Japan Brewers Cup article up at Metropolis

A few of my fellow researchers hard at work at the Japan Brewers Cup.

Over the past few years it has been my great pleasure to sip and savor revolution. Japanese craft beer is making steady headway, always improving the taste and playing with ingredients. It is also great fun to see how many other people are also discovering the great variety of flavors and styles. A recent trip to the Japan Brewers Cup gave us and a group of friends the chance to enjoy some of the best. Read all about it here in my article over at Metropolis, and then wander out to find some to try for yourself!

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Finding Heirloom Seeds in Japan

Drying pods of heirloom Hutterite Soup Beans. Since moving to Japan eight years ago, one of my greatest challenges as a farmer-gardener has been to find heirloom or open-pollinated seeds. The majority of seeds available are not GMO (genetically modified organisms) as Japan, at this point, doesn't accept this material. Most seeds, though, are nearly all F1 varieties. Heirloom and F1 Varieties In plant breeding, F1 is the name given to the first generation of a cross between two true breeding parents. For example, if I decide to cross an Amish Paste Tomato with another heirloom variety tomato such as Emmy, in hopes of getting a gold paste tomato, the resulting generation of fruit is F1. In order to get that tomato of my culinary dreams, I'll need to choose members of that first generation that are headed in a direction I like - early ripening, medium-sized fruit, good taste - and save their seeds. I'll plant them and repeat the process again and again over time unti

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Japan Farmers Markets

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