Inherit the Earth

By choosing heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables, you can add character to your cooking and longevity to the planet.

By Dayna Macy

In a traditional Indian pueblo garden in New Mexico in 1985, filmmaker Kenny Ausubel focused his camera on a man clutching a fistful of seeds. The man opened his hands to reveal beautiful red corn kernels. As he began to speak, he also began to weep. He told the story of finding a small pot filled with the seeds inside the mud wall of his adobe home. Not knowing what they were, he took them around the pueblo, asking if anyone could identify them. No one could, until two elders spoke up and explained that they were the sacred red corn of San Juan Pueblo, which hadn't been grown in more than 40 years. Had the man not discovered the seeds, this variety of corn might have been lost forever, says Ausubel, who went on to found the Bioneers Conference, a gathering of environmentalists whose aim is to restore the earth.

Seeds like the red corn are called "heirlooms"—old varieties of fruit, vegetable, herb, and flower seeds that, in the words of Kent Whealy, cofounder of Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa, "are passed down in families the way jewelry or furniture are." In Whealy's collection, for instance, he has a bean that was brought over on the Mayflower, seeds that General Robert E. Lee's wife gave to Lee during the Civil War, and even seeds for a variety of lettuce that Thomas Jefferson grew at his home, Monticello.

But the preservation of heirloom seeds is more than just an exercise in nostalgia. Buying these seeds and planting them, or choosing to purchase heirloom produce, is vital to the health of our environment, to the preservation of biodiversity, and as a hedge against famine. Preserving heirlooms might even be thought of as a spiritual practice—an opportunity to act on our good intentions for the world that nurtures and sustains us.

"You can't save our environment or genetic diversity unless you save the foundations that created it in the first place," says Bill McDorman, founder of Seeds Trust, an organization committed to preserving and disseminating heirloom seeds. "And what makes our environment diverse and sustainable are seeds."

The Picture of Imperfection

Heirloom seeds are nonhybrids, which means that they self-reproduce and that the seeds of the offspring remain genetically true to the parent. Most of the produce available at major supermarkets is instead hybrid—the result of crossbreeding two different varieties to reinforce particular traits. Hybrids are bred for greater crop yield and to still look perfect while withstanding handling, packaging, and shipping.

Heirlooms, on the other hand, might display imperfections; tomatoes, for instance, can come in odd colors and lumpy shapes, sometimes with scars on their skin. But there's a reward for looking past the surface—taste. Heirlooms often offer more intense flavors than many of their crossbred counterparts. Varieties of lettuce and greens with names like Black Simpson, Magenta Spreen Lambsquarters, and Formidana delight the tongue with unusual sensations: mineral flavors, citrusy aromas, intriguing textures. They're a far cry from the watery crunch of iceberg.

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