Fruit // Current TV

The Beauty Of Pollination

A spectacular video that shows just a touch of the limitless-but-fragile beauty around us.

Progresshiv
added this
1 month ago
|
0 comments

thivest: How to wash fruit and vegetables in an optimal way

Those were the days when you could pick an apple from the tree and eat it ...... more

belgacem
added this
4 months ago
|
1 comment

Annoying Orange: Mommy and Me

We need a break from all the madness that's taking over the political world.... more

Buckeye_Bill
added this
5 months ago
|
10 comments

New 'Electronic Tongue' System Assesses the Antioxidant Power of Juices and Fruit

Researchers at the Centre for Molecular Recognition and Technological Development... more

sitsi
added this
7 months ago
|
0 comments

How industrial farming destroyed the tasty tomato

Supermarket tomatoes may look delicious — smooth, red and unblemished — but for the most part, they taste like nothing at all.

"I think tomatoes in grocery stores are like food porn in the purest sense of the word," author Barry Estabrook tells Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz. "They tantalize you, they make you think, but they don't deliver."

Estabrook is the author of a new book, Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. It lays out why supermarket tomatoes tend to taste so bad — and how they got that way.

Estabrook places most of the blame on consumers who want fresh tomatoes year-round, even in the depths of winter. "Depending on the time of year, at certain times of the winter, 90 percent of the fresh tomatoes that we find in the supermarkets are grown in Florida," he says.

Florida is warm in the winter, and it's an easy trailer-truck ride to most of the country. But Florida is also about the worst possible place to grow tomatoes. Both the climate and the soil are completely unsuitable, Estabrook says, so farmers must drench their fields in pesticides and fertilizers to have any hope of a crop.

On top of that, the tomatoes you see in those supermarkets have been bred for high yields and durability, not flavor. "As a farmer once said — an honest farmer — 'I don't get paid a cent for flavor,'" Estabrook says.

There's an even darker side to the modern commercial tomato, too, he says. Up until recently, workers on many of Florida's vast industrial tomato farms were basically slaves. "People being bought and sold like animals," Estabrook says. "People being shackled in chains. People being beaten for either not working hard enough, fast enough, or being too weak or sick to work. People actually being shot and killed for trying to escape. That sounds like 1850's slavery to me, and that, in fact, is going on, or has gone on."

Estabrook adds that there have been seven successful slavery prosecutions in Florida in the past 15 years. The situation is beginning to improve, he adds. It began with a group of tomato pickers called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, named after the Florida town where they live and work.

The group had been lobbying since the early 1990s for a plan that included a pay raise and some basic workers' rights. "What they started concentrating on was the end-customers," Estabrook says. "They started, actually, with the Taco Bell restaurant chain."

After four years of protests and boycotts, Taco Bell agreed to sign on and support the group's plan. Other chains soon followed, and even the powerful Florida tomato growers' committee came on board.

"In the last seven or eight months, there's just been a sea change in labor relations in the Florida tomato industry," he says. But there's still a long way to go. Most supermarkets, with the exception of Whole Foods, do not support the plan.

More at the linkSupermarket tomatoes may look delicious — smooth, red and unblemished —... more

JanforGore
added this
7 months ago
|
7 comments

Exploding water melons becoming a problem in China

Chinese farmers have been left stunned after their watermelons began to explode one by... more

sbacker
added this
9 months ago
|
25 comments

10 Easy Fruit-Bearing Trees

If you have a back yard large enough to plant a fruit tree, then it is time to look at... more

AngelAlina
added this
9 months ago
|
0 comments

Amazing Banana Art

Can you imagine that in a banana amazing arts can be done? Yes, in Banana art. Banana... more

AngelAlina
added this
10 months ago
|
1 comment

How to behave in Britain: Eat 5 A Day

This new series advises visitors and residents in the UK on how to behave... more

worldwrite
added this
10 months ago
|
1 comment

From 222Kgs. To 95 Kgs. In A Year. No Starving/Pills. « Ramanan50's Blog

useful tip,proven... more

ramanan50
added this
10 months ago
|
0 comments

Weekly Pulse: Florida Governor Wants to Drug Test All State Employees

By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger Florida Republican Governor Rick... more

MediaConsortium
added this
11 months ago
|
0 comments

Weekly Pulse: South Dakota’s Legislative Attack on Abortion Providers

By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger The South Dakota House of... more

MediaConsortium
added this
12 months ago
|
0 comments

Eight portions of fruit and vegetables a day protects against heart disease

Eating a minimum of eight portions of fruit and vegetables a day can lower the risk of... more

Kristena
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Eyeball In Your Melon

Your grocery store purchases may contain more than you bargained for, especially when... more

Geoffiroth
added this
1 year ago
|
2 comments

Seed Savers Exchange

More info and links here: http://www.ecobold.com/seed-savers-exchange/

I came across Seed Savers Exchange at the Green Festival, they are perfect for anyone who has a garden or is thinking of having one. Here you can either exchange seeds that you have too many of or, if you don't have any to exchange, you can buy seeds from others! What a great idea. They started this non-profit organization about 35 years ago in order to help farmers grow and save seeds, so they started a group of people who would grow each others seeds as a back up system. The organization grew so much that they got into a point where they needed to keep the seeds in one place, so they started a seed bank and began releasing a catalog to support the seed exchange. Today they have over 13,000 members across the country and every year they release a new catalog with a listing of all varieties their members want to share with people. You can also find the list and buy seeds on their website.

They have several kinds of seeds in their catalog, including vegetables, herbs and flowers.

I also came across a very cool program they launched called "Sell seeds instead of candy bars!". Here's a quick intro to it: Seed Savers has developed a new fundraising program as a healthy, sustainable alternative to other school fundraising programs. Benefit your school, your students, and the gardening public. Give children seeds to sell and they will grow, too, in the process. Seeds to Grow is a project of Seed Savers Exchange that promotes heirloom gardening.

A little story about them, from their site:
Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations.

Our mission is to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

At the heart of Seed Savers Exchange are the dedicated members who have distributed hundreds of thousands of heirloom and open pollinated garden seeds since our founding 35 years ago. Those seeds now are widely used by seed companies, small farmers supplying local and regional markets, chefs and home gardeners and cooks, alike.

Seed Savers Exchange was founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy to honor this tradition of preserving and sharing. Their collection started when Diane's terminally-ill grandfather gave them the seeds of two garden plants, Grandpa Ott's morning glory and German Pink tomato. Grandpa Ott's parents brought the seeds from Bavaria when they immigrated to St. Lucas, Iowa in the 1870s.

Today, the 890-acre Heritage Farm, near Decorah, Iowa, is our home. We maintain many thousands of heirloom garden varieties, most having been brought to North America by members' ancestors who emigrated from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and other parts of the world.

Unlike Fort Knox, Heritage Farm is not surrounded by security fences and guards. Our perimeter is patrolled by bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, deer, raccoons and other wildlife. The farm is ringed by hiking trails that take visitors through majestic scenery, past our certified organic preservation gardens, historic orchard and ancient White Park Cattle.

They even give tours of their farm. Way to go Seed Savers Exchange!More info and links here: http://www.ecobold.com/seed-savers-exchange/ I came... more

EcoBold
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Bananas Galore in the Pacific [video]

The world’s most popular fruit is the banana, which originated in the very-much... more

GrrlScientist
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

All you ever wanted to know about modern watermelon farming...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/dining/18melons.html?_r=2&hpw= even if you... more

greenandgrey
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

'Miracle' tomato turns sour foods sweet

According to the article, scientists are studying the effects of miraculin, which is a... more

Mcellie
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

The food and nuclear Magnetic resonance Spectroscopy + Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Foods

The data generated by NMR spectroscopy applied to complex mixtures is extensive and... more

worrg
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

How to set up a bee hive.

"How to set up a Bee Hive" presented by The FruitGuys Farm Steward... more

fruitguys
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Fruit

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved