The Essentials

Sidewalks, curbs and streets need soil that is solid and compact to meet engineering standards. For proper tree growth, soil needs to contain 50 percent solids (for nutrition), 25 percent micropores (to hold water) and 25 percent macropores (for air and drainage). Compaction results in the loss of macropores. Without them, water cannot drain properly, and tree roots die.

Cornell’s structural soil mix offers a solution to this problem. Structural soil is crushed rock that compresses easily, and there are large pores between the pieces that are filled with soil for roots. The stone provides support, and the roots penetrate the voids for soil, water and air. The soil is mixed with hydrogel, a sticking agent.

More information.

Robert C. Baker, the late Cornell poultry science and food science professor who helped develop chicken nuggets, turkey ham and poultry hot dogs into ubiquitous American fare, also created the famous Cornell barbecue sauce. Baker researched and developed innovative ways to use poultry, and his Cornell barbecue recipe has stood the taste test of time, having been showcased for more than five decades at his Baker’s Chicken Coop at the New York State Fair in Syracuse.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton, first lady Hillary Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, toured the state fair. There they visited Baker’s Chicken Coop eatery, specifically to savor a taste of the famous Cornell barbecued chicken. As the first family arrived at the barbecue stand, one of Baker’s daughters, Reenie, presented the Clintons with a basket of New York state apples. “Those apples look good, but where’s the chicken?” the president asked. The recipe is here.

George Moriarty, a research support specialist in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, has bred a new mini-butternut variety called Honey Nut. Moriarty crossed a butternut with a buttercup, a dark green squash similar to acorn squash, with bright, sweet, beta-carotene-rich flesh. The fruit has deep orange, flavorful, nonstringy flesh. Most weigh a bit more than a pound (as opposed to the usual four or five pounds). Seeds for next season will be available from High Mowing Seeds (highmowingseeds.com) in mid-November.

Adirondack Blue – a hybrid developed at Cornell in 2003 – is one of many potato varieties released through the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics.

The potatoes were hybridized by Walter deJong and originally grown at Cornell’s Lake Placid trial farm. The taters were served to Sen. Hillary Clinton on Capitol Hill in a “red, white and blue” salad developed by a Culinary Institute of America chef. The breed’s advantages: Blue potatoes have higher levels of antioxidants than non-blues; their taste is rich and nutty; they have enough starch to make them good for mashing, but they’re moist and waxy enough to hold together in potato salad; they are also good for baking, boiling, steaming, mashing and use in brightly colored salads.

CherryPharm is a natural, 100 percent fruit juice clinically proven to protect muscles, lessen pain and speed recovery in athletes. It was developed at Cornell’s Department of Food Science and Technology, making it the perfect blend of nature and science. Tart cherries are known for their unique healing properties. Anthocyanins reduce inflammation and inhibit tumor growth; flavanols and flavonols improve blood flow, heart/brain health, lower blood pressure and reduce cancer risk; phenolic acids are powerful antioxidants; plant hormones regulate physiological functions, terpenes have essential oils from plant elements; vitamins and minerals improve basic metabolic processes and are essential to biological pathways. Every bottle of CherryPharm contains the juice from 50 fresh, tart cherries.

Cornell’s Sugar Maple Program clones trees by cutting a branch of the parent tree, treating and replanting it. A tree produced from a seed takes more than 20 years to produce its own seeds, whereas a tree produced by root cuttings can produce seeds in just three or four years. The Sugar Maple Program is part of Cooperative Extension and has two offices: the Uihlein Sugar Maple Research and Extension Field Station in Lake Placid and the Arnot Teaching and Research Forest in Van Etten.

Cortland and Empire apples were introduced by Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva; Cortland in 1898, Empire in 1966. Empire apples are sweet and tart, juicy and have a crisp, creamy white fresh. hey are good for sauce, baking, pies and freezing. Cortland apples are sweet with a hint of tartness, juicy with tender, snowwhite fresh. They are tasty in kabobs and widely used in fruit plates and garnishes because they don’t turn brown quickly when cut. Both varieties are now available at the Cornell Orchards store. Also visit New York Apple Country.

Sayre Fulkerson graduated from Cornell in 1975 with a degree in pomology, the study of fruit production. In 1989 he and his wife, Nancy, opened Fulkerson Winery and Vineyard in Dundee, N.Y., on Seneca Lake, where they grow grapes including varieties developed at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva. These include Himrod (a white table grape released in 1952) and Traminette (a white French American hybrid developed in the mid-1960s). The Fulkerson winery produces 14,000 cases annually.

“It’s not easy to make a name for yourself in the potato world,” wrote New York Magazine in its recipes section this summer. “Take, for instance, these NY 118’s, bred at Cornell University… Not only is the aspiring spud required to resist pests like the dreaded golden nematode and then hold its own in a pot of boiling water, it has to look good and taste delicious. Still in its numbers-only trial stage, the hardworking potato hopes to gain enough of a following to earn an actual name like other recent Cornell grads including the Adirondack Blue and the Lehigh, formerly known as NY 126.”