Have you ever wondered what the origins are
of the common foods we eat today? Most of the foods found in the grocery store
at one point were much smaller, bitter, sour or unpalatable. Let's get into this first off at number 10
we have corn. 10. Corn Tasty, sweet, pump corn fresh off the cob
wasn’t always like this. Going back 9000 years ago, corn was an easy
crop to grow and peel but didn’t offer up all that much. The wild teosinte or wild corn was made up
of only 1.6% sugar as compared to today’s corn is 6.6%. Not only sweeter today’s corn is 1000 times
larger. This all changed in the 15th century when
European settlers started the cultivation of corn. You can see through time how corn started
from a single strand of kernels to a longer cluster of corn kernels to the full cob of
corn we have today. From here corn has been grown all over the
world with numerous different varieties of different shapes and colors like you can see
here. I currently have 16 different types of rare,
unusual corn varieties you’ll have to subscribe to see in upcoming videos as they become ripe. Out of all the different varieties of corn
this one here the striped japonica is the only one with a different type of husk. 9. Pineapple Grow in vast quantity in Hawaii and Costa
Rica the world’s favorite tropical fruit, the pineapple, has humble beginnings. With its origins not definitively known, the
pineapple is thought to have come from paraguay or southern Brazil. The Bromelia pinguin the original plant is
a 4 foot or 1.2 meter tall bromelia that yields small yellow fruit that tastes like a very
acidic pineapple. This fruit is so acidic it is recommended
to not eat it raw but rather cook it. For those that do consume it raw it is advised
to dilute it with water or another fruit like banana blended to be able to palet it’s
acidity. The acidity is so strong it’ll cause mouth,
lip and throat burn which only happens with a common pineapple if it is consumed when
the outer skin is green and unripe. Along with the round orbs of fruit the wild
pineapple flowers and young leaves can be cooked and eaten as well. These flowers can produce 10 to 75 round fruits
per harvest as compared to a common pineapple which ends up fusing together all of these
to create 1 large fruit. While the common pineapple “tropical gold”
was the final result of cultivation of the Bromelia pinguin other different varieties
were also created like a red wild pineapple, Ananas bracteatus. Still very acidic it wasn’t until recently
that this pineapple was cultivated to be edible and delicious with edible skin. I could talk pineapple all day so I think
I’ll save the numerous amazing varieties for another video. 8. Carrot The carrot wasn’t always a sweet and tasty
treat. Originating from the Daucus carota or Queen
Anne’s Lace this small bush produces one gnarly fibrous carrot. Crushing both the stem and leaves will emit
a strong carrot odor yet these carrot tops are not edible like the common carrot of today. The wild carrot is much more pale and yellowish
in color and devoid of any taste you’d really want to put in your mouth, I know because
I tried it. The only way to eat the wild carrot is to
boil it for many… MANY hours until it is finally soft. They should only be consumed when young as
the woody texture that develops is due to high content of xylem tissue. Named after Queen Anne of England an expert
lace maker the wild carrot is thought to have originated on the Iranian Plateau a region
that includes Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Cultivated in central Asia 1100 years ago. It has taken countless seasons in the garden
to cultivate the delicious carrot we know today not to mention the many unusual varieties
like two I have growing here which will be featured in my Top 10 Foods series. 7. Peach The peach we all love it but it’s origin isn’t
completely known. The common fuzzy peach’s name (Prunus persica)
suggest they come from Persia or Iran but recent studies show they originated from China. The common peach does a have history of growing
there since 4000 BCE where they were small like the size of a cherry. Having waxy skin, 64% edible flesh and the
remaining 36% being the stone the wild peach had an earthy, sweet and sour taste with a
salty twist like a lentil. The common peach is 64 times larger has soft
fuzzy skin with 90% edible flesh and only 10% of it being the stone. If we take this a step further it looks as
if the wild peach of China could have originated from Australia, more specifically the quandong. The quandong or wild peach as it’s called
is most definitely older than the wild peach of China. Going back 40 million years, fossilised quandongs
have been found in coal seams of Southern Victoria Australia, which shows clearly that
quandong came first but with the lackluster time machines we have today we likely won’t
truly know. The quandong grows on a shrub up to 20 feet
or 6 meters vs the common peach grows on a tree up 25 feet or 7.5 meters. While they differ shrub to tree their heights
are very similar where they are completely different is their macronutrient breakdown. The quandong is made up of more than 50% fat
which is incredibly unique for a fruit with the remaining going to carbohydrate and protein
where the common peach is 87% carbs, 8% protein and only 5% fat. The common peach enjoys the hot summer heat
but a cool period to enact a chemical reaction to make it thrive where the quandong is found
in central and southern deserts of Australia where it is scorching hot and relies on being
a hemiparasitic plant or one that uses the root system of other to pull the nutrition
it needs. 6. Raspberry
First mentioned in a herbal medicine english book published in 1548 the raspberry is indigenous
to Asia and North America. It is believed that the people of Troy gathered
wild raspberries from the foothills of Mount Ida in Turkey. In medieval Europe the wild raspberry was
used for food but also medicinally, in paintings and illuminated manuscripts. This berry was only for royalty of the time
but by the 18th century cultivation spread this berry across Europe. In 1761 George Washington moved his estate
to Mount Vernon where raspberry cultivation began in his garden. A hundred years later by 1867 there were 40
different varieties. Along with the increase in size as you can
see these wild raspberries are quite small, taste was also improved. The wild raspberry has a sour taste which
I personally enjoy but is on the opposite spectrum to the sweet raspberries found in
grocery stores today. The most common raspberry varieties are Nova,
Taylor, Latham, Boyne and Autumn Bliss. Everbearing varieties like this one here which
I’m not sure what type it is will produce 3 harvests a year all the way into December. 5. Strawberry
Mentioned in ancient roman literature the wild strawberry has only used medicinally
as they were small, tough and lacking flavour. From the 1300s to the end of the 1500s the
Fragaria vesca and Fragaria moschata the 2 varieties of strawberries in Europe started
to make their way out of the wilderness and into the gardens. Charles the 5th was one of the first King’s
of France to demand strawberries be in the royal garden. In the 1600’s the Virginia strawberry, Fragaria
virginiana was brought to Europe but was unappreciated by most. English gardeners got to work creating thirty
new varieties from these 3 original varieties of strawberries. The moment the strawberry went from tiny wild
strawberries like we see here to the huge delicious ones we all know and love today
is when a French spy brought back a Chilean strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis. This native strawberry to Chile lacked production
of berries per plant but produced large fruit. They are only able to grow in mild coastal
climates making them not ideal for many places around the world. The Virginia strawberry and the Chilian strawberry
were then crossed to create the Fragaria ananassa the common strawberry we eat today. Americans Charles Hovey and James Wilson developed
their own varieties that would grow in any type of soil which increased strawberry production
50 times to a hundred thousand acres. 4. Wild Plum - Plum
Found within archaeological sites dating back to neolithic times the plum may have been
one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. The 3 most abundant cultivars are only found
near human settlements. Prunus domestica has been traced back to Eastern
Europe, Prunus salicina and Prunus simonii from Asia. The Caspian Sea and China are more specifically
where they first grew, dating back at least 2000 years. Prunus domestica made its way to Europe somehow,
some think it was carried to Rome around 200 B.C. where others say the Duke of Anjou took
some home as he returned from Jerusalem at the close of the 5th crusade. They eventually made their way to New York
in 1737 and Quebec around 1771. Prunus salicina or the Japanese plum made
its way from China over to Korea and Japan were it became popular. Prunus simonii or the apricot plum features
dark red flesh that clings to the seed much like an apricot and offers a bitter taste
to it most of the time. In perfect conditions they do taste good but
not normally but they always smell good. Luther Burbank an American botanist responsible
for developing more than 800 strains and varieties of plants used both the Japanese plum and
apricot plum to create new wonderfully smelling and tasting plums such as Climax, Maynard,
Chalco, Santa Rosa and Formosa. 3. Wild Avocado - Avocado
South central Mexico was the birthplace of the avocado between 7000 and 5000 B.C. but
it would be many millennia before they would be cultivated by humans. Domesticated avocado seeds were found buried
with Inca mummies dating back to 750 B.C. and evidence has been found of avocado cultivation
in Mexico around 500 B.C. The original avocados as you can see were
not exactly the most abundant fruit. Consisting of mostly seed these avocados wouldn’t
exactly add that thick layer of avo to your toast. The original name of this fruit… vegetable
whatever you consider an avocado is aguacate but because the Spanish conquistadores couldn’t
pronounce it they changed the english name to avocado. The first english language mention of the
avocado was by Sir Henry Sloane in 1696 to which he also called it the alligator pear
tree. 2. Pumpkin Dating back 8000 - 10000 years as far as we
know, the pumpkin or wild pumpkin came from the Oaxaca Highlands of Mexico. Carbon dating done on seeds found in the Guilá
Naquitz Cave gives us the origin of the pumpkin has far back as possible along with much younger
bean and maize samples being 2000 to 5000 years old. The wild pumpkin or cucurbita pepo is comprised
of two molecularly divergent groups that on their own had already differentiated through
geographical isolation many years before humans domesticated them. Cucurbita pepo naturally split into cucurbita
pepo ssp. Pepo and cucurbita pepo ssp. Ovifera. The pepo family includes pumpkin, zucchini
and other marrow squashes, where the ovifera family includes acorn, crookneck and scallop
squash and most ornamental gourds. The greek word pepon or large melon was changed
by the French into pompon which was changed by the English into Pumpion which was changed
by American colonists into pumpkin. 1. Jackfruit
My personal favorite fruit the jackfruit didn’t start off as the heaviest fruit on earth. Cultivated varieties today can weigh in over
100 lbs or 45 kg but it wasn’t always this way. The artocarpus hirsutus, jungle jack or wild
jackfruit was the true origin of this fruit. At full size they are only as big as a softball
which shows you how far the jackfruit has really come. Originating in the rain forests of Western
Ghats of India this fruit spread across southeast asia and the Philippines. In 1782 plants from a captured French ship
on their way to Martinique were taken to Jamaica where it is now a common fruit to be found. From here the jackfruit made its way up to
Florida and Hawaii but still isn’t all that common on the Hawaiian Islands. I should note here too on the northern part
of Oahu just outside of Turtle Bay Resort is a roadside market that sells a variety
called ice cream jackfruit which is still to this day my favorite bite of a fruit I’ve
ever consumed. This was 8 years ago so lets hope they are
still growing this jackfruit there. If you enjoyed this video you’ll like the
previous episode on the poisonous potato fruit so check it out and until the next one have
a good one.
When he talks about how corn was nothing until European Settlers started cultivating. I almost spit out my breakfast - look up Moray in Peru please. I didn't even get past the first minute - is this video suppose to be a joke video like sarcasm??