- On a day that we hope will be historic for the right reason…
- The history of the sweet potato.
- The history of the horse.
- The history of the study of plant diversity. And more.
- The history of IR8.
- The banana is not yet history.
- The history of vegetables. And more.
- The continuing history of Iroquois corn.
CNB Variety Showcase showcased
You need to get to the next CBN Variety Showcase. It’s a mix of public plant breeders, independent breeders, and farmers doing both complex breeding and simple improvements on older heirlooms – each of whom is paired with a chef. Those who attend get to learn about the breeding process and goals, and then sample dishes crafted from the crops. For example, a pastry chef (Nora Antene from Tusk) made a “Corn Silk Pie” with sweet corn bred by Bill Tracy (in a participatory plant breeding project with a number of farmers). This wasn’t an actual pie made from corn silks (but hey, has anyone tried it?) but rather a pie in the texture and tradition of chocolate silk. It may have been the best thing I’ve eaten in life. Although the hulless pepito ice cream was pretty damn good.
That’s from a comment on a recent Nibble on the Culinary Breeding Network that we thought deserved a higher profile. There’s a video of the event too.
Oh, and sorry about the slow blogging lately. Lots of travelling around still to come too, alas.
Nibbles: Aquaculture, Rice vs ugali, Genetics game, Natural protection, NUS
- Aquaculture and the poor: The Correspondence.
- Even the poor prefer rice in Kenya. They’ll have to eat sorghum soon.
- Mendel: The Game.
- Diverse fields mean there’s a greater chance of all pests failing.
- Turning back to neglected crops. Yet again.
Nibbles: Illicit ag, Illicit stats, Irish folk meds, Medieval farming, Zoo methods, Date collection, Apple breeding, Ancient cannabis, Old yeast
- Sorry about slow blogging lately. Life caught up with us. Slowly getting back in the saddle…
- ISIS benefitting from agricultural production as much as oil.
- Why we should drop “statistically significant.”
- Irish folk medicine being used. Again. Or still.
- Back to the future of farms, medieval edition: it’s the faldage, stupid.
- Botanical art in history.
- Applying zoo methods to plant conservation. Maybe should be the other way too?
- The future of dates is in the US?
- History of the Honeycrisp apple, for all you Red Delicious haters out there.
- Ancient stash found. Down to seeds and stems.
- Keep warm with some nice Latin American drinks.
- Or beer made from old yeast from a shipwreck.
Brainfood: Genomic data edition
- When more is better: how data sharing would accelerate genomic selection of crop plants. It’s the data sharing, stupid.
- Genomic prediction contributing to a promising global strategy to turbocharge gene banks. See what I mean?
- Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources – A New Tact. Yeah, for animals too.
- Indigenous stocks as treasure troves for sustainable livestock production in the 21st century: Insights from small ruminant genomics. See what I mean?