Notices by Megan Lynch (she/her) (ml@ecoevo.social)

@liaamancio Let us celebrate Esquerita instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHEl4tSu90s&list=PLbqlYXEyLVwbBGhCRyL_IM1DiJaLgqvpn&index=8

Tuscany’s Lost Wood-Fired Chestnut Bread Kept Alive by One Baker | The Lost Breads of Tuscany Ep 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvAwcgo3rqY #Horticulture #Food #Italy

Hegemons in academia are so impervious to constructive criticism. I just saw another department social...that's in a bar.

I even drink alcohol and I know that it's not social to hold your social events in a bar because there are people who for religious and/or recovery reasons cannot be in a bar.

Marginalized academics have mentioned this a lot.

What is so hard about holding events in wheelchair accessible, and accessible in other ways, non-alcoholic venues? #HigherEd #STEM #AcademicChatter

Women in Mexico protect ancient Aztec farms and save a vanishing ecosystem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoLOPTMyzQw #Indigenous #Mexico #Agriculture

20. (con'td) However, the smell is something some people find objectionable and as a result, they actually cheer for the remaining 80 - 100 year old mature trees to be cut down despite their beauty, and the shade & habitat they provide. 😠 #Botany #PlantScience #Carob #Florespondence #UrbanForest #ClimateChange

Currently have a wifi outage & am posting using phone data so we'll see how this goes...

21. When I first started studying carob in 2013, the Wikipedia entry was just a little nubbin and the web was filled with myths about carob, such as that 'carat' came from carob seeds that were used to weigh things because carob seeds are so uniform. Someone actually looked into this in 2006. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2006.0476 #Botany #PlantScience #Carob #History #Language #Science

28. Coit's apprentice was Paul Thomson, who co-founded the California Rare Fruit Growers. Coit, Thomson, and Coit's financial backer Dr. Rittenhouse went all over California searching out the best seedling carob trees to take clonal material from. Some of those selections, like 'Clifford', 'Santa Fe', and 'Coffin' are in Australia's carob orchards and nurseries now.

https://crfg.org/homepage/our-roots/ #Carob #PlantBreeding #Horticulture #California #Botany

29. The family Ceratonia siliqua belongs to - Fabaceae - used to be called Leguminosae. Carob is technically a legume.

https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/legume-checklist

#Carob #Horticulture #Botany #PlantScience #Science

30. Because Ceratonia siliqua (carob) shares traits with other Fabaceae trees (compound pinnate leaves, fruit as pods), I frequently find magazines, newspapers, blogs, and ads where something is labeled "carob" but is actually another Fabaceae species.

This stems from "Google Images-itis" where instead of paying an actual photo editor and factchecker who then pay actual knowledgable photographers and illustrators for their work, someone simply types in "carob" & steals the first image they like

30. (con'td) This is something to beware of in online and offline media. For too many years now, cost-cutting in various industries has led to the growth of misinfo and disinfo. When it comes to edible plants, don't depend that some random photo you see is what it's labeled as.

I see way too many other Fabaceae species labeled as "carob".

31. At least in California, due ignorance about proper carob care, it went from a recommended tree to one that is left off approved drought-tolerant tree lists in cities. Absolutely bonkers because it's a very drought-resistant tree once established and unlike other choices that are approved like Parkinsonia, it provides ample shade. #Carob #UrbanForest #Horticulture #California

32. At least one thing that carob and cacao have in common is that they're cauliflorous. That means that flowers can grow directly from the trunk.

To those more used to the spur-fruiting and tip-fruiting habits of apples and apricots, it can look very weird!

Carob is also ramiflorous - it can flower directly from the branch (I'm not sure if cacao does that). Carob has some variety in this trait. #Botany #PlantScience #Horticulture #Florespondence #Science

33. I'd say ramiflory is more pronounced in carob than cauliflory, although I've seen some dramatic exceptions where it's vice versa. #Botany #PlantScience #Horticulture #Florespondence #Science

34. The carob street trees in my study were often maltreated because they were planted in grass which was frequently and shallowly watered. This would weaken the carob over time, and then sometimes they'd develop shelf fungus infections from a chicken-of-the-woods type Laetiporus gilbertsonii.

I was never able to find a Laetiporus expert to consult about which came first - the chicken-of-the-woods or the egg? #Carob #UrbanForest #Horticulture #Botany

35. My understanding is that some fungus are more dangerous to a tree's longevity than others so it's important to know which are which when making a determination as to whether a public tree presents an imminent danger or not.

If anyone's Laetiporus mycologist, let me know...

#Carob #UrbanForest #Horticulture #Botany

36. As I said before Ceratonia siliqua is native or naturalized to areas of the Mediterranean (as well as other Med climates as in California, South Africa, and Australia). Why aren't there carob recipes in modern Mediterranean cookbooks?

Well, there seems to be some indication that after the wars of the early 20th c., esp Spanish Civil War and World War II, people had relied so heavily on carob for food that they associated it with famine times...something they felt forced to eat. #History

37. In the US and some other countries, carob is overwhelmingly associated with being a "chocolate substitute". Sadly, many blame carob for a lie their parent or relative told them. It's not fair to blame carob for not being chocolate...it never told you it was - that was your parent or relative that did that!

Nonetheless, it has made it an uphill battle to get folks to appreciate carob again - for USians (UK, Australia, etc) to see it for itself, not as chocolate, and for folks in the

Mediterranean to overcome generational trauma where carob is a trigger reminding them of bad times.

However, it is slowly starting to happen.

Key to both, I think, is returning to traditional Mediterranean recipes that use carob. Returning to its use as an ingredient before colonizers ever brought chocolate back to Europe. #History #Food #Carob #Botany

38. Examples of Mediterranean traditional uses of carob in food are:

Lebanese - Sfoof
Slovenian - Carob Potica or povitica
Italian - Carob pasta
Cyprus - Pastelaki, Tertzelouthkia
Palestine - Khabeesa
Greece - Paximadi Haroupiou
Portugal - Tarte de Alfarroba do Algarve
Spain: Pan Tradicional Granadino de algarroba y naranja

In drink (alcoholic and not):

Croatia: Rogadica
Palestine: kharroub
Lebanon: jallāb

(Many commercially produced carob brandies and liqueurs...)
#Carob #Food #Botany

39. There are also examples of carob being used in savory dishes. For instance, it appeared in a stew recipe in a Babylonian tablet!

https://web.archive.org/web/20120723103347/https://silkroadgourmet.com/mesopotamian-cookoff-lamb-and-carob-stew/ #Food #Carob #Botany #Archaeology