Join John and Patrick for a special bonus episode recorded live from Anaheim, California, at the International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce & Floral Show!

Surrounded by the sights, sounds, and scents of the world’s freshest innovations, they sit down with four bright Cornell University students to hear their impressions of the show - and to ask a question close to their hearts: who are their favorite figures and moments in fresh produce history?

From Van Gogh’s humble potato paintings to the landmark establishment of USDA organic standards, a Supreme Court showdown over the tomato, and the revolutionary invention of freeze-drying foods - these students reveal their favorite moments in produce history and why they still matter today.

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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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Step into history - literally! Now is your chance to own a pair of The History of Fresh Produce sneakers. Fill out the form here and get ready to walk through the past in style.

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What do garlic, blackberries, cucumbers, eggplants, mushrooms, and pumpkins have in common? More than you might think. Across history and folklore, fruits and vegetables have not only nourished humanity but terrified it - linked with madness, curses, demons, vampires, and even the Devil himself. From garlic garlands that warded off the undead, to blackberries spoiled by Satan’s spit, to Japanese river demons with a fondness for cucumbers, and the pumpkin lanterns that still haunt our porches every Halloween - produce has carried meanings far darker than the dinner table.

Join John and Patrick as they explore the eerie world of cursed crops and sinister superstitions: a journey from medieval England to haunted Japanese rivers, from Bedouin tales of madness-inducing eggplants to the psychedelic mushrooms of Siberian shamans. This is the story of fruits and vegetables not as symbols of life and vitality, but as omens of death, disease, and the supernatural…

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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.

The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!

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From the barefoot wanderings of Johnny Appleseed to the fiery kick of applejack on Civil War battlefields, the apple’s story in America takes a dramatic turn in this fourth episode of our series.

John and Patrick trace how John Chapman’s seed-planting helped shape frontier life, fueled the nation’s cider culture, and - ironically - set the stage for America’s drinking frontier. But the apple’s journey doesn’t stop there.

Across the Atlantic, the fruit was taking root in Victorian Britain, where royal tastebuds, scientific curiosity, and household culture transformed it into a symbol of both domesticity and national pride. Yet under the gloss of toffee apples and orchard competitions lurked darker tales of poisonings, poverty, and fierce competition with American imports.

Join John and Patrick as they uncover how the apple became at once a folk hero’s legacy, a soldier’s solace, and the centerpiece of Victorian life - setting the stage for its leap into the modern global age.

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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.

The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!

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John and Patrick journey into the seventeenth century, when cider wasn’t just a drink - it was a matter of national survival. From John Evelyn’s bold call for apple orchards to secure England’s navy and replace French wine, to the early experiments that nearly made England the home of “apple champagne,” the apple takes centre stage in politics, science, and patriotism.

But apples weren’t only about orchards and fizz. This was also the age when John Milton transformed them into the forbidden fruit of Eden, when physicians and quacks alike prescribed them as medicine and beauty aids, and when settlers carried them across the Atlantic to the New World. There, apples and cider became woven into the fabric of colonial life - fueling households, politics, and survival itself.

From Restoration England to early America, discover how the apple evolved into both symbol and staple, preparing the stage for one of history’s most legendary figures: Johnny Appleseed.

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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.

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Step into history - literally! Now is your chance to own a pair of The History of Fresh Produce sneakers. Fill out the form here and get ready to walk through the past in style.

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Apples are one of those rare fruits that you can actually recognize by name. Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji… the list seems endless.

But have you ever wondered where these names came from?

Is there an actual 'granny' behind the Granny Smith?

Was the Red Delicious truly the most delicious of all red apples?

And what about Bramley - does that name come from a person, a place, or perhaps an aristocratic family?

In this month's livestream, John and Patrick dig into a few apple varieties and explore the fascinating history behind their names.

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In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

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Step into history - literally! Now is your chance to own a pair of The History of Fresh Produce sneakers. Fill out the form here and get ready to walk through the past in style.

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From the kitchens of medieval Europe to the orchards of Anglo-Saxon England, the apple became far more than just a fruit. It was medicine, it was myth, it was ritual.

In part two of our apple series, John and Patrick explore how crab apples were pressed into sharp, sour verjuice to season everything from pigs’ feet to plague remedies, how Anglo-Saxon charms and midwinter wassailing blended Christianity with ancient fertility rites, and how monks carried apple cuttings—and their spiritual symbolism—across the continent.

From the orchard-cemeteries of St. Gall to the fruit catalogues of Charlemagne, apples became embedded in the medieval imagination. And just as they took root in law codes, legends, and royal gardens, they also crept into the realm of story—appearing in myths of archers, kings, and poisoned fruit.

Join John and Patrick as they uncover how the humble apple became a cornerstone of medieval life, belief, and lore…

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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.

The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!

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Where did the apple come from, and how did it go from a sour, berry-sized wild fruit to the sweet, plump star of our fruit bowls today? Was it really bears (and their sweet tooth) that shaped its destiny? How did the mountains of Kazakhstan become the apple’s Garden of Eden, and what role did nomads, traders, and even the poets of Ancient Greece play in transforming it from wild crab to cultivated treasure? And why has this fruit, more than almost any other, become so entangled in our myths, our laws, and our imaginations?

Join John and Patrick as they peel back the first layer of the apple’s astonishing story—from its tangled roots in Central Asia to its golden glow in the myths of Greece—in the opening episode of this epic five-part series.

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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.

The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!

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What do Afghan purple roots, Roman aphrodisiacs, Dutch horticulturalists, and wartime propaganda have in common?

The answer: the carrot.

From its wild ancestor Daucus carota scattered across Europe 10,000 years ago, to its starring role as Britain’s unlikely weapon in the Second World War, the carrot’s journey has been anything but straightforward.

Once confused with parsnips, praised by Dioscorides for its medicinal powers, and supposedly beloved by Caligula for rather different reasons, the carrot slowly transformed from a bitter, scraggly root into the sweet orange staple we know today. Along the way it fed peasants, adorned Renaissance paintings, crossed oceans with colonists, and became the poster-child of Ministry of Food propaganda.

Join John and Patrick as they unearth the remarkable history of the carrot - a story of medicine, myth, empire, science, and survival - that reveals how this humble vegetable helped shape diets and imaginations across the world.

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In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh.

The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here!

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Ever see a shirt that you could just eat it? Well, this New Jersey family-run business may just be it!

Visit EatShirts here to order your favorite fruit or veggies shirt!

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Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.

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