- Prototypical versus contemporary Mediterranean Diet. They’re basically the same.
- Development of Oryza sativa L. by Oryza punctata Kotschy ex Steud. monosomic addition lines with high value traits by interspecific hybridization. A very distant relative finally succumbs.
- Local breeds – rural heritage or new market opportunities? Colliding views on the conservation and sustainable use of landraces. Apparently, both is not an answer. At least in Finland.
- Exploring Genetic Diversity in Plants Using High-Throughput Sequencing Techniques. No excuse now.
- Extremophyte adaptations to salt and water deficit stress. Any crop wild relatives, though?
- Seed wars and farmers’ rights: comparative perspectives from Brazil and India. Stewardship vs ownership.
- Quantifying the economic contribution of wild food harvests to rural livelihoods: A global-comparative analysis. Three quarters of rural families use wild foods, but their contribution to income averages only 4%. Must be the nutrition, I guess.
Nibbles: Wild pig, Indicators, Ethiopian agrobiodiversity, Traditional crops, Purple haze, Fraises des Bois, Chef prize, Breadfruit, Sorghum nutrition, Moringa, NWFP, Barcoding, Arnold Arboretum
- Warty pig saved by genomics.
- So apparently there’s a Biodiversity Barometer. Via the Biodiversity Indicator Partnership.
- Traditional crops survive, but under threat, in Ethiopian highlands. And a whole issue of Farming Matters on why it’s important that they do survive.
- More on that purple wheat heirloom variety coming back from the brink.
- Going back to the original European strawberry. No, I’m not going to make any jokes about that.
- There’s going to be a Nobel for chefs. If they can make use of breadfruit, they’ll deserve it.
- Yes, sorghum rotis can taste good. And they’re good for you.
- Big Moringa shill makes case for next superfood :)
- Did I already say that FAO’s Nonwood Forest Products Newsletter seems to have been resurrected? Do subscribe.
- On my work blog, I say genebanks could be a bit more like supermarkets.
- Collecting trees.
Nibbles: Bush tucker, Amazonian tea, Bolivian genebank, Global diets, Heirloom wheat, Clam gardens
- Aussie native vegetables on the menu. No Latin names, but Rhizowen Radix tell me: youlk = Platysace deflexa; kulyu = Ipomoea calobra.
- Another non-scientifically named plant is set to save the Amazon. Turns out it’s Ilex guayusa. Probably.
- World Bank to build genebank in Bolivia.
- World Coffee Research puts out nice variety catalogue.
- Our paper of a couple of years ago on globalized diets makes it to Scientific American and gets mashed up with the latest one.
- Purple patch for Purple Straw?
- Yes, you can garden clams.
Nibbles: Climate smart trifecta, Interdependence, Herbs trifecta, Rare breeds, Mexican maize, Ethiopian barley
- What the Pacific islands need to do about climate change. What, nothing about conserving and using crop diversity? My friends at CePaCT will be pissed.
- What West African farmers are doing about climate change.
- Yeah, I guess it’s not always and only about crop diversity. But would it kill them to mention it?
- And if you’re interested where the Pacific (and West Africa, and everywhere else) gets its food from…
- Peruvian black mint is a thing. But not a relative of coriander.
- Yaupon is also a thing. Though it won’t go far with that scientific name.
- Recreating a Renaissance herb garden. Because we can. Where’s the Peruvian black mint, though?
- Eat rare breeds to conserve them. Not rare advice.
- No wall can keep out landrace maize.
- Ethiopian beer gets a boost.
The man who changed coffee
We talked about the legendary Ethiopian coffee landrace called Geisha a couple of times on the blog, but I don’t think we ever mentioned by name the guy who actually first took it from CATIE’s genebank in Turrialba, Costa Rica to Panama, and thence the world. Well, his name was Pachi Sarracín, and he unfortunately just passed away.
He was responsible for the arrival of the Geisha variety in Panama, in the late seventies, and years later the consecration of Panamanian Geisha as the undisputed star of Latin American coffee plantations.
In his hands, and those of a small group of pioneers, Geisha went from a half-forgotten variety in a research center in Turrialba, Costa Rica, to become the most valued on the market. I’ve never tasted anything more subtle, elegant, delicate and stimulating. It took only two sips of his Don Pachi Estate to captivate me and get me hooked.
Quite a legacy.