The creation story of the perfect fruit delving into the world of thedemanding farmers brilliant obsessives and food fanatics who create thefruits we love. Is i... » 

The creation story of the perfect fruit delving into the world of thedemanding farmers brilliant obsessives and food fanatics who create thefruits we love. Is it possible to create the perfect piece of fruita fruitthat cannot be improved upon? Since the dawn of agriculture people have beenobsessively tinkering to develop fruits that are hardier prettier and bettertasting. Today consumers have sophisticated palates and unparalleled access tothe best fruits from around the world and many of them believe that inCalifornias San Joaquin Valley a fruit breeder may have developed the perfectfruit a sweet juicy luscious plumapricot hybrid known as a pluot. InThe Perfect Fruit Chip Brantley goes in search of what it takes to tricknature into producing gustatory greatnessand to bring it to a market nearyou. The story begins with Floyd Zaiger a humble and wily octogenarian who isarguably the greatest fruit breeder in the world. From there it stretches bothback and forward back through a long line of visionaries fruit smugglers andmad geniuses many of whom have been driven to dazzling extremes in the pursuitof exotic flavors and forward through the ranks of farmers scientists andsalesmen who make it their lifes work to coax deliciousness out of stubbornand unpredictable plants. The result is part biography part cultural historyand part horticultural inquesta meditation on the surprising power of food tochange the way we live. «