Here's a good passage from a new report:
"...Plants rely on a complex set of bioactive volatile chemicals, which diffuse easily through the membranes of cells that produce them to communicate and interact with the outside world. These often aromatic and highly specialized compounds entice pollinators, fend off pathogens, bacteria, and leaf-munching animals alike.
Since antiquity, humans have exploited both the antimicrobial properties and pleasing aromas and flavors of plants rich in certain secondary metabolites - better known as spices - to preserve and flavor food. The food-preserving and analgesic properties of eugenol-rich cloves lured explorers like Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus across the seas in search of new routes to the Far East, which was, at the time, the sole source of cloves. Although Columbus never reached India, he did discover the Americas and, incidentally, found the source for a new spice, allspice, which contains the closely related chemical isoeugenol..."
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071002213430.htm |
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