Food News and Views WLRN NPR The Fruit Hunter June 5, 2008
Food and Dining Radio Show Restaurant Roundabout– 6.6.08
Linda Gassenheimer (LG)
Joseph Cooper (JC)
Fred Tasker (FT)
Adam Gollner (AG)
LG: I love fruit. Who doesn’t? But have you heard of peanut butter fruit, ice cream beans, and pearl bearing coconuts? Our guest today says these are real. And why does some of the fruit in our markets in our guest’s words taste like tennis balls or mealy juiceless cotton wads? Some of these descriptions are quite apt. We’ll hear the answers from Adam Gollner the author of, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession.
A: Hello. Great to be here.
LG: In his usual seat is Fred Tasker. He’s the wine columnist for the Miami Herald. So Fred, what are we drinking today?
FT: Well I’m going to talk about an absolute revolution in the French Wine Industry.
LG: Can’t wait to hear about it. Adam Gollner is joining us from Montreal, Canada. Adam, tell us if these fruits really exist.
AG: Yes, they actually do exist. There are thousands of incredible fruits that exist in nature that many of us can’t imagine. The pearl bearing one is mentioned in a book by David Fairchild. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a wonderful place and it has some very interesting fruits. Do you know it?
All: Oh yes!
AG: There are incredible people who work there. David Fairchild wrote some memoirs about his fruit hunting days.
LG: And is there a pearl in this coconut?
AG: Yes. It’s not a specific variety but it’s considered a rarity. The coconut will sprout it. It’s an aberration. There’s a photograph that David Fairchild took that is in his memoir.
FT: Is it edible?
AG: I don’t know.
JC: What palm tree produces this?
AG: I don’t think it’s too different from a regular coconut.
LG: As I mentioned, we do know about Fairchild. It’s a treasure here. Richard Campbell gave me some special fruit that we’ve got right here. We have some miracle fruit. You mention that fruit in your book. Tell us about it.
AG: The miracle fruit is a little red berry.
JC: Looks like a cranberry.
AG: It’s another fruit that David Fairchild found on a trip to Cameroon. It makes everything that’s sour taste sweet.
LG: We’re going to taste some here. Normally Adam we have dinner in minutes on the second half of our program but we’re going to have it now because after that we’re going to try the miracle fruit. Today’s dinner in minutes in Gorgonzola Chicken with Fresh Linguine and Sweet Pimentos. If you want the recipe you can go to my website dinnerinminutes.com. I thought I would save money by buying store brand gorgonzola and it was like rubber. So buy the good quality gorgonzola. Now Adam, tell us what to do with the red berry.
AG: Put it in your mouth and gently bite it and let the juice coat your taste buds. It can take 30 seconds to a minute for it to start to work. The skin can stay in your mouth.
LG: Can you swallow this thing?
AG: Yes.
LG: While this is acting we’re going to take a break. We’re talking with Adam Gollner about bizarre and exotic fruits. His book is, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession.
[break]
LG: We’re back. We’re talking with Adam Gollner, the food journalist. His book is, The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession. We have just tasted a miracle fruit. You said it’s supposed to turn sour things sweet.
AG: Yes, sour to sweet.
LG: It’s a funny feeling on our tongues and I find it bitter.
AG: Well I’ve never had a bitter one.
LG: We have lemon, potato chips and olives. Which should we try first?
AG: Lemon. That’s the most sour.
JC: Wow! It is sweet.
All: Wow, yes, it does taste sweet.
LG: How does it taste with wine?
FT: Oh man, I do not recommend these berries with wine.
[laughing]
LG: What about olives?
JC: I don’t think it worked as well as it did with the lemon.
AG: Because it’s not sour.
LG: What else should we try?
AG: Strawberries. They will totally blow your mind.
FT: They get sweeter?
AG: Yes, they get deliriously sweet.
LG: Let’s just talk about your book for a minute. Your book talks about how bad fruit in supermarkets is now. Tell us, what’s the story with our commercial fruit?
AG: Well a big reason the fruit isn’t very good is they’re passed through the supermarket cold chain. That means they’re picked and immediately placed into cold containers. Then they’re stored in frigid warehouses and then in the supermarket they’re under the glow of fluorescent lights. Also, many of them are picked when they’re not ripe. That’s because they want them to look good.
LG: That’s a real shame. Fred, can you cheer us up with wine news?
FT: French wine makers are being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Wine already has the name of the grape on the label except in France they do it differently. They put the region on the bottle because you’re supposed to know what grapes they grow in each region. That worked for hundreds of years but France is really hurting in the less expensive wine market so they’re allowing the French to put the name of the grape on the label. This is a really big deal for France. In what might or might not be a good thing, French winemakers can now put cute animals on their labels. You know like the Australians put kangaroos on their label.
LG: They regulated that?
FT: Yes, you’d be jailed. [laughing] So you may see that sweet French skunk on the label.
LG: Let’s go back to Adam Gollner. I was fascinated by your description of the grapple. I’ve seen them in the supermarket. Is there grape juice in them?
LG: It’s an apple with artificial fruit flavoring.
FT: How did they get it in there?
AG: They didn’t want me to know but they wanted me to write about it so I visited the laboratory and I did find out how it’s made. I write about it in The Fruit Hunter.
LG: So many small farms are being taken over by large farms. They’re turning to this to compete. I suppose we can expect more artificial flavors in fresh fruit.
AG: That’s the nature of big agriculture today.
LG: Well we’re all out of time. I’d like to thank Fairchild Tropical Garden for sending us this fruit. If you want to see them or taste them, they have group tastings there. You can’t buy it there but you can order is from miraclefruitman.com. It’s been a very interesting week. Thank you for joining us.