Interesting Facts About The Fruit

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

1. Not all oranges are orange

In subtropical growing regions (such as Brazil, the country that grows the most oranges in the world), there will never be enough cold weather for the chlorophyll to break down in the skin of the fruit, which means that it may still be yellow or green even when ripe. But because American consumers cannot understand such a phenomenon, imported oranges are treated with ethylene gas to get rid of chlorophyll and turn them orange.

2. Most commercial fruits are clones

When you actually see perfectly identical apples, oranges and other fruits in supermarkets, it's not so shocking. Growers want specific varieties of fruit to remain exactly the same, without all the unpredictable genetic mutations you get with old-fashioned reproduction (pollination of flowers, planting of seeds, etc.).

3. Japanese melons are the most expensive fruit in the world

Two melons sold at auction for $ 23,500. People in Japan pay astronomical prices for luxury fruits, such as tattooed apples and cucumber buttons, usually given as gifts. Demand has fallen in recent years, but their numbers are still quite significant.

4. Cherry farmers hire helicopter pilots

Cherry farmers hire helicopter pilots to dry their trees after it rains so the cherries don't split. Pilots receive hundreds of dollars a day to be on standby in the summer in case it rains and the trees need urgent drying. It sounds ridiculous, but it's worth it for farmers who grow the delicate, expensive fruit.

5. The apple you eat may be one year old

Apples are sold in grocery stores and farmers' markets year-round, although their harvest season (at least in the United States) lasts only a few months in the fall. How does this work? Well, increasingly sophisticated cold storage technology means that it is possible (and / or likely) that the crunchy, juicy apple you eat in August 2013 was actually harvested in October 2012.

6. Bananas are artificially ripe

Bananas have seven "nuances" of ripeness. Bananas come in green because they are too delicate and volatile, so extremely accurate storage technology is used before they go on the market. The most popular shades are between 2, 5 and 3, 5, but much depends on the size and target market. So buy greener bananas.

7. Bananas are in danger of being completely destroyed by disease

Despite the fact that there are more than 1000 banana varieties on the ground, almost every banana imported on the commercial market belongs to the only variety called Cavendish. These bananas became dominant in the entire industry in the 1960s, as they were resistant to fungal diseases (called Panama Race One), which had previously destroyed the most popular banana, Gros Michel. But the signs point quite convincingly to Cavendish's impending death over the next decade. That's why:

- Cavendish bananas are sterile and seedless, so they reproduce asexually (through shoots that grow from the "mother" plant), which means that each plant is genetically identical;

- This lack of genetic diversity makes all Cavendish bananas vulnerable to the threat of Tropical Race 4 - a new, even more devastating fungal disease;

"Paradise Four has already wiped out Cavendish bananas in Asia and Australia." Most manufacturers believe that it is only a matter of time before the disease spreads to Latin America;

8. American farmers do not have to sell all raisins

The main producers of raisins are prohibited from selling their entire production. They must contribute to a "national reserve for raisins" if supply exceeds demand. The Raisin Administrative Committee is currently carrying out a legal vendetta against farmer Marvin Horn for selling all his raisins instead of going to the reserve. This is not as strange as it sounds; most fruit growers sell according to rules established by associations designed to compensate for market fluctuations and protect their economic interests.

9. Grapefruit can cause dangerous reactions with some drugs

For 43 of the 85 drugs tested, grapefruit consumption can be life-threatening, Dr. Bailey said. - Many of them are associated with an increase in heart rate, which can lead to death.

Under normal circumstances, drugs are metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract. With the consumption of grapefruit, relatively few of them are absorbed because an enzyme in the gut called CYP3A4 inactivates them. But grapefruit contains natural chemicals called furanocoumarins, which inhibit the enzyme, and without it, the gut absorbs much more, raising blood levels dramatically.

10. Rhubarb leaves are extremely poisonous

Rhubarb leaves contain kidney damage oxalic acid - a chemical compound found in bleach, metal cleaners and anti-rust products. But the stems are completely safe to eat, which is great because they make a delicious rhubarb pie.

11. One pomegranate can contain more than 1000 seeds

Contrary to the myth that each pomegranate has 613 seeds.

12. The strawberry is not a technical fruit or even a fruit

This is (botanically) true. Fruits by definition have seeds on the inside, and strawberries obviously do not. The plant produces a fleshy "fake fruit", also known as a pseudocarp, from its flower, and what we think of as seeds on the outside are the "real" fruits. But whatever it is, they are delicious.