Supermarket Fruit

[Leothebear]

I frequent Tesco and occasionally Sainsbuy's and buy a lot of fruit, strawberries, blueberies, grapes, pineapple and nectarines. I make a big fruit salad and have it with Greek yoghurt and muesli. Not so long ago these combined to make a delicious meal each (blueberries apart) being sweet and succulent.

Now however, the English strawberries we buy are in season but are bland and seem to be picked too early. The grapes are OK but hardly the sweet and tangy taste I love. The pineapple have never been fantastic but are passable. The nectarines, which when good can be the most gorgeous flavour of all, are uniformly disgusting. The "ripen at home" means: take them home and see them go from rock hard to mouldy with nothing nice in between.

I have suspected that Covid may have deadened my taste buds, but no other food or drinks are similarly affected.

Anyone find this a familiar tale?

Leo

[monabri]

I think that fruit is forced to grow quickly and taste suffers as a consequence.

Hoever, the best grapes I've ever tasted were from Bolivia....well, Aldi!

[bungeejumper]

Brexit dividend, surely? Trucks are having to wait longer at ports, so the fruit from sunny Spain either (a) doesn't arrive as well as it used to, or (b) is picked a bit earlier so as to compensate for delays, but hasn't ripened properly by the time of arrival, and maybe never will. The trade press reports that the best fruit from Spain is going about as far as France, and Brexity Britain doesn't get a look in

Of course, that wouldn't explain why British strawberries have been poor this year. Watery, short shelf life, and (from both Tesco and Sainsbury) prone to mould! The varieties (eg Sweet Eve) seem to be the same as they used to be.

My best guess is simply that the European climate (including Britain) has been so changeable this year. Do you remember how peppers, aubergines and other such Iberian standards became really hard to get a few months ago - and, when you could find them, they were half-rotting in their bags. The Grocer blamed that problem on dodgy climate factors, especially in Morocco, which I believe is becoming a go-to provider for the UK market?

Finally, I gather that Peru is now angling for a bigger slice of the UK's soft fruit market. Peru? The food miles, the food miles!

BJ

[kiloran]

We've had some brilliant local Scottish strawberries and raspberries from the supermarkets this year.

--kiloran

[abisgran]

I agree re Scottish srtrawberries and raspberries being good this year.Our Local ALDi sources as much as possible locally and I buy British produce whenever possible.

[UncleEbenezer]

You mention Tesco. I tend to avoid their fruit: if I'm buying fruit at a supermarket, either Morrisons or Lidl seem to be better among our local options.
But that kind of thing may be genuinely local.

I've been particularly disappointed with this year's strawberries, which nowadays almost all seem to be pretty tasteless. I wonder if these things go in long-term trends, so a bit of consumer pushback could improve things in a few years? As they have for tomatoes since the days when those were pretty-much always tasteless?

My bigger bugbear is fruits picked too early and sold rock-hard. Pears, peaches, plums, etc should be soft and delicious, but seldom are, and ripening at home simply doesn't work.

Still, we do have a few decent fruits left. If I select with care, I'm rarely too disappointed with an apple or bunch of grapes. And I've enjoyed some gorgeous raspberries and blueberries this season.

[Dicky99]

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries from the market trader on the High Street this morning. I inspected them and they looked perfectly acceptable.

I brought them home, ate a few and left the rest on the counter top and by the time I got back early evening they look in an advanced state of decay. How is that possible?

These strawberries put me in mind of that 60's film where Ursula Andress is a thousand years old and ages from a beautiful goddess to a dusty skeleton in a matter of minutes.

[dealtn]

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries from the market trader on the High Street this morning. I inspected them and they looked perfectly acceptable.

I brought them home, ate a few and left the rest on the counter top and by the time I got back early evening they look in an advanced state of decay. How is that possible?

These strawberries put me in mind of that 60's film where Ursula Andress is a thousand years old and ages from a beautiful goddess to a dusty skeleton in a matter of minutes.

And there is the conundrum. Supermarkets buy fruit (and veg) for varieties that store well, often picked unripe, and fit the model of cheap for the demands of most consumers. Those that prefer taste have to pay more, and usually buy elsewhere. Picked ripe but with considerably shorter shelf life, and maybe require looking after (or eating) shortly after purchase. We all have fridges?

Rare to be able to have both. Cheap and tasty. Tasty and long-lasting.

It won't stop those who want both moaning though.

[UncleEbenezer]

And there is the conundrum.

I would've said it's a whole lot simpler than that.

Strawberries are now firmly out of season. Those on sale now are grown with the help of a lot of engineering - unless perhaps imported (from where - I'm not aware of anywhere they're actually in season in August ). Engineered fruit comes with problems, some worse than others.

[Leothebear]

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries from the market trader on the High Street this morning. I inspected them and they looked perfectly acceptable.

I brought them home, ate a few and left the rest on the counter top and by the time I got back early evening they look in an advanced state of decay. How is that possible?

These strawberries put me in mind of that 60's film where Ursula Andress is a thousand years old and ages from a beautiful goddess to a dusty skeleton in a matter of minutes.

And there is the conundrum. Supermarkets buy fruit (and veg) for varieties that store well, often picked unripe, and fit the model of cheap for the demands of most consumers. Those that prefer taste have to pay more, and usually buy elsewhere. Picked ripe but with considerably shorter shelf life, and maybe require looking after (or eating) shortly after purchase. We all have fridges?

Rare to be able to have both. Cheap and tasty. Tasty and long-lasting.

It won't stop those who want both moaning though.

Thanks for you usual smug contribution. My whole point was that the quality was good, not so long ago. There has been a decline wherever I buy.

[dealtn]

And there is the conundrum. Supermarkets buy fruit (and veg) for varieties that store well, often picked unripe, and fit the model of cheap for the demands of most consumers. Those that prefer taste have to pay more, and usually buy elsewhere. Picked ripe but with considerably shorter shelf life, and maybe require looking after (or eating) shortly after purchase. We all have fridges?

Rare to be able to have both. Cheap and tasty. Tasty and long-lasting.

It won't stop those who want both moaning though.

Thanks for you usual smug contribution. My whole point was that the quality was good, not so long ago. There has been a decline wherever I buy.

I wasn't replying to you so no need for your (usual) ad hominem response.

[the0ni0nking]

Amazing how a debate on supermarket fruit can descend into this. No wonder people just up and leave the forum.

[bluedonkey]

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries from the market trader on the High Street this morning. I inspected them and they looked perfectly acceptable.

I brought them home, ate a few and left the rest on the counter top and by the time I got back early evening they look in an advanced state of decay. How is that possible?

These strawberries put me in mind of that 60's film where Ursula Andress is a thousand years old and ages from a beautiful goddess to a dusty skeleton in a matter of minutes.

Brief OT reply ... that film was She.

[Dicky99]

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries from the market trader on the High Street this morning. I inspected them and they looked perfectly acceptable.

I brought them home, ate a few and left the rest on the counter top and by the time I got back early evening they look in an advanced state of decay. How is that possible?

These strawberries put me in mind of that 60's film where Ursula Andress is a thousand years old and ages from a beautiful goddess to a dusty skeleton in a matter of minutes.

Brief OT reply ... that film was She.

Yep that's the one. Arsula Undress they nick named her which was low hanging fruit I suppose... to maintain a tenuous link

[servodude]

Brief OT reply ... that film was She.

Yep that's the one. Arsula Undress they nick named her which was low hanging fruit I suppose... to maintain a tenuous link

IIRC they weren't hanging that low at the time

[mutantpoodle]

every time I saw her she was on a beach in Dr No.

never needed to look further

[Hallucigenia]

Going back on topic, ahem...

I would've said it's a whole lot simpler than that.

Strawberries are now firmly out of season. Those on sale now are grown with the help of a lot of engineering - unless perhaps imported (from where - I'm not aware of anywhere they're actually in season in August ). Engineered fruit comes with problems, some worse than others.

Fascinating. Perhaps you could share your expertise with the RHS, who are still labouring under the idea of there being two different kinds of Fragaria × ananassa - "Summer"/June-fruiting ones and perpetual/everbearing ones (and arguably you should break out the daylength-neutral varieties out of the latter to make a third category).

I'm sure the strawberry breeders at East Malling would also be interested in your insights, given that they are crazy enough to describe one of their latest varieties thus :
Malling™ Ace starts producing fruit in May from the first spring-initiated flowers, followed by peak production in August. It is a very high yielding variety with yields in excess of 2 kg/plant of Class 1 fruit when planted at the recommended density of 5-6 plants/m.

Some of the "engineering" you refer to is no more advanced than growing them in polytunnels to bring them on early... But right now is peak season for perpetuals in the UK, no need to import.

[Hallucigenia]

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries from the market trader on the High Street this morning. I inspected them and they looked perfectly acceptable.

I brought them home, ate a few and left the rest on the counter top and by the time I got back early evening they look in an advanced state of decay. How is that possible?

Cutinase, pectinase and lipase enzymes secreted by microorganisms such as Botrytis cinerea. Among other things.

I see this with strawberries from our farm shop where they're being picked on the farm, although not quite that rapid. So if I get strawberries from there that aren't being eaten with 1-2 hours, I always fridge them. I think part of it is that they deliberately pick them riper than they would for a supermarket, and use varieties for their shop that are tastier but less robust. There's always a tradeoff between flavour and shelflife.

With market stalls the main problem, particularly in the current weather, is the lack of temperature control. All the reactions that lead to mushy strawberries go faster at higher temperature - your subsequent leaving them out of the fridge is a really bad idea unless you're using them imminently. Also being on a market stall they are exposed to far more fungal spores than in a supermarket cold chain warehouse.

Another factor is that we judge the "age" of a punnet of fruit by the presence of bad individual berries. If the market trader removes any bad berries, it gives the impression that the punnet as a whole is "younger" than it actually is, you don't have the warning sign of those first few berries going off. A supermarket wouldn't give that personal touch.

[Hallucigenia]

My whole point was that the quality was good, not so long ago. There has been a decline wherever I buy.

I think there's an element of greener grass here. It could be argued we're in a golden age of new strawberry varieties such as Malling Centenary and Malling Ace that manage to combine good flavour with good supermarket characteristics and decent agronomics for the farmer, they're so much better than the formerly ubiquitous Elsanta. OTOH UK strawberry breeding is a microcosm of the mess that is UK agricultural research over the last 30 years. Plant breeding is a long-term endeavour, but funding cuts have cut many of the UK programmes to the bone and even the big successes like strawberries have been passed from one body to another and (in this case) finally sold to foreigners (Bayer).

But in the late 2010s you were seeing the benefit of those new Malling varieties like Centenary which are great. Now obviously some of the problems this year are down to the crap weather we've had, but you can't ignore the effect of Brexit on this kind of stuff. It's not just the fact that the last thing you want if you've a truckload of strawberries is to face customs delays of even a few hours, it's all the background effects of Brexit on trucking - reduction in cabotage, exacerbating the shortage of drivers etc - and on domestic agriculture (fewer pickers). And then also, we've had Big Berry getting in on the act, bringing their proprietary varieties from overseas which may yield better but which don't taste as good as the Malling varieties. I had some Dutch ones last year that were shockingly bad in comparison.

It's actually interesting as an aside, both the US and Europe have increased their strawberry production by ~4x since the 1960s, but by very different methods. Europe has increased its acreage 4x with little increase in yield as breeders, exemplified by East Malling, have concentrated on flavour whilst adding better supermarket traits and disease resistance, whereas US acreage has actually gone down a bit but they've massively increased yield per plant through breeding and irrigation in places like California, and all their commercial strawberries are rubbish.

[bungeejumper]

Duhhh, whatever. The English strawberries I bought from Asda last Friday (a variety called Favori) are still fresh, sweet and just pleasantly tarty four days later, and they look like they've got another couple of days in them if I don't eat them first. Whereas the Sweet Eves from Sainsburys (Sunday) are already looking a bit damp around the edges.

I also had some good keepers from Lidl the other week. Seems to indicate that you can't assume anything on the basis of supermarket rankings.

BJ