Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Determining What Our Ancestors Ate
- Part II Staple Foods: Domesticated Plants and Animals
- II.A Grains
- II.A.1 Amaranth
- II.A.2 Barley
- II.A.3 Buckwheat
- II.A.4 Maize
- II.A.5 Millets
- II.A.6 Oat
- II.A.7 Rice
- II.A.8 Rye
- II.A.9 Sorghum
- II.A.10 Wheat
- II.B Roots, Tubers, and Other Starchy Staples
- II.C Important Vegetable Supplements
- II.D Staple Nuts
- II.E Animal, Marine, and Vegetable Oils
- II.F Trading in Tastes
- II.G Important Foods from Animal Sources
- Part III Dietary Liquids
- Part IV The Nutrients – Deficiencies, Surfeits, and Food-Related Disorders
- References
II.A.8 - Rye
from II.A - Grains
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Determining What Our Ancestors Ate
- Part II Staple Foods: Domesticated Plants and Animals
- II.A Grains
- II.A.1 Amaranth
- II.A.2 Barley
- II.A.3 Buckwheat
- II.A.4 Maize
- II.A.5 Millets
- II.A.6 Oat
- II.A.7 Rice
- II.A.8 Rye
- II.A.9 Sorghum
- II.A.10 Wheat
- II.B Roots, Tubers, and Other Starchy Staples
- II.C Important Vegetable Supplements
- II.D Staple Nuts
- II.E Animal, Marine, and Vegetable Oils
- II.F Trading in Tastes
- II.G Important Foods from Animal Sources
- Part III Dietary Liquids
- Part IV The Nutrients – Deficiencies, Surfeits, and Food-Related Disorders
- References
Summary
Rye As a Grass
Rye (Secale cereale L.) is closely related to the genus Triticum (which includes bread wheat, durum wheat, spelt, and the like) and has sometimes been included within that genus (Mansfeld 1986: 1447). In fact, it was possible to breed Triticale, a hybrid of Triticum and Secale, which is cultivated today (Mansfeld 1986: 1449).
Cultivated rye (Secale cereale) is also so closely related genetically to the wild rye (Secale montanum) that both species would appear to have had the same ancestors. Yet to say that the cultivated rye plant derived from the wild one is an oversimplification because both plants have been changing their genetic makeup since speciation between the wild and cultivated plants first occurred.
The cultigen Secale cereale was brought to many parts of the world, but wild rye still grows in the area where cultivated rye originated, which embraces the mountains of Turkey, northwestern Iran, Caucasia, and Transcaucasia (Zohary and Hopf 1988: 64–5; Behre 1992: 142).
The distribution area of wild rye is slightly different from the area of origin of other Near Eastern crops. Wild rye is indigenous to areas north of the range of the wild Triticum and Hordeum species; these areas have a more continental climate with dry summers and very cold, dry winters. The environmental requirements of cultivated rye reflect these conditions of coldness and dryness: It has a germination temperature of only 1 to 2 degrees Centigrade, which is lower than that of other crops. Indeed, low temperatures are necessary to trigger sprouting (Behre 1992: 145), and the plant grows even in winter if the temperature exceeds 0 degrees Centigrade, although rye can suffer from a long-lasting snow cover. In spring it grows quickly, so that the green plant with unripe grains reaches full height before the summer drought begins (Hegi 1935: 498–9). Obviously, these characteristics make rye a good winter crop. It is sown in autumn, grows in winter and spring, and ripens and is harvested in summer – a growth cycle that is well adapted to continental and even less favorable climatic conditions. There is also another cultigen of rye – summer rye – which is grown as a summer crop. But because of a low yield and unreliability, it is rather uncommon today (Hegi 1935: 497).
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- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Food , pp. 149 - 152Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
References
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