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  • From: mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] The Great Georgian Fruit Hunt
  • Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:44:36 -0600

via Figs4Fun

The Great Georgian Fruit Hunt
Sent to the Caucasus by the U.S. government, Malli Aradhya forages
through orchards and markets in search of the perfect specimen

By Alastair Bland
Smithsonian.com, November 08, 2010

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/The-Great-Georgian-Fruit-Hunt.html

The three also look beyond civilization during the 17-day hunt,
seeking wild fruit varieties not yet cultivated, and while touring the
parched hills of eastern Georgia, Aradhya bags dozens of samples of
almond seeds. One is a fantastic coconut-flavored almond from along a
highway just outside the capital, a variety that could someday produce
favored cultivars in California’s industry. The expedition also goes
west, and along the rainy shores of the Black Sea, Aradhya collects
some walnuts that may bear genetic armor against molds and blights.
>From backyard gardens, a roadside farm and an abandoned orchard in
Tbilisi he collects wood from nine fig trees. (In one instance, a
roadside fig vendor shows Aradhya the trees only after the scientist
has paid for an entire four-pound basket of fruit.) And from a
collection in Mtskheta in the final days of the tour he lands vine
cuttings from 25 of Georgia’s indigenous wine and table grapes. In
total, the expedition introduces more than 160 accessions new to
American soil.

Read more:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/The-Great-Georgian-Fruit-Hunt.html#ixzz18mUVEaVx



  • [NAFEX] The Great Georgian Fruit Hunt, mIEKAL aND, 12/21/2010

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