Curated playlist
Crops originating from the Americas
- Bell pepperA green bell pepper is just a red one picked early. Red ones are allowed to ripen fully.
- PapayaPapaya's white sap can tenderize meat, but it also stops jelly from setting. The enzyme papain is the reason.
- Phaseolus vulgarisFour or five raw, soaked kidney beans can make a person sick.
- Sweet potatoSweet potatoes were in Polynesia centuries before any European ship arrived.
- Chili pepperBirds can eat the hottest chili peppers without distress. They lack the pain receptor that responds to capsaicin.
- TobaccoChina approved the first commercial GM crop in 1993, and it was tobacco.
- AvocadoEvery Hass avocado tree alive descends from one mother tree. A California mail carrier raised it from a single seedling.
- PineappleThe pineapple, Ananas comosus, once inspired a British aristocrat to crown a hothouse with a stone cupola 14 metres tall, built in the shape of the fruit. That aristocrat was John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, and the rooftop ornament is…
- CocaCoca is a shrub native to western South America, and one of the oldest clues to its history was found in the floors of ancient houses in Peru's Nanchoc Valley. Archaeologists recovered coca leaves there together with calcite, which shows…
- TapiocaTapioca began as a word before it became a global ingredient. Around 1500, the Portuguese arrived in the Northeast Region of Brazil and heard Tupi speakers say tipi'óka. In Tupi, the word means sediment, or coagulant. It described the…
- ChayoteChayote is an edible fruiting vine of the gourd family, and in Brazil its local name doubles as a pet name. Chuchu is the Brazilian word for the fruit, and it is also a term of endearment, much like calling someone "Honey" in English. The…
- PopcornPopcorn kernels can swell to 20 to 50 times their original size when heated. The word covers both a special variety of corn and the snack that comes out of it. Evidence of popcorn reaches back thousands of years in the Americas, which…