Biology of food4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Biology of food4 - Essay Example The malting process entails a period of soaking in water for a certain period, allowing the opening of the husk, and releasing of the barley. The malting procedure stops at the point where the seeds begin to recruit enzymes that can break down the starch in the seeds. After draining the soaked seeds, the fermentation process follows, whereby yeast and lactobacilli utilize the sugars in the seed. The fermentation process runs for a period, until the beer is ready. If Mel had left the seeds to germinate fully, the germinating plant would have utilized the foods stored in the grain. Usually, seeds in the store have a reserve of nutrients in the cotyledon. Under the right conditions, germination of the seeds takes place, a process that compels the germinating seedling to use the nutrients (Pratap and Kumar37). During seed maturation, storage or starch in the cotyledon occurs. When seeds absorb water at the onset of germination, a new process of mobilizing the nutrients for use in growth occurs. The availability of certain enzymes breaks down the starch into simple sugars that the seed utilizes in respiration. The respiratory process yields energy and other waste products such as lactic acid. Moreover, synthesis of other essential nutrients such as proteins takes place in the seed. In the process of making wine, the fruit juice used provides the relevant sugars utilized by the microbes involved in the fermentation process. The wine making process is usually different from that of making beer. In making wines, grape juices serve as the source of both macronutrients and micronutrients required by the microbes, while beer making utilizes seeds. A cost/benefit analysis led to this difference. After it became evident that the seeds used in making beer were critical sources of food for animals, it proved rational for grapes serve as food for microbes in the wine making process, preserving the grains for animals (14). This is in conformity with the fact that animals are hi gher than the microbes. Plants usually produce toxins as an essential part of constitutive defense. Genetic mutation is responsible for the conversion of phenolic compounds and alkaloids to the toxins. Although plants produce toxins as a form of defense, they affect the plant’s reproductive system adversely, and the mutated genesare conferred to the next generation. It is likely that the mutated plants have a higher chance of survival because the toxins protect it from attack by herbivores and insects. Usually, plants exposed to attacks by herbivores, and insects causing detriment to the plant motivates the plant to alter its secondary metabolism and produce toxins. A classic example is the milkweed, which underwent mutation to produce cardenolides that serve as toxins to monarchs. Apricots are seeds and play a critical role because they germinate to yield new plants. Apricot seeds require both macro and micronutrients for use in the metabolic processes involved in germinatio n. From eating apricot seeds, humans obtain carbohydrates, amygdalin, protein, sugars and fats (36). Squash blossoms are flowers involved in the sexual reproduction of the plant. By eating these flowers, the body gains calcium, sodium, iron, vitamins, and carbohydrates. in order to play the role sexual reproduction, these flowers require a range of ten aromatic compounds. A slice of turkey denotes a piece of breast meat. It is an essential portion as it provides