我們?yōu)槭裁蠢洳厮褪卟?/p>
Everyone knows you should put spinach and berriesin the refrigerator, but exactly how do coolertemperatures keep most fruits and vegetables fromspoiling rapidly?
每個人都知道應該把菠蘿和漿果放進冰箱,但冰箱到底是如何防止這些水果和蔬菜快速腐爛呢?
Spoilage is inevitable, but refrigeration slows itdown in two ways. First, cold temperatures interferewith the growth of microorganisms that harm food,such as bacteria, mold, and yeast. In order to grow, any microorganism that could damagefruits or vegetables needs food, a favorable moisture content, and a favorable temperature.
腐爛是不可避免的,但制冷器有兩種方式來減緩這一過程。首先,低溫能夠阻礙微生物的生長,例如細菌,霉菌以及酵母菌。這些微生物能夠破壞水果和蔬菜,但為了生長,任何微生物都需要食物,充足的水分和適宜的溫度。
Obviously, it is impossible to eliminate a food source for these microorganisms, so otherfactors that facilitate their growth must be eliminated. We refrigerate food to keep bacteria,yeasts, and molds from the favorable temperature they need to grow. The moisture-controlavailable in many refrigerators also helps slow the deterioration of foods, so that two of thethree favorable situations for microorganism growth are eliminated.
很明顯,不可能為了對抗這些微生物而消滅食物源,因此必須消滅使細菌耐以生存的其他因素。我們將食物儲存在低溫下,使細菌、霉菌和酵母菌遠離他們生長所需的適宜溫度。許多冰箱有濕度控制功能,這也能幫助減緩食物的腐爛,因此阻斷了微生物生長所需的兩個有利因素。
Though the microorganism growth is slowed down at low temperatures, it still can occur atthe 38 degrees of an ordinary refrigerator. Hence, the mold that grows on forgotten leftoversin the back of a refrigerator. The second benefit of refrigeration is that it slows down thefood's own natural processes that lead to ripening and eventual decay.
盡管微生物在低溫條件下生長緩慢,但即使將普通冰箱設置成38度的高溫,微生物仍會存在。因此,冰箱內被遺忘的剩菜里會有霉菌出現(xiàn)。冰箱的第二個好處是減緩食物本身的自成熟至最后腐爛的自然過程。
For fruits and vegetables, the very chemical processes that cause plants to grow and ripen alsocause them to rot. In effect, refrigeration helps save the plant tissue from itself. Keeping thesefoods at low temperatures dramatically slows this aging process.
對于水果和蔬菜而言,誘使植物生長和成熟的化學過程同樣也會導致食物腐爛。實際上,冰箱有助于保留植物本身的組織。將這些食物在低溫下保存會極大地減緩老化過程。