In this bonus episode Sam explores the Instagram sensation that is the avocado and why this berry that takes its name from the Aztec word for testicle makes some people rather anxious. This is the full interview with author and environmental journalist Louise Gray, who’s book Avocado Anxiety tracks the stories of our five-a-day from farm to fruit bowl and uncovers the impact that growing fruits and vegetables has on the planet.

You can follow Louise on Instagram and X or find out more about her work here.

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and X (Twitter).

In this extra bonus episode, Neil talks with Sam and Alessandra about why getting plenty of nitrogen in the soil is good for making amino acids and therefore protein.

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and X (Twitter).

Sam Bilton also hosts the Comfortably Hungry Podcast and is the author of First Catch Your Gingerbread, Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron and The Philosophy of Chocolate. You can find her on Instagram and X.

Dr Neil Buttery also hosts the British Food History Podcast and is the author of A Dark History of Sugar and Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald Britain’s Most Influential Housekeeper. You can find him on Instagram and X.

Dr Alessandra Pino also co-hosts the Fear Feasts Podcast and is the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook. You can find her on Instagram and X.

Here is an extra helping of the A is for Apple podcast following on from our last episode on vegetables. If you listened to the last 'A' episode, you’re probably thinking that we were on our best behaviour. But you should know us better than that by now!

As ever Allie, Neil and I talked for ages about our vegetal A’s and inevitably we strayed onto our pet subjects of aphrodisiacs and sex. So here are the saucy bits we couldn’t fit into the previous episode on vegetables. But we start by continuing our discussion on the perils of recipe testing.

Suggested Reading

English Food (1998) by Jane Grigson

Good Savouries (1934) by Ambrose Heath

Royal Cookery or the Compleat Court Cook by Patrick Lamb (1726)

Put Out More Flags (1942) by Evelyn Waugh

In today’s episode we will be discussing what many a child dreads encountering on their dinner plate. So prepare yourself for a wrinkled nose or two, an impromptu visit to the sick room and a few prickly surprises as Allie, Neil and I explore the verdant world of vegetables.

Useful Links

Sam’s Recipe for William Verrall’s Sweetbreads With Asparagus (1759)

Sam’s interpretation of Hannah Glasse’s Asparagus in a French Role (sic) on Instagram (essentially a quiche in a loaf of bread)

Neil’s Butter Sauce (a classic accompaniment to asparagus)

You can also find Neil’s talk on 'Navigating 19th Century English meals through Worcester porcelain' for the Museum of Royal Worcester onYouTube

Lindsay Middleton’s project Dishes for the Sickroom examines the links between food, health, education and international ingredients in the culinary collections of the Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) Archive Centre.

Suggested Reading

Emma by Jane Austen (1815)

The Diner’s Dictionary by John Ayto (1993)

Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management by Isabella Beeton (1861)

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (1993)

The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy by Giacomo Castelvetro (1614)

‘Crumbs! A history of biscuits in 15 fantastic facts – from flatulence cure to phenomenal fuel’ by Lizzie Collingham in The Guardian, 18 October 2020

The Art of the Asparagus by Daisy Dunn in the Spectator, 15 May 2021

Acetaria. A discourse of sallets by John Evelyn (1706)

In today’s baking themed episode, Alessandra looks into that classic piece of kitchen kit, the Aga, Neil investigates hyper-regional Welsh biscuits called Aberffraw cakes and Sam goes oh-so-retro with a deep-dive into angelica.

Books and other things mentioned in this episode:

Joanna Trollope A Village Affair (1989) Televised version (1995)

Book on Archive.org Television adaptation on YouTube

Mary Berry New Aga Cookbook (1999) Book on Archive.org

Ambrose Heath First Aga cookbook: Good Food on the Aga (1933) Book on Persephone Books

Sussex Pond Pudding Recipe on Neil Cooks Grigson blog

Cassel’s Dictionary Link on Wellcome Collection

Laura Mason and Catherine Brown The Taste of Britain (2010) Book on HarperCollins

Aberffraw Traditional Biscuit Company Website

Tale of Thormod and Thorarin translated in The Sagas of Kormak and The Sworn Brothers. Trans. Lee M Hollander, New York: Princeton University Press, 1949 pp179

'Angelica: From Norwegian Mountains to the English Trifle' by Ove Fosså in Wild Food: Proceedings of the Oxford Food Symposium on Food and Cookery 2004. Totnes: Prospect Books, 2006, 13 PDF link

Edward Daniel Clarke Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa (1810-1823)Link on Wellcome Collection

John Parkinson Paradisi in sole paradisus terrestris (1629) Link on Wellcome Collection

Robin Weir Ices: The Definitive Guide (1995) Book on Amazon

Curnonsky La Table et l’Amour (1950) Book on Untje.com

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Things start to get fruity in this third episode. Neil chooses almonds, fuelling a historical debate that goes a bit nuts. Apricots are more Allie’s jam as she looks at their use in literature and Sam takes the less beaten track of the aubergine, sparking memories of the time she made a parmigiana…on TV!

Useful Links

Neil's recipe for - or, rather, interpretation of - medieval blanc mange and modern, sweet blancmange.

‘Almond trees in Ancient Greek lore’ on the Greek News Agenda website

History of the Bimberlot Festival. ‘A French Party 600 Years in the Making’ by Hugh Thomas on the Smart Mouth Substack.

‘The "pretty art" of detecting pregnancy in The Duchess of Malfi’ by Claire McEwen Duncan via University of British Colombia Open Collections.

‘Eggplant (aubergine) — A Mad Apple with a Dark Liaison’ on the Vegetarians in Paradise website

‘Eggplant (aubergine) Symbol Timeline in Love in the Time of Cholera’ on the LitCharts website

Suggested Reading

In Search of Lost Time (1913) by Marcel Proust

The Experienced English Housekeeper (1769) by Elizabeth Raffald

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1605) by William Shakespeare

Apricot Jam and Other Stories (2008) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book: Elizabethan Country House Cooking (1987) by Hilary Spurling (based on the late sixteenth century manuscript notebook belonging to Elinor Fettiplace)

The Duchess of Malfi (1613) by John Webster

Pride and Pudding: The History of British Puddings, Savory and Sweet (2016) by Regula Ysewijn

Anything to add? Don’t forget we want to hear your suggestions for future topics.

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email: aisforapplepod.gmail.com

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