Most of the delicious fruits we eat today might not look or taste like their wild ancestors (祖先) at all. They are popular after going through many rounds of development over a long period of time in different parts of the world.
Tomatoes were first grown in the western parts of South America. Though the Spanish and Italians began eating tomatoes in the 18th century, the British and Americans continue to avoid them because people believed that tomatoes arepoisonous. After that, it took until the 19th century for Americans to begin using it in cooking. Tomatoes were only used as decorative plants in gardens in China until the early 1900s. Since then it has quickly become a popular kitchen main stay in China.
Peaches are a very old plant. Surprisingly they have the same outer skin as fossils (化石) from over 2.5 million years ago. Ancient peach stones discovered in China prove that peaches were in China at least 7000 years ago. People have worked for centuries to create the modern peach. Peaches became what we eat today as a result of efforts to change the fruit into a larger and sweeter fruit with a much smaller stone.
Watermelon is one of the most common fruits during the hot summer. The pink juicy and delicious part covered by a hard skin is also the result of centuries of continuous development. In the 7th century Indians had already begun to plant watermelons which made their way to China in the 10th century. Watermelons reproduced quickly because they had a large number of seeds (种子). They were, however, smaller and less sweet than moden melons. Fruits with fewer seeds and more juice were developed in the 17th century as a result of European farmers experiments. That is how we ended up with the delicious watermelon today.
