Topic: NEW POTATOES??

[RSJK]

When they say that they were from Staffordshire do they really mean that they were repacked in Staffordshire to sell on tesco

[grawrc]

I often wonder when i read the labelling in supermarkets how true it reallly is. Things exactly like that Richard, where "Staffordshre" potatoes actually means they were packed in Staffordshire and grown elsewhere.

[dicky]

Someone once worked out that the average sunday lunch had travelled over 1200 miles as part of the supermarket distribution network, 1200 miles.

It was sad to see that Dewhurst is down to 35 stores and struggling from their height of about 1700 stores. Supermarkets have killed the high street and village stores but times are changing, more and more people use allotments and markets, look at the rise of the farmers market for instance, the likes of rick stein do a lot to promote this.

To ge the low price and travel ability supermarkets cut choice and increase chemicals etc, but we demanded it, now we have to change it back.

Supermarkets have too much power, they make farmers see the bogof's to them, they will turn away a load of good produce if the temp is one degree too high/low and animal farmers are dumping sheep and the like on the RSPCA because it isn't worth breeding them.

[petemason]

Oooh, Oooh I have some inside information ;)
Tesco actually source in the UK from one supplier (Branston Potatoes).
They then sub-contract the sourcing and storage of spuds to growers etc
in each region. Jerseys are imported as a separate commodity and they
also from time to time source from Egypt and Cyprus (imported via Sheerness Docks)
The UK season generally lasts from the beginning of July through to the
end of October. So I guess that means they are likely to have been stored for a minimum 5 months at present. :P

Noddy.

I live just down the road from Branston potatoes and it might seem a silly question but how do they manage to grow spuds in the same ground year after year? I suppose the answer will include the word 'chemicals'!
Also, while I'm thinking about it, the advertising blurb on the side of a well-known frozen pea manufacturer's trucks always amuses me "Frozen to be fresher" What can be more fresh than er... fresh!
I know they claim that the peas are 'flash frozen' but they don't taste anything like the ones I grow and always seem too green (if that makes sense!)

[gunnerbee]

Yes good point too, chemicals, doesnt bear thinking about, does it, what crap you actually are eating.

[bennettsleg]

Not sure about shops costing any more either bennettsleg, because in the supermarket you invariably have to buy more than you want

What used to end up rotten and thrown out at home was shameful. Since switching to the market we buy what we need and no more.

The cost aspect was based on dodgy maths: 1 packet of beans = £1.50 (for example), bit of graft and recycled pots and a significant harvest can be achieved through the season.  This beats the £1.50-£2.50 for a small pack at the supermarket *and* home grown ones will taste better.

the advertising blurb on the side of a well-known frozen pea manufacturer's trucks always amuses me "Frozen to be fresher" What can be more fresh than er... fresh!
I know they claim that the peas are 'flash frozen' but they don't taste anything like the ones I grow and always seem too green (if that makes sense!)

It makes sense when you think of people buying peas in their pods at the s'market which have been harvested before their ready and by the time they are eaten a fair number of their nutrients have gone as well.  Frozen will never beat home grown though if you don't grow, then frozen peas are the better way to go for "freshness" and nutrients.  Even Gordon Ramsey uses them.

[fbgrifter]

ok, people you have to help me out here.  i would love to eat local grown (preferably by myself) produce only.  so i take it that curry and most herbs and spices are off the menu completely.  italian food only in summer, chinese food mainly in winter with parsnips and cabbage being the staples for about 6 months of the year.  is that right?

that begs 2 questions.  should we see trade as a negative thing and curse the day that routes were opened through constantinople.  people with no greenhouses should simply restrict their diets.

individuals should not be given the right to choose where to buy? 

tim>> its a fact that britain was healthier during the rationed years.  no dispute there.

[grawrc]

I think there's a middle way rather than either extreme. I hope to be pretty self-sufficient with regard to most of the veg I usually eat, however I'm not about to plant orchards or attempt to grow avocados or oranges or stuff like that because I can't, but I'm still going to eat them. I think that for me the argument is about things like the pale insipid flavourless tomatoes that supermarkets sell "out of season" or the Chrismas green beans imported from Kenya. I'd rather do without and eat the "real thing" in season. But I'm not saying anyone else needs to. Of course there's another side to the Kenya thing too, in that Third World countries depend on our trade. Oh dear! I'm getting a headache. ::)

[fbgrifter]

i'm not disagreeing with anyone, i just think its a many sided coin.

btw - my local grocer was selling jersey royals....does that mean they've been in storage for a year?

i must admit that this whole thing had got me reading labels a lot more closely.

[tim]

No - you're safe on that score!

For those without earlies, Royals are often marked down to 1/2 price. They can then be frozen fpr 'after'.