Long before GMO was a thing, farmers were already tinkering with the food people ate. They saved seeds from plants with desirable qualities, such as larger size, sweeter flesh, fewer seeds, and higher yields, and planted them again and again, repeating the process.
That's basically how selective breeding works. It gradually transformed tough, bitter, and barely edible wild plants into familiar supermarket staples.
1. Apples
Modern apples are generally large, juicy, and sweet (or sour, if you prefer those), but their ancestors looked more like large berries. Apples originated in Central Asia, where their main wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, still grows.
Some wild apples are sweet, while others are small, hard, or extremely sour. But back in the day, there was no Costco at every corner, so people enjoyed whatever snacks they could find. Still, over generations, farmers selected trees that produced larger, juicier fruit and then began crossing them with other species.
So how do you like them apples now?
2. Bananas
Wild bananas are short, thick, and filled with large, tough seeds. There is so little flesh between them that they hardly resemble the smooth fruit we eat today.
Farmers gradually selected plants with fewer seeds and more edible flesh. Most bananas exported today belong to the Cavendish group, which became commercially important during the 19th century. What's interesting is that cultivated Cavendish bananas do not produce usable seeds, so farmers have to grow new plants from shoots or cuttings.
3. Carrots
The earliest cultivated carrots were purple, yellow, white, or reddish rather than orange. They also had thinner, tougher roots than today's varieties.
As they spread from Central Asia, farmers bred them to become thicker, straighter, and crunchier. Orange carrots became especially popular in Europe around the 16th and 17th centuries.
One legend claims that Dutch growers created them to honor William of Orange, but there is little historical evidence to support the story.
4. Corn
9000 years ago, corn kernels looked and tasted more like tiny raw potatoes. The corn cob, called teosinte, was a thousand times smaller than today. And to get a handful of those tiny kernels, you had to crack the cob with a stone.
Around that time, people in Mexico began selectively breeding plants with larger, softer kernels, gradually turning them into modern-day corn. Selective breeding also created varieties for different uses, including sweet corn, popcorn, flour, and animal feed.
5. Cucumbers
Wild cucumbers are small and can be extremely bitter. Their unpleasant taste comes from compounds called cucurbitacins, which help defend the plant against insects and hungry animals.
Cucumbers were first domesticated in India 11,000 years ago. Farmers selected plants with less bitterness, better texture, and larger fruit.
As cucumbers spread across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, new forms appeared. Today, they can be long and smooth, short and bumpy, nearly seedless, or specially grown for pickling.
6. Eggplants
The name "eggplant" makes more sense when you see older varieties. Some were small, round, and white, looking surprisingly similar to eggs hanging from a plant.
Today, domesticated eggplants come in various colors, shapes, and sizes. The skin varies from black to white and striped, and the inner flesh is uniformly sweet, white, and firm. They're usually long and purple, but Japanese varieties are often longer, thinner, and more tender.
7. Grapes
Grapes are one of the oldest, most valuable, and most intensively cultivated crops in the world, with about 70 domesticated plant species. We began domesticating grapes as early as 22,000 years ago, and even more surprisingly, humans were using wild grapes long before domestication.
Growers selected vines producing larger berries, sweeter flavors, and fuller bunches.
Different grapes were developed for eating fresh, drying into raisins, or making juice. Modern breeding also created seedless varieties. These contain undeveloped seed traces and must be grown from cuttings rather than ordinary seeds.
8. Tomatoes
Although selective breeding is as old as agriculture itself, the first genetically modified foods hit the news headlines in 1994. That year, the FDA approved the sale of FLAVR SAVR tomatoes, leading to the spread of the myth that scientists had inserted fish genes into our favorite fruit.
Wild tomatoes were cherry-sized fruits that graced the landscapes of South America for the past 80,000 years. Over the past 7,000 years of domestication, we have bred tomatoes to look like and taste like the juiciest little morsels that just make you salivate.
9. Watermelons
Have you seen the famous 17th-century painting by Giovanni Stanchi showing what a watermelon used to look like? The black seeds and the strange swirly pattern were very different from the modern-day fruits.
Although researchers aren't entirely sure where the fruit originated, humans have been domesticating Citrullus lanatus for at least 4,000 years. Watermelon seeds were even found in King Tut's tomb. Today, there are six wild watermelon species, all of which are less susceptible to insects, viruses, and mold than their cultivated cousins.