TIGER NUTS
Back to Our Roots
Every few years I grow a plant both for its flavor and because it takes me back to my — to our — roots. Digging any edible root or tubers is always something of a primal experience. This plant I occasionally grow elicits an especially strong bond to distant ancestors. The plant is chufa (Cyperus esculentus). You see, chufa tubers are not fat and succulent, the result of centuries of human selection and breeding. What I grub out of the ground are hard, egg-shaped bits of nourishment, each bit little larger than pea gravel.
As befits any primitive crop, chufa is extremely easy to grow. Just drop tubers into the Read more
IT’S RED BUT IS IT “DELICIOUS?”
Tasty Origins
As I was about to chomp down on the apple I had just plucked off the tree, I also was about to sink my teeth into over one-hundred and twenty-five years of history. You see this was no ordinary apple, but a Red Delicious apple. Nothing special about Red Delicious, you think — yes, it has been among the leading commercial apple varieties in the world, surpassed about twenty-five years ago by Gala. Ah, but the particular Red Delicious apple in my hand was the original Red Delicious, THE Red Delicious.
Hawkeye, the original Red Delicious; page from my book “Fruit: From the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection“
Let’s backtrack a minute to the origin of this particular apple which, incidentally, you’re not apt to be able to reach for on a grocer’s shelf anywhere these days. The year was 1872. The place was Peru — Peru, Iowa.
Here we are at the farm of Jesse Hiatt, and here’s an apple tree, one that sprouted from some seed dropped here by chance. Read more
(MOST) TULIPS ARE (NOT) FOREVER
Improve Upon their Native Habitat
Tulips are perennial, but usually not strongly so. Disappointment comes from a spring show that over the years declines to fewer blooms, even to nothing more than tufts of leaves, or less. Only good growing conditions and careful choice of varieties can make these spring bulbs truly perennial bloomers.
Oddly enough, those good growing conditions exist in the Netherlands. There, well-drained, sandy soils and a maritime climate’s cool weather keeps leaves green longer into the season to fuel the bulbs for the following years bloom and early growth. Good fertility, water, as needed, and mild winters also help.
Tulips fields in Bollenstreek area of the Netherlands
Why “Oddly enough?” Because tulips are native to the rugged growing conditions of Read more
