An Test was Re: SC - Truck Crops

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Bear wrote:

(first let me say, nice synopsis)

>BTW, Root also says, "...fagioli refers specifically to the New World bean."
>Fagioli also refers to the black-eyed pea, which is definitely Old World in
>origin.

When were black eyed peas introduced, if ever, to Europe? Were they 
eaten in North Africa in Medieval times, i.e., would they have been 
eaten in North Africa after 600 and before 1600? I've got this bag of 
'em in the freezer...

>  > >  >  Egg Plant  --- India, cultivated in Italy by the late 15th
>>  > 
>>  >  Solanum melongena is of southeast Asian origin.  The variant esculenta,
>  > >  which has the purple fruit is an Indian hybrid.  Eggplant was adopted by
>  > >  the Arabs after they conquered northern India and was imported into the
>  > > Moorish regions of Europe.
>  >
>  > As is common, I assumed he was referring to the purple eggplant, since the
>  > white is difficuylt to find in some areas.
>  >
>I am informed there are also light purple and purple and white striped
>varieties, but I have yet to see them.   The fact that purple eggplant is
>the most common modern variety does not negate the possibility that medieval
>cooks used some other variety.  In this case, I would say that the because
>the purple eggplant was available in India when the Arabs invaded, it became
>the most widely used variety of eggplant.

Well, i can vouch for them. Here in California, a wide variety of 
eggplants are eaten by different Asian communities - and i saw them 
in Indonesia and in photos in Thai cookbooks produced in Thailand...

In Indonesia and Thailand (and now in California) green or white 
about 1-1/2 or 2 inches in diameter. In Southeast Asia these are 
sometimes eaten raw, dipped in hot chili paste (obviously chilis 
arrived after European contact). I recently saw white eggplants 
shaped like an egg and about the size of a goose egg - i don't know 
if they are old or recently hybridized. I saw some round ones about 
the size of a small chicken egg that were white with purple streaks, 
mostly concentrated around the stem end.

There's even some difference between the small narrow eggplants eaten 
by the Chinese and those eaten by the Japanese and those eaten by the 
South Asians. The signs give Romanized versions of their names and 
they are different purples and somewhat different shapes.

It's real eggplant heaven in the Berkeley Bowl market.

Anahita al-shazhiyya