The Fruitguys News: Myth Buster

Myth Buster

Posted on May 18, 2008

It's 9:15 p.m. and the kids are still awake. My daughter has a quizzical look on her face as she skeptically slides her freshly-lost tooth under her pillow in a legal-sized envelope. "Papa," she asks in a way that tells me I'm in trouble. "Are you the tooth fairy?" I've been waiting for this question for a long time and I've always told myself that I would be honest with my kids. Mythology is good but I can't lie. "Well," I say. "Do you want the truth?" "Yes," she says. "Okay. Yes." She gives me a look that just a moment ago had been one of shared understanding. A look that said, "I know the game here, let's not pretend." Now it's melting into a stone stare of shocked horror. Tears trickle from her eyes and then it's a deluge. My other daughter walks into the room. "What's wrong?" she asks. "Papa is the tooth fairy!" My other daughter cries. Soon both girls are wailing in such well-orchestrated surround sound that I feel dizzy. I have earned my merit badge - you know, the one with the symbol of a wolf ripping apart a happy teddy bear at a tea party. The one that officially inducts me into the Bad Dad Club. "Are you sure?" My daughter asks me again. She's generous. "I just help the tooth fairy," I say in a waffling sort of way. "When she's really busy." The crying quiets into short and shallow breaths. The almost exorcism of the Tooth Fairy has exhausted them. "I won't help her tonight," I say. "And if your tooth is gone..." I say. "Then she exists?" Asks my daughter.

Apriums and Plumcots

The growing of fruit - something both simple and amazing - has generated many a mid-summer fairy story. Today I think of new fruit development in three categories spanning the spectrum from literary magic to white-coated scientist. First is random and natural (for example the Braeburn apple appearing in a Granny Smith orchard in mid-20th century New Zealand), 2nd is hybridization by farmers (apriums, plumcots, pluots which are cross-bred over multiple generations of a plant by diligent and observant stewards), 3rd is GMO (manipulating the genetic make-up of a plant to achieve a desired result). The FruitGuys doesn't buy GMO fruit but we do enjoy hybridized fruit.

This week, we have two fruit varieties that are different crosses of plum and apricot parents. On the West coast, Plumcots, (50% plum and 50% apricot) and, on both coasts, Apriums, (25% plum, 75% apricot).