July 22

Gregor Mendel's Birthday

In l866,the abbot of an Augustinian monastery in Czechoslovakia published a theory on the transmission of physical characteristics in plants. This theory, which was subsequently called genetic, was based on a set of statistically determinable laws that could also be applied to man. The abbot was Gregor Johann Mendel~ a monk who failed his teacher's examination twice, receiving his lowest marks in biology. The significance of Mendel's work was not recognized until the turn of the 20th century. Its rediscovery prompted the foundation of genetics and Mendel became known as "father of modern genetics."

Gregor's famous experiments in what he termed "plant hybridization" began in 1856 and took place in the monastery garden. Gregor crossed varieties of garden peas that had demonstrated constant uniform characteristics ,such as tallness, dwarfness, shape of pod, color of flowers, etc. He theorized that the seven differentiating characteristics that he tested were due to paired carriers of heredity, subsequently called genes.

These experiments continued indoors during the winter months when Gregor transplanted his peas into every possible pot that he could collect. When the abbey ran out of pots, a fellow monk allegedly claimed that Father Mendel had appropriated all of the pots. We haven't been able to determine if this is the origin of the phrase "didn't have a pot to pea in."

An ideal recipe for Gregor's birthday is Peas and Prosciutto which you can enjoy watching Christopher Lambert as Gregor in The Gardener of God (2009).

Peas and Prosciutto

Ingredients

2 TB olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lb bag frozen peas, thawed
6 ounces (1/8-inch-thick slices) prosciutto, diced
I TB grated orange zest
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the shallots, garlic,
orange zest, salt, and pepper, and sauté until tender, about 1 minute. Add the peas
and sauté until heated through, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the prosciutto and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the basil and remove from the heat.
Season, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve.