Fizzy Pineapple here way up high in a small plane with Dr. Galen Kaufman. I’m trying to find out a little more about him and his product, Fizzy Fruit.

FP. Dr. Kaufman, how did you come up with the idea for Fizzy Fruit?

GK. I didn’t. It just sort of happened. I went out sailing one weekend with my friends in a regatta and I took along some food in an ice chest. Part of it was fresh pears. I thought I would be clever and use dry ice to keep down the weight. When I opened the chest the next day to get one of my pears, it was fizzy!

FP. I see. So it was more of a discovery.

GK. Exactly. But I thought the pear was really good that way. So when I got back home, I started looking into it more and found there was no apparent change in the quality or nutritional content of the fruit.

FP. And that was twelve years ago, wasn’t it?

GK. Yes, that’s right.

FP. What took so long?

GK. Well, I decided to patent the idea so that took a few years, then I applied for a USDA grant so I could have some money to look into the nutritional content of fruit treated this way and that took another couple of years. Finally, an investor approached me and wanted to help me develop the product for consumers and that took a while. We hired a company called the Food Innovation Center in Portland, Oregon to help us verify that the fruit had the same nutritional quality as the fresh fruit it was made from and that’s taken about four years now. We also had to develop a couple of methods to make the fruit so kids could either get it at school or buy it retail. That’s been the biggest challenge. Consistency.

FP. Wow! That’s a long time. So evidently fruit made this way is safe?

GK. Oh yes. I wouldn’t give it to may little girl if it wasn’t. She loves it.

FP. So, what kind of doctor are you?

GK. I’m a veterinarian. But I don’t practice that. I also got a doctorate degree in neuroscience from the University of Minnesota. I’ve been doing research for the past five years at the Medical Branch of the University of Texas in Galveston in my own lab.

FP. That’s pretty cool. What sorts of things do you research as a neuroscientist?

GK. Well, one of the really fun things I did was study the brains of the astronauts to determine how space flight affected their sense of balance among other things.

FP. So you know some actual astronauts?

GK. Yeah. I know quite a few. The most fascinating one was Senator John Glenn who, as you know, went back into space at the age of seventy. He’s an amazing person. I was very fortunate to get to meet and work with him.

FP. Wow! So you worked with Astronaut John Glenn. That’s way cool. Uh, Galen, what are you doing?

GK. I’m getting ready to jump.

FP. You mean out of this little plane?

GK. Yes.

FP. Why are you picking ME up?

GK. Because you’re going with me. I thought you wanted to get to know the real Galen Kaufman.

FP. No! I think I know enough. Let go of me! This is Fizzy Pineapple signing off. Galen, did you know pineapples grow close to the ground? I’ve never even been in a tree!

GK. Don’t worry. I’ve got you.

FP. This is Fizzy Pineapple saying….AAAAAHHHHHHhhhhhh