Home grown veg, tastes better! Why ???
Nutrient quality, water content etcetera all decline with picking... no matter where you bought it, it has travelled further and thus doesn't taste as good... Sweetcorn is at one extreme but roots less so... but even fresh carrots knock supermarket ones into a cocked hat!
;D
People often grow varieties selected for taste rather than ease of storage or transport, amd mostly they don't grow plants that are grown too soft through the over-use of fertilisers. They tend to pick the veg younger as well; commercial growers are paid for weight not taste. bought ones aren't so fresh, and taste is often the least consideration.
Try the blindfold carrot test. Scrape the skin of a supermarket carrot and get someone (blidnfolded) to tell you what it smells like. They will probably say soap. Then take a fresh home-grown one and do the same test. I guarantee the answer will not be soap.
Right got it now, thank you.
That would explain why when I buy from a local farm, (no shop on the farm) he grows for the house and sells his surplus. They taste just the same as if I had grown them myself.
Some types just can't be grown commercially, the carrot that I rave about, my beloved Mokum is one, it is so crisp it cannot be just pulled from the ground without breaking, it has to be gently teased out a bit, that cannot happens with field full. XX Jeannine
and don't get us started on tomatoes... which are designed to withstand a game of baseball!
::)
Or peaches and nectarines that could be used as cannon balls
And those tasteless watery supermarket strawberries. :-X
and don't let us forget what all the supermarket veggies are sprayed with to get them 'perfect' :-X :-X
Or the salad leaves that turn to mush two seconds after you the bag ;D
Quote from: Jeannine on May 30, 2007, 23:54:51
Or peaches and nectarines that could be used as cannon balls
*sigh* I remember peaches big as a fist, so sweet and juicy mum made us eat them outside.
Don't eat them anymore, they are always disappointing, like you say Jeannine rock hard, even in season.
Me too Pye. Not had a peach in don't know how long. Always such a disappointment. :'( :'( :'( We had to eat them outside too! Mums ::)
I can Not wait Till the day i can have a few new spuds with Runner beans And a nice Bit of Bacon All Fresh from the Plot ,Oh not the Bacon Its from the Farm shop !!
But This is My fav The first pickings are Great !! ;)
Hello
You can't beat home grown veg for the taste, Fruit & veg has to be perfect in supermarkets as well most of it is bland and like bullets and always washed My mum wanted some pears from asda's but they where like Grade A concrete, I like to see knobby potatoes with a bit of dirt on them not so perfect carrots, Also half of it has been flown around the world in cold storage.
Can't wait for my veg to start cropping yummy fresh peas from the pod & carrots and new pots with some mint :P
Cheers
Brogusblue
My favourite reply to that question is;
It is still growing when you eat it !!
Apparently Sainsburys (or could be one of the others) sells bumpy lumpy apples as their 'economy' brand - i am sure the world has gone mental. Poor apples. Bet they're lovely and your teeth don't just slide off them.
when was it exactly that Tesco's managed to cross a cherry tomato with a crab apple?
Had some shop-bought parsnips at the weekend- yuk!
You cant beat the taste of freshly picked stuff. What always amazes me though is how quickly things go soft compared to the supermarket variety e.g carrots and it always worries me to think what they must spray them with to make them stay firm for so long
Quotehow quickly things go soft compared to the supermarket variety e.g carrots
How do you store them?
If you store them in sand/old compost or peat they will remain quite firm.
In fact there is a tendancy for them to start growing green tops again!
Ah! well,
If the Tesco drivers from the distribution warehouses DO go on strike, panic buying will no doubt take place & we can all go & harvest to our hearts content(& our bodies).
Its not only the taste of home grown veg, its the smell as well. When I bring leeks home from the lottie in the car, the leek smell is very strong and can linger all day, even after the leeks have been removed! You never get that from supermarket ones.
I have been amazed since I started on this plot, just how tasty everything is, there is a huge difference in taste. I agree totally about parsnips too, because mine are not ready yet and I am a parsnip lover I have been buying in shop, but there is nothing to touch the sweetness of those I grow and harvest later in the year.
And I have been picking strawberries every day (only one or two) but they are so sweet, they just melt in your mouth...mmmm!
Lin
If you look at the name of the varieties the supermarkets grow they are never the ones you buy for home growing. I think all "grade A" stuff has to be labelled with the variety on the packet.
The supermarket varieties are designed to make as much cash as possible compromising taste for storage life etc as mentioned. They are also grown extremely quickly and probably contain much more water than home grown.
When on holiday I just love to go to the local markets (France or Spain) even just to look sometimes. Nothing is the same size or colour and you know they just picked everything that day too. Peaches, grapes, cherries and strawberries look and taste just like they ought to. None of this watery tasteless garbage on offer here.
Lauren :D
it's true that markets in France have amazing veg that taste great, and such a variety too. But it's also true that the French are the biggest users of pesticides, legal and illegal, in Western Europe. They have big problems with pesticide contamination of drinking water, and also nitrates and more worryingly nitrites, from fertiliser run-off, especially a problem with pig farming, in Brittany say.
Tesco's etc may produce tastless food, but at least it gets tested for nasty pesticides
Personally i'd take the risk, and go with taste, or better still growit meself