The Plants We Eat: Sugar, Honey and Potatoes.

The Plants We Eat: Sugar, Honey and Potatoes.

Primary Plant Sources of table sugar Sugar Cane Saccharum officinarum (10%) Sugar Beet Beta vulgaris (17%) Sorghum Sorghum bicolor Palm Phoenix dactylifera Maple Acer saccharum Oh Boy! All I need now is some sugar! The average USA sugar consumption per capita per year is 60 lbs.

Sugar Cane Saccharum officinarum member of Poaceae (Grass family) Native to: Polynesia Sugar Cane Fields, Queensland Australia, Spring 2006

Sugarcane Sugarcane grows to about 8 to 20 feet high and has stems 1 to 2 inches thick. Other uses or connections: rum, slavery and food additive Most important source of sucrose Cheapest energy food Sugarcane is extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical countries throughout the world. In the US, it is intensively grown in Hawaii, Florida and Louisiana.

Where Sugar is Produced

Seeds of Change, the five most influential plants in human history. Sugarcane Potato Cotton Tea Quinine

Sugar Cane Products Non-Refined Sugar Types (sucrose extracted Raw Sugar: Shipped to refineries country where used, further refined there Refined Sugar Types Regular white sugar : The result of refining raw sugar. Standard crystals (crystal size can vary). Powdered (confectioner s): Regular white sugar crystals that have been grounded and added cornstarch. Brown sugar: refined white sugar crystals mixed with syrup from refining (the different type of syrup used, the different colors) Sugar cubes: crystals glued with sugar syrup Byproducts Molasses and various types of syrups

Napoleon and Sugar Beet (1811) Beta vulgaris Chenopodiaceae (Goosefoot Family)

Sugar Beet Fields, Cornwall, United Kingdom, August 2006

Sugar Beet Processing Lewistown, Idaho Sugar Factory, 1905

How much sugar? AUSTRALIA Per Capita Consumption:45 kg (90 pds) BRAZIL Per Capita Consumption:48 kg (96 pds) E.U. Per Capita Consumption:36 kg (72 pds) India Per Capita Consumption:14 kg (28 pds) SOUTH AFRICA Per Capita Consumption:30 kg (60pds) THAILAND Per Capita Consumption:27 kg (54pds) USA Per Capita Consumption:30 kg (60 pds)

Honey Honey is a sweet, thick sugary solution made by bees. The composition of honey consists of varying proportions of fructose, glucose, water, oil and special. Hunter of bees, Arana, Spain 7000 BC

Most flower nectars are similar to sugar water -- sucrose mixed with water. Nectars can contain other beneficial substances as well. To make honey, two things happen: Enzymes that bees produce turn the sucrose into glucose and fructose and second, most of the moisture has to be evaporated, leaving only about 18-percent water in honey. A small amount of the glucose is attacked by a second enzyme, glucose oxidase, and converted into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The gluconic acid and the hydrogen peroxide make honey inhospitable to bacteria, mold, and fungi, organisms we call microbes,

North American Sweetener Acer saccharum Sugar Maple

Maple Syrup Sap is collected in early spring Sap is boiled in sugar house 40 gallons sap 1 gallon syrup

Other sweeteners Corn syrup is a sweetener derived from corn starch. It is used in a wide variety of manufactured food products including cookies, crackers, catsups, cereals, flavored yogurts, ice cream, preserved meats, canned fruits and vegetables, soups, beers, and many others. It is also used to provide an acceptable taste to sealable envelopes, stamps, and aspirins. One derivative of corn syrup is high fructose corn syrup, which is as sweet as sugar and is often used in soft drinks. Corn syrup may be shipped and used as a thick liquid or it may be dried to form a crystalline powder.

In the United States, the first corn sweeteners were produced in a plant in Buffalo, New York, in 1866. Today, corn syrups are an important part of many products. In 1996, there were 28 corn-refining plants in the United States that processed a total of about 72 billion lb (33 billion kg) of corn. Of that amount, about 25 billion lb (11.4 billion kg) were

The Amazing Spud The most prominent tuber for people is the plant that has come to be called the Irish potato. Despite its name, the potato is native to the Andes Mountain region in western South America (red area on the map). It is a member of the large genus Solanum, and it is an herbaceous perennial with compound leaves and purplish-white flowers.

It belongs to the plant family of the Solanaceae, known in ancient times as the nightshade family and it is a close relative to the tomato and the eggplant Like many other species of Solanum, the above ground parts of the plant are poisonous because of various alkaloids that are produced in them. The tubers are produced below the ground and are filled with starch as well as with significant amounts of proteins, minerals, and vitamins. The potato is a cold weather crop. It grows its best in cool, sandy soil in areas with a wet spring.

The potato is a short duration crop that produces a large amount of calories in a short period of time. The potato produces more protein and calories per unit area per unit time and per unit of water than any other major plant food. It is grown for human consumption and for its starch and for alcohol manufacturing and production of adhesives The main potato-producing states in the United States are Idaho, North Dakota, Washington, Maine, and Minnesota.

Irish Potato (Not so irish. A Southamerican staple) Solanum tuberosum is a native of Peru. Peru has the greatest variety of potatoes in the world. There are approximately 3000 varieties registered in the International Center of Potatoes (ICP).

Potatoes Travel to Europe Frederick the Great encouraging peasants to grow more potatoes Vincent van Gogh painting: The potato eaters (Belgium)

The Irish Potato Blight In Ireland, the potato became staple crop in 1800s where it became a monoculture. However in the 1840s a potato blight hit and the population decreased from 8 million 6 million. Due to the potato blight, 1 million people died and 1.5 million people immigrated to Australia & U.S.A.

Potato Blight Healthy leaf Potato Blight: Phytophthora infestans (fungus). Colorado Potato beetle Blighted leaf Potatoes damaged by blight

George Lerner of New York City invented and patented Mr. Potato Head in 1952. Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on television. In 1985, he received four write-in votes in the mayoral election in Boise, Idaho. Today, Hasbro, Inc. still manufactures Mr. Potato Head.

Tropical Starchy Staples True Yam Dioscorea sp. Africa, Asia, South America Taro Colocasia esculenta Asia tropical Pacific Yautia Xanthosoma sp. South America Arrowroot Maranta sp. West Indies/South America Manioc Manihot esculenta South America Sweet Potato Ipomoea batatas South America

Yams Another Tuber Dioscorea sp. Monocot vines. There are different species of Dioscorea sp that has been domesticated independently in various tropical areas.

tarchy Root Crops Manioc (Cassava)

Cassava Food for the Poorest of the Poor Staple food for >500 million people Most calories per unit area of land (except for sugar cane) Grows in poor soils Primarily carbohydrate low in protein, minerals, vitamins Cyanogenic glycosides must be removed before consumption Deteriorates rapidly after harvest (worthless after 48 hours) Low tech crop no profit for large companies

Starchy Root Crops Sweet Potato Ipomoea batatas. Convolvulaceae (Morning Glory Family)

The Cereals

Another source of starch: The Cereals Ceres. Roman goddess of agriculture (in Greek, Demeter). Grain: seeds/seed like fruits of plants, particularly grasses. Cereal: Edible grains produced by annual grasses. All grains belong to the Poaceae family (ex-gramineae which is still the traditional name for family also known as the Grass Family) The Cereals ranks 4th in the number of species in the world and 1st in number of individuals and economic importance.

Grass Plant Overall Structure

Grass Inflorescence Structure Flower

Grain Fruit of the Grass Family

Seed parts vs. cereal parts

Major Cereal Crops Wheat Triticum (T. aestivum, T. monococcum, T. durum) Barley Hordeum vulgare Rye Secale cereale Oats Avena sativa Rice Oryza sativa Sorghum Sorghum bicolor Millets Eleusine coracana, Pennisetum glaucum, etc. Corn Zea mays

Wheat The Staff of Life Wheat penny

World's largest and most widely cultivated food crop. Wheat is the source from 15% to 60 % of the calories and protein in the diet of nearly almost all countries. United States is the world's largest producer of wheat, growing 60 million bushels a year that are ground into 20 billions pounds of flour. Sixty percent of the American wheat is exported. Wheat is grown commercially in 41 of the 50 states, and for 11 states it is the primary cash crop.

Wheat s origin is unknown, but the ancient Egyptians ground wheat into flour, combined it with liquid and baked into bread. They discovered the property of wheat that has made it the most popular grain for bread baking: the ability of wheat dough to rise and form a high loaf when yeast is added as a fermenting agent. Centuries later, scientists showed that an elastic protein called GLUTEN gives wheat the ability to rise. Wheat flour is the only grain that has gluten.

There are several types of flour that you can find in the supermarket: 1. Bleached flour: This flour has been bleached to be whiter than natural unbleached flour, which tends to be yellowish. During the bleaching process, the little vitamin E that was left after the milling is destroyed in this process. 2. All-purpose flour: The most common flour used, most of the time this flour is bleached and enriched. 3. Self-rising flour: this is all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt added. 4. Whole-wheat flour: It is white, enriched flour with some bran added. At the health food store or specialty supermarkets you may find also 5. Stone ground whole-wheat flour: the entire wheat berry has been used. 6. Stone ground graham flour: Whole-wheat flour where the endosperm is finely ground but the bran is less coarse and flaky.

Maize The New World Cereal Zea mays Origin: Mexico Early Spread: Through New World after 1492

The Corn Plant

Corn is a native American plant and was discovered by the Spaniards after 1492, however they ignored the new grain. But the English, who were struggling through their first hungry winters in Jamestown and Plymouth, soon learned the value of this hardy plant. The Indians native to the area shared their crops and taught the colonists how to grow their own. One Indian innovation involved planting corn in hills along with beans and winter squash, a highly nutritious combination that make the most efficient use of the land. The beans used the corn stalks for poles, and the squashes grew at their feet choking off the weeds. The beans provided protein that compensated for corn's deficiencies of the amino acids tryptophan and lysine as well as the vitamins riboflavin and niacin, and the squashes were excellent source of vitamin A as well as essential fatty acids. It is believed that corn was present at the 1 st thanksgiving table in 1621.

Corn Flowers

Corn Flowers, closer up

The Corn Fruit

Evolution of Corn

Corn Natural Diversity Corn variants Corn types, Peru farm field

Corn in the U.S.

Rice Oriza sativa Rice is native of Asia, where it was grown and used for food for a long time.

Rice is a good source of vitamins, minerals and protein; it contains practically no fat and very little sodium. It is highly digestible, making it a suitable food for everyone from infants to the elderly; it is non-allergenic and free of gluten, making it suitable for special diets. It is inexpensive and easy to prepare and it is easy to store. In the United States rice is produced in California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri.

Processing Rice

Rice Next Steps for the Green Revolution Rice Genomic Research Golden Rice: Boon or Bane? Pro: solve problem (vitamin A deficiency) using biotechnology Con: problem originated with technology (polishing rice) and can be reversed; problems exist with technology (new gene combinations).

The American custom of throwing rice after the bride and groom is meant to encourage the fertility of the union. But to the Malays of Southeast Asia, rice is too precious to be tossed about. The Malays believe it possesses an essential life force and every ceremonial occasion: birth, rites of puberty, marriage, death; is marked by a symbolic meal of rice.

Barley Hordeum vulgare Cereals First King of

Barley Hordeum vulgare Origin: Near East (Fertile Crescent) Uses: Bread, Beer, Livestock feed 6-rowed 2-rowed

Rye Secale cereale Weed or First Cereal Crop? Standard Wisdom: originated as weed; better in cool climates New Finds: 13,000 year old rye, in Syria 3,000 years older than other cereals

Rye, Witches, and Triticale Rye with ergot fungus See Fig. 5.14, p. 119 A. Wheat B. Rye C. Triticale intergeneric hybrid

Oats A Weed Becomes (Somewhat) Respectable Origin: It was a weed that grew in barley or wheat fields Adapted to cool climates animal feed The Romans called the Germans oat-eating barbarians Oat field, Provence, Southern France July 2005

Oats Close Up Oat Spikelet Glumes + Florets The manufacturing process does not separate the parts of the grain, therefore the grain remains highly nutritious. The grain is flattened and made into oatmeal.

Sorghum Likes it Hot and Dry Origin: Ethiopia

Millets A Mixed Bag Finger millet Eleusine coracana Pearl millet, Pennisetum glaucum