Heirlooms and Hybrids
The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters
American Public Media
4.3 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2016
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s a conversation with Craig LeHoullier, author of Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties of All Time. We talk to Nicole Bermensolo about her book, Kyotofu: Uniquely Japanese Desserts, and we get kitchen design and philosophy from Gabrielle Stanley Blair, creator of the blog and book Design Mom. Cara Nicoletti, author of Voracious, shares dishes from her favorite novels, while Andrew Moore, author of Pawpaw, explains the forgotten fruit.
Broadcast dates for this episode:
- September 11, 2015 (originally aired)
- September 9, 2016 (rebroadcast)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Ana Gonzalez, through this complicated country. |
| 0:08.1 | We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories, their poetry, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature and get closer to the things we're missing. |
| 0:24.5 | Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC, wherever you get podcasts. |
| 0:32.1 | It's the splendid table from APM, American Public Media. |
| 0:36.3 | I'm Lynne Rosetta-Castro. |
| 0:39.2 | So why all the fuss over heirloom tomatoes? This was the very question tomato breeder Craig LeHulier asked himself years ago. |
| 0:45.9 | So he pitted the hybrid against the heirloom. So I pulled some great-sounding heirlooms out of the |
| 0:51.0 | Seed Savers catalog, grew them side side by side. In a three-year time |
| 0:54.2 | period of growing, maybe over 100 types, convinced myself that hybrids are really good. Airlooms |
| 1:00.0 | can be really great, and you get the added distinctiveness of the colors and the nuances. It's |
| 1:05.5 | almost like wine tasting, picking up all of the individuality characteristics that each tomato |
| 1:10.2 | holds. |
| 1:14.0 | And once you start down this road, and it's not a bug that hits everyone, |
| 1:16.7 | but for those that really get it, there's no end to it, |
| 1:20.0 | and you just end up on a lifelong quest to grow everything you can get your hands on. |
| 1:23.3 | Craig's Epic Tomatoes, miso-laced brownies, |
| 1:25.1 | and remember the paw-paw patch? |
| 1:28.0 | All this, this hour, the Splendid Table. |
| 1:39.3 | This is The Splendid Table from APM, American Public Media, |
| 1:42.2 | the show for people who love to eat. |
| 1:44.1 | I'm Lynn Rossettoetta-Casper. |
| 1:57.3 | I have a theory. I think heirloom tomatoes threw open the doors to rethinking what we buy, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from American Public Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of American Public Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.