Corn: A Global History

[Corn: A Global History] cover

Do you ever wonder where the ingredients in your tamale came from? Each volume in Reaktion Books’ Edible series explores the global history and culture of a type of food. These little books pack in several chapters on various cultural histories around the crop they explore. It is essentially a food memoir and at the end of the each book, recipes are provided.

In Corn: A Global History, readers learn it is hard to determine how corn originated, due to its need for humans to cultivate it. Corn cannot grow wild. We also learn that maize is classified based on the grain’s appearance and starch content. The book contains a large section on Indigenous foods based on corn.

In Tomato: A Global History, by Clarissa Hyman, we learn that the word derived from the Nahuatl ‘tomatl,’ a generic term for a globose fruit or berry with seeds and watery flesh sometimes enclosed in a membrane. This ambitious memoir explores the tomato’s migration throughout the New World to the Old World, including Italy. One of my favorite pizzas, the Margherita, was created in 1889 in Naples to honor the Italian queen of the same name. The book investigates tomato cultivation today, including how scientific advances are changing the fruit, while conservation of heirloom varieties continues.

Avocado: A Global History, by Jeff Miller, explores the history and current social media craze of the fruit and describes how it has been grown on every continent except Antarctica. What I found the most intriguing is how avocados are in the laurel family, the oldest group of flowering plants, with the term laurels denoting excellence. Like corn, beans, and tomatoes, the avocado’s history can be traced back to the ecological conditions of the Neogene period, which created the Mesoamerican land-bridge that joined the continents of North and South America, creating a habitat for these foods to evolve into what we know today.

Beans: A Global History, by Natalie Rachel Morris, explores the staple food’s humble beginnings over 9,000 years ago. The diverse genus includes many different varieties and the food can be used in many forms: dried, frozen, or canned. The substantial nutritional benefit of the food led to the people of Tuscany being known as “bean-eaters.” I especially enjoyed the chapter on the lore and literature of beans.

Together, the books are a feast of knowledge. They are best enjoyed before a meal.

Written by Jessica Moskowitz and published in the Leaflet for Scholars, October 2020, Vol. 7, Issue 10.

on tomato blossom drop

It’s midsummer, and I have a bunch of healthy-looking green tomato plants without any fruit. Shortly after I planted the starts, the flowers developed, and promptly fell off, taking a bit of the stem-end with them. The spot where I’ve planted them is in full sun, they have good soil, and they get watered as they should. Any idea what might be going wrong?

The problem which most closely resembles your description of what is happening with your tomato plants (flowers falling off shortly after planting, and taking a bit of the stem as they drop) is called ‘blossom drop.’ According to D. G. Hessayon’s Vegetable Expert (PBI, 1990), blossom drop occurs when pollination fails to take place, and there is dryness at the roots or in the air. There is no treatment for this malady, but watering regularly, spraying flowers in the morning, and tapping the plants to aid pollination are preventive measures. Attracting beneficial insects to your garden will also help with pollination.

Here are links to more information that may be useful to you:

University of California Integrated Pest Management pages on tomato problems and pollination
Washington State University – Spokane County Extension: Why Blossoms Fail. Note also that WSU Extension in Spokane County says cool night temperatures may cause blossom drop.
University of Illinois Extension:”Tomato blossom drop is very common with high summer temperatures. Tomatoes will drop blossoms when daytime temperatures in the summer are above 90 degrees F. Blossoms will also drop earlier in the growing season when night temperatures drop below 55 degrees F.”
This article from the spruce provides a lot of detail about the problem and how to prevent it:
Blossom drop can be attributed to several causes, most often related to either temperature and/or stress.
1. Temperature too high or too low
2. Lack of pollination
3. Nitrogen: too much or too little
4. Humidity too high or low humidity
5. Lack of water
6. Stress from insect damage or disease
7. Too heavy fruit set
This article recommends planting varieties known to do well in your climate, ensuring pollination, avoiding over-fertilizing, taking note of humidity levels, and watering deeply once a week in dry weather.

Garden Tip #148

When, exactly, is the best time to harvest a tomato for perfect flavor? According to expert Lois Hole, “tomatoes have the best flavor when picked just before they’ve reached their color peak.” If left on the vine until soft sugar and acid will decrease, degrading the flavor. The wonderful little book called Lois Hole’s Tomato Favorites (Lone Pine, $12.95) is filled with growing information, recipes, facts and folklore with color pictures and quick reference charts.