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The Nettle Eaters
Balkan boys rubbing their bodies with nettles pales in comparison to the annual World Nettle Eating Championship in Dorset, England, to which thousands of people flock each year to see contestants actually chew and swallow nettles. There’s only one rule: each competitor is given a tray with 20-inch-long stalks, after which they strip their leaves and eat them; the winner is the one who strips and eats the most stinging stalks in the shortest amount of time.
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NUTMEG
Myristica fragrans
Sniff or Sprinkle
Myristica fragrans is a tropical evergreen and the primary flavoring ingredient in the nutmeg spice.
The nutmeg tree’s fruit is also known as nutmeg. Nutmeg seeds weigh 5 to 10 grams when dried. Nutmeg spice refers to the actual seed within the fruit, while its red, lacy seed coat is used to make mace. Both spices are flavorful and very aromatic. However, nutmeg loses its fragrance shortly after it is ground. This explains why many prefer to buy nutmeg as a whole fruit to grind themselves, rather than buy it pre-ground. Both parts of the seed are aromatic when fresh. The smell isn’t the only sensory enhancer of nutmeg. The taste of ground nutmeg has a warm flavor, though there are compelling reasons to use the spice sparingly.
Unfortunately, some people abuse nutmeg. Though it’s sold in stores, it’s less innocuous than it seems—some use nutmeg as a recreational drug; chemicals within the plant have mild hallucinogenic properties. In fact, it has become known as the poor man’s LSD, though a lot of nutmeg is required to achieve any effect at all. Ingested in large quantities, nutmeg may cause hallucinations, but uncomfortable side effects will also result, including severe nausea and vomiting. The hallucinogen itself isn’t particularly safe, either, since the active ingredient in nutmeg affects the central nervous system.
Nutmeg is a treasured fruit with great economic importance, sold all over the world. However, because it fetches such a good price per pound (for example, $28 per pound in India), there are numerous illegal traders who sell a grade of nutmeg that shouldn’t be ground or sold. This grade of nutmeg is known as BWP nutmeg, which means the seed is broken, wormy, and likely infected by pests. BWP nutmegs are only safe for the extraction of essential oils, or for uses other than consumption. Some people do buy these tainted crops and grind them, afterward marketing them as a good, high-quality product—so read the label of origin! These nutmegs usually have certain molds and mildews within them that can cause upset stomach and potentially harm the body—yet another reason to buy nutmeg whole and grind it yourself.
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The nutmeg tree reaches about 65 feet in height in temperate climates, but can grow up to 150 feet tall in the tropics.
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OAK
Quercus
The Nation’s Tree
It’s a legendary tree, beloved and appreciated, since it has many specific uses and is admired for its sturdy and masterful beauty. The oak is a common symbol of strength and endurance. As such, it is a national tree in many countries. In Germany, it has had many meanings since ancient times. In current times the oak’s leaves are displayed on the deutsche mark and the euro. In 2004, the United States Congress made the oak America’s national tree. Other countries that display oak in their national symbols include France, England, Cyprus, Estonia, Moldova, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Wales, Poland, Serbia, and Bulgaria.
Oak has about 600 different species in the genus Quercus, family Fagaceae. It is native to the Northern Hemisphere, including the deciduous and evergreen species. North America has about 250 oak species (90 in the United States, 160 in Mexico). The second-greatest oak diversity is found in China, which has about 100 species. Oak has a very specific spiral arrangement of leaves growing from thick branches. The leaves are lobate or web-shaped. On some species the edges of the leaves are serrated, although most have smooth margins or edges. In spring, oaks produce male flowers, shaped as catkins or flower clusters, as well as smaller female flowers. The fabulous-looking fruits are nuts, known of course as acorns, and grow from a cup-shaped structure called a cupule. Each of the nuts contains only one seed. The seed needs 7 to 18 months to mature, dependent upon the species.
Oak wood is highly appreciated because of its density, hardness, and strength. As such, it has many historical and contemporary uses: Vikings used it for their spectacularly resistant longships, as did other European seafaring powers. Since ancient times oak was used for paneling in prestigious buildings and for making fine furniture. In nineteenth-century Europe, oak timber was used to frame houses, since it was considered the most durable. Today, except for furniture, flooring, and veneer production, oak lumber is too expensive to use for framing. It is still the best to make barrels for aging wines, sherry, brandy, Scotch and Irish whiskey, and bourbon.
Other uses include oak wood chips for smoking meat, cheeses, and fish. Japanese oak is used for the best Yamaha drums, as the density of the wood gives a brighter and louder tone. In India it is still used for making traditional agricultural implements. In Korea, oak bark is used for making shingles for traditional roofs. The bark of white oak is also used in medicine since it is rich in tannins, while acorns can be specifically used for flour or roasted for a kind of acorn coffee.
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Most Famous Oak Trees
Oak has a rich mythology based on its great strength and age. Even today, many old oak trees are honored. Here are the five most famous ones:
1.The Emancipation Oak, at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, is considered one of the Ten Great Trees of the world by the National Geographic Society.
2.The Bowthorpe Oak, in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England, is 1,000 years old and was the subject of a television documentary.
3.The Ivenack Oak, one of Europe’s largest trees, is in Germany. It is approximately 800 years old.
4.The Seven Sisters Oak is located in Mandeville, Louisiana. It is 1,500 years old and has a trunk 38 feet in circumference.
5.The Crouch Oak originates from the eleventh century and is located in Addlestone, Surrey, England. It is the main symbol of the town. Legend says that when she noticed it, Queen Elizabeth I stopped to have a picnic by it.
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If a wine has the word barrique in its name, then you know that it’s been aged for at least three years in an oak barrel.
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OLIVE
Olea europaea
Witnessing History
One of the oldest cultivated trees in history, the olive tree has enjoyed many roles and meanings. Even Jesus, before he overturned the tables of usurers and gold traders in front of the Holy Temple, wore an olive branch as crowds welcomed him to Jerusalem. The Latin name for the tree literally means “oil from Europe.” It belongs to the family Oleaceae and is native to coastal regions of the eastern Mediterranean, including Iran’s coast along the south of the Caspian Sea.
Spanish colonists brought the tree to some regions in present-day Chile, and it soon spread along the Pacific coast of South America where the climate is similar to the Mediterranean. In the eighteenth century, Spanish missionaries introduced the olive tree to California. Japan began cultivating the plant in 1908 on Shodo Island, which today is known as one of the cradles of olive cultivation, as is the Greek island of Crete. According to most estimations, 860 million olive trees grow today worldwide, each springtime giving their spectacularly rich fruits and spreading the unforgettable fragrance that accompanies the blooming of their small white flowers.
The olive tree is an evergreen that grows to about 24 to 45 feet in height. People cultivate it primarily for its fruits, which are used for production of olive oil. Its leaves are silvery green and oblong, while the trunk is twisted and gnarled. Trees vary in their production of either olive fruits or drupes, depending on the species. Most fruits are small, at ¼ inch, with dark flesh, usually harvested when they ripen from green to purple. Some estimate the cultivation of
olives began about seven thousand years ago, though the first commercially grown fields are recorded on Crete around 3000 B.C. The olive tree was an essential source of wealth for the Minoan civilization. The oil was used for cooking, as it is now, and as a lotion. Many Greeks made use of the oil on their skin and hair, rubbing it liberally on their bodies on a daily basis.
Olive trees can grow in a number of ways, but planting by cuttings is usually preferable. The trees favor well-drained, clay-rich soil, hot summers, and full sun exposure. The tree has extensive, sturdy root systems that bore down deep and wide, which helps give the trees their extremely long life spans. Today, a few olive trees are known to be the oldest in the world: one in Algarve, Portugal; another in Kastela, Croatia; and one in Bar, Montenegro. All three are more than two thousand years old. In Lebanon, an olive tree cluster dubbed “The Sisters Olive Trees of Noah” is estimated to be six thousand years old—a silent witness to a lot of history.
Olive branches are a nearly universal symbol of peace, glory, and abundance, and have been for much of recorded history. In ancient societies, olive wreaths were used to crown victors both in wars and during competitive games. Archeologists even found remains of olive branches in Tutankhamen’s tomb. Both the Old and New Testaments mention olives more than thirty times. Jesus’s prayer session before his arrest took place in Gethsemane, an olive garden, and the famous Mount of Olives, where Christ is described to have ascended to heaven, lies just east of Jerusalem. The Koran and the Hebrew Bible also mention the tree, the latter citing it as the source of the seven most significant products of the land of Israel. The people used olive oil extensively in cooking, as well as for sacrificial events, lighting, and anointment of priests and royal officials.
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The Gift of Poseidon
Pliny the Elder reported that an olive tree grew in the center of the Roman Forum, while the great poet Horace mentioned it concerning his diet: “As for me, olives, endives, and smooth mallow provide substance.” Homer described how Odysseus crawled under two branches of olive growing from a single stock. The Athenians were especially proud of an olive tree on the Acropolis, claiming that olives grew first in their city, based on the myth that Athens was under special patronship of Attica from Poseidon, who had presented the tree as a gift. Theophrastus, often cited as the “father of botany,” records the death of that famous olive tree, which perished in Acropolis when the Persians attacked Athens. Of its resilience, he wrote: “The olive was burnt down, but on the very day it was burnt, it grew again to the height of two cubits.”
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ONION
Allium cepa
A Bulb That Conquered the World
From China and India to Egypt, Iran, the entire Middle East, throughout Asia and across the ocean to South and North America, a plant grows that many consider one of the healthiest foods there are. The onion has figured into thousands of years of human history, and even formed the currency used in ancient Egypt to pay workers who had built the pyramids. Originally, people ate onions raw, as if biting into an apple. Many considered them a source of strength and nutrition, bad breath be damned; onion bulbs were even found inside the tombs of the pharaohs, including Tutankhamen.
However, it was Christopher Columbus who first transported the plant to the West Indies, whence it ultimately spread to both North and South America. Even if Columbus didn’t conquer and claim the world for Spain, the onion did. Today, kitchens across the world have onions on hand. People have revered the therapeutic value of onions since antiquity: traditional Indian medicine has made use of them since 2000 B.C., something the ancient Romans and Greeks were able to do as well. Onions were practically an indispensable product in all European cuisines during the Middle Ages. Since onions are fast-growing and inexpensive, many of the world’s poor make entire meals from them.
The onion is most cultivated of all species of the Allium genus; it is a biennial or perennial plant, but most often it is cultivated as an annual one, harvested in the first season after planting. In addition to the classical bulb of the common onion, the genus has numerous other species cultivated for food, including the Japanese bunching onion and the Egyptian onion, the latter of which kept the pyramid builders strong and accompanied dead pharaohs into the afterlife. Wild onion is a common name for many species from the same genus. The most general division is the one that differentiates between white and red onions.
Onion cultivation takes place in fertile, well-drained soil, but a bit of sand or clay is also good, as this type of planting medium contains sulfur, which the plant needs. Onions can be grown from seeds or from bulbs saved from the last year’s crop. The plant does have some special enemies, such as the onion fly (Delia antiqua), which lays its eggs on the leaves and stems, after which the larvae make tunnels inside the bulbs, causing them to rot. Another pest is the onion eelworm (Ditylenchus dipsaci), a parasitic nematode living in the soil that causes the bulbs to get soft. Soil where this worm is discovered will need to be treated for several years to be onion-fertile once again.
Many are aware of the culinary and medicinal uses of onions, especially its benefits for the cardiovascular system, due to its phytochemicals and the flavonoid quercetin, but the plant does have some nonculinary, nonmedicinal uses as well. Since onions have large cells that can be seen by the human eye and are easily viewed under the most inexpensive microscope, they are often used to teach students about plant cell structures. Onions also make a pungent juice or fluid that is used for insect bites and can help hair growth when rubbed on the scalp. Other uses include preventing oxidation or rust on iron, and polishing glasses and copperware. In addition, the water used to boil onions can be put into spray bottles to use as an organic herbicide to help garden plants resist any number of pests. Onion plants also keep moles from burrowing through lawns, because the mole’s supersensitive nose apparently finds the odor of the bulbs offensive even underground. Onions are also an ingredient in the production of dyes. And of course, in folklore traditions, onions (along with garlic) are recommended to keep vampires away.
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Holy Onion!
Ancient Egyptians actually worshipped the onion, believing that its spherical shape symbolized eternal life. Some findings, however, indicate that people living as early as the Bronze Age, around 5000 B.C., used onions as food. Roman gladiators were traditionally rubbed with onions in order to strengthen their muscles. In ancient Greece athletes ate onions in great quantities, believing they “balanced the blood.” Medical practitioners of the Middle Ages often prescribed the plant against coughs, headaches, hair loss, snakebites, and as a cure for impotence. The miraculous onion has even found use as a cure for infertility in women.
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Onion Tears
Slice and dice an onion and there is a good chance this vegetable will bring tears to your eyes. Onions contain a sulfur-like gas produced by an enzyme, called lachrymatory-factor synthase, which is released into the air. The nerves in your eyes believe you are under chemical attack and send a signal to the brain to flush it away, causing you to cry.
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OPIUM POPPY
Papaver somniferum
The Plant of Many Wars
The opium poppy is infamous for its milky, latex sap. Chemically, the plant is rich in isoquinoline alkaloids, which contain a double carbon ring with a nitrogen atom. Commonly found in many species of the family Papaveraceae, these narcotic alkaloids have pain-relieving and sleep-inducing effects, but are also highly addictive; they include codeine, papaverine, noscapine, thebaine, and morphine (named, incidentally, after the god of sleep, Morpheus). In Latin, somniferum means “to sleep.” Since antiquity, records have indicated that parents in South Asia, the Middle East, and southern Europe gave small doses of raw opium to babies and children to help them get to sleep, although many became addicted.
Commercial opium fields in undisclosed locations cultivate poppies for legal uses. Here an old method k
nown as “poppy straw” governs the harvest; farmers cut dried stalks with pods, or capsules, containing seeds still attached. They later remove the seeds when they release the crop for the culinary market, and any raw opium is extracted from the capsules. Poppy seed bagels owe their seeds to the plant, and although they don’t contain any ingredient that gives narcotic effects, consumption of poppy seeds can give a positive result during urine tests for drugs. The seeds have even found use in some cakes, and as a source for making edible and healthy oils.
Archeologists have discovered artifacts from Sumeria, dated to 4000 B.C., that depict opium poppies. The Minoans cultivated the plant, though it was the ancient Greeks who bestowed the name opium. In some cultures, people used the plant to fight asthma, improve eyesight, and treat stomach illnesses. A number of writers depict opium (and its effects) in their books, including L. Frank Baum (the poppy field scene in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and Thomas De Quincey (Confessions of an English Opium Eater). The famous French composer Hector Berlioz was known to use opium and claimed it as his inspiration for Symphonie Fantastique, a fable where a young artist uses opium to experience visions of an unrequited love. Historically, people have treated opium as a cure-all for many ailments; the plant has not always suffered the detrimental reputation it has today. In fact, the Royal College of Anaesthetists even displays on its coat of arms the flower and fruit of an opium plant.
The Big, Bad Book of Botany Page 18