Fruit Talkabout (A-Z): Boysenberries History and Description.

To the uninitiated, the boysenberry may look like a big, blowzy, underripe blackberry, but it is in fact a noble fruit, as distinct from a common blackberry as a thoroughbred is from a mule.
Large, dark purple, juicy and intense, it derives its unique flavor from its complex ancestry:
sweetness and floral aroma from its raspberry grandmother, and a winy, feral tang from three native blackberry species.
It's a California classic, emblematic of the joys of growing up in the Southland before it succumbed completely to sprawl. And it's all the more precious, despite its near extinction in this state, because it evokes why people moved here in the first place.
But Boysens can still be found if you know where to look, although their season is brief — late May to early July — and they are so delicate that as a fresh fruit they can be enjoyed at their best only from farmers markets, farm stands and home gardens.
The boysenberry was the fruit sensation of its era, rocketing from mysterious origins to be grown on some 2,400 acres in California by 1954. This gradually dwindled to 70 in 2008, and last year agricultural statisticians stopped counting, the ultimate indignity for the once-dominant variety.
One of the few remaining local growers, retired math professor Robert Poole, 72, came to love boysenberries in the early 1950s when his family grew a patch of them in Rialto for market, like hundreds of small farmers. This ended after his father died young of complications from a tonsillectomy, but Poole's taste for Boysens lingered, and when he bought property in Redlands in 1977 he put in a modest planting for his family's use.
He expanded production, but it was only when he started selling at farmers markets in the mid-1980s that he found a viable outlet for the perishable fruit. He and his family now cultivate 1 acre of berries, doing all the work themselves — planting, pruning, weaving the thorny canes onto wire trellises and harvesting. His wife, Patricia, makes boysenberry pies and jam, the most traditional uses for the fruit.
Most of the commercial Boysen crop has always gone into preserves, pies, syrups, juice, yogurt and ice cream. Ripe, fresh Boysens are so soft and thin-skinned that they leak juice and soon decay, so they must be sold within a day or two of harvest. Commercial shippers therefore have to compromise on maturity to get fresh Boysens to market with decent shelf life, but reddish, underripe fruits are quite tart for eating fresh.
"To be at their best, boysenberries need to be both really sweet and tart, that's the combination," says Gordon Mason, a software designer and self-proclaimed fruit connoisseur who tends his mother's garden in West Los Angeles. "When they separate easily from the calyx, the white part underneath turns translucent, and the drupelets start to shrivel a little bit. That's when they're spot-on."
The Boysen's soft texture and rich, fruity flavor come from Rubus ursinus, a wild blackberry species improbably descended from a cross with a giant raspberry now found only on the island of Hawaii. Native to the Pacific Coast from Oregon to Southern California, it's one of several American species of so-called dewberries, basically blackberries with a trailing habit (tending to sprawl close to the ground, rather than growing upright) that were domesticated starting in the late 19th century.
In 1881, Judge James Logan of Santa Cruz planted seeds from ursinus plants growing in his garden next to raspberries. He came up with the loganberry, a celebrated hybrid with large, conical, reddish-purple fruits. It was a leading variety for several decades, much prized for wine, juice and preserves.
The exact parentage of boysenberry is obscure, but scientists surmise, based on analyses of genes, plants and fruits, that it resulted from a cross of Logan with an Eastern dewberry. It may in fact have been one of the famous plant breeder Luther Burbank's seedlings, which somehow made its way to John Lubben's home in Alameda, Calif., and thence to his Napa County farm, where it was called lubbenberry.
In the early 1920s, Rudolph Boysen, who was farming Lubben's property, was crossing blackberries and raspberries, and when he moved to Anaheim in 1923, he took with him some plants growing large, exquisitely flavored berries, which he claimed to have bred.
Boysen soon shifted his attention to growing oranges, but George Darrow of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, a great berry breeder, traveled from Maryland to see this novel fruit, marveled at it and contacted a small farmer, Walter Knott, at his Berry Place in Buena Park.

Fruit Talkabout (A-Z): Blackberries history and description.

The History and Description of the Blackberry Fruit
Overview
Blackberries are used in recipes, but the berries and other parts of the plant have been used in other places besides the kitchen.
Throughout history, the blackberry has had significance in medicine and has been used in many ways. Almost every corner of the earth has a blackberry species that has adapted to its specific climate and conditions
Origin
It is hard to trace the exact origin since blackberries proliferate all over the globe, but it is likely the first were in Asia, North or South America or in Europe. Greeks and Romans used blackberries in medicine, and Native Americans used them for food, medicine and to dye animal skins. Blackberries are also known as bramble, brummel, brambleberry and bly.
General History
The formal name of the blackberry is Rubus fructicosus, and there are more than 40 species. Blackberries were always considered wild, so in the early days they were not cultivated. Those who wanted the berries would travel to where a bush was growing and gather them. Development of the blackberry is relatively modern and was done mostly in America. Judge Logan began to breed blackberries in California and introduced loganberries, a relative of blackberries, in 1880. Identifying species is difficult because so many types of blackberry plants have crossbred by themselves. Luther Burbank attempted to develop a thornless berry in 1921, but the flavor lacked. Recently the Triple Crown berry was introduced and is a good-tasting, thornless berry.
Medicinal History
Blackberry has been used to treat bowel problems and fever for more than 2,000 years.
The berry was not often used in medicinal applications but the root, bark and leaf was.
They were boiled in water and given as medicine for whooping cough. Other illnesses thought to be cured by blackberry were bites from venomous creatures, boils and sore throats. In 1771, it was documented that blackberry decoctions would cure ulcers.

Fruit Talkabout (A-Z): Blueberries history and description.

Sequel on our Fruit Talkabout campaign, here is another fruit named Blueberries, read its brief history and description.
Blueberries.
In terms of U.S. fruit consumption, blueberries rank only second to strawberries in popularity of berries. Blueberries are not only popular, but also repeatedly ranked in the U.S. diet as having one of the highest antioxidant capacities among all fruits, vegetables, spices and seasonings. Antioxidants are essential to optimizing health by helping to combat the free radicals that can damage cellular structures as well as DNA. We recommend enjoying raw blueberries — rather than relying upon blueberries incorporated into baked desserts — because, like other fruits, raw blueberries provide you with the best flavor and the greatest nutritional benefits.
As one of the few fruits native to North America, blueberries have been enjoyed by Native Americans for hundreds of years. They have also enjoyed great popularity around the world in cuisines from Asia to the Mediterranean.
After many years of research on blueberry antioxidants and their potential benefits for the nervous system and for brain health, there is exciting new evidence that blueberries can improve memory.

Fruit Talkabout(A-Z): Bilberries History and description.

Bilberry (especially Vaccinium myrtillus) is also known in English by other names including blaeberry /ˈbleɪbɛri/ , whortleberry / ˈhwɜrtəlbɛri/ , (ground) hurts, whinberry, winberry, windberry, wimberry, myrtle blueberry and fraughan. In several other European languages its name translates as "blueberry", and this may cause confusion with the related plants more usually known as " blueberry" in American English, which are in the separate section Cyanococcus of the genus Vaccinium.
The bilberry is native to Europe including the British Isles, while the blueberry is native to North America.
Species
Bilberries include several closely related species of the Vaccinium genus, including:
Vaccinium myrtillus L. (bilberry)
Vaccinium uliginosum L. (bog bilberry, bog blueberry, bog whortleberry, bog huckleberry, northern bilberry, ground hurts)
Vaccinium caespitosum Michx. (dwarf bilberry)
Vaccinium deliciosum Piper (cascade bilberry)
Vaccinium membranaceum (mountain bilberry, black mountain huckleberry, black huckleberry, twin-leaved huckleberry)
Vaccinium ovalifolium (oval-leafed
blueberry, oval-leaved bilberry, mountain blueberry, high-bush blueberry).
Bilberries are found in very acidic , nutrient-poor soils throughout the temperate and subarctic regions of the world. They are closely related to North American wild and cultivated blueberries and huckleberries in the genus Vaccinium. One characteristic of bilberries is that they produce single or paired berries on the bush instead of clusters, as the blueberry does. Blueberries have more evergreen leaves.
The fruit is smaller than that of the blueberry but with a fuller taste. Bilberries are darker in color, and usually appear near black with a slight shade of purple. While blueberry fruit pulp is light green in color, bilberry is red or purple, heavily staining the fingers, lips, and tongue of consumers eating the raw fruit. The color comes from diverse anthocyanins which are a natural acid-base indicator, dark blue in basic solutions and red in acidic solutions. Bilberry extract is used as an edible ink for stamping meat. [ citation needed]
Bilberries are extremely difficult to grow and have small fruits, and are thus seldom cultivated. Fruits are mostly collected from wild plants growing on publicly accessible lands throughout northern and central Europe, where they are plentiful – for example, up to a fifth (17-21%) of the land area of Sweden is covered in bilberry bushes.
Note that in Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Switzerland, it is an everyman's right to collect bilberries, irrespective of land ownership, with the exception of private gardens and nature reserves. Bilberries can be picked by a berry-picking rake like lingonberries , but are more susceptible to damage. The best way to harvest bilberries is to carefully pick the fruit one by one by hand using fingers only to avoid damage and uprooting of the plant and squashing the fruit.
Bilberries are softer and juicier than
blueberries, making them difficult to transport.
Because of these factors, the bilberry is only available fresh on markets and in gourmet stores, where in the latter they can cost up to 11 Euros per kilogram. Frozen bilberries however are available all year round in most of Europe.
In Finland, bilberries are collected from forests. They are eaten fresh or can be made into different jams and dishes. The most famous one is bilberry pie (Finnish: mustikkapiirakka , Swedish blåbärspaj).
In Iceland, bilberries (known as aðalbláber, or "prime blueberry") grow predominantly in Westfjords and the surrounding area. In most of the country, the closely related bláber occupy the same habitat. Both species are commonly found growing with dwarf birch and crowberries . Wild growth is vast compared to the population of Iceland and wildharvesting is legal. As a consequence, it is a popular activity in August when the berry season peaks. A popular use for bilberries is to eat them with skyr .
In Ireland, the fruit is known as fraughan, from the Irish fraochán, and is traditionally gathered on the last Sunday in July, known as "Fraughan Sunday".
Bilberries were also collected at Lughnasadh in August, the first traditional harvest festival of the year, as celebrated by Gaelic people.
The crop of bilberries was said to indicate how well the rest of the crops would fare in their harvests later in the year.
In Poland, the fruit are known as jagody . They are gathered in forests. They are hugely popular in Poland, either eaten fresh (mixed with sugar), put into sweet buns as a filling (such a bun is called a jagodzianka and is one of the most popular bakery products during summer in Poland), or used to make jams (known for their health benefits in the treatment of diarrhoea). They are sometimes served with śmietana.
The fruits can be eaten fresh or made into jams , fools, juices or pies. In France and Italy they are used as a base for liqueurs and are a popular flavouring for sorbets and other desserts. In Brittany they are often used as a flavoring for crêpes , and in the Vosges and the Massif Central bilberry tart ( tarte aux myrtilles) is a traditional dessert. In Romania they are used as a base for a liqueur called afinată – the name of the fruit in Romanian is afină . There is a North Korean Bog Bilberry Brandy (Paektusan Tuljjuksul) reportedly available at the DMZ.
Bilberry is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species (see the list of Lepidoptera that feed on Vaccinium).
Diseases
Bilberry plants can suffer from Bilberry Blight , caused by Phytophthora kernoviae. There have been severe outbreaks in Staffordshire, England.
Source: Wikipedia

Fruit Talkabout(A-Z): Banana history and description.

See other related fruit Talkabout posts.
Bananas are believed to have originated up to 10,000 years ago in South east Asia, India. Some scientists believe they may have been the world’s first fruit.
The first bananas are thought to have grown in the region that includes the Malaya Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea.
From here, traders and travelers took them to India, Africa and Polynesia. There were references to bananas from 600 BC when Buddhist scriptures, known as the Pali Canon, noted Indian traders travelling through the Malaysian region had tasted the fruit and brought plants back with them. In 327 BC, when Alexander The Great and his army invaded India, he discovered banana crop in the Indian Valleys. After tasting this unusual fruit for the first time, he introduced this new discovery to the Western world.
By 200 AD bananas had spread to China.
According to the Chinese historian Yang Fu, bananas only ever grew in the southern region of China. They were never really popular until the 20th Century as they were considered to be a strange and exotic alien fruit.
The bananas we enjoy today are far better than the original wild fruit which contained many large, hard seeds and not much tasty pulp.
Bananas as we know them began to be developed in Africa about 650 AD. There was a cross breeding of two varieties of wild bananas, the Musa Acuminata and the Musa Baalbisiana. From this process, some bananas became seedless and more like the bananas we eat today.
How they got their name
Most historians believe that the Arabian slave traders are the ones who gave the banana its popular name. The bananas that originated from Southeast Asia were not the size that we are familiar with today. They were small, about as long as an adult finger, hence the name “banan”, Arabic for finger. However, some believe the name may have come from a local language in West Africa.
Bananas are also known as plantains.
Spaniards, who saw a similarity to their native plane tree, gave the fruit the name platano.
This led to the name plantain – a word used to describe the banana genus as well as the banana variety, Plantain, which is typically used for cooking. The unripe Plantain, commonly steamed or boiled, resembles the taste of a potato. However, when ripe, they can be eaten raw like other banana varieties, and have a starchy but sweet flavour.
The first plantations
It is thought that traders from Arabia, Persia, India and Indonesia distributed banana suckers around coastal regions of the Indian Ocean (but not Australia) between the 5th and 15th centuries.
Portuguese sailors discovered bananas in West Africa and established banana plantations in the 15th century off the coast, in the Canary lslands.
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, suckers were traded in the Americas and plantations were established in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Banana plants first arrived in Australia in the 1800s.
The Cavendish banana
The variety of banana best known to us today is the Cavendish, named after Englishman William Spencer Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire.
It is thought the original Cavendish plants were brought from southern China in about 1826 and taken to Mauritius. From there some plants were taken to England and, several years later, derivatives from these plants were obtained by the Duke’s gardener, Joseph Paxton, in 1829. He propagated them in glasshouses.
A missionary named John Williams took suckers from these plants to Samoa in 1838 and, from there, bananas spread to Tonga and Fiji in the 1840s. It was believed plants were brought from the Pacific Islands to the east coast of Australia in the 1850s. One of the types of bananas in the Cavendish group was named Williams, after John Williams. In the 1900s, Cavendish became one of the world’s most popular banana varieties and remains so today. It is one of the most resilient banana varieties - the plant is resistant to some soil fungi which can harm or destroy other banana varieties. The fruit is also very tasty and can be transported over long distances.
A healthy fruit
As well as being a popular fruit worldwide, bananas are also one of the most nutritious of all foods. Bananas are a source of energy-producing carbohydrates, potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, folate, dietary fibre and antioxidants. Bananas have no fat, cholesterol or salt.
Because they provide sustaining energy, bananas are a favourite food for active children and adults, including athletes and sports players.
In many nations, a special variety of bananas are a major staple food crop. Known as Plantains or Cooking Bananas, they are a starchier variety of banana cooked green in ways similar to potatoes.

Fruit Talkabout(A-Z): Ackee history and description.

The Ackee came from Jamaica.
The ackee , also known as achee , ackee apple or akee (Blighia sapida ) is a member of the Sapindaceae (soapberry family), as are the lychee and the longan. It is native to tropical West Africa in Cameroon , Gabon , São Tomé and Príncipe, Benin, Burkina Faso , Côte d'Ivoire , Ghana , Guinea, Guinea Bissau , Mali , Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo .
The scientific name honours Captain William Bligh who took the fruit from Jamaica to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew , England in 1793 and introduced it to science. The common name is derived from the West African Akan akye fufo.
The fruit was imported to Jamaica from West Africa (probably on a slave ship ) before 1778.
Since then it has become a major feature of various Caribbean cuisines, and is also cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas elsewhere around the world.
Description:
Ackee is an evergreen tree that grows about 10 metres tall, with a short trunk and a dense crown.
The leaves are paripinnatly compound,15– 30 centimetres (5.9–11.8 in) long, with 6–10 elliptical to obovate-oblong leathery leaflets.
Each leaflet is 8–12 centimetres (3.1–4.7 in) long and 5–8 centimetres (2.0–3.1 in) wide.
The inflorescences are fragrant , up to 20 cm long, with unisexual flowers that bloom during warm months.
Each flower has five greenish - white petals.
The fruit is pear-shaped. When it ripens, it turns from green to a bright red to yellow-orange, and splits open to reveal three large, shiny black seeds, each partly surrounded by soft, creamy or spongy, white to yellow flesh—the aril.
The fruit typically weighs 100–200
grams.

The curious: China again?. Read the history of Tea.

The history of tea is fascinating and offers great insight into the history of our world.
Since tea was first discovered in China, it has traveled the world conquering the thirsts of virtually every country on the planet. Tea is the most popular beverage in the world as well as one of the healthiest. If you have ever wondered where tea comes from and how we got to the point where tea is served in
virtually every corner of the world, steep a hot cup of tea and explore the history of the simple tea leaf over the centuries!
One legend claims that the discovery of tea occurred in 2737 BC by the Emperor of China.
For several hundred years, people drank tea because of its herbal medicinal qualities. By the time of the Western Zhou Dynasty, tea was used as a religious offering. During the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), tea plants were quite limited and only royalty and the rich drank tea not only for their health but also for the taste. As more tea plants were discovered during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), tea drinking became more common among lower classes and the Chinese government supported planting of tea plants and even the building of tea shops so everyone could enjoy tea.
Also during the Tang Dynasty, tea spread to Japan by Japanese priests studying in China.
Similar to the Chinese adoption of tea, tea was first consumed by priests and the rich for its medicinal properties. Tea is often associated with Zen Buddhism in Japan because priests drank tea to stay awake and meditate. Soon, the Buddhists developed the Japanese Tea Ceremony for sharing tea in a
sacred, spiritual manner. The Emperor of Japan enjoyed tea very much and imported tea seeds from China to be planted in Japan, making tea available to more people.
Tea finally arrived in England during the 17th century when King Charles II married a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza.
The Queen made tea the drink of royalty and soon tea became a popular import to Britain via the East India Company. Afternoon tea or tea parties became a common way for aristocratic society to drink tea. Though tea was regularly imported to Britain, the taxes were so high that smugglers would get and sell tea illegally for those that could not afford it. In attempts to turn profits during the tea smuggling period, the East India Company began exporting the tea to America. The American tea was also taxed heavily and contributed to the cause of the Boston Tea Party.
If you watched "The Conquerors", you would know about the Tang dynasty. But come to think of it, China is a strong nation mehn. They were claimed to discover rice, silk, and now tea. W0W!