In this episode of Fruit Love Letters, Jessamine Starr chats with:

• William Mullam, Brooklyn based photographer and creator of the Odd Apples still life project

• Gidon Coll, founder of Original Sin hard cider and apple orchard in Columbia County, New York

Episode highlights:

The Beauty of Odd Apples

• Listen as photographer William Mullan discusses his approach to showcasing apples as art objects, allowing his photos to honor the beauty of the different varieties.

• William shares what makes apples unique to other fruits; that they are extremely heterozygous, meaning each apple offspring will be different from the parent plant.

• William wants his photography to encourage everyone to explore and celebrate the diversity of apples

The Golden Age of Pomology

• Gidon Coll reflects on his interest in apples beginning through owning a cidery and working with different orchards, before owning his own.

• Like William, Gidon also admires the heterozygous attribute of apples and explains the grafting process for growing apple trees.

• Gidon shares the history and pride of the Golden Age of Pomology and how at one point there were almost 20,000 named varieties of apples.

• There are roughly 7,500 named apple varieties currently. Gidon explains how spread of disease among apple orchards played a role, and why the average American unfortunately has only consumed around 6-10 varieties of apples.

• Gidon guides Jessamine through the flavor characteristics as she tries lesser known cultivars such as Frostbite, Hudson’s Golden Gem, and Northern Spy.