World War One marked a rapid expansion of agriculture with advancements in mechanization including trucks, cars, and tractors. Additionally, WWI marked the beginning of the use of synthetic fertilizers. Just prior to WWI, the Haber-Bosch reaction, which is a chemical reaction used to take nitrogen out of the air to make fertilizer, was discovered and quickly increased crop production around the world. During this time, George Washington Carver, perhaps the most influential American food scientist of all time, worked tirelessly to teach people to utilize crops that didn’t damage the land. Carver helped expand the use of such crops as peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans across the country and especially the South.
Plants in this section may include:
Apple
Malus X domestica
Despite the popularity of the phrase “As American as apple pie” the apples that we usually eat here in the United States are not native to America. There are certainly some crabapples that are native to this part of the world, but these apples are not particularly tasty or heavily used. The apples that we eat are thought to have originated in Kazakhstan.
Apples are commonly sold by their variety. Some common varieties include ‘Delicious’, ‘Honeycrisp’, ‘Fuji’, and ‘McIntosh’. Apples varieties do not come true from seed, so most apples are vegetative propagated through budding and grafting. The rootstock (where the roots of the grafted plant comes from) comes usually comes from a specialized reproductive system called mound layering which produces uniform roots for the “scion” or tops of the plants. The scion comes from a tree of the type of apple that the orchardist wants to produce, such as ‘Delicious’.
Because apples prefer cooler weather they are much more prevalent in the mountains of the Carolinas than in other locations. Generally speaking, the Northern United States provides better conditions for apple growth than the South. When grown in the South apples are commonly used for apple cider and alcohol (applejack) rather than for eating right off of the tree.
Blueberries
Vaccinium ashei
One of the most popular activities, for people and wildlife, in the forests of North America is blueberry picking. And these ubiquitous and popular berries are not only a native species, but they were consumed well over 13,000 years. Birds, of course, love blueberries, but the fruit has sustained and continues to sustain a huge variety of animals including squirrels, mice, opossums and chipmunks. Some animals including deer and rabbit enjoy the branches of the plant as much as the berries themselves.
Given that blueberries are part of the group that includes rhododendrons and azaleas, it makes sense that they are common in North Carolina. And it’s not simply the fact that they taste good that makes blueberries so appealing, they are also remarkably nutritious. Containing antioxidants and phytoflavinoids, the berries are also high in potassium and vitamin C, as well as fibre, folate, and B6. As a consequence of all of these advantages, Blueberries are often called a “superfood” and rank high in suggested fruits for humans… despite the fact that Native Americans and wildlife have been snacking on them for millennia!
In fact, Native American used blueberries for medical purposes and they dried and stored them over winter. The blueberries were eaten in their dried state or incorporated in stews and other dishes that sustained local tribes. Today blueberries are most commonly used in desserts such as ice cream, pies and cakes.
Cucumber
Cucumis sativus
Cucumber is native to India and spread across Asia and Europe before being transported to the Americas. This plant is actually thought to have come to the Americas during the time of Columbus. The cucumber was not a particularly popular crop until the 1870s when pickles regained popularity, in part because of Henry Heinz and his use of this product in ketchup. With the advent of synthetic fertilizers in WWI as well as better irrigation practices and breeding programs that selected for disease resistance cucumber production increased considerably in the early 1900s. Today North Carolina is fifth in the nation in terms of cucumbers produced.
Cucumbers are found as one of two types, slicing cucumbers and pickling cucumbers. Slicing cucumbers have smooth skin and are larger, pickling cucumbers are smaller and have spines on them. Cucumbers need heavy water and fertilization to support their rapid growth (they typically ripen 50-60 days from planting). Cucumbers need a warm soil to grow and won’t do much until soil temperatures are in the 70 degree range.
Okra
Abelmoschus esculentus
Like many other foods that are part of the fabric of the American diet, particularly in the South, okra was introduced to plantation owners through their enslaved cooks. Okra arrived on the shores of the New World, likely through Lousiana, with the slave trade in the 1600s. Later, it was adopted by French immigrants who referred to it by its African name, gumbo. It has maintained a place in American agriculture due to its ability to survive the hottest southern months and still produce a substantial fruit crop.
The drought and heat tolerant plants are self-fertile and produce impressively large cream-colored flowers with burgundy centers. Each flower yields a fast-growing fuzzy, green slender pod. The fruit should be harvested within 2-3 days after developing, otherwise as the pod continues to grow, it becomes unpleasantly “woody” and stringy.
A member of the mallow family (Malvaceae), along with cotton, hibiscus, durian fruit, and chocolate, okra gets a bad rap as too slimy to enjoy. The mucilage (slime) is beneficial as a thickener for soups and stews. Other preparations include sliced and crisply fried okra, as an ingredient in southern succotashes, and as a key component in gumbos of southern Louisiana. In the Antebellum South, enslaved people dried the seeds and used them for coffee, which was widely adopted by plantation owners during the Civil War.
Onions
Allium cepa
The onions we eat today are native to Asia and were brought to North America with the Mayflower. There are other species of wild onions native to North America that were used by indigenous people which are rarely used today. During the 19th century, these vegetables became widely available and helped eliminate scurvy by offering a source of vitamin C.
Onions get their characteristic “bite” from sulfur compounds. Sweet onions are produced by providing growing conditions that are low in sulfur, a condition that is common in sandy soils near the shore. Sweet onions first became prominent in the 1930s with the advent of the Vidalia onion, a sweet onion which is grown in Vidalia Georgia (Vidalia is not an indicator of the cultivar of onion, but rather where the onion was grown). Since that time sweet onions have become more and more popular.
The part of the onion that is commonly eaten, known as the bulb, is actually a series of concentric, sheathing leaves that surround the flower stalk. Onions can be stored for a long time without refrigeration during times of scarcity. Historically cooks favor onions for the flavor that they impart to bland cabbage, potato, or meat dishes. Onions were also roasted before an open fire, fried in butter or drippings, or poached in milk.
Peanut, Ground nut, Goober, Goober pea, Pindar, Ground pea
Arachis hypogaea
The first peanut (which is really a legume, or pea, rather than a nut) which was introduced to North America, was called the ‘Carolina African Runner,’. It was brought by enslaved Africans as sustenance during the Middle Passage voyage in the 1600’s. The plant is native to and was domesticated in South America and was then introduced to West and Central Africa during the early period of the transatlantic slave trade in the 1500’s. In the late 1800s and early 1900s the Carolina African Runner and similar older varieties were largely displaced by newer varieties of Runners (about 85% of US peanut production. Has large kernels and is frequently used for peanut butter) as well as Spanish (smaller kernels, used for candy), Virginia (usually used for roasting), and Valencia (popular for boiling) peanuts.
An important source of protein and vitamins, enslaved Africans grew them in their provision gardens, which were allowed on many plantations to supplement the meager food offerings given by plantation owners. By the 1830’s, the peanut had developed crossover appeal and there were entire plantations dedicated to growing the important cash crop. By the 1800s, housewives reserved peanut oil for lamp fuel, soap, and as a shortening substitute.
African American scientist, George Washington Carver was critical to the “goober’s” transference from simple sustenance to one of the most important cash crops. During his time as the head of the Agriculture Department at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama during the late 1800’s, Carver insisted that the American South needed to expand beyond its dependence on cotton and rice as primary resources. He found more than 300 food and industrial uses for the peanut and led its surge as one of six leading crops in the U.S. by 1940.
Arachis hypogea is self-pollinating and grows as a bushy plant with the foliage above ground. Once the plant has matured and bloomed, the stems burrow underground and bear fruit, the beloved peanut. It grows best in sandy or sandy-clay subsoil, perfect for the conditions in the deep South.
This historic Carolina African Runner was all but lost until 2013 when Clemson University horticulturist Dr. Brian Ward, along with University of South Carolina food historian, Dr. David Shields, worked to revive 20 frozen seeds discovered in a lab at North Carolina State University. Through their successful cultivation work, chefs across the south who are committed to utilizing and preserving culinary history often use the newly reintroduced peanut in new preparations to introduce them to new generations of diners.
Strawberries
Fragaria X ananassa
If a rose by any other name smells as sweet (as Shakespeare noted), the strawberry—which
belongs to the rose family– should also smell sweet, even though it is not truly a berry. Rather it
is an aggregate accessory fruit, meaning that the edible part of the strawberry does not emerge from the plant’s ovaries but from the receptacle that holds the ovaries. Each visible tiny black seed (called “achene”) on the outside of the fruit is actually one of the ovaries of the flower, with an actual seed inside of it. These seeds, numbering up to 200 per fruit, account for the strawberry’s unique appearance.
Strawberries are a widely distributed fruit and were cultivated as an ornamental plant as far back
as 100 C.E. The fruit of strawberries native to Europe, Asia, and Africa were very small and often not flavorful until the 1600s when the Virginia Strawberry was brought to Europe and bred with local varieties. In the 1700s the Chilean strawberry, a very large fruit, was brought to France and the outcome of the breeding was a larger and sweeter fruit. The Virginia/Chilean variety was modified by two Massachusetts farmers, Charles Hovey in 1834 and James Wilson in 1851. The resulting variety is the ancestor of almost all of the strawberries that we consume today.
Over 3 billion pounds of strawberries are raised in California alone, followed by Florida, which is only slightly behind in production. North Carolina ranks third, producing roughly 19.5 million pounds per year. The perennial plant flowers each May and produces brilliant red berries by June. Once they are harvested, strawberries don’t continue to ripen which gives them a slightly longer shelf life than some other fruits.
Strawberries are one of the most consumed fruits in the world. Because of the heart-like shape and the brilliant color, strawberries were considered, without any scientific proof, to be an aphrodisiac.
Timothy Grass, Meadow Cat’s Tail
Phleum pretense
Timothy hay is a type of grass native to Europe which was introduced to North America around 1700, probably unintentionally. It is commonly used as food for everything from cattle to guinea pigs and rabbits.
In 1915 Charles Piper and Katherine Bort wrote an article for the American Society of Agronomy pointing out that Timothy was by far the most important hay grass cultivated in America. Timothy crops were used almost entirely for feeding horses, cattle and other animals which were in turn used for transportation and meat.
Timothy is more common in the Northern United States, but is still used as a winter crop in the Carolinas providing an early source of grazing material for cattle and other herbivorous animals.
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