10 fruits and vegetables that looked completely unusual before man changed them through selective breeding (12 photos)

Man is a curious and incredibly stubborn creature. People are accustomed to perceiving nature as a workshop in which a person works and constantly makes adjustments to the world around him. One such method of reshaping nature is selection.





Many of the fruits and vegetables we know and love have become this way not thanks to higher powers, but only because of the efforts of people. For example, a banana was originally not a particularly edible thing and was generally not much like the banana we have in our kitchen right now. And many more such examples can be found...

Cucumber



The early ancestor of the cucumber, thanks to its spines, looked more like a cactus and was not particularly edible (even poisonous). But years of diligent selection have made the cucumber as we know it today - longer and tastier.

Tomato





The distant ancestor of the wild tomato was darker in color and, judging by its modest size, more like a berry.

Banana





The banana is the most impressive example of selective breeding. The ancestors of the banana are considered to be Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. They are distinguished by their much smaller size and abundance of seeds.

Carrot



Before human intervention, carrots were thinner. The usual orange color is also a human fault. The ancestor of modern carrots was white or purple.

Lemon



The lemon we know was born by crossing the citron with various varieties of bitter orange. Citron is a non-hybrid citrus characterized by its bumpy skin.

Watermelon



For anyone interested in what the ancestor of the watermelon looked like before, breeders refer to a painting by the artist Giovanni Stanchi, painted between 1645 and 1672. You can notice that there was much less pulp in it than in today's watermelon.

Eggplant



The ancestors of the modern eggplant were most often white (but also light blue and yellow) and had a more round shape.

Corn



The ancestor of modern corn is the teosinte plant. One can only imagine how much work it took for breeders to get from this thin stalk to the modern head of corn.

Cabbage



The wild and inedible yellow-flowered plant Brassica oleracea is the ancestor of modern cabbage.

Peach



Early wild peaches were more berry-like in size and did not have a particularly sweet taste.