Dumb question about veggies...

[yotetrapper]

My theory on the toast is this....the butter makes that side of the bread heavier, therefore making it fall quicker... like if you drop a bottle of beer it will usually land on the bottom of the bottle, not the top.

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
I know that now, but its a life quest trying to find the answer when you are a bit tipsy.

 

[mamagardener]

Much of the plants we eat come from the Americas, a lot of our spices come from hot dry climates.

Many plants and insects that we see here, even weeds did not originally come from here. For instance dandelions were introduced by the English. I know most people hate dandelions, but we eat them in salads because they are high in vitamins.
In my area right now we are fighting asian long horned beetles, they are deadly to trees. In Worcester not far from here they are cutting down trees thought to be infested because it could be total devastation to this area if they are allowed to spread. Those are thought to have come over in boxes of imported material from Asia.
I know, I just brought this thread way off topic. Sorry!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Let me throw in my opinion.

A vast majority of the veggies are genetically engineered just like our chickens are genetically engineered. If you select certain plants or chickens to breed, then you are engineering which genes get to reproduce. I see nothing wrong in trying to improve my flock by selecting my best birds to breed and nothing wrong by selecting my best tomatoes to save seeds from. When someone says that something is genetically enginnered, be careful about what they actually mean. I watch the History and Discovery Channels and, boy, can they twist facts around to make them sound a lot worse than they actually are.

What worries me is when they splice genes and do things on that level. I'm in favor of the research to lead to a better understanding of how things work at that level, since that could lead to cures for a lot of diseases, but I am worried about what someone with less than ethical morals can do with that knowledge.

So, back to your original question, as others have said, most seeds have been selectively bred from wild plants all over the world. Many fruits are not that way however, since many fruit seeds do not breed true. (Some do, but not all.) A lot are hybrids, crosses of different varieties. Use apples as an example. Very few, if any, apples will self-pollinate. They need a different variety of apple for them to pollinate and set fruit. All apple varieties I'm aware of are grown by grafting or budding (a form of grafting) the parent stock onto another apple tree. For example, all Granny Smith apples are clones of the one original tree that made Granny Smith apples.

 

[mom'sfolly]

GMO means gene splicing and modifications done in a laboratory. Generally it means putting genes from different organisms into the one you care about. Virtually all seed corn, soy and most cotton grown in the US and Canada are now GMO crops.

Genetic engineering is a little more slippery term. Basically anything that is bred for specific characteristics is genetically engineered. So everyone's project chicken experiments are genetic engineering. Reproducing the Jubilee Orpingtons found in Britain is genetic engineering. By this definition, everything we eat is genetically engineered.

 

[mamagardener]

not everything we eat is genetically engineered, only what is cultivated by humans. There are still alot of wild crops out there that we don't cultivate ourselves.

 

[BoiseBubba]

i dont know, but corn is Geneticaly modified, and high fructose corn syrup is nasty, watch Food Inc. and Corn King. You'll see what I mean!

I agree with Chickaddict, Ridgerunner, and mom'sfolly

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
so must be some tomatos, because i once had a three pack in the pantry for eight weeks without going mushy.

 

[OccamsTazer]

total threadjack warning:
Mamagardener, you mention Worchester as being not far from you? Is that where they came up with the sauce?

And while I'm on that, how do you guys say Worchestershire sauce? Here it's "woost-eshr", and I could never figure out how that came from Worchestershire.

/end threadjack

 

[redhen]

Quote:
mamagardner must live by me..i'm near Worcester too...

and its actually comes from a name of a town in England... alot of our town names are named from towns/cities in England...