Culham Research Group

By Alastair Culham

My grandfather grew a huge Christmas cactus which flowered regularly every year.  It spent the summers in a shady spot in the garden and the winters indoors away from the frost.  It intrigued me because it didn’t look like a cactus – it had no obvious spines and the stems were flat and bright green.  However, even if not cactus like it certainly flowered over the Christmas period. Continue reading →

By Emma Cooper

Nativity in carved radish

When you think about Christmas plants you probably think about holly and ivy, possibly Christmas trees and poinsettias, and maybe even Brussels sprouts and parsnips. But I bet you don’t think about radishes. And yet, the humble radish (Raphanus sativus) plays an important role in the Christmas festivities in Oaxaca, Mexico. Continue reading →

By Macarena Cárdenas

Think of the smell and taste of Christmas and Cinnamon may come to your mind, the sweet essence of mulled wine, or in the warmth of the apple and cinnamon pudding. But perhaps something you never thought is that cinnamon may help to keep the doctor away.

Cinammon’s- Cinnamomum verum– inner bark. Its curly shape is generated when workers rub down and peel away the inner bark from the twig

The very representative flavour of warm and sweet Christmas comes from the tropics. Yes, “True Cinnamon” is native to Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, and the south-eastern coast of India. True cinnamon most used species as spice is Cinnamomum verum, a robust evergreen tree that grow up to 20 – 30 feet tall, with inconspicuous whitish flowers that evolve to blue berries. In order to protect themselves from predators young leaves assume reddish colour that later become greener and darker. Continue reading →

By Jeanne Osnas and Katherine Preston (Botanists in the Kitchen) @BitKBlog

An early image of candy canes. From Wikipedia

The candy cane, that red- and white-striped hard candy imbued with peppermint oil, is a signature confection of the winter holidays. Peppermint has a long history of cultivation and both medicinal and culinary use. Infusions of the plant or its extract have been used for so many hundreds of years throughout Europe, North Africa and Western Asia that the early history of peppermint candies, including cane-shaped ones, is murky. Fortunately, the biology behind peppermint’s famous aroma is more well known than the story of how it came to be a Christmas staple. Continue reading →

By Sophie Marley

Popcorn tree decoration

By now most of us will be adorning our Christmas tree with dazzling decorations and scrummy treats. This year I have a new eye catching addition, strings of popcorn. I’d not heard of this American tradition until this year but the fluffy cream trails of popcorn have been draped over fir branches for over a century across the water.

During the First World War Alice Bradbury a cooking journalist asserted that popping corn was a patriotic occasion. There are rather wonderful tales of the thanksgiving peace negotiations where Indians are said to have brought along deer skin bags of popcorn to meet with Pilgrims. However, it is more likely that the popularity of popcorn with children led to associations with occasions, especially with the festival of Christmas. Continue reading →