History of Vegetables
A Brief History of Vegetables
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE
Not so commonly used these days, the tuberous roots of the hardy Jerusalem Artichoke have been used for centuries and were well-known to Amer-Indians by the time Westerners explored the New World. “Neither came it from Jerusalem or out of Asia but out of America,” Gerard said in 1596, while its large yellow blossom which is similar to the Sunflower Artichoke - Girasole Articiocco in Italian - is thought to be the origin of the name corruption.
The roots can over-winter in the ground and hence it was once a valuable vegetable for springtime. Sometimes pickled or used in salads, the boiled roots were often mashed with butter or added to pies.
BEAN - COMMON
Faba vulgaris is perhaps the best known cultivated bean, though there are many varieties and the seeds have been used for food throughout the ages. Possibly originating in Asia or North Africa, the bean has been grown since prehistory. Bronze Age Italians and Swiss grew the plant, the Greeks knew it and there is mention of beans in The Ilyiad [apparently there were traces of beans found during the excavations of Troy]. The ancient Egyptians cultivated beans, the Romans used them ceremonially and Pliny mentions them in his writings too. Eventually they were introduced into China, Japan and India.
BEAN - HARICOT
The climbing Common Haricot [Phaseolus vulgaris] is thought to have originated in South America and was introduced - like the potato - to Europe during the 16th century, there being no reference to the plant during Roman times [Cato does not mention it] or in ancient Greece. There appear to be no traces of the haricot in early European pre-history, yet there are traces of haricot beans in very old Peruvian burial sites.
BEAN - SOY
In a history of vegetables one can hardly miss out the Soy Bean, although yellow or black soy beans are not readily consumed in Britain as a vegetable in their own right, but rather used as a constituent of other foodstuffs. Soy has been cultivated in China since ancient times and is possibly mentioned in the writings of Confucius. In the late 19th century soy was introduced as a forage crop into Europe and North America, yet in places like Japan and China the beans are used in cooking very much like any other bean.
BEET / BEETROOT
Edible beets come in a variety of forms: white beet [B. alba]; sugar-beet [B. altissima], red beet [B. vulgaris], and the mangold-wurtzel [B. maritima].
Although beets can be found in the wild they are one of the core human crops which has been cultivated successfully for absolutely ages. The ancient Greeks and Romans were well up on the species with distinct root varieties named by Pliny and Aristotle, and we know that beet was grown in 12th century Britain. In the late 16th century there is a reference to ’sugar’ in beet and by the mid 1700s this was identified as a potential source for commercial sugar production. It was trade embargoes during the Napoleonic era that finally triggered French commercialisation of the beet-to-sugar process.
CABBAGE
The cabbage and similar greens are members of the Cruciferae family, most of which are edible. Many of the cabbage family are derived from a wild ancestor, the colewort [Brassica oleracea], which is still common in many parts of Europe, particularly near coastal areas. Many early writers and old medieval books on cookery mention ‘coles’ but it is likely that these were not truly ‘cultivated’ varietals. Another member of the family, cauliflower, was not cultivated in England until the 17th century, for example, yet the Greeks and Romans knew about it.
CARROT
A rather unpalatable and spindly rooted wild carrot can be found in Britain’s countryside but we probably owe it to Flemish refugees from the period of Elizabeth I bringing the succulent cultivated variety to our culinary doorstep, although the vegetable has been cultivated for more than a couple of thousand years.
CELERY
There is a wild celery which can be found dotted around Britain’s countryside, particularly in damp and marshy areas, which is believed to be the original celery brought over by the Romans. Although that particlar plant can be eaten, it is pretty tough and has an unpleasant smell. Over the years careful selection of cultivated varieties has left us with the more palatable celery offerings we now find on our supermarket shelves.
LEEKS
By all accounts our leeks began their history in distant corners of the Mediterranean and East, with signs of cultivation in ancient Southern Europe.
LETTUCE
You may have heard of the Wild Lettuce [Lactuta scariola] which can be found wild in Britain’s hedgerows and waysides, well our modern lettuces are believed to be derived from this original and pretty unpalatable antecedant which is thought to have originated in antiquity in a region from Central and Eastern Asia to Southern Europe. Lettuce [L. sativa] is thought to have been introduced in the early 16th century into England, but is believed to have been cultivated by the Greeks and Romans, and thought to have been introduced from the West into China.
ONION
Tracing the progress of the onion across our culinary world is, like several of our common vegetables, not easy to be precise about though it possibly originated in the Indian sub-continent and is said not to have been present, or was only rare, in the Americas until the arrival of Europeans. There are not particularly palatable varieties of wild onion, however the ancient Egyptians grew onions and included the plant in their religious activities. The Greeks and Romans are thought to have acquired the plant through their contact with Egypt and from that point onions spread across Europe.
PARSNIP
Parsnip in its various forms - a wild parsnip is found in Britain’s hedgerows and meadows - has been around for a long time. It was to be found in Roman gardens, there apparently being Pompeiian frescoes depicting the root, while Dioscorides mentions it. Gerard [1595] mentions that an ‘excellent bread’ was sometimes made from the root, although others are rather more circumspect about the bread quality.
PEAS
Peas have been around Britain’s shores since Norman times, and by the time of Henry VIII varietal quality was a major consideration in their consumption - although it wasn’t until the reign of Elizabeth I that really good eating quality peas were introduced [from Holland].
Quite where the pea originates from is uncertain but it IS an ancient crop. The Greeks cultivated peas, and peas have been found in Swiss Bronze Age remains. There is a ‘field pea’ which occurs naturally in neighbouring Italy - this may be the original variety from which all other derive - but there are few or no native wild varieties lurking round the outback of Asia. The pea appears to have arrived in China through Western Asia and there seems to be no ancient use of the pea in Egyptian or Indian cultures.
POTATO
The history of the potato is rather complex and full inconsistencies - perhaps not unexpected considering the period when Westerners discovered this now important vegetable…. during their conquests and explorations of the Americas from whence potatoes originate.
Accounts of Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas mention that the Indians served up a cultivated boiled root ‘not unlike chestnut in taste’. By the late 1500s potatoes were being cultivated in Spain and Italy, reaching Vienna in about 1588 via Italy. In the same year Clusius - in Holland - mentioned that he received a couple of tubers but was uncertain whether they had originated in America or Spain, and Gerard appeared to be growing something similar [1597]. In fact you get the feeling that every botanist and his wife was experimenting with potatoes. However, it is uncertain whether these ‘potatoes’ were the same as that of the Solanum type, or were what was known as Papas perunanum which had its origins in Peru.
Sir Francis Drake encountered potatoes of South American origin during his world tour in 1578, and it is possible that during his piratical expeditions to the West Indies around 1585 he may have acquired ‘papas’ samples and handed these to his old friend Sir Walter Raleigh who had farms in Ireland, near Cork. On the other hand there is another school of thought which suggests that possibly Sir John Hawkins brought potatoes to England in 1565. It is also suggested that Raleigh himself brought potatoes to Ireland after returning from Virginia - unlikely since he never ventured there. A much more probable candidate was Thomas Heriot working for Raleigh and who was sent to the Americas to see what the land had to offer. Mitchell [1767] thought that Heriot had given samples to Gerard, and to Clusius who introduced them to Italy and planted them in France.
There are references to ‘Batatas’ being found in India [Van Linschoten - 1583] being: “somewhat red in colour… but sweeter of taste,” however it is thought that the potato wasn’t known about in the Low Countries until around 1620. One reference [Houghton - 1699] says that there was a longer and more succulent potato brought into England from Spain. Potatoes did not initially catch on in England and Miller [1754] mentions that the vegetable was despised by the rich, but then we find Sir Hans Sloane - the botanist and naturalist whose personal collection of curios became the starting point of the British Museum - saying in 1707 that “Many live on the Irish Patatas, a sort of Solanum…” [the reference to Ireland reflects the work done on the early cultivation of the plant on that fair isle.]
SPINACH
Spinach is thought to have originated in the Middle East, being introduced to Europe in the 16th century. The much tougher New Zealand Spinach [Tetragonia expansa] was introduced from the Antipodes as an alternative crop in times of drought.
TOMATO
Another plant originating in the Americas [Central]. Brought to Europe by the Spaniards who made great use of it as a food plant, but unknown as to when it finally arrived in Britain. One writer [Acosta - 1588] describes how ‘tomates’ were ‘good to eate’, full of juice, and gave good taste to sauce.
TURNIP
Turnip is another of those vegetables with a very long history of cultivation and seems to be of temperate Western Asia and European origin, with many varieties emerging over the centuries.
