Hello

The heat continues, and so does the gathering of goodies wherever I may find them. I hope you are coping, wherever you are.

Cool Museum

One excellent way to cool down is to visit a museum, with the added benefit of seeing interesting things and learning about them. The National Food Museum can’t help you to stay cool because it is online only, but that should not stop you visiting.

I learned about it from Marion Nestle, who is on the museum’s advisory council. She listed the three current exhibits; selling candy to kids, a collection of foodish video clips, and a food impact meter. I answered the Food Impact questions and was pleased to get 27.6/32 for my environment score, but a bit surprised to get only 20/32 for health. I suppose my preferences for full fat dairy and occasional indulgences in red meat are the main contributing factors, although the meat seems to be OK. Food Museum’s non-medical and purely educational advice is to cut down on alcohol and that full-fat dairy.

The museum also offers a review of The 11 Most Impactful Events in Food History. I’d advise you to make sure your AC is operational if you reach No. 11 and encounter the awful sloppy image. No environmental awareness at the National Food Museum itself.

Free as in Beer Nectarines

A California fruit farmer who is unable to sell his crop of a white-fleshed nectarine called Monalise is giving the fruit away rather than watch it rot. The reason Cesa Mora cannot sell his fruit is detailed in an article in AP News, and is much more complicated than it seems.

Monalise is a protected variety, all rights in which belong to a French company called Star Fruits Diffusion. The company does not actually breed varieties, and describes itself as a “variety publisher and brand creator”. It seeks out promising new varieties and does a deal with the actual breeder to market it, charging a royalty on the trees themselves and the resulting crop. That variety may be “patented” under one of several schemes around the world.

The farmer and a US company that works with Star Fruits Diffusion entered into agreements that each claims the other has broken. That will be settled in court. But the case brings to light the often restrictive pipeline that results in a specific fruit variety being available.

I have no idea how the price of Monalise, with its “sweeter, less tart taste”, compares with a good old yellow-fleshed nectarine, or indeed whether it is worth it. Some protected varieties definitely are worth paying more for, in my opinion. One I like is Pink Lady apple which, I discovered while writing this, is another Star Fruits exclusive.

No matter how the legal case is decided, I applaud the farmer’s decision to give the fruit away, and wish him every success.

Even Better Plant Breeding

A very different approach to adding value to plant varieties can be found at the Culinary Breeding Network. They unite plant breeders, farmers, chefs and eaters to select varieties that fulfill everyone’s expectations while also creating marketing campaigns for new crops and varieties. (I spoke to Lane Selman, founder of the CBN, in 2016 and am looking forward to doing so again for the next season.)

The CBN shares information freely in many different ways, including a series of zines, small publications intended to “make crop science accessible, practical, and enjoyable for everyone”. Joining the series are three new zines, on tomatoes, naked barley 2.0, and breaking vegetable boundaries. All of them are packed with fascinating insights about the open, transparent pipeline that results in improved varieties and whole new crops being available. Highly recommended.

Take care