Did you know

I’ve often extolled the many virtues of fresh fruit and vegetables, and South Africa grows, distributes and consumes the most incredible range of products on earth. Here are just a few examples:
Did you know … ?
There are over 1 000 varieties of bananas in the world. The banana is not a tree but the world’s largest herb. Dessert bananas are eaten fresh but plantains are cooked, and are the staple diet of millions of people around the world. Bananas are the world’s largest fruit crop.
There are over 700 varieties of citrus in the world. In South Africa we grow around 210 commercial ones, as the world’s second-largest citrus exporter. China is the world’s largest grower of soft citrus, also called easy peelers, while Brazil and the US are the two largest producers of orange juice concentrate. Citrus is the world’s largest tree fruit crop, grown in over 100 countries, with an estimated 3 million hectares under cultivation – China alone has about 1,3 million hectares. World production stands at around 95 million tons. Argentina is the world’s top lemon producer.
Potatoes are the world’s fourth most important food crop. China is the world’s largest producer. Potatoes are also one of the healthiest foods you can eat – they’re not fattening `til we prepare them in oil. The average per capita consumption in Africa is a mere 14,18kg/year and in South Africa its 32kg/year.
The first attempts to export fruit from South Africa were in the 1880s, but in 1892 the first serious shipment of peaches, sent by Percy Molteno, son of the first Governor of the Cape, was successfully sold in London. By 1903 some 22 000 boxes of fruit were exported.
Apples originated in Central Asia, China and Kazakhstan and were probably the earliest fruit trees to be cultivated. There are over 7 500 known varieties of apples in the world.
Nectarines are not a cross between a peach and a plum, but a variety on their own, native to China. The persimmon, of which there are over 2 000 varieties, is also native to China and has been cultivated for thousands of years.
Apricots are a centuries-old fruit which originated in north-eastern China near the Russian border. They’re known for their health and beauty properties.
Avocados are one of the oldest fruits known to mankind. They originated in Central America and became known as “the fruit of the gods”. They’re believed to have aphrodisiac properties. Mexico is the world’s largest grower followed by the US and Spain. South Africa’s first commercial avocado orchard was planted in 1926, and South Africa is the leading supplier of “summer avocados” to the UK. – Mike Cordes (e-mail [email protected]).     |fw