HOW MANIFOLD ARE YOUR WORKS HASHEM

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well.

The 15th of Av this week was The New Year for Trees and we celebrate it by tasting from the many varieties of Hashems fruits.

And so I thought that it may be interesting to hear some amazing facts from Hashems foods, which I saw in 'The book of Amazing Facts and Feats'

• Since the days of Adam, the most common basic food in the world is bread

Chazal taught that eating bread (with salt), and drinking water in the morning, is extremely healthy.

Bread is the food that gives man wisdom. It is said that the moment that a child begins to eat bread, he gains wisdom.

• Water is the most basic drink
• Grapes and wine.

Luxemburg drinks the most wine per capita in the world - 20 gals per year per person

Egypt has the lowest - 2 teaspoons per year per person!

• Sometimes birds eat too many grapes and become drunk. This is because grapes contain some yeast which naturally ferments in the birds stomach. They then cannot fly straight.

• The most intoxicating fruit is from the African Marula tree, and it is approximately the size of an apricot. The fruit ripens at height of summer (Feb) and gives off a very strong scent which attracts animals from far away. The elephants drive all the other animals away, butt the trees with their heads to knock the fruit down, and then guard the fruit for 3 weeks while it is fermenting. This occurs in March (AROUND PURIM TIME!) and the elephants now eat the fruit. They then get drunk and start bumping in to one another and can fall down. And then other animals come to join the party!
• The largest edible fruit is the jackfruit. It weighs between 22-55 lbs. The larger ones can weigh as much as 132 lbs! it is very prevalent in India.
• Tomatoes are the most popular produce in the world - 60 million tons per year. Then bananas (44 million tons). Then apples (36 million tons). Then oranges (34 million ton). And watermelon (22 million ton)
• Israel eats the highest no. of apples in the world per capita (2 million per day)
• There are 7500 different types of apples!!
• The Hazera Genetics co. in Israel has developed a strand of yellow cherry tomatoes called Summer Sun. this has become a hit in Europe where their seeds sell for $160,000 per pound. The Summer Sun contains 3x the sugar content of ordinary tomatoes, making it as sweet as honey, and is sold at about $12 per lb. An experienced farmer can grow 44 lbs of produce from a single seed.
• Moshe Wallach orchard in Kibbutz Ein Shemer, has the largest collection of useful plants in the world. He grows more than 300 different types of fruits. None of the trees are results of mixing. Rather , every tree and plant is precisely the way Hashem created it.
• The world's most favourite flavour is chocolate, which comes from cocoa beans. In 1828 a Dutch chemist Conrad Van Houten discovered the process of transforming cocoa into something resembling chocolate. The Swiss are the largest chocolate consumers in the world
• Honey lasts longer than any other food, in Egypt a jar of honey was found from more than 3000 years ago, and was still in edible condition

Etc, etc, etc.

Ma rabu maasecha Hashem - How manifold are your works Hashem!

Gut Shabbos to all