Delicious Fruits and Vegetables That Are Surprisingly Man-Made

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Did you know that several fruits and vegetables are artificial? It’s true, but it might not mean what you think.

Humans created these  fruits and vegetables through selective and cross-breeding, creating new varieties of desired traits, including appearance and flavor.

Apples

Apples are edible fruit produced by the apple tree and cultivated worldwide. The apple tree originated in southern Kazakhstan, Central Asia, where its wild ancestor still resides. However, the wild apple species are sour and not edible.

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Broccoli

Broccoli is a man-made edible green vegetable in the cabbage family that resulted from the sixth-century BCE breeding of Brassica oleracea crops in the Mediterranean.

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Bananas

Bananas are a cross between the Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana bananas, neither of which are edible alone. The latter has too many seeds despite its sweetness.

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Corn

While the origins and ancestors are unknown, the corn we enjoy every summer is a hybrid. Without human cultivation and protection, corn would not survive. So, yes, corn is man-made. Scientists think people in central Mexico developed corn around 7000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte.

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