First Thanksgiving likely rich in vegetables

As you contemplate your upcoming Thanksgiving feast, I though it might be interesting to consider the fruits and vegetables that might have been enjoyed by Europeans immigrating to this country.

This diverse group of plants comes from many climates of the Western Hemisphere. Certainly not all of these would have been included at the first Thanksgiving, but the wonderful produce that came from this country did much to improve the color and flavor of diets as they spread around the world.

Virtually all of different types of commercial tree fruit came from the Eastern Hemisphere. While the phrase as "American as apple pie" might be a good political saying, it would be more accurate to substitute cranberries, American grapes or blueberries, because these are truly American.

Of all of these, the cranberries are the most interesting. They grow on small shrubs in moist areas, but the real interest comes when it is time to harvest the fruits. The fields are flooded, the ripe berries rise to the top and they are floated into various collectors. They are then conveyed into trucks and hauled away for processing.

While many enjoy eating cranberries at Thanksgiving, leave the growing of them to the commercial growers. Cranberries want an acidic soil, so they don't thrive in Utah, and the abundant water needed to grow them is not practically available in the desert.

Blueberries don't require gardeners to go to great lengths to grow them, but once again, Utah's alkaline soil does them in. I know a few people who get them to survive and fewer still who get a few berries to eat. If you live in Utah and want blueberries, a trip to the store is a much easier route to follow.

Fortunately we have better luck with the third American fruit: Vitis labrusca, the grape the Nordic people found when they discovered the East coast of North America, is referred to as an American grape.

It is quite different than the Vitis vinifera — or the European-type grape. Concord, Catawba, Delaware and Niagara are American grapes and grow well in Utah on well-drained soils. European-type grapes are not usually cold hardy in northern Utah, but several hybrids between these two make the best table grapes here.

Although fruits were lacking in the Western Hemisphere, the area did much better with vegetables. Horticulturally, people could never celebrate Thanksgiving in Europe because they did not have the right food! Explorers coming here found a rich and varied group of vegetables to extend their diets.

Certainly the most important is corn, which was served at the first Thanksgiving. It is a tasty treat, and it also grows well in our climate with irrigation. It is hard to imagine a more versatile crop — corn is used in everything from soft drinks to biodiesel fuel.

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