Pomology (APPLES) with Dr. Susan K. Brown

Green, yellow, striped, red, shiny, russet. Tart, sweet, sour, crunchy. Big, small, wild, heirloom, cultivated. How will you like them apples? Very much, once you hear all about the fascinating backstory of how an apple got into your lunch with one of the world’s finest pomologists and geneticists, the incredibly knowledgeable and charming Dr. Susan K. Brown, a professor at Cornell University's AgriTech division.  Fill your baskets with apple picking tips, genetic mash ups, taste test requirements, DNA trivia, compost treasures, maggot babies, the animal dung that changed history, how to have your own orchard, the sweet taste of science redemption, the loudest apple crunch on record, and what you’re actually tasting when you enjoy this feat of breeding. You’ll forever appreciate this everyday fruit.

Listen via Apple, Spotify, Google, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

View Dr. Susan K. Brown’s publications on ResearchGate

Visit websites for apples developed by Dr. Brown: RubyFrost and SnapDragon 

The Apple Lover’s Cookbook

A donation went to the Parkinson’s Foundation


Links to things we discussed:

Apple Festivals in 2023: Where, When and More to Find an Apple Festival Near You!

Apple Varieties Guide by Harvest Date - Which Apple to Pick and Why!

Every Apple You Eat Took Years and Years to Make

Why It Takes Decades To Breed New Apple Varieties

Snapdragon apple wins outstanding cultivar award

New York Apple Growers sets out the growing and marketing plan

Crunch Time Apple Growers offers unique apples

National Park Service: Fruit Varieties: Apples

MAIA-L (Ludacrisp® ) - Midwest Apple Improvement Association

BOOK: Johnny Appleseed: The Man, the Myth, the American Story

The A, Bee, Cs of Apple Pollination

The Religious Motivations Behind How Johnny Appleseed Grew His Apples

The Last Wild Apple Forests – Almaty, Kazakhstan

Gravenstein - Wikipedia

Why Your Supermarket Sells Only 5 Kinds of Apples

Barbara McClintock and the discovery of jumping genes

Transposons: The Jumping Genes

Farnesene

Sweet taste in apple: the role of sorbitol, individual sugars, organic acids and volatile compounds

Caravanserai along the Silk Road

Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution

Bromeliads have splashy flower displays

Effects of the sound of the bite on apple perceived crispness and hardness

Granny Smith history

Reddit: Apple Slice soda

The Best Way to Prevent Cut Apples From Browning

Why Apple Detectives Are Tracking Down Lost Varieties

The Apple’s Code of Life

Apple allergy: Causes and factors influencing fruits allergenic properties–Review

Yoko Ono’s 1966 work, “Apple” 

Seasonal Fruit Picking jobs

Apple genome - Wikipedia

Effects of the sound of the bite on apple perceived crispness and hardness

Association Between Apple Consumption and Physician Visits

New apple disease spoils even pasteurized foods

Patulin mycotoxin

The apple maggot

The results of consumer preference testing of popular apple cultivars at the end of the storage season

Once-Discontinued Slice Soda Now Looks Completely Different 

The Real Reason So Many People Hate The Taste Of Black Licorice


Other episodes you may enjoy:

SPOOKTOBER episodes

Ciderology (DELICIOUS APPLE BEVERAGES)

Cucurbitology (PUMPKINS)

Dendrology (TREES)

Gustology (TASTE)

Benthopelagic Nematology (DEEP SEA WORMS)


Ologies info:

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, stickers, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Twitter and Instagram

Follow @AlieWard on Twitter and Instagram

Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions

Transcripts by Emily White of The Wordary

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

FoodAlie Ward