World Building, Part Five: Edible Plants
Now that your common plants are done, it's time to move on to the plants that your characters will be eating. Like with the last post, you can choose to operate in one of three ways; plants that are real, plants that you've made up, or a mix of the two. Just like last time, if you choose a plant that is all or mostly present in the real world, you may need to do some research to make sure everything checks out.
Step one: Choose what type of plant it is. There are a lot of choices here, and what you choose may have an effect on how it grows or what you decide it ultimately looks like. It might be a grain, a fruit, a vegetable, a nut, a gourd (think pumpkin), or a legume. This might also decide how it's prepared or harvested. For example, if you have a crop of nuts, you'll probably have to think about shelling them. For a grain, you may or may not decide to have your characters grind it into flour.
Step two: Where does it grow? The kind of plant it is may dictate where it grows. A nut tree, for example, isn't likely to grow well in a place where the ground is consistently marshy. This step would be where you decide which countries grow this, possibly as crops. This also opens the possibility of assigning different places on your maps for fields, and deciding whether any countries/continents have reshaped fields for irrigation in order to grow it. If it's an easy crop, it's likely to be widespread. Like corn or wheat. Those two are in many, many different products, and so there are more fields for those than, say, something like lentils.
Something else to keep in mind is what sort of environment these types of plants thrive in. You'll probably need to reference your climate and temperatures for this. If, for instance, you want to grow a cold-weather plant in the desert, your people will likely need to build cooled greenhouses, or breed a hardier, heat-resistant version of the plant.
If you so desire (and I suggest it if your story is going to have any focus on travel, economics, or farming) you can mark your maps with what types of crops are grown where. This may be useful when you start writing.
Tip: My advice would be to choose only the most widespread crops to work on in detail, unless you'll need detailed information while writing. If a main character lives on a small farm, for example, they might grow crops seen less often in cooking, and if they're working in fields at all you'll need a little more information. You can do a whole list of crops if you desire, but if it's not necessary for the plot or the story, then you might choose to skip it.
Step three: How and when are these things harvested? This is likely to be a minor detail unless you have a character working in a field or have to consider harvesting times in your story. If this won't come into your story, then feel free to skip it. Otherwise, it might just be background information, such as a description in passing of a field, or of food on a plate. The method of harvest varies from plant to plant, as does the time when it needs to be harvested. As an example, you're not likely to find melons ripe in the winter, because it's generally too cold for them. Those you'd find in the summer time. So they're harvested in the summer or fall, and are harvested by cutting the fruit from the vine.
This is the step where you'll consider, if you haven't already, which parts of the plants are edible, and which are not. With a vine, if the leaves and vines aren't edible, your characters might need to hunt for the fruit or vegetable part of the plant. A plant with thorns will likely need to be handled while wearing gloves; if the thorns themselves are edible, then they'll probably need something like powerful clippers to cut them off.
Step four: You'll need to decide the life cycle of this plant. Again, this will probably be a minor detail, but if you ever have need to write about farming or gardening, it could prove useful. Whether it will or not is up to you. If you do decide this is something you want to do, then you'll have to think about how the plant propagates; bulbs, spores, seeds? Will it spread on its own, or does it need help? Will it continue to come back year after year (a perennial plant) or will it need to be replanted every year (an annual plant)?
You'll also have to consider how long it takes before this plant produces. Does it produce in the first year? A month after planting? Two years later? How often it produces edibles will play into how expensive it is to purchase, and how widespread it is. A plant that only produces fruit after growing for five years and dies immediately after harvest, for example, is likely to be expensive simply because it produces very slowly and only once in its life.
Step five: How is this plant prepared? This can include any processing it goes through before sale, and how it's then cooked. Using wheat as an example, it goes through a myriad of processes before it's sold as all-purpose flour. It's bleached, ground, packaged, and then shipped. If you have a wheat-like product, you might want to look into how it's handled after harvest. The same goes for roots, gourds, nuts, and other edible plants.
Something else you'll need to think about is how people eat it. This may very well play a part in your story, especially if you spend any time describing the food your character eats or prepares. A wheat-like plant could be used to make bread. Something like potatoes could be roasted or boiled, then mashed and topped with other things. Something similar to lettuce could be chopped and served raw.
Step six: You'll need to decide if this plant has any special properties. This can mean either in myth, or in fact. You could make a kind of lettuce that is said to improve brain power but doesn't, really, or you could make a root that if prepared properly really has magical powers. This can also factor into how expensive and widespread the plant is. Something wanted for improving physical prowess is probably going to be wanted by a large number of people. Keep in mind this is specifically for edible plants, not medicinal or herbs. Those will be later. ;)
Step seven: Repeat steps 1-6 as often as needed or desired.
Step one: Choose what type of plant it is. There are a lot of choices here, and what you choose may have an effect on how it grows or what you decide it ultimately looks like. It might be a grain, a fruit, a vegetable, a nut, a gourd (think pumpkin), or a legume. This might also decide how it's prepared or harvested. For example, if you have a crop of nuts, you'll probably have to think about shelling them. For a grain, you may or may not decide to have your characters grind it into flour.
Step two: Where does it grow? The kind of plant it is may dictate where it grows. A nut tree, for example, isn't likely to grow well in a place where the ground is consistently marshy. This step would be where you decide which countries grow this, possibly as crops. This also opens the possibility of assigning different places on your maps for fields, and deciding whether any countries/continents have reshaped fields for irrigation in order to grow it. If it's an easy crop, it's likely to be widespread. Like corn or wheat. Those two are in many, many different products, and so there are more fields for those than, say, something like lentils.
Something else to keep in mind is what sort of environment these types of plants thrive in. You'll probably need to reference your climate and temperatures for this. If, for instance, you want to grow a cold-weather plant in the desert, your people will likely need to build cooled greenhouses, or breed a hardier, heat-resistant version of the plant.
If you so desire (and I suggest it if your story is going to have any focus on travel, economics, or farming) you can mark your maps with what types of crops are grown where. This may be useful when you start writing.
Tip: My advice would be to choose only the most widespread crops to work on in detail, unless you'll need detailed information while writing. If a main character lives on a small farm, for example, they might grow crops seen less often in cooking, and if they're working in fields at all you'll need a little more information. You can do a whole list of crops if you desire, but if it's not necessary for the plot or the story, then you might choose to skip it.
Step three: How and when are these things harvested? This is likely to be a minor detail unless you have a character working in a field or have to consider harvesting times in your story. If this won't come into your story, then feel free to skip it. Otherwise, it might just be background information, such as a description in passing of a field, or of food on a plate. The method of harvest varies from plant to plant, as does the time when it needs to be harvested. As an example, you're not likely to find melons ripe in the winter, because it's generally too cold for them. Those you'd find in the summer time. So they're harvested in the summer or fall, and are harvested by cutting the fruit from the vine.
This is the step where you'll consider, if you haven't already, which parts of the plants are edible, and which are not. With a vine, if the leaves and vines aren't edible, your characters might need to hunt for the fruit or vegetable part of the plant. A plant with thorns will likely need to be handled while wearing gloves; if the thorns themselves are edible, then they'll probably need something like powerful clippers to cut them off.
Step four: You'll need to decide the life cycle of this plant. Again, this will probably be a minor detail, but if you ever have need to write about farming or gardening, it could prove useful. Whether it will or not is up to you. If you do decide this is something you want to do, then you'll have to think about how the plant propagates; bulbs, spores, seeds? Will it spread on its own, or does it need help? Will it continue to come back year after year (a perennial plant) or will it need to be replanted every year (an annual plant)?
You'll also have to consider how long it takes before this plant produces. Does it produce in the first year? A month after planting? Two years later? How often it produces edibles will play into how expensive it is to purchase, and how widespread it is. A plant that only produces fruit after growing for five years and dies immediately after harvest, for example, is likely to be expensive simply because it produces very slowly and only once in its life.
Step five: How is this plant prepared? This can include any processing it goes through before sale, and how it's then cooked. Using wheat as an example, it goes through a myriad of processes before it's sold as all-purpose flour. It's bleached, ground, packaged, and then shipped. If you have a wheat-like product, you might want to look into how it's handled after harvest. The same goes for roots, gourds, nuts, and other edible plants.
Something else you'll need to think about is how people eat it. This may very well play a part in your story, especially if you spend any time describing the food your character eats or prepares. A wheat-like plant could be used to make bread. Something like potatoes could be roasted or boiled, then mashed and topped with other things. Something similar to lettuce could be chopped and served raw.
Step six: You'll need to decide if this plant has any special properties. This can mean either in myth, or in fact. You could make a kind of lettuce that is said to improve brain power but doesn't, really, or you could make a root that if prepared properly really has magical powers. This can also factor into how expensive and widespread the plant is. Something wanted for improving physical prowess is probably going to be wanted by a large number of people. Keep in mind this is specifically for edible plants, not medicinal or herbs. Those will be later. ;)
Step seven: Repeat steps 1-6 as often as needed or desired.
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