At heart, Zaiger is a San Joaquin farmer, and his headquarters, with its sprawling orchards and weathered buildings, could be mistaken for any neighboring farm, save for the large gaggle of pickups in front. Experts take the tourThe group includes UC Davis researchers, one of Washington's top cherry farmers, growers from two other continents, and the president of Dave Wilson Nursery, which markets Zaiger's fruit in the United States. Leith Gardner, Zaiger's daughter, squeezes cherry juice onto a glass plate, measures the level of sugar in the fruit, and shouts that number out to the group. Zaiger's mission for almost a half-century has been to find a magic combination of traits that make for irresistible fruit, and these gatherings are his primary tool for R&D. Each week, he shows off his latest creations and customers assess their potential. Find a plant that needs tinkering and another plant that's genetically compatible and has desirable traits; emasculate one and pollinate it with the other, and hope the resulting offspring offers the best of both. There are quicker options - like tweaking plant DNA with gene insertion - but Zaiger remains rooted in 1960s-era techniques. Great impact overseasIf Zaiger's influence in the American produce aisle is profound - savvy shoppers will recognize the Honey Kist nectarine or the Dapple Dandy pluot by name; others will know them by flavor - his impact overseas may be even greater. The latter have a sweetness that shoppers find irresistible - and Zaiger has helped make subacid a formidable part of the industry, even if most Americans don't know they're buying subacid fruit. Hybrid nectarineOne of Zaiger's hybridized nectarines grown in Spain can mature 10 days ahead of anything else in Europe - "so they have a market almost all to themselves," he says. Find a great-tasting fruit instead of the usual Styrofoam specimens, they say, and you can get kids to put down cookies. Instead of buying a Hershey or Snickers bar, I would rather you buy a good piece of fruit. The Nebraska native graduated from UC Davis in 1952 and planned to go into plant breeding, but he wound up as the agriculture teacher at Modesto High School, earning $325 a month. A white peach grows next to something that looks like an auspicious mashup of a nectarine and a persimmon, and has a remarkable taste: a nectarine's tang but the floral accents of an apricot. While those creations get attention, some of Zaiger's key work takes place on a level shoppers will never know - like rootstocks, the stumps to which new tree cuttings are grafted. Gary Zaiger takes on fresh peaches and nectarines; Gardner handles cherries, pears and apples; Grant Zaiger does almonds, which may be where the next big thing lies.