Art Professor Grows Trees That Grow a Variety of Ancient Fruits

Sam Van Aken, associate professor of studio arts in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, was interviewed for The National Desk (ABC 6) story “This fall, pick ancient apples from a tree that also grows rare pears, plums, and peaches.” The story highlights Van Aken’s efforts to create an orchard in New York City full of the “Tree of 40 Fruit,” a tree that was accidentally created in the 1800s and grows a variety of fruits, rather than just one. He states, “As I was collecting all of these old varieties, I noticed that they tasted so much better, so wildly different, from anything I was getting at a grocery store, or even a farmer’s market.”