- Goats and seeds help southern Lebanon recover from war. But which breeds, what varieties?
- Dated desert date decides to drop dormancy.
- “Mobile clinics for sick plants.” Nice idea.
- China honours IRRI. Rice idea.
- World Bank economist says increased investment in agricultural research not enough, also need decent roads. Oh, and extension services. Media alerted.
- Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries.
- “Towards Food Sovereignty” multimedia book etc. published by IIED.
The Filipino roots of mezcal
“Clash of civilizations” is a common rhetorical trope these days. But it is as well to remember that good things can — and often do — happen when cultures come together. A paper just out in GRACE gives an example involving agrobiodiversity. ((Daniel Zizumbo-Villarreal & Patricia Colunga-GarcÃaMarÃn (2008) Early coconut distillation and the origins of mezcal and tequila spirits in west-central Mexico. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 55:493-510.)) In it, Daniel Zizumbo Villareal — the doyen of Mexican coconut studies, among other things — and his co-author set out the evidence for the origin of mezcal, the generic name for agave spirits in Mexico. ((So “tequila” is a DOC for the mezcal made from Agave tequilana Weber in the state of Jalisco and others, for example.))
It turns out that this most Mexican of drinks is unknown from pre-Columbian times, although of course the cooked stems and floral peduncles of various species of Agave were used as a carbohydrate source by the ancient populations of what is now western Mexico, and drinks were made from both these and their sap. But, apparently, distillation had to wait until a Filipino community became established in the Colima hills in the 16th century. They were brought over to establish coconut plantations, and started producing coconut spirits, as they had done back home. The practice was eventually outlawed in the early 17th century, and this prohibition, plus increased demand for hard liquor by miners, led to its application to agaves instead, and its rapid spread. The first record of mezcal is from 1619. Mexicans (not to mention other tequila afincionados the world over) have a lot to thank Filipinos for.
Nibbles: Oils, Mango, Agro-tourism
- Oils unpacked.
- Indian mango aficionado grafts 300 varieties on a single tree.
- Agro-tourism parks a great hit in Maharashtra.
Farming and tourism
You may remember my recent post from Lima bemoaning the lost opportunity of linking agrobiodiversity education with tours of an archaeological site. Here’s an example of such an opportunity emphatically grasped. An historic farmhouse in Rhode Island is offering “visitors, particularly children, a glimpse into the lost world of small-scale farming in New England, when the distance between the chicken coop and the dinner plate was much shorter.” And that includes heirloom varieties, for example of tomatoes, of which the staff grow 30. They also keep some local ((Later: Ok, Jeremy, how about “locally important”?)) livestock breeds, including Red Devon cattle, famous for pulling settlers’ wagon trains West.
“One of the things we’ve worked on since we’ve been here is constantly trying to cultivate in people’s minds and hearts a preservation ethic, not just about preserving an old house,” he said, “but preserving landscapes.”
Nibbles: Tea, Commodity dependence, Wild pigs, Organic ag, Fungus
- Tea to get quality standards, geographic indications. Luigi’s mother-in-law unavailable for comment, but would probably say everybody already knows her tea is high quality and where it comes from.
- And speaking of Africa and commodities…
- Pygmy hog saved from extinction. Pocket pigs deny involvement.
- Big write-up of Ryton Organic Garden. Jeremy bound to comment.
- Perigord black truffle under threat from Chinese invader. Stock up now.