- “Coffee and cocoa yes, coca no.”
- 1st All Africa Horticulture Congress.
- Carotenoid and vitamin content of Micronesian atoll foods: Pandanus (Pandanus tectorius) and garlic pear (Crataeva speciosa) fruit.
- A Family Year: a 5-part television series focusing on the health and environmental threats facing families in Russia and Central Europe.
- Natbar Sarangi: one man Indian rice genebank.
- Climate change “might hinder coconut production“.
Surviving a million Scoville units
A couple of crazy Aussies are caught on video eating naga jolokia, the hottest chilli in the world. Watch it and weep.
An introduction to buckwheat
My recent trip to Russia allowed me to get culinarily acquainted — albeit all too cursorily — with a bit of agricultural biodiversity I don’t know much about: buckwheat (греча). Russia used to be its largest producer. I saw it in its raw state in the market:
There was kasha for breakfast at the hotel. And I think I had the blintz too, though I’m not sure. Not spectacular, taste-wise, but pleasant enough.
Nibbles: French fries, Maple syrup, Cooking heirlooms, Salmon, Ancient booze, Rice domestication
- India finally arrives, gets french fries.
- Sophisticated urbanites tap maples.
- Raise a rare heirloom breed. Then cook it.
- “Some might be hoping he will predict a return to the glory days of the “truly unique” strain of Petitcodiac salmon, which now likely exists only in a gene bank at the Mactaquac Fish Hatchery at this point.”
- Boffins identify world’s first cocktail.
- How people turned from nut collectors into rice farmers in China.
- Hungarians sacrificed dogs.
Portal back in time contains agrobiodiversity
Sure, the story of the sinkhole with 12,000 years’ worth of clues about the life of some of America’s first residents is fascinating. But what we all want to know is what kind of gourd is it, exactly?