Panama: Los Canaleros

Switzerland: The Cherry and the Still

How does a fruit with a two-day shelf life become one of Switzerland's great protected exports? Why does the finest kirsch come not from Germany's Black Forest but from a small lake-side canton in Central Switzerland? And why does a splash of cherry brandy hold a bowl of molten cheese together at every Swiss dinner table? Join John and Patrick as they trace the story of kirsch — from wild cherries in the forests of Central Europe, through the Chriesimärt of Zug and the founding of Etter in 1870, to the almond note hidden in every glass and the layered indulgence of the Zuger Kirschtorte. Along the way: distillation, terroir, blossoming orchards on the slopes above Lake Zug, and the tale of a spirit that turns a single Alpine spring into something that can travel the world in a bottle. ---------- In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh. The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here [https://www.jkfresh.com/]! ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! 1. Share this episode with your friends 2. Give a 5-star rating 3. Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

Algeria: The Wine That Made France French

Why was Algeria, a predominantly Muslim country in North Africa, the largest exporter of wine in the world — and why has almost nobody heard of it? How did the phylloxera catastrophe that destroyed French vineyards quietly turn colonial Algeria into the hidden engine of French wine, with Algerian reds shipped in unmarked barrels to be blended into Bordeaux and Burgundy without anyone asking where they came from? And what does it mean that the appellation system which defines French wine as we know it today was partly invented to keep Algerian wine out? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Algeria and the vine — the stolen land, the abandoned cellars, Albert Camus's impossible dilemma, and the 400,000 hectares that disappeared overnight in 1962... ---------- In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! * Share this episode with your friends * Give a 5-star rating * Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

Panama: Los Canaleros

Why did the President of the United States personally intervene to improve the yam supply of Caribbean labourers on a jungle construction site — and what does that detail reveal about the vast, brutal, and deeply unequal machine that built the Panama Canal? Who were the Silver Women selling plantains from market stalls in the Canal Zone, and why does the history of one of the greatest engineering projects in human history barely mention the West Indian workers who actually dug it? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Panama and the Canal — the Gold Roll and the Silver Roll, the yams Roosevelt couldn't source, and the 42,000 workers the history books forgot... ---------- In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh. The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here [https://www.jkfresh.com/]! ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! 1. Share this episode with your friends 2. Give a 5-star rating 3. Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

Saudi Arabia: The Quay of the World

Why did the Sumerian gods describe a land on the Persian Gulf coast as paradise — and why does the geological reality of that same land, 4,000 years later, still justify the comparison? Who were the Qarmatians, the radical sect who built a proto-communist oasis commune and then stole the Black Stone of Islam from Mecca and kept it hidden in an Eastern Arabian date palm grove for twenty-two years? And how did the water that made Al-Hasa the most fought-over oasis in the ancient world turn out to be sitting directly above the largest conventional oil field on Earth? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Saudi Arabia and Al-Hasa — the Dilmun paradise, the Khalas date, and six thousand years of civilisation built on artesian springs... ---------- In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! * Share this episode with your friends * Give a 5-star rating * Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]

Türkiye: Social Intercourse and Free Discussion

Why did two Syrian merchants opening a shop in Istanbul in 1554 inadvertently invent the public sphere — and how did a small copper pot of coffee produce Lloyd's of London, the French Revolution, and the Royal Society? Why did Sultan Murad IV personally execute coffeehouse owners in the streets, and why did it make absolutely no difference? And how does a drink from the Ethiopian highlands, brewed first by Sufi monks in Yemen, end up creating the conditions for the Enlightenment? Join John and Patrick as they tell the story of Türkiye and the kahvehane — the Ottoman coffeehouse, the meddah, and the most consequential cup in history... ---------- In Sponsorship with J&K Fresh. The customs broker who is your fruit and veggies’ personal bodyguard. Learn more here [https://www.jkfresh.com/]! ----------- Join the History of Fresh Produce Club [https://app.theproduceindustrypodcast.com/access/] for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community. Support us! 1. Share this episode with your friends 2. Give a 5-star rating 3. Write a review ----------- Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here [https://historyoffreshproduce.substack.com/] for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more. ----------- Instagram, TikTok, Threads: @historyoffreshproduce Email: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com [historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com]