Visualizing enzyme infusion into apple tissue

Enzymes traditionally used in food processing are applied to ground or mace rated tissue with little or no retention of cellular structure. More recent ly developed applications use enzymes to selectively alter tissue propertie s while retaining some structure. Process development has been hindered by the lack of conclusive evidence showing that enzyme infusion into plant tis sue pieces is possible. This study provides direct evidence that such infus ion is possible by using fluorescence microscopy to monitor vacuum infusion of fluorescein-labeled alpha -amylase into apple cubes. This method is gen erally applicable to any plant or animal tissue and to any macromolecule ca pable of derivatization.