Apples, cider, tortilla tournament, ancient healing

Good Food

KCRW

Society & Culture

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rare apple hunter Tom Brown, who's been crisscrossing his native North Carolina and beyond, is on a mission to find and save America's rare apples. Co-owners Chelsey Rosetter and Benny Farber are the duo behind Benny Boy Brewing, where they go beyond beer and are fermenting Basque-style and other fruited ciders. Emily Eversman of Proof Bakery has started research and development for fall recipes using apples from the farmer’s market. Gustavo Arellano gears up for the fifth consecutive Great Tortilla Tournament, breaking down brackets and the faceoff between corn and flour. Carrying on a legacy, Alexis Navarette recalls working on the weekends as a kid and connecting with the culture of his parents’ South LA restaurant. Deatra Cohen and Adam Siegel penned a definitive guide to the medicinal plant knowledge of Ashkenazi herbal healers, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From KCRW, I'm Evan Klyman, and you're listening to good food.
0:06.4	If ever anyone qualifies for the title of Modern Day Johnny Appleseed, it's Tom Brown.
0:15.9	A retired chemical engineer, he's been scouring Appalachia since the 1990s, searching for and preserving rare apple varieties.
0:21.6	He's discovered approximately 1,200 varieties and counting.
0:27.0	At his orchard, Heritage Apples in Clemens, North Carolina, he showcases around 700 of them.
0:34.0	Hi, Tom.
0:36.0	Hello, how are you today?
0:37.8	I'm great and I'm so happy you could join us.
0:41.7	Tell me a little bit about your background, like where were you born, where did you grow up, and were you always interested in apples?
0:50.0	I grew up in rural, Ar'm in Seattle County, that's outside of States from North Carolina.
0:57.4	And there we had one apple tree that mother made pies out of and we call that a pound apple and then we had
1:10.5	Seven real large unknown apple trees that we made cider out of and many many
1:18.0	years later I was able to identify them as McLean apples. After high school I went to NC State and
1:26.2	graduated in pop and paper and chemical engineering and then I pursued the chemical engineering effort and when I retired several years later I can tell you about how I started looking for old apple varieties.
1:47.0	Oh I would love to know that.
1:49.0	Well my wife and I love farmers markets.
1:52.8	Every Saturday we would go to a farmers market
1:56.2	in Winston-Salem at the fairgrounds.
2:00.5	And there was a gentleman there that sold Heritage Apples.
2:05.0	And I was just fascinated by all the names and colors and tastes and shapes.
2:12.0	And I found out that he had discovered a few of them himself and I asked if there
2:19.3	were any lost apple varieties in my area and he said yes there was from Western Fisai County
	...

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