Hi!
A quickie!

How many fruits and vegetables is there?

David Z Mason has a huge list compiled from wikipedia i think

id say literally 1000's

[www.rawfoodfarm.com]

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

25?

david

Do vegetables include seaweed? If so there are about 10,000 edible of those so 10,025?

Then let it be said. 10,025 it is!

david

I'd Like to see more at the grocery store! You know its strange, how many wild foods are completely ignored, out of ignorance, or on purpose. The season here is pretty brief, but whenever they are available I eat as much as I can. Thimbleberries, blackberries, salmonberries, stinging nettles.

Mislu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I'd Like to see more at the grocery store! You
> know its strange, how many wild foods are
> completely ignored, out of ignorance, or on
> purpose. The season here is pretty brief, but
> whenever they are available I eat as much as I
> can. Thimbleberries, blackberries, salmonberries,
> stinging nettles.

I heard somewhere 60 species account for the vast majority of the human diet. My shopping list is much less than that, but make up somewhat gathering seaweed, gardening and foraging. As winter approaches the greens are fading but root veggies are around. Just found out the evening primrose sets a tasty edible root for the winter.

ps When I see "stinging nettles" I always think "thistle" because that's what's around here. Thistles have a fortress of thorns and so I don't recommend them but it's fun to try.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2009 11:47AM by loeve.

loeve, do you mean "60 vegetables species" or "60 fruit and vegetables"-species?

The horses don't eat the stinging nettles until they are cut down and dried on the ground for a couple of hours. The stings seems to be less active then.

I LOVE thistles! I put them in the vita-mix and make green smoothies. It's my favorite among all the swedish wild greens.

How many fruits are there out of the total of 1000?

Healthybun,

I meant "60 fruit and vegetable" species, using the botanical definition of fruit, so that staple foods like rice, wheat and corn are included.

Do you have horses? So nettles are less prickly than thistles? I just read that in Scotland they used to feed cattle thistles that had been ground down to destroy the prickers. I juice them sometimes. They are so very green.

I'm not sure of the total species or proportions of fruit to vegetable species, guessing fruits are kind of special and relatively uncommon in the plant kingdom, especially if including fresh and salt water plankton and fungi.

No, I don't have any horses. But your meet alot of interesting people if you own your own Raw Food educational health center.

For example. There was a person who was on a daycare center for young children in the year around 1940 or so. He was about 5 years old and the keepers that took care of the children used a special "treatment" for the children. They forced the 5-yearolds to run around naked among high-grown nettlebushes to "harden and make the children strong to manage the hard world out there".

70 years later this person started to eat healthy and went to our neighbours personal development course and he suddenly under a breathing exercise he started to scratch his legs like a frenzy. He also remembered this horrible experience at his daycare center. '

Today, he is free.

totally offtopic.

Loeve, and Healthybun,
For the most part I have only eaten stinging nettles cooked or in a tea. Actually as a tea it makes a surprisingly rich and satisfying broth, a very green one at that. I have heard that you have to let them wilt a little before eating them, if you want to eat them raw. Enough to let the stingers fall. I bet it would make great kim chee.

Yes, there isn't much variety in most U.S. market places. You can expand it somewhat if you are adventurous and check out ethnic market places. Asian and hispanic, russian and middle eastern grocery stores often have interesting things you never see in the general market place. Also if you have a chance to make it to a native american pow wow or other celebrations you could learn about other interesting foods. Unfortunately, some of these have unhealthy additions, such as fried bread, sometimes the berries are coated with shortening also. But maybe you might find something of interest. That is how I learned of some wild foods.

That helps, Healthybun. Take fruits. If talking to an Icelander raw foodist they may say there are few fruits and vegetables that are available year round. A Costa Rican might say there are hundreds or thousands. As a health professional in Scandinavia you must have lots of cool weather crops like peas and kale, temperate climate fruits and all kinds of imports and on-line options so I imaging available fruits and vegetables number in the hundreds or even thousands? If nuts, seeds, algea, fungi and wild species are added then even more so.

It's too bad what that elderly man had to go through as a child, and nice that your health community was able to heal him.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Mislu, I meant to get out and find soapberries last summer to whip up some 'ice cream'.

[www.sealaskaheritage.org]

loeve,

Very confused: The soapberries I have I use for washing fine fabrics . . .

Tamukha, soapberries were one of Mislu's suggestions this time last year. His reference above to exploring native cuisines reminded me of the posts and links around Dec. of 08. I read James Michener's Alaska and since am keen on life in the far north.

Please see the thread bumped on 'whipped cream' ideas for more on soapberries.

Just curious, Tamukha, how did you come by your soapberries?

"Soopolallie berries were, and continue to be, a valued item of trade among
Native people; they are especially valued as gifts (Parish et al 1996).
References
Hebda, Richard. 1995. Natural History - Soapberry. Royal British Columbia
Museum. Pp 1-2. [rbcm1.rbcm.gov.bc.ca];

Loeve,
I am so happy you remembered! I guess that was a really unique suggestion! Yes, the edible kind of soapberries are very, very unique, and looks like a lot of fun. When I lived in Anchorage there was a nice patch of them off of the seward highway around Indian creek, bird creek, and near portage glacier. At the time I tried a few, but didn't really understand that they are best whipped up and sweetened. Otherwise they just taste bitter and soapy. Most people add water and sugar, but I can only imagine what creative additions and uses a raw foodist could do with these berries! I think people have used apple juice, bannanas and water for sweetening. I wonder if dates could be used, agave syrup? I wonder what a non-sweet preparation could do? With vegetable juices, spirulina? What about carrot juice, thats pretty sweet!

I am so glad I got someones interest! There is also a desert version of the plant. I ordered a plant online, and it took root, last year it started to form two berries, but they both dried up and fell off before they got ripe. I think the plant was too small. The other way cool thing about this plant is that it makes its own nitrogen! I have read somewhere to be careful about fertilizing because you could shorten its life if you add too much nitrogen. I just use compost, and leaves and just water when it seems a little too dry.

Tamukha,
Yes, common names can be confusing. The soapberries for washing are poisonous! as far as I know. Those also grow in the tropics? These ones are from temperate and rather nothern forested areas of the world. Like northern U.S. states, canada and alaska.

Shepherdia canadensis (edible)
[www.wildflower.org]

sapindus mukorossi (for washing)
[www.traderscity.com]

loeve,

These were a gift and are an excellent natural detergent; they must be the tropical kind.

Mislu,

Do not Natives use the North American soapberry for cleaning as well? I remember hearing that at a lecture at a nature center when I was a kid. If the berries are bitter and soapy, I imagine they would be : )

Thanks, Mislu for clearing that up. So I was reading that Shephardia Canadensis is secure as a species globally, so it's one more berry to add to the list maybe even in Scandinavia - Yay.

That's a nice gift, Tamukha.

Healthybun Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi!
> A quickie!
>
> How many fruits and vegetables is there?

Considering it's likely that there are varieties of fruits and vegetables that haven't even been discovered yet, I'd say only God knows.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2009 07:19PM by Omega.

Omega

Like the bugs and animals, there is a new specie every day that needs to be discovered. What I was asking for was how many fruits and vegetables is there for us to aquire and consume in a modern civilisation.

Theres alot of lists on the net, but no numbers how many there are. ^^

There are two more berries worth mentioning. I enjoyed them both as a young teenager.
Cloudberries
[www.sweden.se]
crowberries
[batter-splattered.typepad.com]

Who knows maybe these might be commercially available in supermarkets one day. I just hope they don't breed out all the nutrition and flavor,like what is usually done for a lot of foods. Both have extremely high ratings on nutrition. Crowberries actually out doing bilberries slightly for anthocyanins.

[www.uku.fi]

tamukha,
i haven't the slightest if soapberries can be used to wash clothes. I think the red pigments might be a problem, unless you want to dye/stain your clothes as you wash them.

Actually i don't know what ak natives and american indians did before the advent of laundry detergent.