Our common foods today didn’t come from common places. On this episode of wild vs
domesticated foods we take a look at the origin of some of the world’s most popular foods.
Wheat Requested by Henri over on my patreon, wheat
a grain used for thousands of years by humans started its domestication almost 10,000 years
ago. A staple food of humans along with maize and barley, wheat started it’s cultivation
in South east Turkey and at that time it was called Einkorn. (T. monococcum). Now quickly
I’ll mention rice before someone boils over, rice is the 2nd largest cereal crop produced
today but it’s production was localized to Asia not making it a global food at the
time wheat was going through domestication.
Containing two sets of chromosomes wheat is genetically described as a diploid. Along
the same time Einkorn was being domesticated so was Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum). Emmer
wheat was created by the natural hybridization between Tricticum urartu and an Aegilops species
both being wild grasses. Both wild grasses were diploids which yielded a tetraploid or
one with four sets of chromosomes which is the same as Durum wheat a common wheat grown
today. Durum wheat was created in the same manner as Emmer wheat using natural hybridization.
These, at one point wild grasses, became the domesticated wheat we know today as farmers
made selections based on different wheat’s beneficial traits like yield size and ease
of harvest.
Common bread wheat and spelt were also a result of natural hybridization and became the ideal
choice for farmers. Emmer wheat and Aegilops tauschii or wild goat grass were selected.
This combination yielded a 6 chromosome or hexaploid wheat which took many generations
to fully develop.
Wild Cherry Originating between the Black and the Caspian
Seas sweet cherry domestication dates back before recorded history. The earliest known
mention of the cherry goes back to 372-272 BCE, Theophrastus “History of Plants”
had mentioned cherries had been cultivated for hundreds of years in Greece. Pliny a philosopher
suggested the Roman general Lucullus introduced cherries to Europe in 74 BCE but there is
evidence that shows cherries were already known in Italy well before then. Cherry pits
have been found in several stone age caves in Europe. In the 1300s King Charles V of
France had over 1000 cherries trees planted in his gardens. Turkey the largest producer
of cherries in the region is also the origin of the name of the fruit coming from the Turkish
town of Cerasus. Colonists from the 1600’s migrated from Europe bringing cherries with
them. In 1847, Henderson Lewelling brought with him an ox cart full of plants to western
Oregon which became the first cherry tree to be planted in the Northwestern United States.
Henderson’s younger brother Seth created the most famous sweet cherry variety grown
today, the Bing as well as some lesser-known one the Lincoln and Black Republican. The
Lincoln was named after President Lincoln as he was a strong supporter of his cherries.
The Bing named after Seth’s friend and orchard foreman was a towering man at over 7 feet
tall.
In 1952 the Rainier cherry was created by crossbreeding the Bing and Van varieties.
Having the shortest period between flowering and ripe fruit than any other tree fruit the
cherry can be ready in just 60 days.
Other cherries have since been created such as the maraschino dessert cherry which originated
on the Balkan Peninsula and northern Italy. Merchants added liqueur to local cherries
called Marasca. These cherries became an import product to the United States in the 1890’s.
In 1896 producers of cherries in the US started to experiment with their domestic sweet cherry
and reducing the liqueur and adding almond oil. By 1920 the liqueur had been eliminated
completely and the American Maraschino cherry had become more popular in the United States
replacing the foreign variety.
A few fun facts about cherries, in New York, Broadway turns west at East 10th because a
cherry tree once stood there. There are more than a 1000 varieties of cherries in the United
States, only 10 are produced commercially. Kansas at one point made it illegal to serve
ice cream on cherry pie.
Wild Coffee Dating back 14 centuries to Yemen and Ethiopia
coffee’s origin will be fought over by both countries with no proof which country it really
came from. It is said a Kaldi a goat herder discovered what coffee could become. Apparently,
after eating some of the coffee berries Kaldi noticed his goats couldn’t sleep at night.
He reported these findings at a local monastery, which were not welcome, in fact the monk burned
the coffee berries and beans which yielded a wonderful aroma. These burnt remnants of
the coffee beans were mixed with water essentially creating the first cup of coffee. News of
this discovery at the monastery spread fast which began the spread of coffee and its energizing
effects. Historians believe that coffee was mixed with ghee or clarified butter or animal
fat and rolled into small balls and chewed before it was ever made into a drink. After
it’s local popularity this bean moved east across the Arabian peninsula. The cultivation
of this plant began in the Arabian peninsula but by the 15th century it was being grown
in Yemen, Persia, Turkey, Syria and Egypt by the 16th century.
Public coffee houses started to show up in towns and cities called, qahveh khaneh. These
places exploded with popularity with people coming together to talk, listen to music,
watch performers and play games like chess. These places became the place where people
who talk and exchange important information and were often referred to as “Schools of
the Wise”.
European travelers returning home from a journey to the east brought back stories of an unusual
black beverage. Soon after by the 17th century coffee had become popular across all of europe.
Now the coffee haters of the world called it the “bitter invention of Satan” so
it wasn’t loved by all. Clergy of Venice condemned coffee when it arrived in 1615,
this caused so much of an uproar that Pope Clement VIII had to step in and make a decision
on it. He tasted it for himself, loved it and gave it his approval. The same thing happened
in Europe as their eastern neighbours, coffee houses were popping up all throughout Germany,
England, France, Holland and Austria serving as meeting points for people. In England for
the price of a single penny you could buy a cup of coffee and engage in conversation
spurring on the term “penny universities”.
Coffee soon replaced common morning beverages, beer and wine resulting in new waves of people
being alert, energized and being highly productive. By the mid 17th century 300 coffee houses
called London home which drew in many artists, merchants and brokers like Lloyd’s of London
which started at the Edward Lloyd’s Coffee House.
Brought to New Amsterdam or what’s called New York today by the British, coffee’s
popularity rose quickly in the United States but tea was the preferred beverage. This all
changed when King George II imposed a heavy tea tax in 1773 which caused colonists to
revolt resulting in the Boston Tea Party when 342 chests of tea were dumped into the harbour
and coffee soon after became the favored beverage.
Around this time just a few years earlier in 1720 through French naval officers like
Gabriel Leclerc coffee plants were brought on his ship and planted in Martinique. We
do know despite his efforts coffee had already been growing in Haiti, the Dominican Republic
and Suriname a few years before his arrival. From here it’s popularity spread through
the rest of the world. We don’t really know if the coffee bean which is actually a seed
originated from the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia or from the area around the city
of Mocha in Yemen but maybe some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved.
Sugar Apple The sugar apple an incredibly sweet delicious
fruit likely comes from the wild sugar apple or rollinia. The rollinia is a large jungle
fruit with complicated origins. Conflicting journals state the origin of this delicious
fruit comes from two different places. One journal states it to be indigenous to the
West Indies and tropical South America where the other claims it came from lowland Central
America and was distributed to Mexico and eventually throughout tropical America. We
do know the sugar apple has been grown in the West Indies since at least 1689. We know
this because this was the time of Sir Hans Sloane’s voyage to Jamaica when he collected
samples of the fruit. It’s likely the sugar apple was introduced into Brazil in 1626 by
Conde de Miranda and brought to the Philippines by the Spaniards and India by the Portuguese
by 1590. Once established in these locations sugar apple cultivation spread to nearby China,
Australia, Hawaii and Indonesia.
Being so popular commercially in India, many botanists claim this is where it came from.
These claims are supported with the presence of wall paintings and carvings however a more
recent 2005 journal states India was the second location of the sugar apple. We do know the
purple sugar apple, this beautiful variety, was created in India in 1911.
Not much is known how the rollinia was domesticated but it is stated that it was the base for
multiple different annona fruits including the sour sop, cherimoya and atemoya fruit.
These fruits along with the sugar apple are distinguished as botanical species instead
of cultivars.
Today the sugar apple is grown in not only Central America but Northern South America
including northeastern Brazil where it is quite popular. Also a staple in the Philippines,
Thailand and Cuba only Florida and Hawaii can produce them in the United States. An
attempt was made to grow them in southern California without success though.
Wild Chickpea Found only in parts of southeastern Turkey
and Syria the ancestor of the chickpea cicer reticulatum was believed to be domesticated
11,000 years ago. Being a part of the first farming practices on the planet chickpeas
have been instrumental is how all food is produced today. It is said it is one of the
8 founding crops of agriculture which are as mentioned earlier einkorn wheat, emmer
wheat, barley, bitter vetch, peas, lentils, chickpeas and flax. The wild chickpea was
most likely domesticated in Turkey which we can’t confirm until time machines are a
thing. We can confirm the domesticated chickpea was found at different locations, dating back
to different times around Turkey and Syria though. This initial stage of domestication
took place during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period which yielded the first variety of
chickpea the desi. There are 2 main groups of chickpeas or garbanzo beans being the desi
and kabuli. It is believed the desi came first but between them both there are 21 different
varieties that come in all sorts of different shapes and colors. I grew the black chickpea
myself in my garden last year which didn’t yield very many chickpeas probably due to
a lack of heat. You really come to appreciate modern machinery as harvesting chickpeas is
tedious. Each pod contains a single chickpea and needs to be opened individually. It is
believed the desi, the smaller angular chickpeas originated in Turkey and were later brought
to India where the other main chickpea the kabuli was developed. The kabuli is the common
chickpea consumed today which are larger and more round.
Through the process of domestication wild chickpeas gained many traits. One of these
is double the amount of tryptophan, you know that amino acid in turkey that makes you sleepy,
or is that a myth? Tryptophan does boost brain serotonin levels which accelerates growth
and increases birth rates. The wild chickpea is only harvested in winter when it’s ripe.
in summer was an important added trait, this also reduced the pressure of having a perfect
harvest in winter when more water is available. In winter, chickpeas are susceptible to Ascochyta
blight a disease that can wipe out the entire crop, so having that 2nd harvest became important.
In 2013 the chickpea had its genome sequenced showing more diversity in the desi line of
chickpeas suggesting it came first. Today being the world’s second most widely grown
legume the chickpea is only out produced by the soybean.
Which story of domestication did you find most fascinating and which do you want me
to cover next? Share your thoughts and subscribe and until the next one have a good one.