An Apple Is An Ovary: The Science of Apple Breeding - Short Wave
Update: 2025-11-18
Description
What's your favorite apple? Maybe it's the crowd-pleasing Honeycrisp, the tart Granny Smith or the infamous Red Delicious. Either way, before that apple made it to your local grocery store or orchard it had to be invented — by a scientist. So today, we're going straight to the source: Talking to an apple breeder. Producer Hannah Chinn reports how apples are selected, bred, grown ... and the discoveries that could change that process. Plus, what's a "spitter"?
Read more of Hannah's apple reporting.
Want to know how science impacts other food you eat? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might cover your food of choice on a future episode!
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
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Read more of Hannah's apple reporting.
Want to know how science impacts other food you eat? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might cover your food of choice on a future episode!
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
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