Fruits and nuts

August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

Nibbles: Artisanal bread, Phenotyping, Maris Piper, Algae, Superfood debunk, Banana 101, Indian millets, Wheat seed photosynthesis, Chili evolution

Nice tweeting about bread and other Central Asian food over past few days.
Rothamsted’s “Scanalyzer“.
The genebank origin of the UK’s premier potato, Maris Piper.
Seaweed in South America.
Repeat after me: superfoods are a scam.
Third and final instalment in The Plate’s history of the banana.
India going on a millet kick.
The wheat seed is C4? Totally crazy.
The evolution of Capsicum in half a page. Which is both too much and not enough.

August 18, 2016

Nibbles: Saffron startup, Genebank software, Teff redux, Heirloom fruit & veg

Counting on saffron in Afghanistan.
Counting on GRIN-Global in genebanks.
Counting on teff as the new super grain.
Counting on heirlooms.

August 17, 2016August 17, 2016

Nibbles: New grape variety, Irish food, LegumeCHOICE, Arabica diversity, Breadfruit summit

Bronx Seedless finally hits the shops.
The Irish Iron Age Diet.
Choosing the right legume. But where’s the tool?
The answer to better coffee is Ethiopia.
Pacific Global Breadfruit Summit honours Diane Ragone. In other news, there’s a breadfruit summit.

August 11, 2016August 11, 2016

Bananas everywhere

National Geographic have just published the first of a three-part series on the history of the banana. It’s been done before, several times, but you can usually count on NatGeo to get it right, and it looks like it’s off to a good start. Coincidentally, I blogged about the crop just a couple of weeks ago over at the work place. And I’m sure Colin would like me to remind everyone that the banana is eaten in 192 countries.

August 10, 2016

Nibbles: CATIE genebank, Wine microbiome, Olive history, CGIAR breeding, Yerba mate, Breadfruit, Ambling horses

It’s been a while since we linked to CATIE’s genebank.
Boffins take next step in spoiling wine for us all.
The olive is another thing the Romans have done for us.
The international germplasm collections are at the root of the CGIAR’s breeding programs.
Marketing mate.
Let them eat breadfruit.
The amble is down to a single medieval mutation.

1. Sir Nathaniel Bacon’s painting records the arrival of American crops in early modern England. And the cookmaid gets equal billing.
2. North America’s bison survived near-extinction, but how much of its genetic diversity is left? Past and present DNA is helping reconstruct what was lost, with implications for how what remains is conserved and managed.
3. China’s wild rice collection in Hainan now holds more than 15,000 samples. A genetic treasure trove, but its value ultimately depends on what breeders can make of it. Much like what’s left of bison diversity.
4. Mycorrhizal fungi form vast underground networks that support plant life and store carbon. A new global map begins to show their extent, and just how much of this biodiversity remains overlooked.
5. Africa’s herbaria hold centuries of botanical history, much of it still effectively invisible. Specimens can reveal shifting plant distributions and overlooked species. First, though, someone has to do the painstaking work of getting the data online.
6. Africa has done painstaking work on seed laws, but getting good seed to farmers remains hard in practice. The gap between policy and delivery is stark, and commercial companies need to work alongside farmer-managed seed systems, not pretend they don’t exist.
Published on October 14, 2026