Tag Archives: fruits

Food System

Here’s What Many Fruits and Vegetables Looked Thousands of Years Ago

Share

My Modern Met - Jessica Stewart on August 21, 2019

Photo: Stock Photos from leonori/Shutterstock

There’s a lot of talk these days about GMOs and trying to eat more natural foods, but the concept of manipulating crops has been around since ancient times. Of course, the type of genetic modification practiced to transform wild organisms into domesticated crops is quite different than the genetic engineering of today. But still, you’d be surprised by how different many of the common fruits and vegetables we take for granted today are the product of selective genetics.

Early farmers weren’t modifying their crops to resist pesticides, but rather selectively growing them to highlight their most desirable attributes. That often meant bigger and juicier produce, some of which is impossible to find in the wild. So while today a ripe, plump peach is the norm, the reality is that they were once salty and small, with very little flesh. Tomatoes and cucumbers are two other common produce items that have seen exponential growth in size and variety over time.

Common fruits and veggies have undergone a makeover over the centuries. Check out some interesting examples of just how different undomesticated produce can look.

PEACH

Peach Cut in Half with Pit

Photo: Stock Photos from Kovaleva_Ka/Shutterstock

The modern peach has origins in China dating back to the neolithic period, with evidence pointing to their domestication around 6000 BCE. Australian chemistry teacher James Kennedy created an eye-opening infographic highlighting some of the differences between the original, natural peach and the one we find today. Not only were peaches much smaller, but their skin was waxy and the pit took up most of the space within the fruit. Over time, the best peaches were selected to create the soft, fleshy skin and succulent flesh we now associate with the refreshing fruit.

Evolution of the Peach

Photo: James Kennedy

CORN

History of Corn

Photo: Stock Photos from Zeljko Radojko/Shutterstock

Yet another crop that’s undergone an amazing transformation is corn. First domesticated by the indigenous people of Mexico about 10,000 years ago, wild corn bears little resemblance to what we now see in the produce aisle. Corn’s origins have been linked to a grassy flowering plant called teosinte. Only one cob sprouted per teosinte plant, growing around one inch long. Unlike the hundreds of kernels found today on a cob, a teosinte has only 5 to 10 individually encased kernels on its cob. The taste was also much more starchy, like a potato. Over time, farmers worked the plant to become much longer, easier to peel, and with more plentiful and sweeter kernels. This infographic helps explain corn’s evolution into today’s popular food item.

Development of Corn

Photo: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation

BANANA

Ripe Banana

Photo: Stock Photos from bitt24/Shutterstock

Packed with nutrients and covered with a peel-able flesh, the conveniently shaped banana may seem like the perfect fruit. But the reality is that the banana as we now know it is the product of hard work. Cultivation began sometime between 5000 BCE and 8000 BCE thanks to farmers in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea. One wild ancestor, the Musa acuminata, has slender fruit, which are berries, and contain between 15 to 62 seeds. Another Musa balbisiana has a more substantial looking fruit that is filled with hard, inedible seeds. It’s thought that these two plants were bred to produce a hearty fruit that, over time, contained just the edible pulp, eliminating the seeds.

Interior of unripened wild banana. (Photo: Warut Roonguthai [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

EGGPLANT

Eggplant Varieties

Photo: Stock Photos from PosiNote/Shutterstock

A wide variety of different cultivators are used to produce eggplant to local tastes. The purple eggplant, with its long and ovoid shape, is most common to Europe and North America. Across Asia and India, a huge variety of sizes and colors—including white, yellow, and green—are readily available. As part of the nightshade family, it’s believed to have its origins in the Solanum incanum. Also known as bitter apple or thorn apple, this plant still grows in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Solanum incanum

Solanum incanum. (Photo: Nepenthes [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

WATERMELON

Watermelon

Photo: Stock Photos from 5 Second Studio/Shutterstock

Most are familiar with the 20th-century advent of the seedless watermelon, but this is just the latest development in a long line of changes to the fruit. 17th-century still life paintings demonstrate just how different ripe watermelons looked, with a segmented interior that contained much less flesh. It even appears much paler in comparison to what we see today. The classic watermelon red that’s synonymous with the fruit is due to the presence of lycopene. Natural watermelons were selectively bred to increase the amount of lycopene in the fruit’s placenta—the part we eat. Check out this infographic to see even more differences between the watermelons of yesterday and today.

“Pineapple, watermelons and other fruits” by Albert Eckhout, 17th century. (Brazilian fruits) (Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

CARROT

Where Do Carrots Come From?

Photo: Stock Photos from Olga Bondarenko/Shutterstock

If you’ve ever seen Queen Anne’s Lace growing wild on the side of the road, you may not have realized that this flowering plant is the forerunner of the domesticated carrot. Daucus carota is the scientific name of this plant, and while its root is edible when young, it soon becomes too woody to be consumed. Its leaves may also cause a skin inflammation known as phytophotodermatitis.

The modern carrot is a subspecies of Daucus carota that most likely originated in Persia. Over time it was selectively bred to reduce woodiness and bitterness. Interestingly, they were first used more for their leaves than the root. By the 11th century, they were already being described as red or yellow and their popularity had spread around the globe.

Wild Carrots

Daucus carota. (Photo: The Northwest Forager)

CABBAGE

Brassica oleracea - Wild Cabbage or Wild Mustard

Brassica oleracea. (Photo: Kulac [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons)Did you know that a whole host of green veggies found on your dinner plate can’t actually be found in the wild? Broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and cauliflower are just some of the delicious vegetables that can be traced back to one plant—Brassica oleracea. Known as wild cabbage or wild mustard, this cultivator is native to coastal southern and western Europe. It was used as a cultivator because of its nutrient-rich leaves and hardy constitution. By focusing on different parts of the plant, many common vegetables were produced over time.

Selective Breeding of the Wild Mustard Plant

Photo: Liwnoc [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

SOURCE

Food prep

A tip sheet on how to properly freeze fresh produce for long-term storage

Share

Newstarget - Jun 3, 2019 - Michelle Simmons

Do you have excess fresh produce, but don’t know what to do with them? Try freezing them. Freezing fruits and vegetables, herbs, and even your favorite meals is an efficient way to saving food for long-term. Here are some tips on how to freeze them: (h/t to RockinWHomestead.com)

  • Freezing fruits: Before freezing your fruits, wash and dry each piece before cutting. You can also freeze your fruits in a plastic tub with dehydrator sheets as a separator. This saves you space in the freezer and makes your frozen fruits easier to handle. Once the fruit is completely frozen, take the plastic tub out and pack the fruits in individual freezer bags. One of the quickest fruits to freeze are blueberries. Some fruits like peaches can be frozen with their skins on, or blanched to remove the skin. Bananas can be frozen in slices or as a whole with the skin on, while pineapples need to be cut and cored before freezing. When freezing apples and pears, you have to make them into a pie filling or sauce first before freezing. You can freeze grapes as well, but they don’t thaw well. Melons have to be seeded and separated from the rind first, then cut into bite-sized chunks before freezing. For tomatoes, you have to turn them into sauce or soup first before you can freeze them
  • Freezing vegetables: Items like cabbage, cucumber, garlic, horseradish, herbs, leafy greens, leeks, mushroom, pepper, and summer squash can be rinsed, chopped, and frozen immediately. For potatoes, you have to peel and grate them first. Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peas, and squash should be blanched first before freezing. Blanching helps preserve the texture and quality of vegetables. You may also skip the blanching process if you want, but only if you plan to store your vegetables for one to two weeks.
  • Freezing herbs: The easiest way to freeze herbs is to wash and chop them, then put them into ice cube trays. Then, top them with water, chicken broth, or olive oil and freeze. Once they have been frozen, remove them out of the ice cube tray and put them in a freezer bag for longer storage.
  • Freezing meals: You can also freeze your favorite freezer-friendly meals with the leftover produce. You can freeze soups, stews, pot pies, and casseroles. Cook up a big batch of chili or vegetable soup and freeze them to save for rainy days.

Generally, freezing food is a safe way to preserve food at home for future use. However, frozen food safety depends on how you prepared the food for freezing. Working with clean hands and on clean surfaces are crucial in preparing foods. Proper thawing of frozen foods is also important. If not done properly, these frozen foods may pose food safety risk.

Benefits of freezing your produce

There are several benefits to freezing your excess produce. These include the following:

SOURCE

Pickling

Unusual foods that you can pickle now, for use in an emergency

Share

Natural News - Feb 9, 2019 by: Zoey Sky

Pickling is a handy skill to have, especially when SHTF – and you don’t need expensive equipment or a large work area to start pickling. Pickling can easily extend the shelf life of many perishable food items like fruits or vegetables. (h/t to ApartmentPrepper.com.)

Pickling, one of the oldest methods of food preservation, involves submerging your food of choice in either a salt or vinegar brine to keep it from spoiling.

Here are some of the many benefits of pickling your own food:

  • Consuming pickled foods regularly is good for your overall well-being.
  • It’s a cost-effective way of preserving food.
  • Pickling food helps prevent bad bacteria from growing.
  • You can pickle the same food in different ways.

Brine and vinegar pickling

Controlled fermentation is encouraged in brine pickling, like when you make kimchi or sauerkraut. This allows beneficial bacteria to grow in the mixture and crowd out any bad bacteria that can make the food spoil. With brine pickling, you may notice that the flavor, look, and texture of the food changes. (Related: How to quickly pickle a variety of veggies.)

When you use vinegar to make pickles, its high acidity prevents most bacteria from growing in the food. Food pickled in vinegar remains preserved as long as it is submerged in the solution.

Kosher pickles are cucumbers preserved in a vinegar solution. Meanwhile, most dill pickles are preserved in brine. Dill pickles may include vinegar, but it is preserved in a mixture that includes dill and other pickling spices and salt.

Read on… SOURCE