Soy Grits?

[Toddy]

GMO, or rather GE, I suppose, is very frowned on here….that is the modern version that really only benefits the big agri-industry moneymakers.
In the end the farmer will only be able to grow 'their' seed using 'their' fertiliser and 'their' insecticides and 'their' weedkiller'…oh and the seed is intended to be ultimately sterile so that seed cannot be grown and harvested to be used by the farmer again, so he/she finds themselves in lifetime thrawl to GM agribusiness.

Then in will come the destruction of all other varieties; well they carry disease vectors, don't they? so just as folks can't grow oranges in Florida incase they cause disease to the 'major crops', folks who grow heritage seeds for food, pleasure, to preserve biodiversity, because it suits small farmers better, will find their crops destroyed and damned little recompense.

Aye, indeed, and folk wonder why Europe's telling them to stuff their GM crops.

Domestication over generations just does not really compare, does it ?

M

 

[santaman2000]

......Then in will come the destruction of all other varieties; well they carry disease vectors, don't they? so just as folks can't grow oranges in Florida incase they cause disease to the 'major crops'....

Who told you we can't grow oranges? They were wrong.

 

[Toddy]

Try doing it near an orange grove…..how near I don't know. I do know of a friend who had three sweet orange trees summarily cut down, shredded and the roots grubbed out though….and she wasn't either recompensed or left unworried about being charged for their removal too.
The lady now lives in Colorado I understand, and grows apples and pears

Old article….
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2006-03-09/news/0603081682_1_citrus-trees-replant-non-citrus

M

 

[rik_uk3]

Grits = yummy, Soy = demon food unless its Soy sauce on your stir fry

 

[santaman2000]

Try doing it near an orange grove…..how near I don't know. I do know of a friend who had three sweet orange trees summarily cut down, shredded and the roots grubbed out though….and she wasn't either recompensed or left unworried about being charged for their removal too.
The lady now lives in Colorado I understand, and grows apples and pears

Old article….
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2006-03-09/news/0603081682_1_citrus-trees-replant-non-citrus

M

Ah, You mean back when they had the citrus canker quarantine. Of course suspect trees were cut (there's really no other way to quarantine a tree) I assure you there's no ban on growing citrus trees. Never has been.

 

[Toddy]

Ehm, not according to the US dept of Agriculture….

http://blogs.usda.gov/2014/08/25/citrus-trees-move-it-and-lose-it/

Not quite the GM thing though.

M

 

[PDA1]

Logan bread is just a Yukon version of the traditional British fruit cake or Christmas pudding. V High calorie, tasty and long lasting. Here's one recipe

http://sectionhiker.com/logan-bread-recipe/

There are as many recipes as there are recipes for Bannock. All typical quick breads(think Irish soda bread with added fruit and sugar)

Vary the grains used and the dried fruits, and my Mum would use treacle instead of molasses, and butter for veg oil. I would also soak the dried fruit overnight- in rum before baking. My excuse is that it increases the preservatives

 

[Robson Valley]

Thank you. Logan, perhaps as in "Mt Logan." I have family in Dawson City.
Rum, as a preservative, is of critical importance.
The only known method to immunize yourself against pollution.

 

[rik_uk3]

Thank you. Logan, perhaps as in "Mt Logan." I have family in Dawson City.
Rum, as a preservative, is of critical importance.
The only known method to immunize yourself against pollution.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wray-Nephe...d=1481484000&sr=8-1&keywords=wray+and+nephews stunning rum, best not consumed on an empty stomach

 

[Janne]

Good to read that quinoa cultivation has spread far and wide.
Seems to be a very broad spectrum of definition for GMO.

Is the transference of frost-hardiness from one crop to another such a bad thing?
For example, moving the frost hardiness of Vitis riparia to Vitis vinifera.

The frost hardiness was done by inserting a gene from the Arctic Cod into potatoes ir tomato ( do not remember). Canadian research I think it was.

The problem is that we are creating a plant that we do not know how we react to long term. Allergies, sensitivity, tumors?
Nobody knows!

More and more people are alkergic to apples. One of my friends is.
The agent people get allergic to is a protein. This protein was introduced into the modern apples by selective cross polination ( oldfashioned genetical modification) decades ago, is now in most modern apple varieties.

I think that GM has a place in developing foodstuff and medicines.
But it should be closely regulated and independently tested.
Shutting off genes that produce toxins. Making crops more drought tolerant. Stuff that can be done ( and has been done) by selective breeding, but much much faster.

The Russians and Chinese developed frost hardy grape varieties in the 1930's onvards from the Amur grape crossed with the normal european grapes.

 

[Robson Valley]

One small issue with frost hardiness is the value of the various cultivated grape varieties of Vitis vinifera.
Let's not change that. They are the money makers. No tedious cross pollinations ad nauseum.
What species was the european grape stock? The Amur?

The grapes that I grow, Vitis riparia var. Valiant, are naturally frost tolerant to -25C and colder.
Adding that to Vitis vinifera, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and the Pinots would extend the range of cultivation.
I'd like to see it happen. Riparia is a very good juice and jelly grape but a couple rows of CabSauv would be a nice addition.

Potatoes and tomatoes varieties exhibit no unusual frost tolerance here that anyone has noticed. Nothing special in the
locally established heritage seed collections of tomato, either.
Even with the depression of the freezing point by the salts in sea water, I can't see that Arctic Cod has any lock on frost tolerance
which would be of serious economic value on land. Would be fun to say yes, we can do it. Only in Canada, eh?

 

[Janne]

I had to check the internet: The European grape is the Vitis Vinifera.
They got hybrids between Vitis Amurensis and Vitis Vinifera, plus hybrids between V. Amurensis and V. Labrusca.

Do not ask me the difference between them!

I do not know if the GM potato or tomato is in cultivation?
I know though that the GM tomato, the Flavour Savour, was not accepted by the N. American consumer. Of course, it never made it to Europe.

Did not somebody make a squarish tomato some years ago?

 

[Toddy]

Square ones are pretty easy really. You just put the young growing fruit into a little square box and it grows to fit. It's a bit of a swizz, but it works. Fits onto your piece rather neatly

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Hoo-eee! V. labrusca? Ever eaten those? Maybe some one has coaxed a decent variety out of that species
but I'd never run out to buy them for any reason. Hard to imagine anything positive from hybridization.
Just imagine! A grape with the worst qualities of labrusca x amurensis. Not on my land just because it's frost hardy.

I recall the square tomatoes! Was an investigation into the genetic control of shape.
Sure, you get more in a box. However, the humidity jumps in the tight spaces.
Lost most of it in shipping due to mold. Once they got it figured out, they tried for square every kind of veg.

Some pear wines (novelty) are made by slipping the empty bottles over the developing fruit, post pollination.

I'll settle for families of pickers, kids and all. Work in the sunshine with snow capped mountains all around.
It's sort of a U-Pick deal = You start here and pick _that_ way. I might pick an easy 50lbs for myself but I let all the rest of it go.
One of these years, I'm gonna weigh those kids before and after picking.

 

[Janne]

I do not think so.
Not many grapes grown to be vinified taste good. Most are really nasty.
Moscatell is nice though.
In Alsace ( France but should really belong to Germany) they put bottles over pears, (rarely plums and apricots ) then pour the distillate over. Delicious, has been done for centuries.

Btw you know that Eiswein originates in Germany? ( The Austrian version is calked Trockenbeerenauslese)
The canadian copy is not bad.

 

[Robson Valley]

I knew about the pear wine, even seen pictures but didn't know where. Thanks for the info
To me, there's a moldy after taste to pear wines that I don't like.

I have yet to eat a bad ripe red wine grape. With Zinfandel (obscure origin), the taste was a pretty good indicator of success.
Bad grapes make bad wine. Period. Mind you, I never made more than 450 liters at a time. Cork prices were killing me.
Some vinyards in the BC okanagan valley make icewines but for the prices they demand, I can't find my wallet.

Back to the food, I'd like to find soya grits maybe some health food store willl have some.
In the meantime, I'll pick from all the other carbs that I have.

Canadian wild rice (not a real rice) from LaRonge SK cooks faster and tastes the best of the 5 brands that I've tried.

 

[Janne]

Not wine but alcohol distilled from pear wine. Like Slivovits that is made from plum wine.

 

[Robson Valley]

Don't drink fire-water any more. Skull-buster, most of it. If you want nasty, try cheap Tequila.
Had a pumpkin spiced Canadian whiskey at Thanksgiving back in October. Tablespoon over 3 cubes = wonderful.

 

[santaman2000]

Ehm, not according to the US dept of Agriculture….

http://blogs.usda.gov/2014/08/25/citrus-trees-move-it-and-lose-it/

Not quite the GM thing though.

M

True it's not the GM thing but it does relate to the point you were trying to make.

That said, the link to the USDA is largely irrelevant to the Florida Dept of Agriculture. At least in the sense that the USDA is only reporting what the individual State departments do. That's nothing new. For as long as I can remember (and I'm 60 years old) transporting seeds or live plants or animals across state lines has been subject to what the receiving state wanted to accept. Firewood in particular is a no-no.

Most of those restrictions, were and still are, at the insistence of farmers.

The GM thing however is a bit different. Its support by farmers is mixed. Everybody likes the cheaper production and better yields (even small farmers with less than 40 acres make far more money) but nobody likes the practice you hinted at regarding a single controlling source of fresh seeds every year. That said, there's no shortage of heritage seeds; just no profit on a large scale with them. That in and of itself has created a niche market though as consumers who want either organic or non GMO produce will pay premium prices.

 

[Toddy]

What 'is' pumpkin spice ? Pumpkin has to be the least flavourful thing bar a marrow.

M