The Beets go on

A Profile of the Beets

 

Modern scientific: Beta vulgaris

Family CHENOPODIACEAE

Common names: Silver beet, Beetroot, Beet, chard, Swiss chard, spinach.

Origins

To most Auatralians the term beet, or at least beet root conjures up images of think red slices lurking in tins.  But far from being a recent introduction to our tables the Beet, it's root and its leaves have formed an important part of the human diet. Beets have their origin in the wild sea beet Beta vulgaris subspecies maritima a native of the European coast from Norway down to the eastern Mediterranean (Facciola 1998). From their seaside roots beets have been selected into two broad forms:

-Leaf Beets Beta vulgaris Cicla group, known as, Swiss chard, Chard, spinach beet, and probably even more names (Facciola 1998). These "spinaches" were in use long before true spinach arrived in britain.

-Root Beets Beta vulgaris Crassa group, containing Beetroot, sugar beets and a variety of beets called Mangel wurzels which are generally used for stockfeed (Facciola 1998).

  



A Woman collecting the leaves of beets. The illustrations are from late 14th Century northern Italian manuscripts published in The Medieval Health Handbook: tacuinum sanitatis (NY: George Braziller, 1976).  Image sourced from http://www.buttery.org/marian/14th_c_ital_baskets_2.html

Uses

Originally use may have been limited to medicinal uses, especially in the case of the root, however by the 3^rd Century AD this had apparently changed and beetroot is mentioned as a wholesome food by Apicius (Hedrick 1919).

A recipe from Apicius .

Aliter betas elixas (Beets another way)

Cook the beets with mustard seed and serve them well pickled in a little oil and vinegar.

In Le Managier de Paris  we find Black beets served  with: "Beef pies and rissoles, black beet, lampreys in cold sage soup, a German meat soup, a white sauce of fish, and the coarse meat of beef and mutton."
In addition there are several mentions of white beets and of dishes containing the leaves of beets.:

"BEET SOUPS. There are three kinds of beet-leaf soups according to cooks who speak of them, white, green, and black."

The Archaeological record.

 In the British Archaeological record beet seeds are relatively common and while differentiating root and leaf beets from the seeds is not readily done, the presence of seeds away from the coast immediately indicates that they are cultivates as the wild sea beet is only found naturally on the coast (Greig 1995).

Beta vulgaris sub-species appear frequently in archaeological finds in Britainfrom the 15^th to 16^th centuries, Alexander Neckham and several other literary sources dating from around the 13^th and 14^thcenturies also mention beets (Greig 1995).

 

A slection of sources which mention varieties of Beta Vulgaris.

 

 

 

The Varieties,
Black, red and white Beets are metioned. I would suggest that we can use this as an indicator of these colourations being available as beet leaves, if only by virtue of the leaves from root beets also being edible. I cannot say that other colours were not know but feel that I need to look into this further .
I am having trouble finding references to identifiable varieties (beyond colour) further than the 18th century. So far we have "Early blood turnip beet" known in America in 1774 a close relative of the variety "Bulls blood" which I have seen for sale as seed.

References

·         Facciola 1998 Cornucopia II: A Source Book of Edible Plants, Kampong Publications ISBN-10: 0962808725

·         Greig J 1995 “Archaeobotanical and historical records compared- a new look at the taphonomy of edible and other useful plants from the 11^th to the 18^th centuries A.D.” Circaea, the Journal of the Association for Environmental Archaeology 12 (2) pp211-247

• http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Beta-vulgaris.htm
   

·         Oyen, L.P.A., 2004. Beta vulgaris L. [Internet] Record from Protabase. Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Resources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. < http://database.prota.org/search.htm>. Accessed 8 January 2009.

 ·         Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]FOOD RESOURCE
COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

• http://food.oregonstate.edu
• http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/heirloom-beet-varieties-chard-zewz1303zsch.aspx#axzz2fJjiVZMH

Madagascar

Lemurs are among the most loved animals in the world, naturally we see keeping them and their habitat as extremely important.  But we go to bed at night with full bellies and if we dream of Madagascar the chances are our minds don't wander far beyond lemurs with their delightful behavior and cute looks.

But what about the people who live there? They are an amazing mix of settlers from the Malay Archipelago, Africa and India, who began arriving in Madagascar around 200 ce.
Madagascar is home to 20,713,819.0 people, with 69% living in rural Areas (World Bank). 
     4 years ago the current regime came to power and political turmoil ensued. In this period the country has lost much of it's foreign AID as well as commercial investment. Food shortages were already on their way when a new problem arose. Locusts. With up to 1/2 of the island affected by locusts food resources are decreasing and many Madagascans are surviving by exploiting the islands natural resources. 

 This means Lemur Habitat is being lost to illegal logging, both for export and local use. It also means that Lemur is now on the menu.

In these circumstances it will take a great deal of work to safe guard both the people and wildlife of Madagascar.What is needed to create this is political stability and  the reinstatement of government authority throughout the country. The recently announced Presidential Election on the 25th of October gives me hope that we may not be to late to save an amazing island and it's inhabitants.
 

Pre 1600's plant history Part 2 Fennel

A profile of Fennel and it's uses prior to 1600

The modern scientific name for fennel is Foeniculum vulgare Which refers to common Fennel commonly found as a weed of roadsides and untended ground both in Australia and abroad. The second type commonly called sweet or Florence fennel is classified as Foeniculum vulgare Azoricum group, these fennels have a more developed “bulb” of fleshy stems at the base and  somewhat sweeter flavour (Facciola 1998).

Common fennel growing wild.

Its relatives :

Fennel is a perennial plant belonging to the same family as parsley dill and carrots, the APIACEAE family. The distinguishing feature of this is the upside down umbrella arrangement of flower stalks. Fennel flowers share this shape and have yellow flowers clustered at the end of each flower stalk making a perfect landing platform for pollinating insects.

 

 Its uses:

All parts of this herb can be used from the fleshy stem bases or bulb to the anise flavoured seeds. Modern usage is as broad as it’s historical use which shall be discussed shortly.

Archaeological evidence:

Fennel seed is a hard seed able to pass through the human digestive tract without being destroyed to the point of being unidentifiable.  Given this fact and the ability of archaeologists to locate cesspits and sewers it is possible to find locations where fennel seed is part of the archaeological record and is most likely there due to the human digestive system.

Table 1 a list of combined culinary/horticultural texts and archaeological evidence for the presence of Fennel at specific times and in specific regions

The cuilnary use of fennel

 

How was fennel used across a wide raange of locations and cultures? 

  

Table 2 A selection of  Texts with culinary information indicating the types of dish fennel has being used for.

Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook: 13th Century spain (Andalusia)

This perhaps provides a most distinctive use of fennel, partnered with citron leaves (Citrus media) in 11 dishes, also with coriander, onion, rue, saffron

Stalks are the most common part indicated, leaves are mentioned once and chopping of stalks mentioned twice. The most common method of preparation mentioned for fennel is in the parboiling of foods which are then baked or simmered in the coals.

18 dishes Used cooked, used as a garnish but only with one mention

o   9 poultry dishes, 7 Chicken, one Goose and one Crane

o   1 vegetable dish (Eggplant)

o   3 unspecified meat

o   2 Lamb

o   1 large fish

o   2 Rabbit

Le Menagier de Paris  : 1390    France  

Fennel is only mentioned in a few recipes in this text.

• An omelette, egg dish, along with celery, tansy, mint lovage, sage, sweet majoram, parsley, silver beet, violet leaves, spinach, as the majority of the ingredients are generally used as fresh leaves I would suggest that in this case the leaves be used.
• Used in a preserve, possibly two one which could is a recipe for mixed vegetable/herb root compote and contains green walnuts the second which is a recipe for pickled walnuts. The description of how to prepare roots may indicate that the root/lower bulbous stem of fennel is the part intended for use, although in the later part of the recipe fennel seeds would be as appropriate.
• o   Pork sausages. The fennel called for is ground, which makes fennel seeds more likely particularly as they are then mixed with powdered spices.

Wel ende edelike spijse:  Late 15th Century Dutch

Two recipes contain Fennel

o   Vegetable stew, which uses fennel seed in addition to several spices in a dish of cabbage, figs and parsley roots.

• Sturgeon with fennel. The name says it all, catch and cook your sturgeon, and sprinkle it with fennel, fresh leaves or seeds are not specified.

So it becomes clear that fennel was a widespread and most likely universally known condiment, ingredient and medicine throughout Europe and across diverse cultures prior to the 17th century.

References

·    Marta Bandini Mazzanti · Giovanna Bosi , Anna Maria Mercuri , Carla Alberta Accorsi ,  Chiara Guarnieri : (2005)  “Plant use in a city in Northern Italy during the late Mediaeval and Renaissance periods: results of the archaeobotanical investigation of “The Mirror Pit” (14th–15th century a.d.) in Ferrara”  June 2005, Vegetation  History Archaeobotany 14:442–452

·     Pegge, Samuel, 1704-1796  The Forme of Cury, not the original manuscript but a  copy made at this time.

A Roll of Ancient English Cookery Compiled, about A.D. 1390 Produced by Tobin Richard, Charles Franks, Greg Lindahl, Cindy Renfrow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8102 

·    Le Menagier de Paris translated from the French edition of Jerome Pichon published in 1846. Footnotes marked JP are by him; those marked JH are by Janet Hinson, the translator; those marked DDF and EGC are by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, respectively. (c) Janet Hinson http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

·    ms UB Gent 1035 "Good and noble food" Wel ende edelike spijse" http://www.coquinaria.nl/kooktekst/Edelikespijse0.htm

·    An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century Translated by Charles Perry. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Andalusian/andalusian1.htm

·      Sylvia Landsberg, The Medieval Garden, British Museum Press, Thames and Hudson, Italy. ISBN 0714120804

·    The Saint Gall Monastery Plan http://www.stgallplan.org/

·    . Strabo, Walafrid. Hortulus. Translated by Raef Payne. Commentary by Wilfrid Blunt. (Pittsburgh: Hunt Botanical Library, 1966)

Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia: A Source Book of Edible Plants. 1990. 677 pp. Paperback. (LC 90-92097, ISBN 0-9628087-0-9). Kampong Publications,

·    A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. by The Hon. Alicia. Amherst ... A History Of Gardening In England. by Hon. Mrs. Evelyn. Cecil (Hardcover - 1 Jan 1896 reprint 1969

A slightly rambling post mainly about the "Green Revolution"

This part of me began one Sunday in church. There was no Sunday school for the kids during the sermon so we sat through the whole thing. Usually I concentrated on making the votive candles blur into stars by squinting. But on this day  my ears perked up when farms were mentioned.   I don't remember the exact context of the sermon, but the image of a poor farmer using poisons so his crop would flourish then having to eat them, despite the risks didn't just stick in my mind, it influenced my beliefs profoundly.
This was in the early 1980's and the green revolution was in full swing, proclaiming an imminent end to world hunger.

  Why was there a perceived need for a new way of doing things?
In the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan increases in yield were historically associated with increases in the amount of land under cultivation (Murgai et al 2001).. Naturally this pattern of continued growth is unsustainable and undesirable. In order to increase yields there are 3 other areas which can be turned to, irrigation,  new plant varieties and irrigation projects.

   And that is just what was done in these regions, irrigation schemes were established, fertilisers were applied and  "improved" or higher yielding varieties of crops were planted.
The result unsurprisingly was an increase in the yield from these regions. 
  But that is not the end of the story at all.
 The situation can be summarised  as follows.....
  In 2001 In the Indian sate of Haryana

• 82% of the geographic area already under cultivation 

•  Fertiliser requirements have increased

• 60% of the geographical area faces soil degradation

•  Since 1985, the water table has risen more than 1m annually, and patches of salinity have started to appear at the farm level.

(Singh 2000).
 To increase yields most of the land that could be farmed was being farmed,  fertility, soil structure and water quality have all being negatively impacted and in order to keep yields high or to increase them further investment has being required. The marginal return has diminished reducing the resilience of the system.
 And that is when you start needing to run to stay in the same spot, constantly coming up with new farming methods, plant varieties and finding ways of reducing costs.
What is more the situation must be reversed if yields are not to decrease and that, takes money.

Australia has had similar experience with salinity and water quality in the wheat belts and in cropping areas such as the Lockyer valley.  Salinity resulting from irrigation practises in Australia affects about 16% of the agricultural area, and up tot 67% of the agricultural area has a potential for ‘transient salinity’ which involves temporary build ups of salts within soils.(Rengasamy 2006)
  Essentially our current methods of farming are not sustainable and ultimately reduce the ability of agricultural land to produce sufficient food to feed the world.

  Currently I'm reading up on this and sometime soon will write up a post about this. Be warned this post is also likely to be edited a lot.

References

• Murgai R, Ali M,Byerlee   2001 Productivity Growth and sustainability in post Green Revolution Agriculture: The case of the Indian and Pakistani Punjabs, The world Bank research observer vol 16  no 2  pp199-218.

• Singh R B 2000 Environmental consequences of agricultural development: a case study from the Green Revolution state of Haryana, India,Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103

•  Rengasamy P 2006 World salinization with emphasis on Australia Journal of Experimental Botany Volume 57, Issue 5 Pp. 1017-1023.