Are my taste buds failing or my memory? I remember years ago strawberries were so sweet and tasted delicious. Todays berries have a white center and are not that sweet as I remember. Today I was making up a strawberry cobbler and I cut out the center. Probably reduced my yield by 25%. That got me thinking, is it my buds or my memory. Peaches and cantaloupe are another item that I can't seem to buy a good one. Have the younger people been brainwashed into todays produce taste great?
If you are buying your strawberries in the store you may not know where they came from or how long ago they were picked. If you can find a U-Pick patch you should be able to get better tasting berries. If you can find local grown produce, that is many times better than what you would find in a regular grocery store. You could grow your own as well.
sometimes you can get Florida strawberries in the store that are ok. California's strawberries suck! Buy them local in the middle of summer if you want good strawberries
They have been generically modified to allow growers to pick them before they mature completely and also to be able to ship to customers for sale before they ruin. Welcome to the 21st century.....buy local whenever possible.
No its not just you...its this darn hybridized fruit! When you get hold of a homegrown "heritage" variety of just about anything, it it is sooo much better! I almost can't stand to buy another "seedless" watermelon...never very good...not compared to the big ole seeded melons that they used to have at the Hawkins Market in Wooster back in the 70-80's...now those were good melons! I'm sure you will remember Marshel54 ...
Oh Yes Yes Yes. I remember very well. I believe they were from Georgia. Long, juicy, many seeds and tasty. You had to hunch over to keep the juice running off your chin from getting on your shirt. Didn't even have my big gut then.
Not your memory... 1/2 mile away fresh strawberry field are 10x better than store but here 5 weeks away still.
No U-Pick strawberries as far I can find in my county. There is one up home. www.maurersberriesvegs.com/Pick-Your-Own-Berries.html I am sure brenndatomu knows where that is. I remember as a young lad back in the early '60s going out there with grandma to pick rasberries. They use to pay you for the quarts that you picked and didn't want. Can't remember what they paid. Wasn't much, but to an 8 year old it was some good jingle in your pocket. Back won't allow me to do that much bending, but maybe load my 7 year old grandson up and have some bonding time.
peaches apples ect all picked green, look ok on outside -mealy pasty no flavor in side and abhortant prices at the chainstores.
Size and yield have increased - great for the farmer, sugar content and taste have decreased . The white on the inside strawberries are rather bland. Large strawberries are also easier and probably faster to pick. Lower labor costs can be passed on to the consumer, or not. We grow our own. They're not very big but they taste like strawberries.
Tomatoes are the same way. Can't stand most store bought tomatoes, especially in winter, I'll go without. I'll have to get some growing.
It's variety. Most commercial producers grow for size, shorter days on the vine and transportation at the sacrifice for taste. I'll echo the buy local when possible statement. Older variety berries will have a lot more taste but most likely will be smaller in size.
Most of the strawberries sold in stores come out of California. So...when we were out there we thought perhaps they would taste good getting from near where they were picked. Wrong! We also bought some in Mexico. Same tasteless garbage. Almost all the tomatoes sold in stores now are hydroponically grown and completely tasteless. They look great but no flavor. Restaurants like them too because the look so nice... I am not a watermelon fan but my wife is. She hates that we can no longer find anything but seedless. I tell her to grow her own but they don't last year around...
