How Breeding and Evolution have Improved the Taste of Vegetables

"The thesis is that most of our culinary delights have evolved from bitter-tasting ancestors in the vegetable kingdom."

June 28, 1843

On this day, the New England Farmer published an article called Effects of Culture.

The thesis is that most of our culinary delights have evolved from bitter-tasting ancestors in the vegetable kingdom.

Here's what it said:

Celery, so agreeable to most palates, is a modification of the Apium graveolens, the taste of which is so acrid and bitter that it cannot be eaten.

Our cauliflowers and cabbages are largely developed coleworts that grow wild on the seashore and do not weigh more than half an ounce each.

The rose has been produced by cultivation from the common wild briar;

the luscious plum from the acrid sloe,

and the golden pippin from the harsh, bitter crab.