| | NEWS
Futuristic Fruits and Vegetables
by N. Katzin
Colored Cauliflower
In honor of the recent Tu BeShevat, we present a list of some of the new and amazing species produced by Israeli research and agricultural development (regarding their kashrus, we will wait until they actually appear on the shelves):
Sweet cauliflower, coming in three colors, are new products of Seeds from Gedera-Syngeneta. Purple, orange and white cauliflower will complete the array of this vegetable on the plate, cooked or raw as a salad ingredient. The orange type will be called 'tangelin,' appearing in a bright, attractive color and unique sweetness. The dark purple 'hyperstar' will make its debut alongside the familiar white 'gold space star' genus.
Black cherry tomatoes will be marketed by the Top Seeds Company coming from Moshav Tzofar. This species is of a deep purple bordering on black with a rich sweet-sour flavor and a captivating aroma, loaded with anti-oxidants.
Crunchy Lettuce
A new type of lettuce, 'dagniyo,' from the Degera-Syngenta Company will appear in purple-red color, concurrent with a green 'vergio' specie, both with crunchy texture even after sitting in salad dressing for some time. Both are full of rich flavor and vitamins while adding lively color to the meal.
Summer raspberry in midwinter will appear, produced by the Kedma company in Moshav Idan from the central Aravah desert. This product is the pride of intensive research to utilize the special warm climate and provide sweet berries, even sweeter than the winter ones, among other produce, even in the cold winter.
Enter date-size tomatoes, produced by "Green 2000", which was the first company to market its green 'gourmet' cherry tomatoes with a fresh, deep flavor and an esthetic look.
"Origin Seeds' will be marketing an array of melons such as the 'Ponto' melon with its light color, speckled peel and very sweet and crispy flavor, engineered to have a long shelf life.
Watermelon
Also new is the Chak watermelon, a boon to farmers for early planting throughout the country's varied climates, of dark green color on the outside and deep red inside, distinguished by its elliptic shape.
Noga cherry vine tomatoes of deep red color will be marketed, hailed for their long shelf life.
Also appearing will be mini seedless watermelons from Hazorea, a world famous leader in seed research and development, presenting its new 'Puma' specie, of a compact 2.5 kilo weight. Very sweet, crunchy and lightweight, these fit comfortably into the frig and last for six weeks therein. These are being produced especially for small family consumption.
'Sultana' fire-hot, long and thin green peppers, which are a big favorite in the Mediterranean and Asiatic countries, among other interesting new and improved products, were displayed at a recent agricultural exhibit in the Aravah by Buyer A.B. Seeds.
'Blue Dynasty" cabbage, round and fully packed will also make a debut, long lasting and crunchy.
The absurdity in all of this innovative premium plenty is that most of this produce is mainly for export, while the Israeli agronomist struggles to make a living and often as not, even the Israeli consumer often declines to enjoy whatever reaches the shelves because of prohibitive prices.
|
