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In the summer of 1495, King Hans of Denmark and Norway anchored his warship off the southern coast of Sweden. While Hans was on land, his vessel—known as Gribshunden or Griffen—mysteriously caught fire and sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea.Hans was on his way to Kalmar, where he hoped to be elected king of Sweden and reunite the broader Nordic region under a single ruler. As such, Hans brought many opulent status symbols, including luxurious foods and spices, to help persuade the Swedish leadership to agree to his plan.Remarkably, many of those foods and spices have survived underwater...

Diet for Diabetes: A diabetic patient must consume foods which can control blood sugar levels naturally. Almond is a beneficial nut for a diabetic. Read here to know how almonds can lower blood sugar levels. Our expert will also guide you through the right dosage. =========================================================================================== A diabetes diet consists of foods which can help in controlling blood sugar levels. Lower blood sugar levels help in preventing complications of diabetes. Foods which can increase blood sugar levels should be avoided as much as possible. Better management of blood sugars can help a diabetes patient lead a normal life. Diabetics have...

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that a calorie labeled is not the same as a calorie digested and absorbed, when the food source is almonds. The findings should help alleviate concerns that almonds contribute to weight gain, which persist despite the widely recognized benefits of nuts as a plant-based source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. “Nuts have generally been thought of as healthy the last two decades, but the messaging around nuts has often come with a disclaimer that they are high in fat and energy,” said John Sievenpiper, principal investigator on the study and an associate...

In addition to the snacks, study participants consumed their regular diets and did not eat any nuts or nut-containing productsDaily consumption of almonds may help reduce the severity of facial wrinkles and skin pigmentation in post-menopausal women with a skin condition, a study claims. The research, published in the journal Nutrients, confirms and expands on a 2019 study which found that a daily snack of almonds in place of other nut-free snacks improved measures of wrinkle width and severity in postmenopausal women. The new study involved 49 healthy postmenopausal women with Fitzpatrick skin type 1 or 2, which is characterised...

Research shows reduced measures of wrinkle severity and improved pigment intensity in postmenopausal women with Fitzpatrick skin types I-II who ate almonds as a daily snackNew research suggests that there may be more than one reason to add almonds to your daily skincare routine. A new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis1 found that eating almonds daily in place of typical calorie-matched snacks improved measures of both wrinkle severity and skin pigmentation in postmenopausal women. The study was funded by the Almond Board of California and confirms and expands upon findings in a 2019 study.2 A new...

In the past five years, almond milk consumption in the United States has exploded over 250 percent. The lower-calorie, vegan milk alternative is a staple in grocery stores and coffee shops across the country now, but its booming popularity comes at a heavy environmental cost. According to a new report from the Guardian this week, the titanic and growing demands of the California almond industry are placing a huge strain on the hives of bees used to pollinate their orchards, wiping out billions of honeybees in a matter of months. “My yard is currently filled with stacks of empty bee...

Apples originally evolved in the wild to entice ancient megafauna to disperse their seeds; more recently, humans began spreading the trees along the Silk Road with other familiar crops; dispersing the apple trees led to their domestication. Recent archaeological finds of ancient preserved apple seeds across Europe and West Asia combined with historical, paleontological, and recently published genetic data are presenting a fascinating new narrative for one of our most familiar fruits. In this study, Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History traces the history of the apple from its wild origins, noting that...

Many curries and stews around the world are made with turmeric, which gives them a yellowish hue and a peppery, ginger-like taste. Shutterstock Turmeric and the chemical compound derived from it, called curcumin, have some amazing health benefits. In addition to being an anti-inflammatory that helps boost circulation, turmeric may also be an anti-cancer, antioxidant therapy that can fight off brain plaques, possibly helping prevent diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and more. And unlike a lot of other vitamins and supplements, it's cheap. Doctors are increasingly embracing the idea that the food we eat may be as good as any disease-fighting,...

More than 4,000 years ago builders carved out the entire surface of a naturally pyramid-shaped promontory on the Greek island of Keros. They shaped it into terraces covered with 1,000 tonnes of specially imported gleaming white stone to give it the appearance of a giant stepped pyramid rising from the Aegean: the most imposing manmade structure in all the Cyclades archipelago... Archaeologists from three different countries involved in an ongoing excavation have found evidence of a complex of drainage tunnels -- constructed 1,000 years before the famous indoor plumbing of the Minoan palace of Knossos on Crete -- and traces...

California water districts large and small are expected to urge regulators on Wednesday to toss out or significantly relax emergency drought orders requiring residents to take shorter showers and let their lawns turn brown. Strict orders remain in place, despite significantly more rain and snow this winter flowing into California reservoirs, easing five years of drought, local water officials say. Continuing to ask Californians to sustain "heroic water conservation efforts" that don't reflect healthier water supplies today could erode the officials' credibility with residents when they're called upon next time to make sacrifices, David Bolland, special projects manager for the...

In the summer of 2002, shortly before I was elected to Congress, I sat through an eye-opening meeting with representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council and several local environmental activist groups. Hoping to convince me to support various water restrictions, they argued that San Joaquin Valley farmers should stop growing alfalfa and cotton in order to save water — though they allowed that the planting of high-value crops such as almonds could continue. Then, as our discussion turned to the groups' overall vision for the San Joaquin Valley, they told me something astonishing:

The California almond is getting a bad reputation. At least that’s what the numbers show. According to an April report released by the Pacific Institute, a non-profit research firm based in Oakland, almonds are not the most water intensive crop grown in the Golden State. In fact, almonds tie with pistachios for fourth place in the ranking of California’s water intensive crops and require on average four acre-feet of water per acre. One acre-foot is approximately 326,000 gallons of water. Alfalfa and rice are the top two water users, averaging five acre-feet of water per acre a piece, though alfalfa...

SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIF. | First in an occasional series On a cool January day in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Steve Ellis culled his sick bees. The only sounds were their steady buzz and the chuffing of the smoker he used to keep them calm as he opened the hives, one by one, to see how many had survived. The painful chore has become an annual ritual for Ellis, and, hardened now like a medic on the front lines, he crowned another box with a big rock to mark it. “This one is G.A.D.,” he said. “Good...

The White House on Friday announced a new effort to save honeybees, birds, bats, insects and other pollinator species that are critical for the nation's fruit, nut and vegetable growers but are dwindling rapidly. California's $4.8 billion almond industry — the world's biggest — is especially imperiled because the crops are exclusively pollinated by honeybees, which have experienced dramatic declines over the past 60 years, the White House said. Habitat loss, mite infestations, the loss of genetic diversity and increased exposure to pesticides are some of the reasons why there are only 2.5 million beehives in the U.S. today compared...

One of America’s earliest food crops – almonds – is also one of the most important for commercial beekeepers. Almonds depend on bees for pollination, but the explosive growth of this bumper crop taxes the very honeybees the industry needs to thrive. California’s Central Valley produces over 80% of the world’s almonds, valued at over $4 billion in 2012. The boom is poised to continue, with new food products and expanding overseas markets increasing demand to the point that no young almond trees are available for purchase until 2016. Demand for almonds translates into demand for pollination. So every year...

FIREBAUGH, Calif. (AP) — With California's agricultural heartland entrenched in drought, almond farmers are letting orchards dry up and in some cases making the tough call to have their trees torn out of the ground, leaving behind empty fields.

<p>California grows a mind-boggling amount of the nation's produce: 99 percent of artichokes, 97 percent of kiwis, 97 percent of plums, 95 percent of celery, and on and on. That's why the record-breaking drought (yes, it's finally raining—no, it won't help much!) can affect your grocery bill, even if you live nowhere near California. But with almonds—the state's most lucrative agricultural export—the effect could reverberate for years.</p>

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Bill Enns, a central California real estate agent specializing in farmland, fields dozens of calls every week from potential buyers. Many want almond, pistachio or walnut orchards — or any land suitable for growing nut trees. [...] California's almond industry, which grows about 80 percent of the global almond supply and 100 percent of the domestic supply, saw the most dramatic growth — powered by strong demand from new money-spending middle classes in India and China. The growth has prompted a rush for almond-growing land and pushed almond land values through the roof. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/With-almonds-rising-revenues-land-values-soar-4189081.php#ixzz2Ht4HqjiG...

Why do many food plants contain cyanide? In murder mysteries, the detective usually diagnoses cyanide poisoning by the scent of bitter almonds wafting from the corpse. The detective knows what many of us might find surprising — that the deadly poison cyanide is naturally present in bitter almonds and many other plants used as food, including apples, peaches, apricots, lima beans, barley, sorghum, flaxseed and bamboo shoots.There's a reason that cyanide exists in all these plants, and it is — to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes — evolutionary, suggests Kenneth M. Olsen, PhD, an assistant professor of biology in Arts &...

COALINGA, Calif. — Would France rip out its storied vineyards? Would Juan Valdez scorch Colombia's coffee crop? Sri Lanka its black pepper harvest? China its tea?