Bad fruit
What’s been going on this summer with fruit? Has anyone else noticed that it hasn’t been as good as usual?
Mushy peaches cleverly masquerading as firm ones. Same for plums. And somewhat bland and tasteless, too.
It’s a pain in the butt to have to throw a bunch of fruit out after forking over so much money. The alternative is taking it back to return it—which can be very inconvenient—or eating it despite the fact that it just doesn’t taste like much.
So, what’s the deal here? Has the weather been odd in the major fruit-growing regions of the country? I don’t think it’s that my taste buds are atrophying, because everything else tastes just fine, and every now and then (at a farmer’s market, for instance) I’ve come across a really good batch.
And the jazz apples continue their wondrous way. Summer fruit time is over, anyway; tomorrow is the first day of autumn, otherwise known as the fall equinox. Cider, pumpkins, leaves turning, days getting shorter—I happen to love fall, except for that last bit about the darkness.
Well, I for one have to agree with you. I’ve dumped a small fortune into fruit this year and it has been, in the main, wasted. The peaches which are usually fantastic if you are willing to spend themoney for them, are bland and awful no matter how much money is spent.
I just don’t get it.
I’m looking forward to some pumpkin soup as soon as I get home to my stick blender.
Peaches?
I had to plant my own tree.
BTW, they were SPECTACULAR this season.
Almost as bad as figs, peaches flip on a dime.
Even six hours makes a difference!
So, you win on the lobster and lose on the fruit.
Such is life.
Too much rain, at least here in the South. Ruined the peaches and melons. NY Times actually covered this about a month or two ago, interviewing some farmers in south Georgia.
Actually we recently moved back west and have been getting FANTASTIC local peaches–best I’ve ever had locally–plus they’re WAY cheaper than usual. I would go with the fact that the weird weather does weird things to fruit–so much a farmer can’t control when it comes to the growing process. I for one am enjoying the peach crop this year. Yum.
‘What’s been going on . . .?’
I’m open to persuasive evidence, but until then I shall think it is either Bush’s fault or Obama’s fault.
When the land is ruled by a tyrant and the miasma of evil spreads from the highest of the high to the lowliest worker, then shall the land decay and die.
Or at least, that would be the explanation of those who believed in Divine Right. Which, Obama is probably one of em.
Peaches in Ohio were fantastic for a change. Of course, I don’t know if all of them were native. Some may have been immigrants from points south.
Blueberries and raspberries were great also. Melons, not so much.
Consistent disappointment from grocery stores led me to plant two cherry trees, one nectarine, two plums, a peach tree and some blueberry bushes in my suburban yard as ornamental trees and shrubs. The nectarine and peach trees are in the front yard as are the blueberry bushes. Neighbors have the typical things. Next up are grape vines. Everything is doing well, although not much fruit yet. But I’m doing better thinking about the future. Looking forward to next summer.
Slightly off topic … my tomatoes were small and their skin was tough. They were still delicious and gratifying, as backyard tomatoes always are.
A local (Buffalo NY) friend of mine reported the same thing.
It has been odd weather this summer. But weather is always odd.
The climate experts have written papers on weather oddness, and they are remarkably accurate. Like life, the weather changes, both short and long term. Wow.
The climatologists can have their theories about odd weather.
I want the farmers to explain why my tomatoes were small and their skin tough.
Ha! You had me going there Neo; from the title – Bad Fruit – I thought this was going to be an Obama post. You know, something about the whole bushel being rotten; not just one bad apple.
Actually, I haven’t had any peaches yet; but the spring and summer berries (Jersey shore strawberries and blueberries) have been plentiful, tasty, and cheap this year. Fresh corn has been about average, not outstanding either way.
Looking forward to the fall season; great hiking weather and some good soups to be made (Bread & milk, best made with leftover Challah; yellow split pea with big chunks of ham; and my favorite, sweet potato yum!)
I gave up on buying supermarket fruits with pits years ago. They look great just like Red Delicious apples, they travel well, keep well, but are flavorless.
Lots of good fruits will not grow in the Deep South-apples, cherries, raspberries, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, blue plums among them.
OTOH, our citrus production including limes (if winter-shielded from the odd plunge into the twenties) is great. I have satsumas, blood oranges, tangerines, limes, two young avocados (shielded too), and the fabulous Meyer lemons. Almost omitted muscadines, the native American grape.
We plant the brassicas in late Oct instead of spring. I will still be cutting okra in October, when the plants tower over me.
October, when have you not been here?
Falling on summer’s fading cheer;
Striking with pleasure all that’s near.
When haven’t, haven’t you’ve been, dear?
D.C.,
Have you had the fried Okra from Churches Chicken?
And isn’t it incredible that the South is more loving and less violent than the North.
What hath God wrought?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+23%3A23&version=KJV
Israel continues to be unknowable.
We are on the verge of the dismantling of biological determinism. The plain fact of the impossibility of evolution has long been viewed, but man, for some unknown reason against science and God, resists.
Purpose and teleogy appear undeniable. Even SCIENCE does not refute.
What replaces Darwinism we don’t understand, but whatever it is allows for God and Hell. There is an understanding that what we do must either be undone or stand as Hell. Could we be making reality. Are we not, as stated, gods?
Understanding, then, what Hell is, is the task of the 21st century.
We are and shall continue to make a way.
The way is the way, and there’s an end.
Western Colorado is a big peach growing area. A late frost ruined most of the crop. What was left was mediocre.
}}} until then I shall think it is either Bush’s fault or Obama’s fault.
RACIST. Obviously it’s Bush’s fault. That you think there is any question marks you as a gun-toting cross-burning, negro-lynching Christo-fascist redneck of the worst sort. You probably protest gay rights, too, as well as beautiful works of art like “Virgin Mary in Elephant Dung” I bet you even beat your spouse if she puts shoes on to go anywhere but church or grocery shopping.
Don’t deny it, you’ve already convicted yourself.
Now please shoot yourself in the face, like all gun-loving rethuglicans should, and usually do.
;-D
}}}Lots of good fruits will not grow in the Deep South-apples, cherries, raspberries, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, blue plums among them.
I don’t argue much with the notion that they’ve been breeding fruit for market survival for a long time and have failed to retain flavor while doing so, but the notion that the “Deep South” can’t grow any of the above is… amusing.
What’s the “Deep South” to you — Cuba?
There’s a reason the term “Peach” is synonymous with “Georgia”.
Apples I grant, but they’ve ALWAYS been more of a northern crop. And I guess Washington DC is not necessarily “Deep” South, but it’s kind of synonymous with “Cherry Trees”, so my bet is that Maryland has no problems with growing cherries.
Lots of apple orchards in Virginia.
But, I think a lot of supermarket fruit comes from S. America at certain times of the year. We expect fresh fruit year round, so we have to give up something. One thing for sure, if you buy it in a supermarket, it was probably picked green.
Peaches in Michigan were good, but I didn’t try any shipped from elsewhere. Too much of the fruit was shipping from Chile and other places, and it tasted like it.
We have the best crop of apples this year! It make up for no drop last year and awful winter apples from New Zealand. Oh, I almost cried it was so good to taste a fresh Macintosh and a golden delicious just off the tree!
Winter has recently ended in Australia, but one thing that really stood out, which your post reminded me of, was the quality of Mandarins this year. They were awesome and plentiful. I assume it was the weather (does this mean climate change will give us better mandarins as well as great weather? — I’m liking it more all the time!) which was a mild winter, moderately dry but with periodic, good drenching rains. Whatever the cause, I cannot recall a year where for the whole season, almost every mandarin reached the “awesome” category — and we ate masses of them this season.
Here is the aforementioned article re crops and too much rain:
“With Too Much Rain in the South, Too Little Produce on the Shelves”
http://tinyurl.com/mnx428t
But even though those peaches look good, the water has diluted the sugar content.
“The flavor is just not there,” said Doris Westmoreland, who works at Lane Southern Orchards. “It’s like having a mouthful of cotton.”
LS:
Excellent description. This summer, I have bought, and then bitten into, quite a few mouthfuls of cotton.
Not a very pleasant experience.
Too much rain for Jersey/PA too. The supermarket peaches from out West actually beat out the local crop.