Challenge #02318-F128: We Don't Eat That
In the Time of Spring, Easter Grass is often sold for little Money.
It's nearly completely without Problems. All it requires are Water and Light + Heat
(i even Recall someone saying, that it would also grow in zero G, If provided with the above).
Ideal for the Use as easy to eat Food supply for Herbivore Aliens and their tiny children...
Another Product from Earth with high success. :-) -- Anon Guest
[AN: I looked this up and even a minimum amount of research shows that this is not one specific species of grass. It can be anything from wheat to breeds of quick-growing grass to barley and anything that looks cool when it's about five inches high. Therefore, I'm inventing a specific species of millet]
They called it - eventually, Erasgrain. It grew copiously, it grew well, and it could grow in a sponge watered with pre-distilled, filtered water from the hydrous recycling systems. Spacefarers loved it, especially the herbivorous ones. Allowed to grow unchecked, it would yield thick carpets of greenery up to a foot and a half tall. The seeds it yielded were small, light, and could easily be vacuum-packed and kept in stasis for up to hundreds of years. Not that any were ever kept that long.
The seed was not always digestible by the cogniscents who grew it. Some could only digest the young, fragile sprouts. Others had no problem at all with the lengthy stems. A rare few discovered the nourishment potential of a porridge made out of the seeds. Recipes are exchanged. Secrets given to others like handy hints to the random travellers they encounter.
Full-grown Erasgrain contains copious amounts of silicon. If your digestion cannot handle this substance, we recommend that you steam, boil, or otherwise heat the stems and leaves until they are soft. This breaks the re-enforcing silicon down to the point where even the softest digestive systems will receive no harm for them. Similarly, processing the stems with whirling blade machines can cut the silicon to a smallness that cannot bother a delicate digestion. -- The Spacer's Guide to Ship-grown Fare.
It was another ambassador for Humankind. They, too, grew Erasgrain on their ships. For the air they made, for the fibrous stems, and for the seed that could be made into anything. Even utensils with which to consume the foods they created.
When the Alliance discovered that Erasgrain was originally a Deathworlder plant... the reactions varied.
"Well, it kind of makes sense. You just can't kill Erasgrain easily."
"Deathworlders did what?"
"Of course it's versatile. So are the Humans."
"I thought Deathworlder life killed everything it touched. Huh. Live and learn."
"No way is this a Deathworlder plant. I've been eating it for years and not even a blip of cancer."
"Oh. Did someone gengineer it to be non-toxic?"
Humans would explain, eventually, that they meant that particular millet to be a fast-growing decorative grass for a specific religious festival. Which did nothing to improve anyone's opinions of Humans.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / SSilver]
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