Winter gardening-A new approach in Finland

Urban gardening has been and still a hot topic in many western countries where farmer population is showing a declining trend. Even in a country like China there are suburban gardens created on a cooperative principles where urbanites can invest on a small plot, few kilometers from the city and such cooperatives are offering its urban members an opportunity to visit during the week ends to do some gardening operations themselves to feel the thrill of being a "part time farmer"! Added to this the members have the luxury to have freshly harvested produce raised without using any chemicals. While such options can be understandable what will an urbanite in a country like Finland do when most of the time the weather is hostile being too cold to raise any crops. Here comes a new initiative from an entrepreneurial pioneer for growing a few crops with no soil needed at all. This is a welcome news worth pursuing for people in tropical countries who are novices in cold climate gardening. Here is a source from which further information can be gleaned. 

"Harsh, cold winters and scarce arable land make growing crops a challenge in Finland. A team of entrepreneurs hailing from the icy nordic nation believe this gives them a certain authority when it comes to growing crops indoors. Launched on Indiegogo yesterday, the team's Plantui Plantation hydroponic smart garden is aimed at giving urban green thumbs the capability to raise almost any kind of plant indoors, up two meters (6.6 ft) in height. Smart gardens and automated growing are not a new concept. Back in May we reviewed the Click and Grow Smart Herb Garden, while other efforts include the MEG Greenhouse and the Edyn monitoring system for the outdoors. Even Plantui itself is not new to the blossoming world of in-house agriculture, with its Smart Garden, the Plantation's predecessor, hitting the market in parts of Europe last year. The original Plantui Smart Gardens are soil-free capsules that use intelligent lighting and watering systems to raise plants through the germination, seedling and harvesting stages. Depending on the progress of the plant, 18 LED lights adjust in intensity and the irrigation feeds various amounts of water to the roots. The company says these methods replicate those used in professional Finnish greenhouses. The latest iteration, the Plantui Plantation, takes this concept and scales it up to accommodate a wider range of plants. The new version measures 45 cm (17.7 in) in diameter with an adjustable height of 28 to 200 cm (11 to 78 in), and can host crops including tomatoes, chillies, peppers and cucumbers. Also improved is the level of control over the maturation of the plants. While the device can automatically adjust water and light according to the plant's growth, it allows the user to manipulate these settings to shape the final product. The company points to the ability of different parts of the light spectrum to affect the taste and height of the harvested plants. Favoring a red spectrum over blue, for example, might induce mild, intense or peppery flavors, while red will give rise to taller plants. The Plantui Plantation is powered by a wall outlet and is said to use around 120 kWh of energy per year. Twelve plants can be grown in each of the capsules, with the estimated time to harvest ranging from 35 days for a crop of bok choy to 150 days for four chilli plants. Early pledges of US$250 will see a Plantui Plantation shipped your way in March 2015, along with 16 types of seedlings including pok choy, thai basil, coriander and tomato. For this to eventuate, the team will need to reach its somewhat lofty fundraising goal of $500,000 and have the rest of its campaign go as planned."

Though limited in its scale of operation the new technology requiring limited space is based on hydroponics and green house facilities with temperature and light control provisions to raise different crops. Its convenience and ease of operation can be gauged from the fact that ready capsules are available with designs suiting different crops. All one has to do is order for these capsules along with the seeds depending on what is to be grown. Low requirement of energy, hardly 120 units of electricity from a wall outlet for the entire year is indeed remarkable. Imagine one's ability to raise a bok choy crop in 35 days and the ease with which the crop can be harvested as when needed in the kitchen! Such novel ways of crop raising must be introduced in India also where temperature drop is phenomenal between November and February each year across most of northern India..    

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

PURPLE TOMATOES-WILL THE CONSUMER ACCEPT IT?

Every consumer identifies red color with tomato and brighter the color, more appealing is the produce to most consumers. Can any consumer reconcile to a color other than red when it comes to tomatoes? Wine ripened tomatoes, though cost a little more, are much sought after because of the natural ripening process while still attached to the plant whereas ethylene ripened fruits are a pale shadow of naturally ripened tomato. There are also hybrid varieties that is firmer in texture and easily amenable to stand the rigors of transport over long distances but it appears they are incapable of ripening fully to the glorious red color. Industry is pulled between its desire to please the consumer on one hand and ground realities vis-a-vis handling, packing, storage, distribution and marketing on the other hand  that may entail significant losses through rotting. If the latest development in tomato breeding is any indication scientists are about to launch a new variety of tomato with a purple color and extraordinarily tough texture that can withstand long journeys with almost 100% more shelf life! The GM route adopted by the researchers to create this variety may be some what controversial but if their safety is proved beyond a shadow of doubt, it may be a win-win situation for both the consumer and the produce industry. Here is a take on this new development which will have significant impact on health of the population.

In research to be published in Current Biology, Martin and colleagues studied tomatoes enriched in anthocyanin, a natural pigment that confers high antioxidant capacity. The purple GM tomatoes have already been found to prolong the lives of cancer-prone mice and in the latest findings they also more double the normal shelf life of tomatoes from an average of 21 days to 48 days. "Post-harvest losses due to rotting are such a serious problem for growers and supermarkets that even an increased shelf life of one day would make an enormous difference to them," said Yang Zhang, lead author from the John Innes Centre. One way to improve shelf life is to pick tomatoes early when they are still green and induce them to ripen artificially with ethylene. However, this results in loss of flavour. Another method is to grow varieties that never fully ripen, but these also never develop a full flavour. In the current study, anthocyanins were found to slow down the over-ripening process that leads to rotting and softening, achieving a tomato with a long shelf life and full flavour. The purple tomatoes were also less susceptible to one of the most important post harvest diseases, grey mould caused by Botrytis cinerea.

Anthocyanins are well known antioxidants with far reaching health benefits and the new variety of purple tomato will go a long way to protect humans from diseases like cancer if the rat studies are duplicated in humans through clinical trials. Though the exact procedure in evolving this new variety has not been revealed, it is safe to assume that the same will be patented. One crucial question that will throw a spanner on the commercial success of purple tomato is whether the consumers will accept a GM product if there is transparency in labeling. Probably it may take some years before purple tomato starts adoring the dining table, at least in that GMO loving country, America!  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

TOMATO FOR ALL SEASONS-THE PERPETUAL "SUMMER" HOUSES!

Tomato is one of the most sought after vegetables by consumers all over the world. Though there are many technologies that can preserve tomato in some form or the other, the preference is still for fresh brightly colored material for which no price is considered too high. While tomato chunks in brine, puree and paste in aseptic packs, dehydrated chunks, etc are still being used extensively in food preparations requiring tomato solids for flavor, fresh salad products need firm and ripe tomato slices which can be available only during the season. With the advent of greenhouse technology which has ensured production of some fresh vegetables year round, tomato seems to have gained an advantage and providing vine-ripened tomato to the users all 365 days an year is a practical reality to day.

"Those tough pink ones are still good and cheap enough for most fast food restaurants and the food service industry, which buy about half the fresh tomatoes sold in the United States. But with shoppers willing to pay a premium — even $4 to $5 a pound — for red vine-ripened ones with more flavor, greenhouse tomatoes now represent more than half of every dollar spent on fresh tomatoes in American supermarkets, according to figures from the Perishables Group, a market research firm in Chicago".

Vine-ripened tomato, considered the best by many consumers, can be produced only through greenhouse technology as the conditions for ripening can be simulated inside the artificial chambers once the crop matures to facilitate the biological process involved in ripening. That consumers are willing to pay a premium price for such visually attractive products gives the growers the much needed incentive to continuously innovate for going up in the value addition chain. How far such vine-ripened, greenhouse grown tomatoes deviate from naturally grown counter parts in the open is not very clear at present.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

TOMATO FOR HEART PROTECTION?

Soluble aspirin is a universally accepted treatment regime for preventing blood clotting and consequent myocardial infraction and stroke. That aspirin does not go well with many users has spawned many alternatives from the pharma industry. But it was known that some fruits do exhibit aspirin like activity at significant levels and Tomato has been extensively studied for the same property. Commercial products based on Tomato seeds are now available as food supplements approved by food safety agencies in some countries. Here is a take on that.

Fruitflow, a tomato-extract product developed by Provexis, has been found effective to prevent blood clots that risk heart attacks and strokes without the side-effects of the widely used blood thinner Aspirin. Fruitflow is a water-soluble tomato concentrate. Clinical studies using Fruitflow that compared the effects on platelet aggregation of the tomato-extract product and aspirin showed that up to 30 percent reduction from baseline platelet aggregation. Platelet aggregation can contribute to unwanted clot formation in the bloodstream.

The seven-months long human studies also examined the interactions between Fruitflow and aspirin consumed together. Aspirin could lead to gastric ulceration and bleeding.The effect takes place within three hours of consumption and lasts for up to eighteen hours, making it ideal for daily dosage in functional foods or dietary supplements.

Provexis has developed a syrup format for use in food & beverages and a concentrated powder format for tablets and capsules.Fruitflow syrup is GRAS (Generally Regarded as Safe) by the US FDA and is not regarded as a Novel Food in the EU, clearing it for wide use in foods, beverages and supplements. In May 2009, the Fruitflow technology was the first to be substantiated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) under the new Article 13(5) for proprietary and emerging science. In December 2009 the European Commission authorised the health claim "Helps maintain normal platelet aggregation, which contributes to healthy blood flow", which was the first wording to be authorised under Article 13(5). The technology has been granted patents in the EU, US, Australia, Canada and Mexico, with Japan pending. Further patents have been filed for the bioactive components of Fruitflow and for other developmental areas such as deep vein thrombosis and triglyceride lowering. Discovered by Professor Asim Dutta Roy at the Rowett Institute in 1999, the technology has been developed by the Provexis team in recent years. This development programme includes eight clinical trials. The product is commercially-ready for delivery in a wide range of food, beverage and dietary supplement formats.

Besides blood thinning, aspirin is also taken for controlling inflammation in many people, especially those suffering from the painful arthritis. Whether the Tomato extract has this property also is not clear. While patenting is a genuine tool to recover investments in R & D, it is debatable whether such an invention as the present one that can influence the lives of millions of people across the world can be allowed to be "bottled up" for use only by affluent people. Probably WHO should think of buying the technology from the private developers for mass application in all countries under its charter. This development hopefully will not deprive the consumer of the pleasure of eating tomato which is an integral part of many salad preparations.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com