“
From Shanghai, Meyer had sent seeds and cuttings of oats, millet, a thin-skinned watermelon, and new types of cotton. The staff of Fairchild's office watched with anticipation each time one of Meyer's shipments were unpacked. There were seeds of wild pears, new persimmons, and leaves of so-called Manchurian spinach that America's top spinach specialist would declare was the best America had ever seen. Meyer had delivered the first samples of asparagus ever to officially enter the United States.
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”
― The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats
― The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats
“
Several weeks before he left Peking, Meyer visited a small village and noticed, in a house's doorway, a small bush with fruit as yellow as a fresh egg yolk. Meyer ignored a man who told him the plant was ornamental, its fruit not typically eaten but prized for its year-round production. The fruit looked like a mix between a mandarin and a citron (which later genetic testing would confirm). It was a lemon, but smaller and rounder---its flavor surprised him as both sweeter than a citron and tarter
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”
― The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats
― The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats
