Autumn leaves and heirloom apples

Guests: Susan Charkes, John Brunner, and Rowan Jacobsen

Around this time of year, people travel great distances to see beautiful fall leaves.  But, if you live around the Delaware Valley you don’t have to go far to find neighborhoods and parks bursting with bright color. In the first half of the show, guest host Jeff Brady gets suggestions of great spots to see fall foliage in our region from SUSAN CHARKES, author of Best Day Hikes Near Philadelphia, and JOHN BRUNNER, mid-Atlantic recreation planner for the Appalachian Mountain Club.  Then, we turn to a favorite fall fruit – the apple.  We used to have 7,500 varieties of apples in America like the Roxybury Russet, Kingston Black, Newton Pippin, and Thomas Jefferson’s favorite, Esopus Spitzenburg.  Today though, supermarkets stock just a few.  So how did the red delicious become king? And how can we get our hands on these amazing heirloom varieties?  ROWAN JACOBSEN, author of Apples of Uncommon Character, talks about the apple’s history and shares a few of his favorite recipes in this hour of Radio Times.