Wild bananas have seeds hard enough to crack your teeth.
Chapter 1

The botanical lies in your fruit bowl

Chapter 2

The secret defense systems of vegetables

Chapter 3

The imposter nuts that fooled the world

Chapter 4

Ancient wild ancestors of modern crops

YOUR GOAL

Master of Unmasking the imposters in your kitchen

Ch 4 · Ancient wild ancestors of modern crops
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schopenhauer The wild Southeast Asian banana species Musa acuminata

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Wild bananas have seeds hard enough to crack your teeth.

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schopenhauer Indigenous Mexican farmers transformed a tiny wild grass into modern corn.

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The ancient bitter wild banana

schopenhauer A sliced Musa acuminata wild banana shows hard, pea-sized seeds inside.

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When corn was a tiny grass

schopenhauer A small teosinte ear displays ten hard kernels locked inside stony shells.

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Fun Fact

Ancient watermelon: King Tutankhamun was buried with watermelon seeds, proving that ancient Egyptians cultivated them over 3,300 years ago.

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Glossary
progenitor (noun)
A person or thing from which another is descended or originates. The Kordofan melon of Sudan is the progenitor of the modern watermelon, dating back to 2340 BC.

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Gossip

Would you eat a purple carrot over an orange one?

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Quiz

What crucial genetic change in ancient teosinte allowed the edible kernels of corn to be exposed?

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schopenhauer One European wild cabbage species is the ancestor of many common vegetables.

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Quiz

What is the name of the wild Mexican grass that humans bred to create modern corn?

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schopenhauer The domestication of wild purple roots into modern orange carrots.

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Quiz

In which modern-day country were carrots first domesticated as purple and yellow roots?

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Quiz

Which European nation is famous for popularizing and standardizing the sweet, orange carrot in the 17th century?

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Quiz

What plant part was selectively bred to create the vegetable kohlrabi from wild cabbage?

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Quiz

Why are modern commercial bananas completely seedless?

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Quiz

What color was the flesh of the wild ancestral watermelons of Africa?

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Quiz

Which single wild plant species is the direct ancestor of kale, broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts?

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