February 25, 2025 • 17 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author, chef, and co-owner of Family Meal at Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Dan Barber!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick riddle. Imagine a
vegan who is so strict he won't even eat eggplants
because it has the word egg in it. So this
strict vegan avoids eggs, dairy beets, even if those are
just in the name of the food. So the riddle is,
in addition to eggplant, what other vegetables and fruits might
(00:24):
our super strict vegan avoid. I'll give you a hint
to one of the answers. It's a type of squash,
blank squash that sounds a little too dairy like for
our vegan. The answers and more puzzling goodness after the break,
(00:47):
Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler podcast the gently
suggested gratuity at your high end restaurant. I am your host,
AJ Jacobson. I'm here with Chief puzzle Officer Greg Fliska. Greg.
Before the break, he asked a riddle about a vegan
so strict he will not even eat eggplants because he
doesn't like anything in the name of the food that
(01:08):
resembles eggs, dairy, or meat. So what else besides eggplants
might he avoid? We had blank squash, which.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Might be Yeah, that would be butternut, squash, butternuts.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I say, this guy, this guy's a little bit of
a nut.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think he's, you know, missing out on a lot
of delicious food.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, his diet, he is a nut, but he he
is a butternut.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Not a butternut.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Actually, that's right, he's a cashew butternut. Do you have
any other theories?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
What about? What about horse radish?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Great one, that's one of my I have six options
that I came up with.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
But I would just say, as someone who does eat meat,
I would never eat horse.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, fair enough, but I love horse radish horse does
I saw it on the menu at a Parisian restaurant once,
So all right, I'm just going to go through him quickly.
Kidney beans, hearts of palm, heads of lettuce, horse radish blood, orange, oyster, mushroom.
There are probably more. We would love to hear your thoughts.
Email us at by going to the puzzler dot com
(02:14):
website if you think of others, and I give this
food related puzzle because our guest today is deeply immersed
in the world of food. He is Dan Barber, the
chef of Blue Hill and Stone, Barnes Center and author
of the Third Plate. And I could say a I
(02:37):
think a longtime friend.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Is that fair at very fair? That's very fair.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And I am a huge fan as well as a friend.
So welcome Dan Barber.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Thank you. It's great to be here. Puzzler, love it.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I think you're feeling a little better today, which is great.
The gauntlet and that voice, of course is Greg Pliska,
and I am now going to turn over this to
Greg because he has a delicious puzzle that he made
just for you, So welcome Greg.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Ah, well, it's delicious because it's inspired by your restaurants
Blue Hill at Stone Barnes and Family Meal at Blue Hill.
And the puzzle is all Blue Hill themed and it's
not even super puzzly. It's just every answer is a
phrase that either has the word blue in it or
the word hill in it.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
So if I said this is where.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Congress works the Hill, it would be Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, right,
it's all got blue or hill in it. All right, Well,
this is a term for a working class person as
opposed to someone who works in an office. And it's
either got blue in it or it's got hill in it.
Blue collar exactly, very good. All right, this is something
(03:59):
of no importance, and you might know it is a
line from Casablanco when Rick says it doesn't take much
to see that the problems of three little people don't
amount to a blank in this crazy worlds Hili beans exactly.
I also think that that phrase gives beans a bad rap,
(04:19):
right point right. They're not worth anything. Hill of beans
is not worth anything. Obviously, beans are sure something.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
They're the miracle food to grow right now. Beans are
the answered to our future. Really how beans have this
magical capability to fix nitrogen from the air and trap
it in their rise of sphere which is their their
root zone, and it powers their growth, so they actually
(04:48):
clean the environment while while growing.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
So you don't you know, they don't like nitrogen.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Fertilizer is one of the big problems with our environment
right now, with agri culture. It's the biggest nitrogen versil
and agriculture pollution and degradation is you know, it's huge.
It's more than planes, trains and automobiles combined. That's what
I always say. We got our problem with how we
grow food is the biggest problem and the biggest problem
(05:15):
of how we grow food is really about nitrogen, because
nitrogen allows food to grow and grow very quickly, and
so we use a lot of chemical nitrogen to grow food.
Tons beans, on the other hand, are why I say
they're a miracle crop is that they fix nitrogen themselves.
They they've over the course of well more than ten
(05:40):
thousand years, they have evolved to not need us to
pump them with anything because they do it themselves. And
so when you eat beans, you're eating something that one
could argue is actually improving the ecological condition of the
farm or where it's grown. And by the way, they're
incredible source of protein, and then they're fantastically delicious. But
(06:03):
from an environmental point of view, they have this magic,
neat little trick that most plants don't have.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yes, so every time you eat a bean, you should
really feel good about yourself.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
You pat yourself on the bed so as opposed the
t bone steak you ate last night.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Aj is not something that you can.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
But anyway, point is hill of beans. We need mountains
of beans. No disrespect to beings in this quite important.
All right, keep going, Greg, all right.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
All right, good.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
This is another food adjacent clue. This was originally called
belly Slide Belgian white. And it's a beer that's usually
served with.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
An orange slice.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Oh, I don't know it.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And it's got either blue in it or hill in it.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
No freaking idea.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
It's a very.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Orange I don't know it either.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
I wish I had my my beer. Some is right
behind me. I wish I could ask him.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, okay, well, then the phrase.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
The phrase is also goes with once in a blank,
meaning something that happens very rarely. It happens once in
a blank.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Once in a blue moon.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, blue moon, blue moon is the beer.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Oh blue Moon, I know blue moon beer. Sorry, but
you know something about orange?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I often get served with an orange slice.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
That's really all I know. Idea.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, and it's got orange in it.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It's it's uh, it's got they make it with some orange.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
By the way, I wanted to use orange in last
Yesterday's rhyming puzzle, but of course nothing rhymes with orange famously,
except for according to some door hinge dorange and orange.
All right, but keep going, greg.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
All right, this is a dairy product made with edible
mold cultures.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Unbelievable. I have that every morning. A j do you
know what this is?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Well, I do because I just looked at the script,
but I know not sure I would have. But you
have that will tell us.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
See this is here. We are in the moment. I
just want you to know we're this is we're capturing
it live.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
I literally have this every every morning and I've forgotten
the name.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, it's it's a general category of products.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
You could say, you know, it's like a yogurt, but
it has more probiotics and it's more delicious and I
love it.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
I know exactly what you're talking about, is it?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Well it is all right, Well it is a color
and a dairy product, so put those two together something
a mouse might like.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I think this is a different it is Okay, I
got the wrong one. Okay, all right, this is this.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Is something that your froma.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Would Oh sorry, no, I'm off.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I want to know what you're talking about, though, Dan,
it was.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Either blue blue or hill in it.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Oh blue cheese, blue cheese. Sorry, you're right, I forgot
about the blue and the hill fan.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
But now I want to know what you have every
morning for breakfast.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Because I'll think of it in one second.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Listen, they're probably sitting there being like this Dan barber
has literally a hole in it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I was imagining you eating a big slices.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
I was impressed by the way what I drank every
morning is kaffir.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
So that's okay, blue kaffir or.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Just there was no blue and no hill. But I
forgot those rules right.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But kaffir is kind of yogurt.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Like, yeah, yogah, drinkable yogurt essentially, Yeah, more liquidy.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I wanted to ask you about the impossible loaf, which
I had the opportunity to taste and it's delicious. Well,
tell us how that came about and what's going on.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Well, it came about because behind me where I am
right now is the bread baker, and we make these
beautiful archismal loafs of one hundred percent fresh milled whole
wheat bread. It's stupefyingly delicious from our bakers.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Is really the best bread in the world.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
And as I am now getting into the back nine
of my career, let's say, I'm starting to like want
to get these ideas out into the world and not
just in the confines of the cathedral of our White
Tablecloth restaurant. And so a lot of the ideas that
(10:34):
I've been serving for years. I'm trying to think of, well,
how do you get this out out into how do
you democratize flavor and nutrition like this? And so one
of the more provocative things is this idea of getting
one hundred percent whole wheat, fresh milled bread into every.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Basket at the supermarket. You know, that would be the goal.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
The goal really is like is you know most people
buy their bread resliced in plastic.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
That's just the truth.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I mean, I don't know what the number is, but
it's probably ninety percent of people buy it once a week.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
It's implastic, and that's their bread.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
And it's actually the one percenters or less who are
doing the artismal loaf. And there's a lot of reasons
for that. I think cost is probably the biggest one
of access. But cost is huge. But you know, if
you just take water, wheat and salt and you figure
out a way to make it self preserve without adding
(11:32):
all the junk, the dough conditioners and the preservatives that
are really terrible for our bodies. As we're learning now
with highly processed food. Bread is highly processed product because
it'll stay on the shelf for you know, weeks, can
we create an impossible loaf, which is water salt wheat
that stays fresh presliced in plastic Because I'm not that's
(11:54):
not going anywhere in our lifetime.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
That's here to stay for now.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Well, one of my favorite memories was coming up to
Stone Barns and we got to talk to you, my
wife and I And this was many years ago, and
you were so excited. You had just had a kid,
and so you said, I got to show you some pictures.
You took out your your phone and you showed us
pictures of the wheat and you said that, and then
(12:19):
you showed us pictures of the of the babies. You
were very proud of both of them.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Barbara Wheat was born about the same time as much child.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
There you go, and they are both equally very excited.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Both genetic experiments.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Great parent lines.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Do you have a one or two more?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I got one more that I think is I think
I think we should do. This is a.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Coffee company headquartered in Oakland, California, part of the third
wave coffee movement. They focus on single origin beans.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
That's a coffee company in California that's single origin beans.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
That's that's my that's my ship right there. I should
know they've.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Got they've got shops all over the country. Now they
grew out of Oakland. But there there's like a hundred
of these.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Blue Bottle. Yes, that's the one my coffee every morning.
I don't know why I get to see there, it
is there.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It's like we wrote this for you.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You're true.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
You must have done your research somehow, because Blue Bottle
I go to every morning on my.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Way to work.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Do you have a favorite bean?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Do you have a favorite coffee you go for?
Speaker 4 (13:29):
This morning?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
I had this thing called Giant Steps, but they which
which was pretty good. But there's one and I've forgotten
the name that I love so much, and I don't
know they haven't had it lately. For a few months,
I've felt deprived, but I haven't claimed anyone until now.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I love their coffee. Thank you for bringing me, bringing
me back there.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
To look your breakfast, your kaffee or your coffee, blue cheese.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
We got everything. It's all here.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Have a blue Moon beer, end the day in your set.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Puzzle is all there. You go, Well, Dan, we loved
having you and uh and you survived and you survived.
I think more than you thrived.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
You didn't tell your listeners.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
What I said to you is my greatest insecurity, my
Achilles heal is the puzzles from when I was me
and you were toddlers from I literally started back then,
and I've stayed with me so much. So it like
when will Shot comes on on Sundays, you know, like
I have to turn MPR off.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
So much.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
I can never I've never gotten one of those, not
even like you know, I.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Play it and it's interesting. Never one have I been
able to get, So I just turned it off.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well, I didn't know when I asked you to be
on the show. I have no idea that I was
asking you to do. But the worst thing front my.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Exposure.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Now you can listen to on NPR.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You're gonna you're gonna sneak into the super secured pick
up a word search.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, you told us it was like people have a
dream of going nude to school and not doing their math.
This is your nightmare.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
This is my nude to school, no math.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Well, I think we thought some good therapy. Yeah right, yeah,
we did a session, I know, so we'll bill you
two hundred and fifty. Expect that, or we'll just stop
by for a meal.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I am hungry.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I know that is the problem with talking to day.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I don't do puzzles on an empty stomach, because man,
I want to eat all of these.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
That is it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I'm going to get the garley.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Oh, that's say. Let's do it nice, really great. Thank
you for taking you out of the kitchen for a
few minutes.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Great, well, thank you, pleasure.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Thanks for coming out.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
So Greg, before we wrap up, do you have an
extra credit for the folks at home?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I do, I do, And this one this is slightly
different from the clues we were doing already. I am
thinking of two adjectives, each referring to an elderly person.
One includes the word hill and the other includes the
word blue.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
So, two adjectives referring to an elderly person. One includes hill,
the other includes blue.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Okay, great, and adjectival phrases adjectile phrases.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, I actually say they're both hyphenated.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Oh okay.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
One of them is three words, the other has two words.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Right, all right, well, folks tune in tomorrow to get
the answer, and in the meantime, please check out our
instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we post original puzzles
and other fun nuggets, and we'll meet here tomorrow for
more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska here up from the Puzzle
Lab with the extra credit answer from our previous episode.
Dan Barber was on and we did a puzzle we
called Barber's Arbor, all about rhyming two word phrases that
are related to food. Your extracratic clue was this, This
is a celestial body that revolves around the Sun and
(17:09):
only grows a red, seedy fruit. It took me a
while to figure this one out. The celestial body is
a planet and the fruit is a pomegranate. It's the
pomegranate planet, which I think is where we live, the
pomegranate planet. And I hope you're enjoying some delicious pomegranates
with your puzzles right now.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
See you next time.
Hello puzzlers. Let's start with a quick riddle. Imagine a
vegan who is so strict he won't even eat eggplants
because it has the word egg in it. So this
strict vegan avoids eggs, dairy beets, even if those are
just in the name of the food. So the riddle is,
in addition to eggplant, what other vegetables and fruits might
(00:24):
our super strict vegan avoid. I'll give you a hint
to one of the answers. It's a type of squash,
blank squash that sounds a little too dairy like for
our vegan. The answers and more puzzling goodness after the break,
(00:47):
Hello puzzlers, Welcome back to the Puzzler podcast the gently
suggested gratuity at your high end restaurant. I am your host,
AJ Jacobson. I'm here with Chief puzzle Officer Greg Fliska. Greg.
Before the break, he asked a riddle about a vegan
so strict he will not even eat eggplants because he
doesn't like anything in the name of the food that
(01:08):
resembles eggs, dairy, or meat. So what else besides eggplants
might he avoid? We had blank squash, which.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Might be Yeah, that would be butternut, squash, butternuts.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I say, this guy, this guy's a little bit of
a nut.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think he's, you know, missing out on a lot
of delicious food.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, his diet, he is a nut, but he he
is a butternut.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Not a butternut.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Actually, that's right, he's a cashew butternut. Do you have
any other theories?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
What about? What about horse radish?
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Great one, that's one of my I have six options
that I came up with.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
But I would just say, as someone who does eat meat,
I would never eat horse.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Okay, fair enough, but I love horse radish horse does
I saw it on the menu at a Parisian restaurant once,
So all right, I'm just going to go through him quickly.
Kidney beans, hearts of palm, heads of lettuce, horse radish blood, orange, oyster, mushroom.
There are probably more. We would love to hear your thoughts.
Email us at by going to the puzzler dot com
(02:14):
website if you think of others, and I give this
food related puzzle because our guest today is deeply immersed
in the world of food. He is Dan Barber, the
chef of Blue Hill and Stone, Barnes Center and author
of the Third Plate. And I could say a I
(02:37):
think a longtime friend.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Is that fair at very fair? That's very fair.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And I am a huge fan as well as a friend.
So welcome Dan Barber.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Thank you. It's great to be here. Puzzler, love it.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I think you're feeling a little better today, which is great.
The gauntlet and that voice, of course is Greg Pliska,
and I am now going to turn over this to
Greg because he has a delicious puzzle that he made
just for you, So welcome Greg.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Ah, well, it's delicious because it's inspired by your restaurants
Blue Hill at Stone Barnes and Family Meal at Blue Hill.
And the puzzle is all Blue Hill themed and it's
not even super puzzly. It's just every answer is a
phrase that either has the word blue in it or
the word hill in it.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
So if I said this is where.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Congress works the Hill, it would be Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, right,
it's all got blue or hill in it. All right, Well,
this is a term for a working class person as
opposed to someone who works in an office. And it's
either got blue in it or it's got hill in it.
Blue collar exactly, very good. All right, this is something
(03:59):
of no importance, and you might know it is a
line from Casablanco when Rick says it doesn't take much
to see that the problems of three little people don't
amount to a blank in this crazy worlds Hili beans exactly.
I also think that that phrase gives beans a bad rap,
(04:19):
right point right. They're not worth anything. Hill of beans
is not worth anything. Obviously, beans are sure something.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
They're the miracle food to grow right now. Beans are
the answered to our future. Really how beans have this
magical capability to fix nitrogen from the air and trap
it in their rise of sphere which is their their
root zone, and it powers their growth, so they actually
(04:48):
clean the environment while while growing.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
So you don't you know, they don't like nitrogen.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Fertilizer is one of the big problems with our environment
right now, with agri culture. It's the biggest nitrogen versil
and agriculture pollution and degradation is you know, it's huge.
It's more than planes, trains and automobiles combined. That's what
I always say. We got our problem with how we
grow food is the biggest problem and the biggest problem
(05:15):
of how we grow food is really about nitrogen, because
nitrogen allows food to grow and grow very quickly, and
so we use a lot of chemical nitrogen to grow food.
Tons beans, on the other hand, are why I say
they're a miracle crop is that they fix nitrogen themselves.
They they've over the course of well more than ten
(05:40):
thousand years, they have evolved to not need us to
pump them with anything because they do it themselves. And
so when you eat beans, you're eating something that one
could argue is actually improving the ecological condition of the
farm or where it's grown. And by the way, they're
incredible source of protein, and then they're fantastically delicious. But
(06:03):
from an environmental point of view, they have this magic,
neat little trick that most plants don't have.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yes, so every time you eat a bean, you should
really feel good about yourself.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
You pat yourself on the bed so as opposed the
t bone steak you ate last night.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Aj is not something that you can.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
But anyway, point is hill of beans. We need mountains
of beans. No disrespect to beings in this quite important.
All right, keep going, Greg, all right.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
All right, good.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
This is another food adjacent clue. This was originally called
belly Slide Belgian white. And it's a beer that's usually
served with.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
An orange slice.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Oh, I don't know it.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And it's got either blue in it or hill in it.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
No freaking idea.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
It's a very.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Orange I don't know it either.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
I wish I had my my beer. Some is right
behind me. I wish I could ask him.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, okay, well, then the phrase.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
The phrase is also goes with once in a blank,
meaning something that happens very rarely. It happens once in
a blank.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Once in a blue moon.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, blue moon, blue moon is the beer.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Oh blue Moon, I know blue moon beer. Sorry, but
you know something about orange?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
I often get served with an orange slice.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
That's really all I know. Idea.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, and it's got orange in it.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It's it's uh, it's got they make it with some orange.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
By the way, I wanted to use orange in last
Yesterday's rhyming puzzle, but of course nothing rhymes with orange famously,
except for according to some door hinge dorange and orange.
All right, but keep going, greg.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
All right, this is a dairy product made with edible
mold cultures.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Unbelievable. I have that every morning. A j do you
know what this is?
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Well, I do because I just looked at the script,
but I know not sure I would have. But you
have that will tell us.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
See this is here. We are in the moment. I
just want you to know we're this is we're capturing
it live.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
I literally have this every every morning and I've forgotten
the name.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, it's it's a general category of products.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
You could say, you know, it's like a yogurt, but
it has more probiotics and it's more delicious and I
love it.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
I know exactly what you're talking about, is it?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Well it is all right, Well it is a color
and a dairy product, so put those two together something
a mouse might like.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
I think this is a different it is Okay, I
got the wrong one. Okay, all right, this is this.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Is something that your froma.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Would Oh sorry, no, I'm off.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I want to know what you're talking about, though, Dan,
it was.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Either blue blue or hill in it.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Oh blue cheese, blue cheese. Sorry, you're right, I forgot
about the blue and the hill fan.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
But now I want to know what you have every
morning for breakfast.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Because I'll think of it in one second.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Listen, they're probably sitting there being like this Dan barber
has literally a hole in it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
I was imagining you eating a big slices.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
I was impressed by the way what I drank every
morning is kaffir.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
So that's okay, blue kaffir or.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Just there was no blue and no hill. But I
forgot those rules right.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
But kaffir is kind of yogurt.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Like, yeah, yogah, drinkable yogurt essentially, Yeah, more liquidy.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
I wanted to ask you about the impossible loaf, which
I had the opportunity to taste and it's delicious. Well,
tell us how that came about and what's going on.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Well, it came about because behind me where I am
right now is the bread baker, and we make these
beautiful archismal loafs of one hundred percent fresh milled whole
wheat bread. It's stupefyingly delicious from our bakers.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Is really the best bread in the world.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
And as I am now getting into the back nine
of my career, let's say, I'm starting to like want
to get these ideas out into the world and not
just in the confines of the cathedral of our White
Tablecloth restaurant. And so a lot of the ideas that
(10:34):
I've been serving for years. I'm trying to think of, well,
how do you get this out out into how do
you democratize flavor and nutrition like this? And so one
of the more provocative things is this idea of getting
one hundred percent whole wheat, fresh milled bread into every.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Basket at the supermarket. You know, that would be the goal.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
The goal really is like is you know most people
buy their bread resliced in plastic.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
That's just the truth.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
I mean, I don't know what the number is, but
it's probably ninety percent of people buy it once a week.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
It's implastic, and that's their bread.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
And it's actually the one percenters or less who are
doing the artismal loaf. And there's a lot of reasons
for that. I think cost is probably the biggest one
of access. But cost is huge. But you know, if
you just take water, wheat and salt and you figure
out a way to make it self preserve without adding
(11:32):
all the junk, the dough conditioners and the preservatives that
are really terrible for our bodies. As we're learning now
with highly processed food. Bread is highly processed product because
it'll stay on the shelf for you know, weeks, can
we create an impossible loaf, which is water salt wheat
that stays fresh presliced in plastic Because I'm not that's
(11:54):
not going anywhere in our lifetime.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
That's here to stay for now.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Well, one of my favorite memories was coming up to
Stone Barns and we got to talk to you, my
wife and I And this was many years ago, and
you were so excited. You had just had a kid,
and so you said, I got to show you some pictures.
You took out your your phone and you showed us
pictures of the wheat and you said that, and then
(12:19):
you showed us pictures of the of the babies. You
were very proud of both of them.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Barbara Wheat was born about the same time as much child.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
There you go, and they are both equally very excited.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Both genetic experiments.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Great parent lines.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Do you have a one or two more?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I got one more that I think is I think
I think we should do. This is a.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Coffee company headquartered in Oakland, California, part of the third
wave coffee movement. They focus on single origin beans.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
That's a coffee company in California that's single origin beans.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
That's that's my that's my ship right there. I should
know they've.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Got they've got shops all over the country. Now they
grew out of Oakland. But there there's like a hundred
of these.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Blue Bottle. Yes, that's the one my coffee every morning.
I don't know why I get to see there, it
is there.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
It's like we wrote this for you.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You're true.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
You must have done your research somehow, because Blue Bottle
I go to every morning on my.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Way to work.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Do you have a favorite bean?
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Do you have a favorite coffee you go for?
Speaker 4 (13:29):
This morning?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
I had this thing called Giant Steps, but they which
which was pretty good. But there's one and I've forgotten
the name that I love so much, and I don't
know they haven't had it lately. For a few months,
I've felt deprived, but I haven't claimed anyone until now.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I love their coffee. Thank you for bringing me, bringing
me back there.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
To look your breakfast, your kaffee or your coffee, blue cheese.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
We got everything. It's all here.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Have a blue Moon beer, end the day in your set.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Puzzle is all there. You go, Well, Dan, we loved
having you and uh and you survived and you survived.
I think more than you thrived.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
You didn't tell your listeners.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
What I said to you is my greatest insecurity, my
Achilles heal is the puzzles from when I was me
and you were toddlers from I literally started back then,
and I've stayed with me so much. So it like
when will Shot comes on on Sundays, you know, like
I have to turn MPR off.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
So much.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
I can never I've never gotten one of those, not
even like you know, I.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Play it and it's interesting. Never one have I been
able to get, So I just turned it off.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well, I didn't know when I asked you to be
on the show. I have no idea that I was
asking you to do. But the worst thing front my.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Exposure.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Now you can listen to on NPR.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You're gonna you're gonna sneak into the super secured pick
up a word search.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Yeah, you told us it was like people have a
dream of going nude to school and not doing their math.
This is your nightmare.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
This is my nude to school, no math.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Well, I think we thought some good therapy. Yeah right, yeah,
we did a session, I know, so we'll bill you
two hundred and fifty. Expect that, or we'll just stop
by for a meal.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I am hungry.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I know that is the problem with talking to day.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I don't do puzzles on an empty stomach, because man,
I want to eat all of these.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
That is it.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I'm going to get the garley.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Oh, that's say. Let's do it nice, really great. Thank
you for taking you out of the kitchen for a
few minutes.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Great, well, thank you, pleasure.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Thanks for coming out.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
So Greg, before we wrap up, do you have an
extra credit for the folks at home?
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I do, I do, And this one this is slightly
different from the clues we were doing already. I am
thinking of two adjectives, each referring to an elderly person.
One includes the word hill and the other includes the
word blue.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
So, two adjectives referring to an elderly person. One includes hill,
the other includes blue.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Okay, great, and adjectival phrases adjectile phrases.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Well, I actually say they're both hyphenated.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Oh okay.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
One of them is three words, the other has two words.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Right, all right, well, folks tune in tomorrow to get
the answer, and in the meantime, please check out our
instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we post original puzzles
and other fun nuggets, and we'll meet here tomorrow for
more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Hey puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska here up from the Puzzle
Lab with the extra credit answer from our previous episode.
Dan Barber was on and we did a puzzle we
called Barber's Arbor, all about rhyming two word phrases that
are related to food. Your extracratic clue was this, This
is a celestial body that revolves around the Sun and
(17:09):
only grows a red, seedy fruit. It took me a
while to figure this one out. The celestial body is
a planet and the fruit is a pomegranate. It's the
pomegranate planet, which I think is where we live, the
pomegranate planet. And I hope you're enjoying some delicious pomegranates
with your puzzles right now.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
See you next time.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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