This Is What Vegetables Looked Like Before Humans Intervened

Vegetables. They're good for you, filled with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Some grow underground, including root vegetables like potatoes, yams, carrots, turnips and beetroot as well as bulbs like onion and garlic. Green vegetables include leaf vegetables like spinach and cabbage as well as certain legumes like peas and string beans. Many vegetables have seeds inside, and the best-known of these include pumpkin, squash, eggplant and the many kinds of pepper like the green pepper, chilli pepper and the bell pepper or capsicum. Salad vegetables such as lettuce and cucumber are eaten raw while other vegetables, including cauliflower, mushrooms and stem vegetables like asparagus and celery, can be eaten either raw or cooked.
 
But they don't look and/or taste like they used to. In some cases, that's probably good.

This week, what some vegetables looked like before humans intervened.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." - Alexander Pope (English poet and satirist, 1688 - 1744)

   This is What Vegetables Looked Like Before Humans Intervened by fredwine on Scribd

Inside the quest to save the banana from extinction – Part 2: Science!

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa. North Americans began consuming bananas on a small scale at very high prices shortly after the Civil War, though it was only in the 1880s that the food became more widespread.  As late as the Victorian Era, bananas were not widely known in Europe, although they were available.

And then, the Sixth Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, had a banana. And it was good.

This week, the rest of the story on the quest to save the banana from extinction and how Science! could be the answer.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Either I've been missing something or nothing has been going on." - Karen Elizabeth Gordon (American author, 1947 - )

   Inside the Quest to Save the Banana From Extinction 2 by fredwine on Scribd

Inside the quest to save the banana from extinction – Part 1: History

A banana is an edible fruit, and no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, botanically a berry. While the plant it referred to as a "tree," it is actually the largest herbaceous flowering plant on the planet. Recent archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence in Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 5000 BCE, and possibly to 8000 BCE.

And now they are threatened by extinction by disease. How and why, you ask?

This week, we go inside the quest to save the banana from extinction, and start where we should, with some history.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is." - Desiderius Erasmus (Dutch author, philosopher and scholar, 1466 - 1536) 

   Inside the Quest to Save the Banana From Extinction 1 by fredwine on Scribd

The Subversive, Surprising History of Curry Powder

Spice blends were found to be in use almost 4000 years ago, with key ingredients like ginger, garlic, and turmeric, during the days of Indus Valley Civilization. The chili pepper, a ubiquitous ingredient in curry, was brought to the Indian subcontinent from the Americas through the Columbian Exchange in the 16th century.

Curry powder and the contemporary English use of the word "curry" are Western inventions and do not reflect any specific food from the Indian subcontinent, though a similar mixture of spices used in the Northern regions of the Indian subcontinent is called garam masala. Curry powder was used as an ingredient in 18th century British recipe books, and commercially available from the late 18th century. British traders introduced the powder to Meiji Japan, in the mid 19th century, where it became known as Japanese curry.

This week, a look at the subversive, surprising history of curry powder.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line." - Oscar Levant (American concert pianist, composer, music conductor, bestselling author, radio game show panelist and personality, television talk show host, and actor, 1906 - 1972) 

   The Subversive, Surprising History of Curry Powder by fredwine on Scribd

The Century-Long Scientific Journey of the Affordable Grocery Store Orchid

The Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colorful and fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family.

Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera. The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, because verified data on the members of such enormous families are continually in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species nearly equals the number of bony fishes and is more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. 

The family encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants. It also includes Vanilla – the genus of the vanilla plant, the type genus Orchis, and many commonly cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis and Cattleya. Moreover, since the introduction of tropical species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars. 

This week, a look at the century-long scientific journey of the affordable grocery store orchid.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "[Memory is] a man's real possession...In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor." - Alexander Smith (Scottish essayist and poet, 1830 - 1867)
 
The Century-Long Scientific Journey of the Affordable Grocery Store Orchid by fredwine on Scribd

Why Is a 'Pepper' Different From 'Pepper'? Blame Christopher Columbus

Pepper properly refers to certain members of the genus Piper. There are several plants in this genus that produce berries that also produce a biting sensation, though not nearly as much as the capsicums. The berries of these plants contain piperine, a different chemical that is an irritant. Among the true peppers are black/white/green Piper nigrum, Cubeb, Long Pepper, and others.

Peppers are the broader classification. Capsicums, called bell peppers by some Americans, are sweet when ripe. The spicy hot ones, with capsaicin, are called chilies (or chili peppers)  and were so called because they came from the Spanish possession governed by the Viceroy of Chile. Actually, the spicy little peppers probably came from part of what is now Peru or Bolivia that was included in Chile. Cayenne peppers are another variety of hot pepper, named after the place in French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America.

Because of some geographic confusion when Columbus first reached the West Indies (he thought he was in Asia), the Spanish word for the Piper pepper was applied to the Capiscum pepper. The confusion continues today, with various parts of the world separating the two (or not!) according to their own ways of seeing things.

This week, a look at why Christopher Columbus is to blame for the confusion between peppers and pepper.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time." - Edith Wharton (US novelist, 1862 - 1937)

Why is a ‘Pepper’ Different From ‘Pepper’? Blame Christopher Columbus by fredwine on Scribd

The Tragic Roots of America’s Favorite Cherry

It is thought that sweet cherries originated in the region between the Black and the Caspian Seas. Cherries derive their name from the Turkish town of Cerasus, and Turkey remains the largest cherry producing region in the world. Like many things, cherries migrated with the colonists from Europe in the 1600’s.

Dark Sweet Cherry varieties include Chelan, Sweetheart, Lapin, Sunburst, Stella, and others. The most popular, the ever-present Bing, originated in Oregon. And who do we have to thank for Bings? That is a little fuzzy, and the exact truth may be lost to history, but we do know it involved Quakers, the Oregon Trail and Chinese laborers.

This week, a look at the tragic roots of America’s favorite cherry.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'thank you,' that would suffice" - Eckhart von Hochheim (commonly known as Meister Eckhart or Eckehart, a German theologian, philosopher and mystic, c. 1260 – c. 1328)

   The Tragic Roots of America’s Favorite Cherry by fredwine on Scribd