Fool Me Twice Shame On Me

[Nyboy]

Last night when in the produce dept of my supermarket I saw the most amazing strawberries. These where the size of golf balls bright deep red mouth watering. I had given up buying strawberries even though I love them, they never have any taste. I thought these would be different spring is strawberry season. It took willpower not to sample one on ride home. I took my first bite, Harvey the rabbit has a big dish of strawberries today. How can something look so good and have NO taste?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Strawberries, tomatoes, many things you get at the store are like that. I'm not sure how much of it is due to variety, if it doesn't look perfect it won't be bought, appearance is so important to the sale, so they breed them to handle well at the expense of taste. For some things it might be how fresh they are, but I've tasted those strawberries, I'm not sure that's the case with them. You are right they have no taste. Maybe it has something to do with how they are stored between picking and sale.

Funny thing with tomatoes. Just before my first frost I pick whatever tomatoes are on the plants, even green ones, and put them on a table to ripen. Those have a lot more flavor than what you get on a salad at most restaurants or buy from the store.

 

[ducks4you]

I am wondering if they were grown inside and overwatered? Although I think experimenting with growing cool season vegetables in recycled semi truck freight box (Forgot the name of that part, but it also is transported on freight cars, too,) is a good thing, but you have to use hoses to feed and water. ANYTHING that grows fast will swell and become less dense. A LOT of pine today is grown too quickly and lacks density, thus they are somewhat brittle bc of it. That is why the old world forest wood that was used to construct boats used in the Revolutionary war was so strong. "Old Ironsides" was a wooden ship that deflected cannon balls. My own house, 100yo, has beams in the basement made of dense rough hewn oak and it can support much better than today's materials.
I think that bamboo is the only pant that both grows quickly and has great strength. Weeds that grow quickly are hollow and brittle, too.
Back to the strawberries :
http://wfae.org/post/mutant-strawberries-they-re-big-how-do-they-taste
http://www.thekitchn.com/bigger-and-blander-whats-up-with-strawberriesnpr-171471
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/17/152944880/bigger-means-better-not-with-strawberries

 

[Nyboy]

Ducks interesting links glad red color is NOT chemically induced

 

[digitS']

I have influenced a local gardener with a personal opinion. It isn't based on much experience but she is now going on nearly 10 years of having lots of strawberries in her garden and recently replaced most of them with another purchase - more everbearing plants.

When she asked about choices years ago, I did turn to the local experts at Cooperative Extension. One agent had written a little book on small fruit and there was the Quinault variety I suggested.

I don't suppose that I will be planting any strawberries but I have gifts that come my way from her garden. She has more than that one but I'm quite sure that none are the June-bearing that appear in our soopermarkets and can be so HUGE !

I don't know: was I right in thinking that the everbearing are just much more likely to have good strawberry flavor?

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

Been there, done that! Nothing more disappointing.

 

[catjac1975]

Last night when in the produce dept of my supermarket I saw the most amazing strawberries. These where the size of golf balls bright deep red mouth watering. I had given up buying strawberries even though I love them, they never have any taste. I thought these would be different spring is strawberry season. It took willpower not to sample one on ride home. I took my first bite, Harvey the rabbit has a big dish of strawberries today. How can something look so good and have NO taste?

The are all mostly GMO's now. Bred to keep. There is also a bitter taste to them even if you pick locally. They have replaced apples as the #1 toxically produced fruit.

 

[aftermidnight]

Unfortunately this seems the way it is with many of the fruits bought in the supermarkets now. It is my opinion they are picked when unripe and gassed on route to give them some color before they get to there destination. Look great, no blemishes but NO flavor . If picked ripe they have little shelf life.
Up here the tomatoes available right now look great but have absolutely NO flavor and have the texture of crisp cardboard. They get away with it because much of the population today haven't the faintest idea what a tomato should actually taste like, they don't have a garden, have never grown their own and have never tasted vine ripened. If this is what you are used to this is the flavor and texture you expect. On the other hand selling vine ripened has very little shelf life and quite often has to be discarded because they are going over.

Vine ripened strawberries and especially raspberries are two fruits that have a very short shelf life. So grow your own and enjoy. Do a little research as to which varieties are best for your location, what does well for me might not do well for you.
I grow both raspberries and a few strawberries, I grew Latham raspberries for years but about 10 years ago I switched to Tulameen another good raspberry but to be honest I think the old heirloom Latham has a bit of an edge on flavor, it's the size of the Tulameen that caught my eye, they are whoppers.

As far as strawberries go I grow a few plants of an old B.C. heirloom variety British Sovereign, not available commercially now, nothing much to look at if you compare to today's varieties but the flavor, yum, very few make it into the house.

I'm fortunate enough to be close to a farmer's market that grows all their own produce, that is things that can be grown here and it's worth the half hour drive to pick up strawberries for fresh strawberry pie and freezer strawberry jam.
Annette

 

[majorcatfish]

now @Nyboy i know during the week your a city creature, but on the weekends up at your county estate there are not any strawberry farms? or a farmer markets ?

knowing you , you probably have Martha on speed dial give her a jingle and ask her....

yes produce sucks at the supermarkets....

 

[baymule]

Since your nephew is into survivor stuff, convince him to plant strawberries. They should go nicely with his watermelon patch!