# Spaghetti harvest in Switzerland! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069 "2014-04-01T12:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/1 "2014-04-01T12:39:00Z")
Like many pasta aficionados around the world, I am eager to see what the spaghetti season 2014 will bring. I found a BBC report from 1957 on Youtube about the spaghetti harvest in the Ticino region of Switzerland (near the Italian border). Golden memories! [BBC: Spaghetti-Harvest in Ticino](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/2 "2014-04-01T12:56:28Z")
I was going to Delaware to see the domestic spaghetti harvest, but it turned to be closed today. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/3 "2014-04-01T13:06:39Z")
A thing of beauty. Thanks for sharing this classic news footage! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/4 "2014-04-01T13:14:30Z")
Now if we could just get some footage of people picking pineapples right off the tree… ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/5 "2014-04-01T13:34:10Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > A thing of beauty. Thanks for sharing this classic news footage! Yeah, today’s spaghetti trees are all GM, and so much is hydroponically grown. It doesn’t have the same flavor of the older varietals. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/6 "2014-04-01T14:09:11Z")
I don’t know about GM, but I know that current spaghetti trees are a hybrid of Quercus Fettucinicus and Q. Foliculus, or Angel Hair Tree. I heard that they’ve been experimenting with grafting a Bolonese bush onto Parma Rosa root stock. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/7 "2014-04-01T14:17:28Z")
I’m tired of hearing about GM. Do you really think the spaghetti being harvested in the 50s came from wild spaghetti trees? Just like every other variety of pasta these trees have been cross-bred for centuries ever since the first shoots of Chinese spaghetti trees were brought back to Italy by Marco Polo. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/8 "2014-04-01T14:22:52Z")
Neat. Any footage of the gnocchi harvest? I heard that they use specially trained pigs to track them down, like they do with truffles. It’s a lot harder because your average gnoccho doesn’t have much of a scent. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-harvest-in-switzerland/685069/9 "2014-04-01T14:29:43Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’m tired of hearing about GM. Do you really think the spaghetti being harvested in the 50s came from wild spaghetti trees? Just like every other variety of pasta these trees have been cross-bred for centuries ever since the first shoots of Chinese spaghetti trees were brought back to Italy by Marco Polo. Almost all of those wild strains were wiped out in Europe by Pasta Blight in the 20’s and Sauce Rust in the 40’s. Linguine vines are just about the only pasta plant that has come down from the original import relatively unchanged. And even they have been selectively bred for centuries for increased yield.