Sunkist Growers

Joining me on the show here today is Dr. Patricio Grassini.

and he is a Sunkist Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Rossini, I am so glad to have you on here today.

Let's start with the big picture.

Because otherwise, you know, we may be thinking that our research is very impactful, but sometimes you realize that, you know, there is nobody that is really interested about.

So involving the end users very upfront in the process of prioritizing our research and also along the process of developing, I think that is essential more than ever.

Dr. Patricio Grisani, Sunkist Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

My guest here today, a great conversation, very enlightening.

Some of it is sort of the Beatles girl group type inspired stuff.

Some is what I call the Sunkist version of it.

Some of it is not quite all the way Baroque, but it's a little slowed down.

Then you have a little bit more guitar heavy stuff that Todd Rudgren, it was definitely a reference point as well that reminded me a lot of what he does with the guitar.

What the heck is it? Similar.

I also adore Sunkist over Fanta, but they don't sell it in Europe anymore.

I got to import it.

I bought a slab of it on eBay.

You have to distinguish yourself from Europe, I'm afraid, Mr. Preston.

So

Sunkist, it's very simple.

So Sunkist is Pepsi, made by Pepsi, I think.

It was at first the thing that caught my mind and it kind of, it sounds silly, but at first, before I started to look at it, I thought that there was, a straight up cartoon image of an actual orange.

And I grew up in Florida and there's a lot of logos of like the orange Sunkist, you know, orange juice factory and these just bright orange orbs.

And I was like, is that, you know, like I thought it was, you know, some kind of highway sign or something.

And then I was like, no, like what? And then the moon was so orange.

You know, it isn't every day that the Jewish people make headlines over gummy candies, but this fall, I don't know if you know this, an American jury went through what I could only call a crisis of confectionery faith.

Word has gone out that Sunkist fruit gems, the candy that rains down on nearly every bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, and off-roof in America, has quietly been disconnected, discontinued.

You cannot find Sunkist fruit gems.

The story ran all through the Jewish press.

Even the Holy New York Times picked it up and social media filled with mock eulogies for the beloved candy.

We don't get to choose whether we send a message.

We only get to choose whether it's sweet.

Let's come back to this false candy panic, as I said earlier on, when Sunkist decided they weren't going to produce these candies anymore.

Yeah, that's right.

So my dad was in like, you know, executive at Sunkist Growers.

That was the first Sunkist Fiesta Bowl.

That's