This is the first book to describe the scientific basis for the action of plant polyphenols in a wide range of technologically important phenomena. The book opens with a general summary of polyphenolic structure and a discussion of the physical and chemical basis of noncovalent molecular interactions and the means by which polyphenols initiate the many and varied properties they display. There has been a big increase in interest in our ability to understand the importance of polyphenols in areas as diverse as agriculture, ecology and food selection, foodstuffs and nutrition, beverages...