Dundee was Juteopolis? Who knew.
Finding the perfect fry
The hunt is on to find a worthy replacement for Russet Burbank as McDonald’s spud of choice for its fries, at least in the US. Actually, a couple more varieties have received Ronald’s seal of approval, but the last time a variety was added to his shopping list was in 1999. Time for some diversification, wouldn’t you say?
McDonald’s has huge clout. Russet Burbank has a 40% acreage share in the top potato states, almost 60% in Idaho. But it has drawbacks, and the industry is “always looking for the silver bullet to replace [it].” And “taste, texture and golden-brown appearance aren’t everything” now, as they were in the good old days. Now you have to worry about the water use efficiency of varieties, and their resistance to diseases, so that they don’t get doused with pesticides so much. Industry reps recently met to discuss the latest prospects. And they chose the ideal place to do so: Sturgeon Bay, Wis., home of the U.S. Potato Gene Bank. The hot money is on the Bannock Russet.
Nibbles: Légumes oubliés, Mazes, Poultry, Business, Roquefort, Herb, Evolution, Benin, Egyptian pigs, New York food, Cabbage pest control, Cider making
- Francophones! Watch this. Report back.
- Geographers! Play with this. Global collection of crop mazes.
- Chicken fanciers and development officers! Read this (pdf). Increase assets, income and nutrition.
- Agro-business! Respond to this. Please.
- Cheese lovers! Watch this. Salivate.
- Chemists! Find out why Teucrium tastes like apple. Or is it that apple tastes like Teucrium?
- Females! Why are you horny?
- Farmers! Get information to adapt to climate change.
- Egyptian pig cull! Bad. No, good. No, bad…
- Brooklynites! Wallow in ethnic cuisine.
- Africans! Why bother with cabbage when you have so many much more interesting leafy greens?
- Scrumpers! Get thee to Eden!
Nibbles: Preservation, Markets, Cuy, Fallows in slash-and-burn, Rice
- Pickling everything. Japanese edition.
- Mapping farmers’ markets in the US. Idaho has zero demand for organic produce?
- Domesticating the guinea pig. Cute AND good to eat.
- Longer fallows mean more diverse soil microinvertebrates, better soils in French Guiana.
- Archaeological remains of rice from China.
Nibbles: Chile breeding, Sugarcane in India, Seed Vault, Cuban breeding, Cattle in Argentina, Flax fibres, Fisheries, Urban mushrooms, Ferula, African leafy green
- “All green chile derives its genetic base from the work of Fabian Garcia. We are at the center of the universe when it comes to chile because of Dr. Garcia.”
- Indian farmers move out of sugarcane, live to regret it.
- Freakonomists get Svalbard governance slightly wrong, but what the heck. Get it from the horse’s mouth.
- Adapting to climate change in Cuba through crop improvement.
- The Argentinian gauchos are running scared. And not just because of their pathetic football team.
- Microscopic remains of 30,000 year old flax cords found in Georgian cave. 30,000?
- Gotta fish less, boffins say.
- Growing shittake in a disused Mittagong railway tunnel.
- You remember our recent Dung of the Devil post? You remember how you thought it was a plant you didn’t need to know much about? Think again.
- BBC’s The Food Programme tackles African indigenous veggies.