Transcript Starchy Staples - Feb. 25.

Food Plants
Forage Grasses
Alfalfa and Red Clover
– Legumes, not grasses
Kentucky Blue Grass
Timothy – Phleum pratense
Fescues – Festuca sp.
Big Bluestem – Andropogon
gerardii
Little Bluestem – Andropogon
scoparius
Blue Grama – Bouteloua gracilis
Switchgrass – Panicum virgatum
Legumes
Legumes
• Legumes are members of pea, bean family
(Fabaceae) and are very important sources of
food due to their highly nutritious seeds
• Legume seeds are very high in protein due to
the nitrogen fixing root nodules with which
legumes can extract N2 gas to make
ammonium which they use when synthesizing
protein
Protein content various foods
Soybeans
Soybean – Glycine max
Tofu – Bean Curd
Soy milk
Soy sauce
Edamame
Miso – soybean paste
Starchy Staples
Top agricultural products, by crop types
(million metric tons) 2004 data
Cereals
2,263
Vegetables and Melons
866
Roots and Tubers
715
Milk
619
Fruit
503
Meat
259
Oilcrops
133
Fish (2001 estimate)
130
Eggs
63
Pulses
60
Vegetable Fiber
30
Source:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)[
Top agricultural products, by individual crops
(million metric tons) 2004 data
Sugar Cane
1,324
Maize
721
Wheat
627
Rice
605
Potatoes
328
Sugar Beet
249
Soybeans
204
Oil Palm Fruit
162
Barley
154
Tomato
120
Source:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Plant Storage Organs
Some examples of storage organs in plants: (a) tap root of carrot (Daucus carota);
(b) bulb of onion (Allium sp.); (c) corm of crocus (Crocus sp.);
(d) rhizome of iris (Iris sp.); (e) root tuber of dahlia (Dahlia sp.);
(f) stem tuber of potato (Solanum tuberosum).
Plant Storage Organs
• Rhizomes – are horizontal stems that are underground –
reduced scale-like leaves are present on the surface of the
rhizome and adventitious roots form on its underside –
buds found at the nodes can give rise to new plants –
ginger and iris
• Tubers – are enlarged storage tips of a rhizome – the
white potato is a tuber – the eyes of a potato are actually
buds located at its nodes and each bud can give rise to a
new plant
• Bulbs and Corms are modified stems found in monocots –
Bulbs are erect underground stems with both fleshy and
papery leaves; food is stored in the fleshy leaves – Onions,
tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and lilies all have bulbs
Plant Storage Organs
• Corms store food reserves in the stem, not the leaves –
they are erect underground stems are covered only with
dry papery leaves – corms can multiply by producing small
corms – plants with corms are gladiolus, crocus and taro
• Tuberous roots are modified fibrous roots that have
become fleshy and enlarged with food reserves – they can
also function in asexual reproduction – tuberous begonias,
dahlias and sweet potatoes
• Taproots may also function as food storage organs –
especially for biennial plants like carrots, rutabaga and
turnips
Starchy Rhizome - Ginger
Tuber – White Potato
Tuber – Planting Seed Potato
Bulb – the Onion
Bulb – Tulip with Offsets (new bulbs)
Corm - Gladiolus
Tuberous Roots – Sweet Potato
Taproots – Carrots and Turnips
For Love of the Potato
New Foods to Europe
• Alfred Crosby has gathered data which
suggests the introduction of maize and
potatoes alone allowed the doubling of
Europe’s population in the period after
Columbus’ discovery of America
• Corn was important because of the very
high yields possible from corn agriculture
New Foods to Europe
• Potatoes were important because, unlike corn, they
provided a complete set of amino acids (corn lacks
lysine) - potatoes were great for poor people in
Europe because they can be easily grown in areas
of poor, depleted soil, they will grow well during a
short growing season (typical of northern Europe)
and they can even be left in the ground if
necessary, so they are less sensitive to the timing
of the harvest than competing poor-soil crops,
such as rye, which must be harvested when the
seeds are ripe or it will rot
The Potato Comes to Europe
• The potato came to Europe about 1565 - at
first, most people in Europe, including the
Irish, used the potato as a back up for grain
production, but by the end of the 17th
century, it had become an important winter
food; by the mid-eighteenth century it was a
general field crop and provided the staple
diet of small farmers during most of the
year
Ukrainian Food
Potato Pancakes
Borsch
Potato Vodka
Benefits of the Potato
Van Gogh – The Potato Eaters
Cartoon of Irish “Bogtrotters”
circa 1840’s
Young potato plant with early
stage of late blight
Dried potato leaf infected with late blight
– Phytophthora infestans
Potato tubers with Late blight
Potato field infected with late blight –
Infection started in center of field
Severity of blight and famine
Irish family digging
Potatoes - 1847
Irish family potato dinner - 1846
Irish food riots - 1847
Irish food sent to England
– 1847 or 1848
Lessons learned?
“Whatever may be the misfortunes of Ireland,
the potato is not implicated. It, on the
contrary, has more than done its duty, in
giving them bones and sinew cheap ...
There is no other crop equal to the potato in
the power of sustaining life and health.”
- Bain 1848
Sweet potato tuberous roots
Origin of Sweet Potato
• Sweet Potato – Ipomoea batatas – was first
domesticated in Peru about 5 or 6 thousand
years ago – its culture spread through out
South and Central America and the
Caribbean region
• The Arawak People called it batata which
became corrupted into the word potato
• It was brought to Europe by Columbus
around 1500
Sweet Potato – Ipomoea batatas
Sweet Potato
• Sweet potato is a tuberous root cultivated by
vegetative propagation (cuttings)
• It was a staple food throughout the
Americas and also across the Polynesian
islands – big question is how did it get to
Polynesia – by people or by accident?
Plans for a balsa
wood raft – used
along coast of
South America
-drawn by F.E.
Paris in 1841
Thor Heyerdahl’s balsa wood raft –
1947 in action and model
Possible Inca route to Pacific Islands
and Kon-Tiki route
Polynesians to South America?
• It is more likely that Polynesians crossed the
Pacific and obtained sweet potatoes directly from
the South Americans
• In most parts of the South Pacific, sweet potatoes
are called kumara, very similar to the Peruvian
word of cumara
• However, in Hawaii, the sweet potato is called
‘uala, more similar to the Columbian word kuala perhaps a couple of groups were in contact with
South America
Polynesian Ships in Tahiti
Sweet Potato Agriculture
• Sweet Potato is rich in carbohydrates, vitamins
and minerals – some of the carbohydrates are in
the form of sugars rather than starch, hence the
sweet taste
• About 50% more calories than white potato, but
slightly less protein
• Two main varieties – a drier, starchier yellowfleshed variety and a moister, sweeter, deeper
orange variety
• China dominates sweet potato cultivation, but also
important in Japan and several African countries;
increasing production in US
Sweet Potato Cultivation
Manihot or Cassava –
Manihot esculenta
Cassava
• Cassava (Manihot esculenta), also called
yucca or manioc, is a woody shrub of the
Euphorbiaceae family
• It is cultivated as an annual crop in many
parts of the tropical world because it has a
starchy tuberous root that is a major source
of carbohydrates
Cassava
• The cassava root is long and tapered, with a
firm homogeneous flesh encased in a
detachable rind, about 1 mm thick, rough
and brown on the outside.
• Cassava roots are very rich in starch, and
contain significant amounts of calcium
(50 mg/100g), phosphorus (40 mg/100g)
and vitamin C (25 mg/100g). However, they
are poor in protein and other nutrients.
Cassava Roots
Cassava Agriculture
• Wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia,
shown to be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are
centered in west-central Brazil where it was likely first
domesticated no more than 10,000 years ago
• With its high food potential, it had become a staple food of
the native populations of northern South America, southern
Mesoamerica, and the Caribbean by the time of the
Spanish conquest, and its cultivation was continued by the
colonial Portuguese and Spanish. Forms of the modern
domesticated species can be found growing in the wild in
the south of Brazil.
• There are several wild Manihot species
Moche Ceramic Cassava – 100 AD
Cassava Consumption
• Cassava is classified as "sweet" or "bitter" depending on
the level of cyanogenic compounds; improper preparation
of bitter cassava causes a disease called konzo.
• Cassava can be cooked in various ways. The soft-boiled
root has a delicate flavor and can replace boiled potatoes in
many uses: as an accompaniment for meat dishes, or made
into soups, purees, stews, etc. Deep fried (after boiling or
steaming), it can replace fried potatoes, with a distinctive
flavor. Tapioca and foufou are made from the starchy
cassava root flour.
Tapioca
Global Cassava Production
Taro – Colocasia esculenta
Taro – Colocasia esculenta
• Taro is believed to have originated in Southeast
Asia and spread west and east thousands of years
ago – may have been cultivated very early by
people in SE Asia – eventually reached tropical
Africa and from there was brought to the West
Indies and South America by slaves – today it is
cultivated in the tropics where it thrives in wet,
saturated soil conditions – propagated by planting
corms
Taro cultivation
• The corm is steamed, crushed and made into a dough, then
allowed to ferment by microbes – the paste is then eaten
with the fingers or rolled into small balls – this is the
method for making poi – staple Hawaiian food
• Corms can also be prepared like potatoes – steamed,
baked, roasted, or boiled
• Corm is about 25% carbohydrate (about 3% sugar), 2%
protein and very little fat
• Good source of calcium due to presence of calcium oxalate
crystals – will cause intense burning if eaten raw so must
be cooked to break down the crystals
Taro harvest - Hawaii
Taro corms
More Taro
Poi