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The Rhubarb - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Rhubarb is an herbaceous perennial, a member of the buckwheat family. The plant possesses an extraordinary tolerance for both cold and drought. It is hardy to Zone 3 and can be grown in colder climates if mulched. It can adapt to warmer climates where the plants simply die back in summer and resume growth in the fall. It probably originated in the desert region of Siberia around the Volga River Basin. The name, rhubarb, comes from Rha, the name Muscovites gave to the river Volga, and barbarum, a reference to the barbarous people that lived in the region. Rhubarb is also known as “wild strawberry” and “pie plant”. In 1770, Benjamin Franklin who at the time was
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The Rape - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Rape is an annual belonging to the mustard family and a member of the larger brassica group, which includes cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and turnips. Little is known about the origin of rape except that the seeds have been highly valued for their oil since ancient times. Nearly half the rape seed is oil. Rapeseed oil is used for cooking, lubricating, lighting, fuel, in the manufacture of soap and synthetic rubber. Canola oil is also made from rapeseed oil. The seed residue after the oil has been extracted can be formed into a cake which is a nutritious livestock food. In the United States, rape is grown for forage, particularly for hogs. It is also sown as a
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The Radish - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Radishes originated in China, and in China, today, truly wild forms of the radish can still be found. The name, radish, comes from the Latin word, radix, which means “root” and specifically radish root. The genus name, Raphanus, is a Latinized form of a Greek expression raphanos which means “easily reared”. In prehistoric times, the radish spread to Middle Asia where many different forms were developed and soon after, the radish spread to the Mediterranean. Before the pyramids were constructed, ancient Egyptian writing show that radishes were being cultivated, and the ancient Greeks so valued the radish that they offered up little gold radishes to the god Apollo. The Romans also were familiar with various forms of
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The Pumpkin and the Squash - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Squash, beans and corn, known as the “Three Sisters” comprised the trinity that was the staple diet of ancient America. Unbelievably, remains of wild or, possibly, cultivated squash have been found in Mexico that date to 9000 BC. Similar archaeological evidence has been unearthed in South America, Central America and northern, North America. The wild varieties of squash were quite small and unpleasantly bitter tasting. Ancient peoples were not attracted to these vegetables for food. Instead, it is hypothesized, that ancient peoples collected the squash and dried them to make rattles and instruments for ceremonies and containers for storage and eating. Eventually, the ancient peoples came to appreciate and value the squash seeds which were
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The Pepper - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Sweet and hot peppers are indigenous to Central and South America. They have been cultivated since prehistoric times. Archaeologists have found chili peppers at sites dating to 7000 BC. The Aztecs, Incans and Mayans all cultivated peppers. The Aztecs had at least seven different words for hot peppers. We derive the term chili pepper from some of the Aztec words for hot pepper. The Incas used peppers as a form of currency. Columbus named the peppers he saw growing in the West Indies, pimiento, because he thought they were the pimienta, spice pepper, grown in the East Indies. He was painfully surprised to find out that the West Indian peppers were incredibly hot. On his several voyages to
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The Peanut - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Peanuts are native to the Amazon Basin area of South America and have been a staple of the diet of the South Americans for thousands of years. As long as people have been making pottery in South America, pots shaped like peanuts have been created and decorated with peanut images. Graves of ancient Incans found along the dry west coast of South America have contained jars filled with peanuts for the dead. In the 15 th century, Portuguese explorers brought the peanut to Europe, India and China. The Spanish introduced the peanut into Africa where is quickly became popular. The Africans brought the peanut to America by way of the slave ships. The slang expression for peanut,
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The Pea - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Peas, along with beans and grains, are among the earliest of all cultivated vegetables. Evidence of peas have been found in lake mud beneath the site of houses created by Bronze Age Swiss lake dwellers that is over 5000 years old. Peas have also been found at a prehistoric cave site in Hungary that is believed to be much older than the Swiss site. Interestingly, no evidence of peas has been found at ancient Egyptian sites, but peas have been found in the ruins of the ancient site of Troy. The Aryans of Western Asia introduced the pea to the Greeks and Romans, but neither civilization held the pea in high regard. It was only after the
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The Parsnip - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Parsnips have been cultivated for their sweet roots since ancient times. The Romans frequently grew the vegetables. In fact, Emperor Tiberius adored parsnips and, every year, had them brought from France where the colder climate allowed the roots to develop a sweeter flavor. The British are particularly fond of parsnips. It was British colonists that introduced the vegetable into the New World in 1609. Parsnips are native to Europe, but they have been introduced throughout the world, and because they are so hardy, they now grow wild having escaped from cultivated gardens in many areas. Parsnips are such aggressive naturalizers that it was noted in 1848 that, “The Parsnip is a native of Europe. Having been introduced here,
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The Parsley - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions Parsley is the world’s most popular herb. The name, parsley, means rock celery. Parsley is, in fact, related to celery. Parsley is native to the Mediterranean region of southern Europe and has been cultivated for more than 2000 years. It has been used for medicinal purposes since prehistoric times. The Romans were familiar with both the flat and curled leaved varieties. The Greeks held the herb to be sacred and used it to crown the heads of athletic contest winners and for decorating the tombs of the deceased. During the Middle Ages, perhaps because of Charlemagne who grew the herb on his estates, parsley began to be used as a seasoning. In some countries, curly leaved parsley is
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The Onion - A Little History and Some Growing Instructions The origin of onions like the origin of garlic is buried in antiquity. It is known that onions were grown in Ancient Egypt and that eventually they arrived in Rome. It was in Rome that they were given the name unio, which means large pearl. Unio became unyon in Middle English when the Romans introduced the onion into the British Isles. The status of the onion rose substantially after French Onion Soup was made popular by Stanislaus I, the former King of Poland. The Bermuda onion was first listed by Peter Henderson & Co. in 1888 as the White Bermuda. Yet in a 1890 catalogue it said that although shipped as White Bermuda it really “had quite a yellowish
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