Any ideas - just want a nice crunchy apple or firmish sweet plum
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T7
ps Spending a fair amount of time in France - I am not experiencing such a decline there.
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terminal7 wrote:Is it my (and more importantly the OH's) imagination that fresh F&V is becoming more tasteless. I know a huge generalisation but we tend to buy at a local independent and occasionally from Waitrose and very occasionally from a bio place. We have particularly noticed that many types of fruit have diminished taste but look cosmetically better. Hypotheses: (i) EU produce held up at ports hence less fresh at retail point (ii) UK producers running out of workers and much less available fresh (iii) climate change (iv) old age taste buds.
Any ideas - just want a nice crunchy apple or firmish sweet plum![]()
T7
ps Spending a fair amount of time in France - I am not experiencing such a decline there.
UncleEbenezer wrote:I see both ups and downs. Some fruit & veg becomes tasteless, others improve as consumers demand better. And of course things vary from season to season: think strawberries and their notoriously good and bad years.
One could point to things that are firmly down: how long is it since any but the very few best pears didn't go straight from rock-hard to mushy&horrible? And a majority of peaches and plums now seem to appear rock-hard on the shelves. On the other hand, it seems easier to get tomatoes with some taste than in the worst years when they became a sick joke.
Or in the longer term ... does anyone still flog those utterly tasteless "golden delicious" that were the default apple in my youth?
terminal7 wrote:Is it my (and more importantly the OH's) imagination that fresh F&V is becoming more tasteless. I know a huge generalisation but we tend to buy at a local independent and occasionally from Waitrose and very occasionally from a bio place. We have particularly noticed that many types of fruit have diminished taste but look cosmetically better. Hypotheses: (i) EU produce held up at ports hence less fresh at retail point (ii) UK producers running out of workers and much less available fresh (iii) climate change (iv) old age taste buds.
Any ideas - just want a nice crunchy apple or firmish sweet plum![]()
T7
ps Spending a fair amount of time in France - I am not experiencing such a decline there.
stevensfo wrote:I once felt embarrassed when in my mum's local Tesco and asked someone why their fruit looked so artificial, almost glow in the dark. I'm pretty sure that the fruit and maybe veg get sprayed with some kind of strong preservative chemical.
Re. taste, there's also the question of how much fertiliser etc is used to grow the plants. Anybody who grows their own herbs, tomatoes etc will know exactly what I mean.
bungeejumper wrote:stevensfo wrote:I once felt embarrassed when in my mum's local Tesco and asked someone why their fruit looked so artificial, almost glow in the dark. I'm pretty sure that the fruit and maybe veg get sprayed with some kind of strong preservative chemical.
You might be nearer the mark than you think. Fruit and veg can be legally irradiated, and in fact I've heard it's normal for soft fruits that have to travel long distances. We once had an overlooked pack of very old Israeli strawberries that literally refused to go soft or mouldy!
swill453 wrote:It's very uncommon to find irradiated food in the UK. It must be labelled as such, and I've never seen such a label in any shop.
According to Cathie Deeley, spokeswoman for Puridec, food companies have been told by the leading [UK] supermarket chains that if they continue to irradiate any of their products, even if only for export, they can no longer be relied upon to supply UK retail outlets because of the risk of accidental supply of irradiated products.
stevensfo wrote:Re. taste, there's also the question of how much fertiliser etc is used to grow the plants. Anybody who grows their own herbs, tomatoes etc will know exactly what I mean.
mc2fool wrote:A common complaint amongst Italians living in the UK is that they can't get even their home made sugo, marinara, arrabbiata, etc to taste like it does in Italy 'cos the tomatoes available here are comparatively tasteless.
I recall a cookery programme some years ago where the host, IIRC it was Keith Floyd, eating his way around Spain visited a tomato farm and on eating one off the vine declared to the farmer that it had soooo much more flavour than tomatoes he got in the UK, at which the farmer pointed to the next field and said the ones he exported to the UK were over there....
mc2fool wrote:stevensfo wrote:Re. taste, there's also the question of how much fertiliser etc is used to grow the plants. Anybody who grows their own herbs, tomatoes etc will know exactly what I mean.
I think varieties must have a lot to do with it too, as well as time between picking and eating. A common complaint amongst Italians living in the UK is that they can't get even their home made sugo, marinara, arrabbiata, etc to taste like it does in Italy 'cos the tomatoes available here are comparatively tasteless.
mc2fool wrote:stevensfo wrote:Re. taste, there's also the question of how much fertiliser etc is used to grow the plants. Anybody who grows their own herbs, tomatoes etc will know exactly what I mean.
I think varieties must have a lot to do with it too, as well as time between picking and eating. A common complaint amongst Italians living in the UK is that they can't get even their home made sugo, marinara, arrabbiata, etc to taste like it does in Italy 'cos the tomatoes available here are comparatively tasteless.
I recall a cookery programme some years ago where the host, IIRC it was Keith Floyd, eating his way around Spain visited a tomato farm and on eating one off the vine declared to the farmer that it had soooo much more flavour than tomatoes he got in the UK, at which the farmer pointed to the next field and said the ones he exported to the UK were over there....
johnstevens77 wrote:No one mentioned mangoes. Nothing beats an Alphonso mango as sold in the Gulf states and Saudi, once you have had your fill of those.
john
UncleEbenezer wrote:johnstevens77 wrote:No one mentioned mangoes. Nothing beats an Alphonso mango as sold in the Gulf states and Saudi, once you have had your fill of those.
john
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