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Dried Fruit

Dried fruit

Dried fruit is fruit that has been dried, either naturally or through use of a machine, such as a dehydrator. Raisins, plums or prunes and dates are examples of popular dried fruits. Other fruits that may be dried include apples, apricots, bananas, cranberries, figs, mangoes, pawpaw, peaches, pineapples,tomatoes and pears. Dried fruit has a long shelf life and therefore can provide a good alternate to fresh fruit, allowing out of season fruits to be available. Drying is a good way to preserve fruit in the absence of refrigeration. Dried fruit is often added to baking mixes and breakfast cereals. Due to the water loss experienced during dehydration, dried fruit can have a stronger flavour. However the drying process also destroys most of the Vitamin C in the food, so that the dried version of the fruit has only a fraction of the levels of Vitamin C that would exist in the fruit if it were fresh. Commercially prepared dried fruit may contain sulfur dioxide which can trigger asthma in sensitive individuals, though dried fruit without sulfur dioxide is also available, particularly in health stores.

External links


- [http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/uga_dry_fruit.pdf National Center for Home Food Preservation - Drying Fruits and Vegetables] Category:Fruit Category:Food preservation ja:ドライフルーツ

Drying (food)

Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which prevents the growth of microorganisms and decay. Drying food using the sun and wind to prevent spoilage has been known since ancient times. Water is usually removed by evaporation (air drying, sun drying, smoking or wind drying) but, in the case of freeze-drying, food is first frozen and then water is removed by sublimation. Many different foods are prepared by drying, including Parma ham, bresaola, beef jerky, and even fruits that normally have a high water content, such as prunes, raisins, figs, and dates. Dried and salted reindeer meat is a traditional Lappish food. First the meat is soused. It is kept in saltwater for a couple of days to guarantee the conservation of the meat. Then the meat is dried in the sun in spring when the air temperature is below zero. The dried meat can be further processed to make soup. There are many different methods for drying, each with their own advantages for particular applications; these include:
- Bed dryers
- Fluidized bed dryers
- Shelf dryers
- Sunshine

See also


- Dehydration
- Dried fruit

External links


- [http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry.html National Center for Home Food Preservation - How do I...Dry] Category:Cooking techniques Category:Food preservation

Plum

:"Plum" is also a nickname for British humorist P.G. Wodehouse. See text A plum is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera (peaches, cherries, bird cherries, etc) in the shoots having a terminal bud and the side buds solitary (not clustered), the flowers being grouped 1-5 together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one side, and a smooth stone. The subgenus is divided into three sections:
- Sect. Prunus (Old World plums). Leaves in bud rolled inwards; flowers 1-3 together; fruit smooth, often wax-bloomed. Species: P. cerasifera, P. cocomilia, P. consociiflora, P. domestica, P. salicina, P. simonii, P. spinosa.
- Sect. Prunocerasus (New World plums). Leaves in bud folded inwards; flowers 3-5 together; fruit smooth, often wax-bloomed. Species: P. alleghaniensis, P. americana, P. angustifolia, P. hortulana, P. maritima, P. mexicana, P. nigra, P. orthosepala, P. subcordata.
- Sect. Armeniaca (Apricots). Leaves in bud rolled inwards; flowers very short-stalked; fruit velvety. Treated as a distinct subgenus by some authors. Species: P. armeniaca, P. brigantina, P. mume, P. sibirica.

Cultivation and uses

Plum fruit is sweet, juicy and edible, and it can be eaten fresh or used in jam-making or other recipes. Plum juice can be fermented into plum wine; when distilled, this produces a brandy known in Eastern Europe as Slivovitz. Dried plums are known as prunes. Prunes are sweet and juicy, and they have a very high dietary fiber content, so prune juice is often used to help regulate the functioning of the digestive system. It also contains several antioxidants that may slow aging. Prune marketers in the United States have, in recent years, begun marketing their product as "dried plums", because "prunes" has negative connotations of being unappetizing, and suitable only for the elderly. Prune kernel oil is made from the fleshy inner part of the pit of the plum. Plums come in a wide variety of colours and sizes. Some are much firmer-fleshed than others and some have yellow, white, green or red flesh, with equally varying skin colour. Plum cultivars in use today include:
- Damson, or Damask Plum
- Greengage, or greengage plum (firm, green flesh and skin even when ripe)
- Mirabelle (a dark yellow plum predominantely grown in France)
- Satsuma plum (firm red flesh with a red skin)
- Golden or yellowgage plum (like the greengage, but yellow) When it flowers in the early spring, a plum tree will be covered in blossom, and in a good year approximately 50% of the flowers will be pollinated and become plums. Flowering starts after 80 growing degree days. growing degree day If the weather is too dry the plums will not develop past a certain stage, but will fall from the tree while still tiny green buds, and if it is unseasonably wet or if the plums are not harvested as soon as they are ripe, the fruit may develop a fungal condition called brown rot. Brown rot is not toxic, and very small affected areas can be cut out of the fruit, but unless the rot is caught immediately the fruit will no longer be edible. Plum is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera including November Moth, Willow Beauty and Short-cloaked Moth. The plum blossom, along with the peony, are considered traditional floral emblems of China. In June 21, 1964, the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China officially designated the plum blossom to be its national flower, with the triple grouping of stamens (one long and two short) representing the Three Principles of the People and the five petals symbolizing the five branches of the ROC government [http://www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/np.asp?ctNode=446]. The designation, repeats a previous statement by the ROC government in 1929 [http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/64698.htm]. In Taiwan the plum has been increasingly used as the national emblem of the Republic of China, just as the 12-ray sun originated from the Kuomintang party flag. Plum bloosom is also the floral symbol of the ancient Chinese city Nanjing, which served as the former capital (and remained designated as the official capital) of the Republic of China. Image:Prunusdmoestica01.jpg|Prunus domestica - plum and leaves Image:PlumBlossom.JPG|Plum blossom Image:Plum2web.jpg|Plum (variety Tucker) - watercolor 1894 Image:Plum1web.jpg|Plum (variety Pacific Prune) - watercolor 1893 Image:Plums.jpg|Plums Image:Plum flowers.jpg|Plum Flowers Image:Plum blossoming.jpg Image:Plum blossoms.jpg

See also


- Plum (color)
- Fruit trees
- Fruit tree forms
- Fruit tree propagation
- Pruning fruit trees

External links


- [http://www.kallipolis.com/diet/food.php?id=9279&w=2 Plum nutrition information]
- [http://www.kallipolis.com/diet/food.php?id=9291&w=2 Prune nutrition information] Category:Rosaceae Category:Fruit simple:Plum

Apple

The apple is a tree and its pomaceous fruit, of species Malus domestica in the family Rosaceae, and is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. It is a small deciduous tree reaching 5-12 m tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple oval with an acute tip and serrated margin, slightly downy below, 5-12 cm long and 3-6 cm broad on a 2-5 cm petiole. The flowers are produced in spring with the leaves, white, usually tinged pink at first, 2.5-3.5 cm diameter, with five petals. The fruit matures in the autumn, and is typically 5-8 cm diameter (rarely up to 15 cm).
__TOC__
flower

Botanical origins

flower]] The wild ancestor of Malus domestica is Malus sieversii. It has no common name in English, but is known where it is native as "alma"; in fact, the city where it is thought to originate is called Alma-Ata, or "father of the apples". This tree is still found wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang, China. Some individual M. sieversii, planted by the US government at a research facility recently, resist many diseases and pests that affect domestic apples, and research with it to develop new disease-resistant apples is continuing. Other species that were previously thought to have made contributions to the genome of the domestic apples are Malus baccata and Malus sylvestris, but there is no hard evidence for this in older apple cultivars. These and other Malus species have been used in some recent breeding programmes to develop apples suitable for growing in climates unsuitable for M. domestica, mainly for increased cold tolerance. Apples have been a very important food in all cooler climates, and it was probably the earliest tree to be cultivated. To a greater degree than other tree fruit, except possibly citrus, apples store for months while still retaining much of their nutritive value. Winter apples, picked in late autumn and stored just above freezing have been an important food in Asia and Europe for millennia, as well as in Argentina and in the United States since the arrival of Europeans. The word apple comes from the Old English word aeppel which was used to refer to any round object. This word in turn comes from the Latin word abella, which is the name of a town in Campania. The scientific name malus, on the other hand, comes from the actual Latin word for apple.

Apple cultivars

:See List of Apple cultivars for a listing List of Apple cultivars There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples. Different cultivars are available for temperate and subtropical climates. Apples do not flower in tropical climates because they have a chilling requirement. Commercially-popular apple cultivars are soft but crisp. Other desired qualities in modern commercial apple breeding are a colourful skin, absence of russeting, ease of shipping, lengthy storage ability, high yields, disease resistance, typical 'Red Delicious' apple shape, long stem (to allow pesticides to penetrate the top of the fruit), and popular flavour. Old cultivars are often oddly shaped, russeted, and have a variety of textures and colours. Many of them have excellent flavour (often better than most modern cultivars), but may have other problems which make them commercially unviable, such as low yield, liability to disease, or poor tolerance for storage or transport. A few old cultivars are still produced on a large scale, but many have been kept alive by home gardeners and farmers that sell directly to local markets. Many unusual and locally important cultivars with their own unique taste and appearance are out there to discover; apple conservation campaigns have sprung up around the world to preserve such local cultivars from extinction. pesticide Although most cultivars are bred for eating fresh (dessert apples), some are cultivated specifically for cooking (cooking apples) or producing cider. Cider apples are typically too tart and astringent to eat fresh, but they give the beverage a rich flavour that dessert apples cannot. Modern apples are, as a rule, sweeter than older cultivars. Most North Americans and Europeans favour sweet, subacid apples, but tart apples have a strong minority following. Extremely sweet apples with barely any acid flavour are popular in Asia and especially India. Tastes in apples vary from one person to another and have changed over time. As an example, the U.S. state of Washington made its reputation for apple growing on Red Delicious. In recent years, many apple connoisseurs have come to regard Red Delicious as inferior to cultivars such as Fuji and Gala due to the merely mild flavour and insufficiently firm texture of the Red Delicious.

Growing apples

Apple breeding

Washington Washington Like most perennial fruits, apples are ordinarily propagated asexually by grafting. Seedling apples are different from their parents, sometimes radically. Most new apple cultivars originate as seedlings, which either arise by chance or are bred by deliberately crossing cultivars with promising characteristics. The words seedling, pippin, and kernel in the name of an apple cultivar suggest that it originated as a seedling. Apples can also form bud sports (mutations on a single branch). Some bud sports turn out to be improved strains of the parent cultivar. Some differ sufficiently from the parent tree to be considered new cultivars. Some breeders have crossed ordinary apples with crabapples or unusually hardy apples in order to produce hardier cultivars. For example, the Excelsior Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota has, since the 1930s, introduced a steady progression of important hardy apples that are widely grown, both commercially and by backyard orchardists, throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Its most important introductions have included Haralson (which is the most widely cultivated apple in Minnesota), Wealthy, Honeygold, and Honeycrisp. The sweetness and texture of Honeycrisp have been so popular with consumers that Minnesota orchards have been cutting down their established, productive trees to make room for it, a heretofore unheard of practice.

Starting an orchard

Apple orchards are established by planting two to four year old trees. These small trees are usually purchased from a nursery where they are produced by grafting or budding. First, a rootstock is produced either as a seedling or cloned using tissue culture or layering. This is allowed to grow for a year. Then, a small section of branch called a scion is obtained from a mature apple tree of the desired cultivar. The upper stem and branches of the rootstock are cut away and replaced with the scion. In time, the two sections grow together and produce a healthy tree. Rootstocks affect the ultimate size of the tree. While many rootstocks are available to commercial grower, those sold to homeowners who want just a few trees are usually one of two cultivars: a standard seedling rootstock that gives a full-size tree, or a semi-dwarf rootstock that produces a somewhat smaller tree. Dwarf rootstocks are generally more susceptible to damage from wind and cold. Full dwarf trees are often supported of posts or trellises and planted in high density orchards which are much simpler to culture and greatly increase productivity per unit of land. Dwarf Dwarf Some trees are produced with a dwarfing "interstem" between a standard rootstock and the tree, resulting in two grafts. After the small tree is planted in the orchard, it must grow for 3-5 years (semi-dwarf) or 4-10 years (standard trees) before it will bear sizable amounts of fruit. Good training of limbs and careful nipping of buds growing in the wrong places, are extremely important during this time, to build a good scaffold that will later support a fruit load.

Location

Apples are relatively indifferent to soil conditions and will grow in a wide range of pH values and fertility levels. They do require some protection from the wind and should not be planted in low areas that are prone to late spring frosts. Apples do require good drainage, and heavy soils or flat land should be tilled to make certain that the root systems are never in saturated soil.

Pollination

Apples are self-incompatible and must be cross-pollinated to develop fruit. Pollination management is an important component of apple culture. Before planting, it is important to arrange for pollenizers, cultivars of apple or crab apple that provide plentiful, viable and compatible pollen. Orchard blocks may alternate rows of compatible cultivars, or may have periodic crab apple trees, or grafted-on limbs of crab apple. Some cultivars produce very little pollen, or the pollen is sterile, so these are not good pollenizers. Quality nurseries have pollenizer compatibility lists. Growers with old orchard blocks of single cultivars sometimes provide bouquets of crab apple blossoms in drums or pails in the orchard for pollenizers. Home growers with a single tree, and no other cultivars in the neighborhood can do the same on a smaller scale. During the flowering each season, apple growers usually provide pollinators to carry the pollen. Honeybee hives are most commonly used, and arrangements may be made with a commercial beekeeper who supplies hives for a fee. Orchard mason bees are also used as supplemental pollinators in commercial orchards. Home growers may find these more acceptable in suburban locations because they do not sting. Some wild bees such as carpenter bees and other solitary bees may help. Bumble bee queens are sometimes present in orchards, but not usually in enough quantity to be significant pollinators. Symptoms of inadequate pollination are small and misshapen apples, slowness to ripen, and low seed count. Well pollinated apples are the best quality, and will have 7 to 10 seeds. Apples having less than 3 seeds will usually not mature and will drop from the trees in the early summer. Inadequate pollination can result from either a lack of pollinators or pollenizers, or from poor pollinating weather at flowering time. It generally requires multiple bee visits to deliver sufficient grains of pollen to accomplish complete pollination. A common problem is a late frost that destroys the delicate outer structures of the flower. It is best to plant apples on a slope for air drainage, but not on a south facing slope (in the northern hemisphere) as this will encourage early flowering and increase susceptibility to frost. If the frost is not too severe, the tree can be wetted with water spray before the morning sun hits the flowers, and it may save them. Frost damage can be evaluated 24 hours after the frost. If the pistil has turned black, the flower is ruined and will not produce fruit. Growing apples near a body of water gives an advantage by slowing spring warm up, which retards flowering until frost is less likely. Areas of the USA, such as the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, the southern shore of Lake Ontario, and around some smaller lakes, where this cooling effect of water, combined with good, well-drained soils, has made apple growing concentrations possible in these areas. Home growers may not have a body of water to help, but can utilize north slopes or other geographical features to retard spring flowering. Apples (or any fruit) planted on a south facing slope in the northern hemisphere (or north facing in the southern hemisphere), will flower early and be particularly vulnerable to spring frost.

Thinning

Apples are prone to biennial bearing. If the fruit is not thinned when the tree carries a large crop, it may produce very little flower the following year. Good thinning helps even out the cycle, so that a reasonable crop can be grown every year.

Pests and diseases

The trees are susceptible to a number of fungal and bacterial diseases and insect pests. Nearly all commercial orchards pursue an aggressive program of chemical sprays to maintain high fruit quality, tree health, and high yields. A trend in orchard management is the use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which reduces needless spraying when pests are not present, or more likely, are being controlled by natural predators. Spraying for insect pests must never be done during flowering because it kills pollinators. Nor should bee-attractive plants be allowed to establish in the orchard floor if insecticides are used. White clover is a component of many grass seed mixes, and many bees are poisoned by insecticides while visiting the flowers on the orchard floor. Among the most serious disease problems are fireblight, a bacterial disease; and Gymnosporangium rust, apple scab, and black spot, three fungal diseases. The plum curculio is the most serious insect pest. Others include Apple maggot and codling moth. For other Lepidoptera larvae which feed on apple trees, see List of Lepidoptera which feed on Malus. Apples are difficult to grow organically, though a few orchards have done so with commercial success, using disease-resistant cultivars and the very best cultural controls. The latest tool in the organic repertoire is to spray a light coating of kaolin clay, which forms a physical barrier to some pests, and also helps prevent apple sun scald.

Harvest

Mature trees typically bear 100-200 kg (5-10 bushels) of apples each year. Apples are harvested using three-point ladders that are designed to fit amongst the branches. A few cultivars, left unpruned, will grow to be extremely large, causing them to bear a great deal of fruit that is difficult to harvest. Dwarf trees will bear about 50-100 kg (3-5 bushels) of fruit per year. Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock.

Commerce and uses

bushel 45 million metric tons of apples were grown worldwide in 2002, with a value of about 10 billion USD. China produced almost half of this total. Argentina is the second leading producer, with more than 15% o fthe world production. The United States is the third leading producer, accounting for 7.5% of world production. Turkey is also a leading producer. France, Italy, South Africa and Chile are among the leading apple exporters. In the United States, more than 60% of all the apples sold commercially are grown in Washington state. Imported apples from New Zealand and other more temperate areas are competing with US production and increasing each year. Apples can be canned, juiced, and optionally fermented to produce apple juice, cider, vinegar, and pectin. Distilled apple cider produces the spirits applejack and Calvados. Apple wine can also be made. They make a popular lunchbox fruit as well. Apples are an important ingredient in many winter desserts, for example apple pie, apple crumble, apple crisp and apple cake. They are often eaten baked or stewed, and they can also be dried and eaten or re-consitituted (soaked in water, alcohol or some other liquid) for later use. Puréed apples are generally known as apple sauce. Apples are also made into apple butter and apple jelly. They are also used cooked in meat dishes. In the UK, a toffee apple is a traditional confection made by coating an apple in hot toffee and allowing it to cool. Similar treats in the US are candy apples (coated in a hard shell of crystallized sugar syrup), and caramel apples, coated with cooled caramel. Apples are eaten with honey at the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah to symbolize a sweet new year.

Health benefits

Apples have long been considered healthy, as indicated by the proverb an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Research suggests that apples may reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer. They may also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol. A group of chemicals in apples could protect the brain from the type of damage that triggers such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer's and Parkinsonism. Chang Y. "Cy" Lee of Cornell University found that the apple phenolics, which are naturally occurring antioxidants found in fresh apples, can protect nerve cells from neurotoxicity induced by oxidative stress. The researchers used red delicious apples grown in New York state to provide the extracts to study the effects of phytochemicals. Lee said that all apples are high in the critical phytonutrients and that the amount of phenolic compounds in the apple flesh and in the skin vary from year to year, season to season and from growing region to growing region (November/December 2004 issue of the Journal of Food Science). Apples are historically known for producing "apple milk". A derivative of apple curd, apple milk is widely used throughout Tibet.

Cultural aspects

;Apples as symbols antioxidants Apples appear in many religious traditions, often as a mystical and forbidden fruit. One of the Greek hero Heracles' Twelve Labours was to travel to the Garden of the Hesperides and pick the golden apples off the Tree of Life growing at its center. In Norse mythology, Iðunn was the keeper of the 'apples of immortality' which kept the Gods young. The 'fruit-bearing tree' referred to by Tacitus in his description of Norse runic divination may have been the apple, or the rowan. This tradition is also reflected in the book of Genesis. Though the forbidden fruit in that account is not identified, popular European Christian tradition has held that it was an apple that Eve incited Adam to share with her. The influence of the antiquity was still strong, and the pagan symbology was absorbed into the new religion. This tradition was reflected in artistic renderings of the fall from Eden. The larynx in the human throat has been called Adam's apple because of a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in the throat of Adam. Celtic mythology includes a story about Conle who receives an apple which feeds him for a year but also makes him irresistibly desire fairyland. fairy.]] Another reason for the adoption of the apple as Christian symbol is that in Latin, the words for "apple" and for "evil" are identical (malum). It is often used to symbolize the fall into sin, or sin itself. When Christ is portrayed holding an apple, he represents the Second Adam who brings life. When held in Adam's hand, the apple symbolizes sin. This also reflects the evolution of the symbol in religion. In the Old Testament the apple was significant of the fall of man; in the New Testament it is an emblem of the redemption from that fall, and as such is also represented in pictures of the Madonna and Infant Jesus. Another Greek mythological figure, Paris, had to give a golden apple inscribed Kallisti "To the most beautiful one", (which had come from the goddess of discord, Eris) to the most beautiful goddess, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War. Atalanta, also of Greek mythology, was distracted during a race by three golden apples thrown for that purpose by a suitor, Hippomenes. In ancient Greece, throwing an apple at a person's bed was an invitation for sexual intercourse. Another instance in Roman and Greek mythology is the story of the Pleiades. At times artists would co-opt the apple, as well as other religious symbology, whether for ironic effect or as a stock element of symbolic vocabulary. Thus, secular art as well made use of the apple as symbol of love and sexuality. It is often an attribute associated with Venus who is shown holding it. The ancient Kazakh city of Almaty, 'Father of Apples' (Turkic language alma, apple, + ata, father), owes its name to the forests of wild apples (Malus sieversii) found naturally in the area. The apple blossom is the state flower of Arkansas and Michigan. Michigan The name of the Russian party Yabloko means "apple". Its logo represents an apple in the constructivist style. ;Traditions Swiss folklore holds that William Tell courageously shot an apple from his son's head with his crossbow, defying a tyrannical ruler and bringing freedom to his people. Irish folklore claims that if an apple is peeled into one continuous ribbon and thrown behind a woman's shoulder, it will land in the shape of the future husband's initials. Danish folklore says that apples wither around adulterers. In some places, dunking for apples is a traditional Halloween activity. Apples are said to increase a woman's chances of conception as well as remove birthmarks when rubbed on the skin. In the United States, Denmark and Sweden, an apple (polished) is a traditional gift for a teacher. This stemmed from the fact that teachers during the 16th to 18th centuries were poorly paid, so parents would compensate the teacher by providing food. As apples were a very common crop, teachers would often be given baskets of apples by students. As wages increased, the quantity of apples was toned down to a single fruit.

See also


- Nutritional information about the apple
- Fruit tree propagation
- Fruit tree pollination
- Fruit tree forms
- Cooking apple
- Pruning fruit trees

External links and references


- [http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-apple009000000000000000000.html Complete nutritional info.]
- [http://www.allaboutapples.com/varieties/ Over 700 apple variety listings] from AllAboutApples.com
- Wild apples in Kazakhstan: [http://www.ars.usda.gov/Aboutus/docs.htm?docid=6310 1995] and [http://www.ars.usda.gov/Aboutus/docs.htm?docid=6311 1996] expeditions
- [http://www.webvalley.co.uk/brogdale/collectionapples.php Over 2000 apples] in the UK's National Fruit Collections
- [http://www.usapple.org/consumers/appleguide/guide.shtml U.S Apple Association Guide] with some years and places of cultivar origins
- [http://www.ifr.bbsrc.ac.uk/public/FoodInfoSheets/applefacts.html Apple Facts] from the UK's Institute of Food Research
- [http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/hb66/027apple.pdf An article about storing apples and the effects. Good for those interested in shipping apples.] from the Agricultural Research Service
- [http://www.orangepippin.com Apple flavours and descriptions] from OrangePippin.com Category:Agriculture ja:リンゴ simple:Apple

Banana

:For other meanings, see banana (disambiguation) Hybrid origin; see text A banana plant is a herb in the genus Musa, which because of its size and structure, is often mistaken for a tree. Bananas are of the family Musaceae, and closely related to plantains. Globally, bananas rank fourth after rice, wheat and maize in human consumption; they are grown in 130 countries worldwide, more than for any other fruit crop. Bananas are native to tropical southeastern Asia. The stems grow to 4–8 m tall, with large leaves 2–3 m long. The term banana is also applied to the elongated fruit (technically a false berry of the plant, species and varieties) in hanging clusters, several to many fruits to a tier (called a hand), many tiers to a bunch. Bananas typically weigh between 125–200 g, though this varies considerably between different cultivars; of this, about 80% is edible, and the skin the remaining 20%. The total of hanging clusters is called a 'stem' in the commercial world. The banana was originally cultivated by pre-historic peoples in southeast Asia and the western Pacific Ocean islands. The flavour and texture of many kinds of bananas are affected by the temperature at which they ripen. Bananas spoil and turn grey at low temperatures and are only refrigerated down to 13.5°C during transportation. In 2002, over 68 million tonnes were harvested of which 12 million tonnes were traded worldwide, with Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and the Philippines exporting over 1 million tonnes of bananas each.

History

The domestication of bananas took place in southeastern Asia. Many species of wild bananas still occur in New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Recent archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence at Kuk Swamp in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 5000 BC, and possibly goes back to 8000 BC. This would make the New Guinean highlands the place where bananas were first domesticated. It is likely that other species of wild bananas were later also domesticated elsewhere in southeastern Asia. 8000 BC The banana is mentioned for the first time in written history in Buddhist texts in 600 BC. Alexander the Great discovered the taste of the banana in the valleys of India in 327 BC. The existence of an organized banana plantation could be found in China back in the year AD 200. In 650, Islamic conquerors brought the banana to Palestine. Arab merchants eventually spread bananas over much of Africa. In 1502, Portuguese colonists started the first banana plantations in the Caribbean and in Central America. The word 'banana' came via Spanish or Portuguese from a West African language (possibly Wolof) circa 1597, though the scientific name for the genus is similar to the Arabic and Persian names for the fruit itself.

Properties

fruit Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colours; most cultivars are yellow when ripe but some are red. The ripe fruit is easily peeled and eaten raw or cooked. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can be starchy to sweet, and firm to mushy. Unripe or 'green' plantains and bananas are used in cooking and are the staple starch of some tropical populations. While the original bananas contained rather large seeds, seedless and triploid cultivars have been selected for human consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots of the plant. The plant is allowed to produce 2 shoots at a time—a larger one for fruiting immeditely and a smaller 'sucker' or 'follower' that will produce fruit in 6–8 months time. The life of a banana plantation is 25 years or longer, during which time the individual stools or planting sites may move slightly from their original positions as lateral rhizome formation dictates. Latin Americans sometimes comment that the plants are "walking" over time. A stem of bananas can weigh from 30–50 kg, and they are usually carried on the shoulder. The commercial sweet varieties most commonly eaten in temperate countries (species Musa acuminata or the hybrid Musa x paradisiaca, a cultigen) are imported in large quantities from the tropics, where they are popular in part because they are available fresh year-round. In global commerce, by far the most important of these banana cultivars is 'Cavendish', which accounts for the vast bulk of bananas exported outside of the tropics. It is common for fruit exports to be dominated by a single or very few cultivars (another example is the mango cultivar 'Tommy Atkins'). As in this case, the most important properties making 'Cavendish' important are related to transport and shelf life rather than taste; major commercial cultivars are rarely as sweet or as good flavour as many less widespread cultivars. This is also related to the fact that export bananas are picked green, and ripen on route. Banana chips are a snack produced from bananas. Dried bananas have a dark brown colour and a typical intense banana taste. Bananas have also been used in the making of jam. However unlike other fruits, bananas have only recently been used to prepare juice and squashes. Despite an 85% water content, it has historically been difficult to extract juice from the fruit because when compressed, a banana simply turns to pulp. In 2004, scientists at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India, patented a technique for extracting juice by treating banana pulp in a reaction vessel for four to six hours [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1087416.htm]. In addition to the fruits, the flower of the banana plant (also known as banana blossom or banana heart) is used in Southeast Asian, Bengali and Kerala (India) cooking, either served raw with dips or cooked in soups and curries. The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used, notably in Burmese, Bengali and Kerala cooking. Banana leaves, large, flexible, and waterproof, are used as umbrellas and to wrap food for cooking. Chinese zongzi and Central American tamales are sometimes steamed in banana leaves, and the Hawaiian imu is often lined with them. In South India, the leaves are used as a natural plate to serve food. Once eaten, the leaf is thrown away for cattle consumption, an eco-friendly practice. The practice has regained popularity due to the hygiene it offers and the fact that it saves on water and detergents that would normally have been used to clean a plate. Moreover, hot food served in a tender banana leaf manifests a distinct banana flavour that is also said to have nutritional benefits. Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana) considered to be one of the forerunners of the common domesticated banana, are sold in markets in Indonesia.

Cultivation

cattle Bananas are sterile, meaning that they do not produce viable seeds. Lacking seeds, another form of propagation is needed. The two standard ways to plant bananas are to either transplant part of the root (called a “corm”) or to transplant suckers (shoots that develop at the bases of the banana plant). Suckers are living plants and are too delicate to transport over long distances and they must be handled with some care. Corms on the other hand are similar to flower bulbs. They can be left out of the ground for up to 2 weeks; they need no one to water or tend them, and can be boxed together for shipment.

Banana pests and diseases

cattle While in no danger of outright extinction, in the next 10-20 years the most common edible banana cultivar the 'Cavendish' could become unviable for large-scale cultivation. The predecessor to 'Cavendish', the cultivar 'Gros Michel', has already suffered this fate. The Cavendish banana is an extremely popular fruit in Europe and the Americas; unfortunately, like almost all bananas, it lacks genetic diversity which makes it vulnerable to diseases such as:
- Panama disease (Race 1) – fusarium wilt (a soil fungus). The fungus enters the plants through the roots and moves up with water into the trunk and leaves, producing gels and gums. These plug and cut off the flow of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt. Prior to 1960 almost all commercial banana production centered on the cultivar 'Gros Michel', which was highly susceptible to fusarium wilt. The cultivar 'Cavendish' was chosen as a replacement for 'Gros Michel' because out of the resistant cultivars it was viewed as producing the highest quality fruit. More care is required for shipping the Cavendish banana and some argue that the Gros Michel tasted better.
- Tropical Race 4 - a reinvigorated strain of Panama disease. A virulent form of fusarium wilt that has wiped out the Cavendish in several southeast Asian nations. It has yet to reach the Americas; however, soil fungi can easily be carried on boots, clothing, or tools. This is how Race 4 has move from one plantation to another and it’s most likely route into Latin America. Unfortunately it is currently resistant to all known fungicides.
- Black Sigatoka - a fungal leaf spot disease first observed in Fiji in 1963 or 1964, Black Sigatoka (also known as Black Leaf Streak) has spread to banana plantations throughout the tropics due to infected banana leaves being used as packing material. It affects all of the main cultivars of bananas and plantains, impeding photosynthesis by turning parts of their leaves black, and eventually killing the entire leaf. Being starved for energy, fruit production falls by 50% or more, and the bananas that do grow suffer premature ripening, making them unsuitable for export. The fungus has shown ever increasing resistance to fungicidal treatment, with the current expense for treating 1 hectare exceeding US$1000 per year. In addition to the financial expense there is the question of how long such intensive spraying can be justified environmentally. Several resistant cultivars of banana have been developed, but none has yet received wide scale commercial acceptance due to taste and texture issues.
- Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) this virus is spread from plant to plant by aphids. It causes stunting of the leaves resulting in a "bunched" appearance. Generally, a banana plant infected with the virus will not set fruit, although mild strains exist in many areas which do allow for some fruit production. These mild strains are often mistaken for malnourishment, or a disease other than BBTV. There is no cure for BBTV, however its effect can be minimized by planting only tissue cultured plants (In-vitro propagation), controlling the aphids, and immediately removing and destroying any plant from the field that shows signs of the disease. These four diseases represent the main threats to both commercial cultivation, and small-scale subsistence farming of bananas. Even though it is no longer viable for large scale cultivation, the Gros Michel is not entirely extinct, as it is still grown in some areas where Panama Disease is not found. Likewise, the Cavendish is in no danger of complete extinction, but there is a possibility that it could leave the shelves of the supermarkets for good if disease winnows the harvest down to where it can no longer hope to supply the global market. It is unclear if any banana cultivar currently existing could replace the Cavendish on a scale needed to fill current demand, so various hybridization and genetic engineering programs are working on creating a disease-resistant, mass-market banana.

Banana trade

Bananas are among the most widely consumed foods in the world, and the only fruit to appear in the top ten biggest food crops. However, many banana farmers receive a low price for their produce. Large chain store retailers leverage their size to negotiate lower year round contract prices for bananas. Marketers of bananas thus have reduced their margins which in turn has led to more pressure to lower prices to growers. Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte grow their own bananas in Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras. Banana plantations are capital intensive and demand high expertise so the majority of independent growers are large and wealthy landowners of these countries. This has led to bananas being available as a 'fair trade' item in some countries. The banana has an extensive trade history beginning with the founding of the United Fruit Company at the end of the nineteenth century. For much of the 20th century, bananas and coffee dominated the export economies of Central America. In the 1930s, bananas and coffee made up as much as 75 percent of the region's exports. As late as 1960, the two crops accounted for 67 percent of the exports from the region. Though the two were grown in similar regions, they tended not to be distributed together. The United Fruit Company based its business almost entirely on the banana trade, as the coffee trade proved too difficult for them to control. The term "banana republic" has been broadly applied to the countries in the region, but from a strict economic perspective only Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama were actual "banana republics" – countries with economies dominated by the banana trade. (Source of statistics: Skidmore, T., Smith, P., (2001) Modern Latin America (5th edition). New York: Oxford University Press)

Attitudes toward bananas

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits among people of all origins. However, because of the stereotypical image of monkeys and apes eating bananas, they have been used as a means for racist insults, such as throwing bananas at sports players of African descent (e.g. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/world_football/2399629.stm]). Bananas are also humorously used as a phallic symbol (a metaphor for the human penis) due to similarities in size and shape. In some parts of southeast Asia (e.g., Malaysia and Singapore), "banana" is a derogatory term for a person of Chinese descent who does not know much about Chinese culture and speaks English more fluently than Mandarin (or other Chinese dialects). This reference is due to the resemblance of character between the two objects: "yellow outside, white inside". (Compare this with the African-American slang term "Oreo".) The depiction of a person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations. A 1906 comedy record produced by Edison Records features a popular character of the time, "Cal Stewart" claiming to describe his own such incident, saying: :I don't think much of a man what throws a bananer peelin' on the sidewalk, and I don't think much of a bananer what throws a man on the sidewalk, neether. ... my foot hit that bananer peelin' and I went up in the air, and cum down ker-plunk, and fer about a minnit I seen all the stars what stronomy tells about, and some that haint been discovered yit. Wall jist as I wuz pickin' myself up a little boy cum runnin' cross the street and he sed 'Oh mister, won't you please do that agin, my mother didn't see you do it.'

Urban legends

In the 1940s and 1950s, an urban legend involved tarantulas hidden among bunches of bananas. While tarantulas do not hide in bananas, certain other large exotic spiders have been known to do so (see Brazilian wandering spider). These spiders are quite venomous and highly aggressive. It is also an urban legend that the dried skin of banana fruit is hallucinogenic when smoked. Unlike many urban legends, the origin of this one has been traced. It dates back to an article in the student newspaper Berkeley Barb in March 1967, which got the story from the singer Country Joe McDonald. This was brought to attention once more in the late 1980s, when the satiric punk group The Dead Milkmen released a song concerning the effects of smoking banana peels. Even the FDA investigated. As with the spider legend, this legend is also not entirely without merit. The darkening of ripening bananas, proceeding from yellow, to brown, to black, is mainly due to large amounts of serotonin (an important human neurotransmitter), which is produced from tryptophan in banana peels. While this property would seem to implicate bananas as a natural antidepressant, such is not the case. Upon ingestion, serotonin is immediately broken down by enzymes in the stomach (particularly monoamine oxidase). Due to its high melting point (213° C), serotonin is unsuitable for smoking and decomposes into toxic gases (carbon and nitrogen oxides) during combustion. Additionally, it cannot cross the blood-brain barrier.

Reference


- FAO. [http://www.fao.org/es/esc/en/20953/20987/highlight_28367en.html Bananas Commodity notes: Final results of the 2003 season], 2004
- Denham, T., Haberle, S. G., Lentfer, C., Fullagar, R., Field, J., Porch, N., Therin, M., Winsborough B., and Golson, J. (2003) Multi-disciplinary Evidence for the Origins of Agriculture from 6950-6440 Cal BP at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea. Science June Issue.

See also


- Banana messenger
- Banana Guard

External links


- [http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-banana009000000000000000000.html Complete nutritional info.]
- [http://www.inibap.org/ International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP)]
- [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html Banana] by Julia Morton, Fruits of Warm Climates, pp. 29–46.
- [http://www.honduras.com/fhia/banana.htm Honduran Foundation of Agricultural Research] - Bananas & Plantains
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2664373.stm Bananas could split for good]
- [http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/13120-en.html Further details from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization].
- [http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-02/aps-ppu021403.php Plant pathologists unpeel rumors of banana extinction]
- [http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/banana.html Banana Fruit Facts - California Rare Fruit Growers Organization].
- [http://www.pacificbiological.org.au/projects/PBF_02_3/pbf_02_3.htm Tracing antiquity of banana cultivation in Papua New Guinea]
- [http://www.uga.edu/fruit/banana.htm Banana and Plantain - Musa spp.]
- [http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/banana.html Banana] listing some of the common cultivars of California, U.S. Category:Zingiberales Category:fruit zh-min-nan:Kin-chio ms:Pisang ja:バナナ simple:Banana th:กล้วย

Cranberry

Vaccinium macrocarpon
Vaccinium microcarpum
Vaccinium oxycoccus The cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs in the genus Vaccinium subgenus Oxycoccus, or in some treatments, in the distinct genus Oxycoccus. They are found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs to 10 cm tall (often less), with slender, wiry stems, not thickly woody, and small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. The fruit is a berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant. It is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe. The name cranberry probably derives from their being a favourite food of cranes, though some sources claim the name comes from "'craneberry' because before the flower expands, its stem, calyx, and petals resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane". Another name, used in northeastern Canada, is mossberry. There are four species of cranberry:
- Vaccinium oxycoccus or Oxycoccus palustris (Common Cranberry or Northern Cranberry) is widespread throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere, including northern Europe, northern Asia and northern North America. It has small 5-10 mm leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with a purple central spike, produced on finely hairy stems. The fruit is a small pale pink berry, with a refreshing sharp acidic flavour.
- Vaccinium microcarpum or Oxycoccus microcarpus (Small Cranberry) occurs in northern Europe and northern Asia, and differs from V. oxycoccus in the leaves being more triangular, and the flower stems hairless.
- Vaccinium macrocarpon or Oxycoccus macrocarpus (American Cranberry) native to the north-eastern part of the North American continent (eastern Canada, and eastern United States south to North Carolina). It differs from V. oxycoccus in the leaves being larger, 10-20 mm long, and in its slightly appleish taste.
- Vaccinium erythrocarpum or Oxycoccus erythrocarpus (Southern Mountain Cranberry) native to the south-eastern part of the North American continent at high altitudes in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Appalachian Mountains The cranberries are related to the bilberries, blueberries, and huckleberries, all in Vaccinium subgenus Vaccinium. These differ in having stouter, woodier stems forming taller shrubs, and in the bell-shaped flowers, the petals not being reflexed. Some plants of the completely unrelated genus Viburnum are sometimes inaccurately called "highbush cranberries".

History

Viburnum, 1880.]] Cranberries have been eaten by Arctic peoples for millennia and remain a very popular fruit for wild harvesting in the Nordic countries and Russia. In Scotland the berries were formerly wild harvested but with the loss of suitable habitat, the plants have become so scarce that this is no longer done. In North America, Native Americans were the first to recognise and use the cranberry as a source of food. Some tribes called the red berries Sassamanash. They are reported to have introduced the cranberry to starving English settlers in Massachusetts around 1620, who incorporated the berry into the traditional Thanksgiving feast. American Revolutionary War veteran Henry Hall is alleged to be the first to cultivate the cranberry commercially, in the Cape Cod town of Dennis around 1816.

Cultivation and uses

1816 Cranberries are major crops in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Commercial cranberry fields today are diked so they may be flooded. When the berries are ripe, they float, making harvesting a matter of flooding the field, shaking the bushes a bit, and skimming off the berries into waiting trucks. Various mechanisms have been used through the years to "shake" the bushes, including a 2005 innovation that reduces bush damage and increases yield. Usually cranberries as fruit are served as a compote or jelly, often known generically as cranberry sauce. Such preparations are traditionally served with roast turkey meat. The berry is also used in baking (muffins and cakes) but, unlike many other berries, is normally considered too sharp to be eaten unaccompanied. Cranberry juice, usually sweetened (to make "cranberry juice cocktail") or blended with other fruit juices, is a major use of cranberries. There is some use of cranberry juice by people with spinal paralysis; regular consumption of the juice is supposed to reduce the rate of urinary tract infections. While much of the evidence is equivocal, a number of double-blind clinical trials have been carried out that suggest there actually is an effect: a component of the juice appears to competitively inhibit bacterial attachment to the ureter. An Autumn 2004 caution from the Committee on Safety of Medicines (the UK agency dealing with drug safety) advises patients on warfarin to stay off cranberry juice after adverse effects were reported.

External links


- [http://www.mca.gov.uk/ourwork/monitorsafequalmed/currentproblems/currentproblems_oct04.pdf October 2004 "Current Problems in Pharmacovigilance" (pdf file)] - has warfarin and cranberry juice caution, p. 10.
- [http://carecure.org/index.php?page=viewarticle&afile=0007@7_November_2001@Cranberry_UTI.htm 2001 review] of evidence for therapeutic effects of cranberry juice
- [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=2653218 1989 study] of cranberry juice's possible role in inhibiting bacterial adherence to bladder cells
- [http://www.cranberryinstitute.org The Cranberry Institute] for information on cranberry's health benefits.
- [http://www.kallipolis.com/diet/food.php?id=16019 Nutrition information for cranberries] Category:Vaccinium Category:Fruit ko:넌출월귤 ja:クランベリー

Fig

About 800, including:
Ficus altissima
Ficus americana
Ficus aurea
Ficus benghalensis - Indian Banyan
Ficus benjamina - Weeping Fig
Ficus broadwayi
Ficus carica - Common Fig
Ficus citrifolia
Ficus drupacea
Ficus elastica
Ficus godeffroyi
Ficus grenadensis
Ficus hartii
Ficus lyrata
Ficus macbrideii
Ficus macrophylla - Moreton Bay Fig
Ficus microcarpa - Chinese Banyan
Ficus nota
Ficus obtusifolia
Ficus palmata
Ficus prolixa
Ficus pumila
Ficus racemosa
Ficus religiosa - Sacred Fig
Ficus rubiginosa - Port Jackson Fig
Ficus stahlii
Ficus sycomorus
Ficus thonningii
Ficus tinctoria
Ficus tobagensis
Ficus triangularis
Ficus trigonata
Ficus ulmifolia
Ficus vogelii Figs (Ficus) are a genus of about 800 species of woody trees, shrubs and vines in the family Moraceae, native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the warm temperate zone. temperate The genus includes one species, the Common Fig F. carica, that produces a commercial fruit called a fig; the fruit of many other species are edible though not widely consumed. Other examples of figs include the banyans and the Sacred Fig (Peepul or Bo) tree. Most species are evergreen, while those from temperate areas, and areas with a long dry season, are deciduous. A fig fruit is derived from a specially adapted flower. The fruit (an accessory fruit called a syconium) has a bulbous shape with a small opening (the ostiole) in the end and a hollow area inside lined with small red edible seeds. The fruit/flower is pollinated by small wasps that crawl through the opening to fertilise the fruit. Figs come in two sexes: hermaphrodite (called caprifigs because only goats eat them) and female. Fig wasps grow in caprifigs; when they mature, they mate, and the females leave in search of immature figs to lay their eggs in. When the wasp finds one, she pollinates the female flowers but will not lay eggs in the edible fig, only in the caprifig. Thus the edible fig ripens without any wasp frass in it. When a caprifig ripens, another caprifig must be ready to be pollinated. Tropical figs bear continuously, enabling fruit-eating animals to survive the time between masts. In temperate climes, wasps hibernate in figs, and there are distinct crops. Caprifigs have three crops per year; edible figs have two. The first of the two is small and is called breba; the breba figs are olynths. There is typically only one species of wasp capable of fertilizing the flowers of each species of fig, and therefore plantings of fig species outside of their native range results in effectively sterile individuals. For example, in Hawaii, some 60 species of figs have been introduced, but only four of the wasps that fertilize them have been introduced, so only four species of figs produce viable seeds there. Figs are also easily propagated from cuttings. An extraordinarily large self-rooted Wild Willowleaf Fig in South Africa is protected by the Wonderboom Nature Reserve. Michael Moore ran a ficus tree against Republican Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen from New Jersey in the year 2000.

Symbolism

New Jersey In the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament rotten figs are used as a symbol for destruction, and in the New Testament Jesus rebukes an unfruitful fig tree. The Fig is one of the two sacred trees in Islam. Many Muslims consider Fig trees sacred. Because of the peculiar form of the flower of figs, ancient Indians regarded the fig as a flowerless tree. Buddhist and Hindu texts sometimes refer to 'seeking flowers in a fig tree' to indicate something that is pointless or impossible, or to indicate the total absence of some quality (compare the Australian English language expression 'why search for the bunyip?'). References to the flowers of a fig may also be used to indicate great rarity- roughly comparable to the English expression 'rare as hen's teeth'. Pāli scholar K.R. Norman collected references to fig flowers in the Pāli canon in his translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, as well as writing an article entitled Rare as Fig Flowers that was published with his collected papers by the Pāli Text Society.

See also


- List of fruits
- Moreton Bay Fig
- Fig Newton

External links


- [http://www.figweb.org/Ficus/index.htm Figweb] Major reference site for the genus Ficus
- [http://www.figweb.org/Interaction/Video/index.htm Video: Interaction of figs and fig wasps] Multi-award-winning documentary
- [http://www.thefruitpages.com/figs.shtml Fig Fruit Information]
- [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/fig.html Fruits of Warm Climates: Fig]
- [http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html California Rare Fruit Growers: Fig Fruit Facts]
- [http://www.nafex.org/figs.htm North American Fruit Explorers: Fig] Category:Accessory fruit Category:Moraceae Category: plant morphology ja:イチジク ko:무화과나무 simple:Fig

Pawpaw

:This page refers to the U.S. pawpaw in the genus Asimina. In the rest of the world, the name pawpaw is applied to the unrelated tropical fruit papaya (Carica papaya).
See text Pawpaw (Asimina) also known as a prairie banana or Ozark banana, is a genus of eight or nine species of small trees with large leaves and fruit, native to southeastern North America. The genus includes the largest edible fruit native to North America. They are understorey trees of deep fertile bottomland soils. The name, also spelled paw paw, paw-paw, and papaw, probably derives from the Spanish papaya, perhaps due to the superficial similarity of their fruit. Pawpaw is in the same family Annonaceae as the custard-apple, cherimoya, sweetsop, and soursop, and it is the only member of that family not confined to the tropics. The pawpaws are shrubs or small trees, reaching heights of 2 to 12 m tall. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate, entire, 20 to 35 cm long and 10 to 15 cm broad. The northern, cold-tolerant common pawpaw is deciduous, while the southern species are often evergreen. The fetid flowers are produced singly or in clusters of up to eight together; they are large, 4 to 6 cm across, perfect, with six sepals and petals (three large outer petals, three smaller inner petals). The petal color varies from white to purple or red-brown. Pollinated by scavenging carrion flies and beetles, the flowers emit a weak scent which attracts few pollinators, thus limiting fruit production. The fruit is a large edible berry, 5 to 16 cm long and 3 to 7 cm broad, weighing from 20 to 500 g, with numerous seeds; it is green when unripe, maturing to yellow or brown. It has a flavor somewhat similar to both banana and mango, varying significantly by cultivar, and has more protein than most fruits.

Species


- Asimina angustifolia Raf. - Slimleaf Pawpaw. Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
- Asimina incana (W. Bartram) Exell - Woolly Pawpaw. Florida and Georgia.
- Asimina obovata (Willd.) Nash - Bigflower Pawpaw. Florida.
- Asimina parviflora (Michx.) Dunal - Smallflower Pawpaw. Southern states from Texas to Virginia.
- Asimina pygmea (W. Bartram) Dunal - Dwarf Pawpaw. Florida and Georgia.
- Asimina reticulata Shuttlw. ex Chapman - Netted Pawpaw. Florida and Georgia.
- Asimina tetramera Small - Fourpetal Pawpaw. Florida .
- Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal - Common Pawpaw. Extreme southern Ontario, Canada, and the eastern United States from New York west to southeast Nebraska, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas.

Cultivation

Nebraska Although it is a delicious and nutritious fruit, it has never been cultivated on the scale of apples and peaches, primarily because it does not store or ship well. It is also difficult to transplant due to its long taproot. Cultivars are propagated by chip budding or whip grafting. In recent years the pawpaw has attracted renewed interest, particularly among organic growers, as a native fruit which has few pests, and which therefore requires little pesticide use for cultivation. The shipping and storage problem has largely been addressed by pulping the fruit and freezing the pulp. The commercial growing and harvesting of pawpaws is strongest in southeast Ohio. The [http://www.ohiopawpaw.org Ohio Pawpaw Growers' Association] annually sponsors the [http://www.pawpawfest.com Ohio Pawpaw Festival] at Lake Snowden near Albany, Ohio. This group is also urging the Ohio state legislature to make the pawpaw the state fruit. The flowers are self-incompatible, requiring cross pollination; at least two different varieties of the plant are needed as pollenizers. The flowers produce an odor similar to that of rotting meat to attract blowflies or carrion beetles for cross pollination. Lack of pollination is the most common cause of poor fruiting, and growers resort to hand pollination or to hanging chicken necks or other meat to attract pollinators. This colonial tree has a strong tendency to form colonial thickets if left unchecked.

History

The earliest documentation of pawpaws is in the 1541 report of the de Soto expedition, who found Native Americans cultivating it east of the Mississippi River. The Lewis and Clark Expedition depended and sometimes subsisted on pawpaws during their travels. Chilled pawpaw fruit was a favorite dessert of George Washington.

Medicinal properties

Compounds found in the bark and leaves of the pawpaw tree are being investigated for potential anti-cancer properties. Growers hope that this will eventually lead to market demand from the pharmaceutical industry. In homeopathy triloba is used as remedy for scarlet fever and red skin rashes.

External links


- [http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/plant_profile.cgi?symbol=ASIMI USDA distribution of Pawpaw]
- [http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/ Pawpaw Information] from Kentucky State University
- [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cor/minor/asiinfo.html Asimina Genetic Resources]
- [http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/archive/journal-results.html?offset=1&corpall=all&clark=clark&dateall=day&indmonth=09&indday=18&indyear=1806&numpage=1 Clark's September 18, 1806 journal entry] about pawpaws
- [http://www.fred.net/kathy/pawpaws.html Pawpaws - Paw Paw Trees] Category:Fruit Category:Magnoliales ja:ポーポー

Peach

:This article is about the fruit. For other uses, see Peach (disambiguation) and Nectarine (disambiguation). Nectarine (disambiguation) The Peach (Prunus persica) is a tree native to China that bears a juicy fruit of the same name. It is a small deciduous tree growing to 5–10 m tall. The leaves are lanceolate, 7–15 cm long and 2–3 cm broad. The flowers are produced in early spring before the leaves; they are solitary or paired, 2.5–3 cm diameter, pink, with five petals. The fruit is a drupe, with a single large seed encased in hard wood (called the "stone" or "pit"), yellow or whitish flesh, a delicate aroma, and a velvety skin. Peaches, along with cherries, plums and apricots, are stone fruits (drupes). The scientific name persica derives from an early European belief that peaches were native to Persia (now Iran). The modern botanical consensus is that they originate in China, and were introduced to Persia and the Mediterranean region along the Silk Road in early historical times, probably by about 2000 BC (Huxley et al. 1992). Cultivated peaches are divided into "freestone" and "clingstone" cultivars, depending on whether the flesh sticks to the stone or not; both kinds can have either white or yellow flesh. Peaches with white flesh typically are very sweet with little acidity, while yellow-fleshed peaches typically have an acidic tang coupled with sweetness, though this also varies greatly. Both colours often have some red on their skin. Low-acid white-fleshed peaches are the most popular kinds in China, Japan, and neighbouring Asian countries, while Europeans and North Americans have historically favoured the acidic, yellow-fleshed kinds.

Nectarines

North America The nectarine is a Cultivar Group of peach that has a smooth, fuzzless skin. Though grocers treat fuzzy peaches and nectarines as different fruits, they belong to the same species. Nectarines have arisen many times from fuzzy peaches, often as bud sports. Nectarines can be white, yellow, clingstone, or freestone. Regular peach trees occasionally produce a few nectarines, and vice versa. Nectarines are more easily damaged than fuzzy peaches. The history of the nectarine is unclear; the first recorded mention is from 1616 in England, but they had probably been grown very much earlier in central Asia.

Cultivation

Peach trees grow very well in a fairly limited range, since they have a chilling requirement that subtropical areas cannot satisfy, and they are not very cold-hardy. The trees themselves can usually tolerate temperatures to around −26 °C to −30 °C, although the following season's flower buds are usually killed at these temperatures, leading to no crop that summer. Flower bud kill occurs at temperatures between −15 °C and −25 °C depending on the timing of the cold, with the buds becoming less cold tolerant in late winter [http://www.actahort.org/books/538/538_71.htm]. Certain cultivars are more tender and others can tolerate a few degrees more cold. In addition, a lot of summer heat is required to mature the crop, with mean temperatures of the hottest month between 20 °C and 30 °C. Important historical peach-producing areas are China, Japan, Iran, and the countries in the Mediterranean region, where they have been grown for thousands of years. More recently, the U.S. (California, South Carolina, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia), Canada (southern Ontario), and Australia (the Riverland region) have also become important. Oceanic climate areas like the Pacific Northwest and the British Isles are generally not satisfactory for peach growing due to inadequate summer heat, though they are sometimes grown trained against south-facing walls to catch extra heat from the sun. Most peach trees sold by nurseries are grafted cultivars. The trees are prone to a disease called leaf curl, which usually does not directly affect the fruit but does reduce the crop yield by partially defoliating the tree. The fruit is very susceptible to brown rot.

Planting

brown rot Peaches should be located in full sun, and with good air flow. This allows cold air to flow away on frosty nights and keeps the area cool in summer. Peaches are best planted in early winter, as this allows time for the roots to establish and be able to sustain the new spring growth. When planting in rows, plant north-south. ;Watering Peaches should maintain a constant supply of water. This should be increased shortly before the harvest. Best tasting fruit is produced when the peach is watered throughout the season. Drip irrigation is ideal, at least one dripper per tree. Although it is better to use multiple drippers around the tree, this is not necessary. A quarter of the root being watered is sufficient. ;Fertilising Peaches have a high nutrient requirement, needing more nitrogen than most other fruit trees. An NPK fertiliser can be applied regularly, and an additional mulch of poultry manure in autumn soon after the harvest will benefit the tree. If the leaves of the peach are yellow or small, the tree needs more nitrogen. Blood and bone meal, 3–5 kg per mature tree, or calcium ammonium nitrate, 0.5–1 kg, are suitable fertilisers. This also applies if the tree is putting forth little growth. ;Tips for good fruit bone If the full amount of peaches is left, they will be undersized and lacking in sugar and flavour. In dry conditions, extra watering is important. The fruit should be thinned when they have reached 2 cm in diameter, usually about 2 months after flowering. Fresh fruit are best consumed in the day of picking, and do not keep well. They are best eaten when the fruit is slightly soft, having aroma, and heated by the sun.

Peaches in Asian tradition

bone Peaches are known in China and Japan not only as a popular fruit but for the many folktales and traditions associated with it. Momotaro, one of Japan's most noble and semi-historical heroes, was born from within an enormous peach floating down a stream. Momotaro or "Peach Boy" went on to fight evil oni and face many adventures. In China, the peach was said to be consumed by the immortals due to its mystic virtue of conferring longevity on all who ate them. The divinity Yu Huang, also called the Jade Emperor, had a wife named Xi Wangmu also known as Queen Mother of the West. Xi Wangmu ensured the gods' everlasting existence by feeding them the peaches of immortality. The immortals residing in the palace of Xi Wangmu were said to celebrate an extravagant banquet called the Pantao Hui or "The Feast of Peaches". The immortals waited six thousand years before gathering for this magnificent feast; the peach tree put forth leaves once every thousand years and it required another three thousand years for the fruit to ripen. Ivory statues depicting Xi Wangmu's attendants often held three peaches. Xi Wangmu The peach often plays an important part in Chinese tradition and are symbolic of long life. One example is in the peach-gathering story of Zhang Daoling, who many say is the true founder of Taoism. Elder Zhang Guo, one of the Chinese Eight Immortals, is often depicted carrying a Peach of Immortality. Due to its luscious taste and feeling at touch, in ancient China "peach" was also a slang word for "young bride", and it has remained in many cultures as a way to define pretty young women (as in English, with peachy or peachy keen).

Trivia


- The peach is the state flower of Delaware and the state fruit of South Carolina. Georgia is known as the Peach State.
- Though Cosmo Kramer, a character on Seinfeld, eats a Mackinaw peach, no such variety exists.

References and external links


- Huxley, A. et al. (eds.) 1992. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan.
- [http://www.kallipolis.com/diet/food.php?id=9236&w=3 Peach nutrition information]
- [http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze/peach.html National Center for Home Food Preservation - Freezing Peaches] Category:Rosaceae Category:Fruit ja:モモ simple:Peach

Pineapple

:This article is about the fruit. For the former Our Gang child actor known as Pineapple, see Eugene Jackson The pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a tropical plant and its fruit, native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The plant is a bromeliad (family Bromeliaceae), a short, herbaceous perennial with 30 or more long, spined and pointed leaves surrounding a thick stem. The fruit was named "pineapple" because of its resemblance to a pine cone. The native Tupi word for the fruit was anana, meaning "excellent fruit." This word became the source of the word ananas, which is many languages' word for pineapple. Hummingbirds are its natural pollinators. The pineapple is an old symbol of hospitality and can often be seen in carved decorations.

Fruit

pollinators.]] The pineapple fruit develops from many smaller berries fusing together (called a multiple-accessory fleshy fruit). It is large and ovoid with a tough, spikey, waxy shell of many hexagonal sections, containing large amounts of white or yellow flesh with a tough, fibrous core. Depending on variety, the fruit can be up to 30 cm long and weigh more than 4 kg. Wild pineapples will contain one seed for each flower that produced the fruit. However, most commercially grown pineapples do not contain any seeds. Pineapple is commonly used in desserts and other types of fruit dishes, or served on its own. Fresh pineapple is often somewhat expensive as the tropical fruit is delicate and difficult to ship. It will not ripen once harvested, so must be harvested ripe and brought to the consumer without delay. Pineapple is therefore most widely available canned.The pineapple juice has been fermented into an alcoholic beverage commonly called pineapple wine which is a type of fruit wine, most commonly found in Hawaii. Signs of a ripe pineapple include:
- Flesh that is firm but yielding;
- Leaves that can be readily removed with a sharp tug;
- An odor of pineapple at the bottom of the fruit.

Dietary effects

Pineapple contains a proteolytic enzyme bromelain, which digests food by breaking down protein. Pineapple juice can thus be used as a marinade and tenderizer for meat. The enzymes in pineapples can interfere with the preparation of some foods, such as jelly or other gelatin-based desserts. Some have claimed that pineapple has benefits for some intestinal disorders while others claim that it helps to induce childbirth when a baby is overdue. It also allegedy improves the taste of semen.

Cultivation History

baby.]] The pineapple spread from its original area through cultivation, and by the time of Christopher Columbus it grew throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean (West Indies). Columbus may have taken a sample back to Europe. The Spanish introduced it into the Philippines, Hawai'i (introduced in the early 19th century, first commercial plantation 1886) and Guam. The fruit was successfully cultivated in European hothouses beginning in 1720. hothouse] Common cultivated varieties include Red Spanish, Hilo, Smooth Cayenne, St. Michael, Kona Sugarloaf, Natal Queen, and Pernambuco. The flesh is very tart, except for varieties such as the Del Monte Gold which are bred for sweetness. Southeast Asia dominates world production: in 2001 Thailand produced 1.979 million tonnes, the Philippines 1.618 million tonnes and Brazil 1.43 million tonnes. Total world production in 2001 was 14.220 million tonnes. The primary exporters of fresh pineapples in 2001 were Costa Rica, 322 000 tonnes, Côte d'Ivoire, 188 000 tonnes and the Philippines, 135 000 tonnes. In commercial farming flowering can be artificially induced, and the early harvesting of the main fruit can encourage the development of a second crop of smaller fruits. Every pineapple has the exact same number of hexagonal sections on it, no matter the size or shape.

Mathematical Properties

The diamonds on the surface of a pineapple form two interlocking spirals, eight go in one direction, thirteen in the other - both of which are Fibonacci numbers. This is one of many examples of Fibonacci numbers appearing in nature.

Slang

Pineapple as a slang term can mean: # A AUD$50 note # A hand grenade

External links


- [http://www.nass.usda.gov/hi/fruit/pine.htm USDA Hawaii Agricultural Statistics] - Pineapple yields 2000-2004
- [http://www.levins.com/pineapple.html Social History of the Pineapple] - a look at the symbolism behind the pineapple
- [http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/pineapple.html Pineapple Fruit Facts] - More information on pineapples.

Reference


- FAO. [http://www.fao.org/es/esc/en/20953/21038/highlight_26407en.html Tropical Fruits Commodity Notes], 2003

Further Reading


- Francesca Beauman, 'The Pineapple', ISBN 0701176997, publisher Chatto and Windus Category:Bromeliaceae Category:Fruit zh-min-nan:Ông-lâi ms:Nenas ja:パイナップル

Tomato

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, native to Central and South America, from Mexico to Peru. It is a short-lived perennial plant, grown as an annual plant, typically growing to 1-3 m tall, with a weakly woody stem that usually scrambles over other plants. The leaves are 10-25 cm long, pinnate, with 5-9 leaflets, each leaflet up to 8 cm long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. The flowers are 1-2 cm across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of 3-12 together. The fruit is an edible, brightly colored (usually red, from the pigment lycopene) berry, 1-2 cm diameter in wild plants, commonly much larger in cultivated forms. The word tomato derives from a word in the Nahuatl language, tomatl (IPA ). IPA

History and distribution

Early history

IPA According to Andrew F. Smith's The Tomato in America, the tomato probably originated in the highlands on the west coast of South America. Smith notes that there is no evidence that the tomato was cultivated or even eaten before the Spanish arrived. Other researchers, however, have pointed out that this is not conclusive, as many other fruits in continuous cultivation in Peru are not present in the very limited historical record. Much horticultural knowledge was lost after the arrival of Europeans, as the Roman Catholic Church had a policy of burning pre-Columbian information as pagan. In any case, by some means the tomato migrated to Central America. Mayan and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking, and it was being cultivated in southern Mexico, and probably in other areas, by the sixteenth century. The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated and was encouraged in Central America. Smith states that this variant is the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.

Spanish distribution

After the Spanish conquest of South America, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the Caribbean. They also brought it to the Philippines, from which point it moved to southeast Asia and then the entire Asian continent. The Spanish also brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in Mediterranean climates, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, though it was certainly being used as food by the early 1600s in Spain. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources.

Tomatoes in Italy

Because the plant was clearly similar to its nightshade congeners, it was assumed for years to be poisonous in Italy, where it was grown as a decorative plant. Eventually the peasant classes discovered that it could be eaten when more desirable food was scarce. This eventually developed into a whole cuisine of tomato dishes, as the wonders of th