tomatoes are delicious and a thing in the Southern states of the US. Breaded and deep fried, mmm mm, good. Another raw fruit, green bananas. They are starchy like a potato and are often double fried in Spanish dishes called tostones. You cut a 1.5 inch knob from the green banana, fry until lightly golden, then smash it flat and fry again until deep golden. The are amazing when served with a garlic mayo called Aioli. Green bananas are also used as a starch in many Haitian’s dishes as well.
Other have covered. Fruit has starch which converts into sugar over time as it ripens. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat thing that are not ripe. Many unripe food appear in cuisines.
Fried Green tomatoes are delicious and a thing in the Southern states of the US. Breaded and deep fried, mmm mm, good. Another raw fruit, green bananas. They are starchy like a potato and are often double fried in Spanish dishes called tostones. You cut a 1.5 inch knob from the green banana, fry until lightly golden, then smash it flat and fry again until deep golden. The are amazing when served with a garlic mayo called Aioli. Green bananas are also used as a starch in many Haitian’s dishes as well.
Other have covered. Fruit has starch which converts into sugar over time as it ripens. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat thing that are not ripe. Many unripe food appear in cuisines.
Fried Green tomatoes are delicious and a thing in the Southern states of the US. Breaded and deep fried, mmm mm, good. Another raw fruit, green bananas. They are starchy like a potato and are often double fried in Spanish dishes called tostones. You cut a 1.5 inch knob from the green banana, fry until lightly golden, then smash it flat and fry again until deep golden. The are amazing when served with a garlic mayo called Aioli. Green bananas are also used as a starch in many Haitian’s dishes as well.
Fruit contains long chains of starches. Starches are kind of like potatoes. If you bit into a raw potato or a green banana, it wouldn’t taste very sweet. With the right conditions, enzymes [chemical scissors] cut those long chains of starches into short chains that we call sugars.
Sometimes those conditions are just putting the food in your mouth. Your saliva contains enzymes (amylase) designed for this. Early Mesoamerican’s would chew corn and spit it out to convert the starch of the corn into sugars that could be fermented.
Sometimes, the fruit itself or even OTHER fruit produces a gas named ethylene that causes the fruit to ripen. This is the origin of the expression “One bad apple spoils the bunch”. As fruit ripens, it produces more ethylene. In close quarters, the ethylene from one bad apple could cause the rest of the apples to ripen, increasing their own ethylene production.
As an aside, this is also a quick way to ripen fruit that you want to eat. If you have some green bananas, put them in a bag with a tomato. The tomato emits enough ethylene to rapidly ripen the banana. I’ve seen articles that say the exact opposite – you can ripen a tomato with a banana. I guess it depends on which one is producing more ethylene.
Fruit contains long chains of starches. Starches are kind of like potatoes. If you bit into a raw potato or a green banana, it wouldn’t taste very sweet. With the right conditions, enzymes [chemical scissors] cut those long chains of starches into short chains that we call sugars.
Sometimes those conditions are just putting the food in your mouth. Your saliva contains enzymes (amylase) designed for this. Early Mesoamerican’s would chew corn and spit it out to convert the starch of the corn into sugars that could be fermented.
Sometimes, the fruit itself or even OTHER fruit produces a gas named ethylene that causes the fruit to ripen. This is the origin of the expression “One bad apple spoils the bunch”. As fruit ripens, it produces more ethylene. In close quarters, the ethylene from one bad apple could cause the rest of the apples to ripen, increasing their own ethylene production.
As an aside, this is also a quick way to ripen fruit that you want to eat. If you have some green bananas, put them in a bag with a tomato. The tomato emits enough ethylene to rapidly ripen the banana. I’ve seen articles that say the exact opposite – you can ripen a tomato with a banana. I guess it depends on which one is producing more ethylene.
Fruit contains long chains of starches. Starches are kind of like potatoes. If you bit into a raw potato or a green banana, it wouldn’t taste very sweet. With the right conditions, enzymes [chemical scissors] cut those long chains of starches into short chains that we call sugars.
Sometimes those conditions are just putting the food in your mouth. Your saliva contains enzymes (amylase) designed for this. Early Mesoamerican’s would chew corn and spit it out to convert the starch of the corn into sugars that could be fermented.
Sometimes, the fruit itself or even OTHER fruit produces a gas named ethylene that causes the fruit to ripen. This is the origin of the expression “One bad apple spoils the bunch”. As fruit ripens, it produces more ethylene. In close quarters, the ethylene from one bad apple could cause the rest of the apples to ripen, increasing their own ethylene production.
As an aside, this is also a quick way to ripen fruit that you want to eat. If you have some green bananas, put them in a bag with a tomato. The tomato emits enough ethylene to rapidly ripen the banana. I’ve seen articles that say the exact opposite – you can ripen a tomato with a banana. I guess it depends on which one is producing more ethylene.
Besides what has already been said about the breakdown of starch, some fruit also produce additional sugar through photosynthesis when they’re ripening. This is why heirloom tomatoes that keep their green coloration until they are very ripe tend to be sweeter and spoil faster than classic grocery store tomatoes, which turn red very early in the ripening process (and are often picked green and artificially ripened as well)
Besides what has already been said about the breakdown of starch, some fruit also produce additional sugar through photosynthesis when they’re ripening. This is why heirloom tomatoes that keep their green coloration until they are very ripe tend to be sweeter and spoil faster than classic grocery store tomatoes, which turn red very early in the ripening process (and are often picked green and artificially ripened as well)
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