Rex Harrill <[log in to unmask]>:
>Are you truly saying that a child who has not been mis-programmed by mis-guided
>elders would instinctively go to bitter, sour, or salty rather than sweet?  As I
>said, I don't wish to invalidate anything that you offer, but I have never
>personally witnessed what you are speaking of.

Tom:
You keep repeating your claims about sugar and sweetness. These are all
ASSUMPTIONS by you; you ask for proof but provide none. Did you know that
sugar is addictive? That it impacts opoid receptors (opoid = opium)
in the brain?  And yes, I can give references for that. Perhaps you might
start providing references/proof for your assumptions?

P.S. sweet is not as popular in other cultures as it is in the US. The example
of pungent taste - not popular in the US, popular elsewhere, is an example
of how taste preferences are heavily influenced by CULTURE.

Rex Harrill <[log in to unmask]>:
>Au contraire, Tom, au contraire---the high Brix greens that I grow are quite
>sweet.  For instance, there is simply no comparison between the 3 or 4 Brix
>tasteless, yes bitter, junk lettuce from commercial farms using artificial

Tom:
Wild greens are mostly bitter (often very bitter) - so much for your UNnatural
greens bred for bland taste.

Rex Harrill <[log in to unmask]>:
>And the next time someone hands you a bitter pomegranate, grab your refractometer
>and notice a minimal Brix.  Conversely when you get a sweet one, notice the high
>Brix.  There is a perfection here.

Tom:
Not perfection - just a higher sugar content.

Tom:
>> Wild precursors of some cultivated fruits, are
>> not sweet and may border on being inedible.

Rex Harrill <[log in to unmask]>:
>Exactly!  And they remain just that if indeed they don't become extinct.  What
>animal would care to help spread the seed of an inedible fruit?

Tom:
Inedible to humans does not mean inedible to other species. You have forgotten
what I wrote re: fruit toxins - to determine which species eats the fruit.
Many fruits toxic to humans are eaten - and the seeds spread - by birds.
Your whole philosophy of sweet=natural is totally false and has no basis
in reality. A bit of research may help cure you of these mis-conceptions. :-)

Rex Harrill <[log in to unmask]>:
>How sweet it is that we live in a world of potential perfection.  How sweeter it
>will be when we beat back the growers of bitter junk fruits and start feeding our
>children Nature's designs: sweet, highly mineralized, and utterly tasty.  These are
>the foods that make raw make sense.

Tom:
How wonderful it will be when people open up to reality, to nature as it
is, and stop trying to force simplistic concepts such as "sweet=natural",
on nature. Nature simply IS; nature is not interested in our conceptions
or mis-conceptions. Wild=natural fruit, is only rarely sweet. Nature
is not a sugar addict, but modern humans are.

Regards,
Tom Billings
[log in to unmask]