1884.] Relation of Color to Flavor in Fruits and Vegetables. 1203 
THE RELATION OF COLOR TO FLAVOR IN FRUITS 
AND VEGETABLES. 
BY EMMETT S. GOFF. 
URING the summer of 1882 I was struck by the coincidence 
that in several of our fruits and vegetables a white or light 
colored flesh is accompanied by a milder and more delicate flavor 
than exists in other varieties of the same fruit or vegetables hav- 
ing a dark colored flesh. Thus the white varieties of onion are 
milder in flavor than the red ones; the white currants possess 
less acidity than the red ones, and these in turn have less pun- 
gency than the black varieties; the white and yellow tomatoes 
are sweeter than the red ones; the white and yellow raspberries 
are more delicate in flavor than the red ones, and these in turn 
have a less strongly marked flavor than the black varieties. The 
familiar custom of blanching celery, endive, sea-kale, the cos 
lettuce and other plants to give them a more delicate flavor, was 
called to mind, and the fact that the inner leaves of the cabbage 
head which are white and decidedly more delicate in flavor than 
the outer green leaves > also that potato tubers “sun burned” 
through exposure to the light have a very strong and bitter taste. 
These and other instances came to mind, until I was led to ask 
whether there may not be a law of relation between the color 
and flavor in fruits and vegetables. 
i: Every fruit and vegetable has a standard of quality peculiar to 
itself. This is based upon the natural qualities that make the 
fruit or vegetable desirable to man. Thus in most fruits quality 
s based upon delicacy and richness of flavor, with a certain de- 
ree of tenderness in the flesh. In many salads it is based upon 
crispness, tenderness and mildness in flavor; in a few, as the 
cress, it is based upon pungency. In some vegetables, as the 
_ Potato and squash, quality depends upon the dryness and fare 
| mccous pr operties of the flesh, combined with a delicate, charac- 
_— Eetistic fla 
Th the amelioration of fruits and vegetables, it is : 
_ 4M of the horticulturist to intensify, so far as possible, me sA 
Table qualities and to eliminate the undesirable ones. It is evi- 
“nt, therefore, that if it can be shown that the color of the flesh 
wa direct relation to its flavor and tenderness, We have a vom 
le index in the work of selection. If by whitening the Hes 
A p ‘ 
XVHIL—no, XIL 
the constant 
