Do you remember fruit?
By sharra1
@sharra1 (6340)
Australia
December 16, 2008 8:18pm CST
Can you remember fruit? You know, that funny thing your mother used to give you, and when you bit it juice flowed into you mouth and flavour exploded. It was bliss.
Today I bought some little yellow lumps of vaguely moist vegetable flesh that was laughingly called apricots. If you had blindfolded me and given me a blind tasting I would have been extremely hard put to identify this bit of garbage. And I paid $2.99 a kilo for it. Am I mad?
What do you think of what supermarkets refer to as fruit? Do you think they should be charged with false advertising, fraud or insulting our intelligence.
4 people like this
14 responses
@DawGwath (1042)
• Romania
18 Dec 08
Yeah it's a shame, but what can you say, we're getting more civilized, we don't need fruits now, we need medicines and operations!
Fortunately in my country you can still find good old classic merchants that grow their fruits and vegetables the old way, but some of them may have already taken the new methods of additives and other garbage to put in them, for faster growth and other artificial stuff.
2 people like this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
1 Jan 09
Well we have the space but we have not been very good at getting our fruit trees to grow unfortunately. There are old fruit trees and a grape vine in our garden that are many years old but we are struggling with drought and tired soil and it is hard to get the fruit to a stage we can eat it.
It is a lot of hard work and so far we have not got much reward for the work.
@TessWhite (3146)
• United States
17 Dec 08
Do I remember fruit? LOL Do we forget it like a lost relative? I frequently buy fruit to eat. Bananas, apples, oranges, pears, melons, pineapple. Its healthy and I try to include it and lots of fresh veggies in my diet when I can. Its costly though at times, so I have to watch for kinds that are on sale that week to buy. I doubt a grocer could be charged with faud because you didn't find that particular apricot worth eating. LOL I mean unless they sample taste each piece of fruit for you how would they know it didn't taste good?
2 people like this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
17 Dec 08
Do I take it you don't buy supermarket fruit? It's only the supermarkets, at least here it is, that sell this pap they call fruit, the little greengrocers still get sometimes reasonable fruit, but as you say, expensive.
Lash
1 person likes this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
22 Dec 08
You are very lucky. Our local supermarket is very expensive and the fruit is terrible. Oh it looks ok but most of it is tasteless. The other ones are a long way away but even they do not have good fruit.
We do not even have a farmers market nearby where we can buy some. We are trying to get fruit trees to grow to see if we can have our own.
@TessWhite (3146)
• United States
17 Dec 08
Actually Lash, our supermarket is the best place to buy the fruit. They have a huge fruit and veggie section when you walk right in the door. And their supply is better tasting than even at the local fruit stand.
2 people like this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
17 Dec 08
That price is not high, if they were indeed edible apricots. But it is very high for the garbage they are. The seaon uis actually in full swing - four weeks ago the same rubbish was $8.99 a kilo.
Lash
2 people like this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
•
18 Dec 08
What really irritates me is that the supermarkets expect me to ripen the fruit that they sell at home! By a bunch of bananas and they are mostly green. Same with peaches and apricots. The stuff doesn't always ripen even at home and then goes in the compost bin. Grrrrrr.
2 people like this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
19 Dec 08
Exactly. They sell it unripe and it either does not ripen at all or it just goes rotten really fast and sometimes it goes from unripe to rotten without every getting any flavour.
Oh dear I wish I could get fruit trees to work in my garden. I keep trying. If I had the money I would buy one ready to fruit but we have not had much luck with our trees so far and we are struggling to find the energy to work in the garden.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
17 Dec 08
Apricots are only the start. Necatrines and peaches like cricket balls, with no flavour, no juice, no texture. Strawberries like gold vballs, as Anomalie said, also no flavour. Bland tomatoes, even the mandarins, although edible, are not a patch on real fruit.
I used to have a small orchard where I grew all those things, and a nectarine, sun ripened and fresh off the tree, as big as grapefruit just about, and when you bit into it the juice would run down your chin, and the flavour was unbelievable. No they are picked too soon so the juice and flavour have no time to appear, and then stored for weeks or even months before we get to see them.
If only there was a decent orchard within reach of here, it would be worth the trip and the petrol just to get to pick our own, but no such luck. Even the small independents, although their fruit is sometimes almost reasonable, don't help, because they have to charge almost twice as much.
Lash
2 people like this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
25 Dec 08
I quite agree. The fruit we bought this week was a bit better. It was a different supermarket and the petrol cost of going there more than once a fortnight is just too high.
I do not know if we have any orchards around here. I certainly would love to get some fruit trees that grow fruit but I know they can take years to produce good fruit.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
23 Dec 08
Today a slight improvement, although the apricots are no better, but the peaches were halfway decent. Tomorrow I try the nectarines.
Lash
1 person likes this
@fatsanta (84)
• United States
18 Dec 08
Yes i remember fruit
I eat it everyday =p
Apricots are delicious if you know how to transform it
I love apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, kiwi,
you get my point
no i dont think you are mad but i also dont think the supermarkets sohuld be charged
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
25 Dec 08
I meant that they should be accused of lying in their adds when they say they sell wonderful produce but in reality the produce is tasteless and so not wonderful.
I have no idea what you mean by transform. My point was that the fruit sold as good fruit is actually tasteless compared to the fruit sold when I was a child.
I do love fruit but only if if has flavour.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
18 Dec 08
It seems you missed the humour in the "charging" part of sharra's post. But I'm confused, what do you mean "if you know how to transform it"? Because in all honesty I don't get your point. Perhaps you don't have supermarkets like we do here where the fruit is stored for months and the artificially ripened? It tastes like sh1t.
Lash
2 people like this
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
17 Dec 08
Supermarkets are not an ideal place to buy fruits. The fruits they exhibit in their fruit racks might have been there for a number of days and their quality has definitely change and would not get the real juicy fruit we thought of. Again they purchase in quantity and as long as they can make money out of it they would not be bothered to check the quality of the fruits they sell. Why waste money on suing them as anything perishable like veges and fruits are not under guarantee and it is up to consumers to either buy or reject them. It is better to buy fruits from the open market, here you can have many choices.
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
23 Dec 08
When we lived in the city we used to shop at the big market and bought some wonderful food. Strangely enough we thought it would be easier in the country seeing as how they had locals growing it etc but it is not.
Some days the fruit is not too bad but other times it is terrible and it is hard to know. You cannot test it in the shop to see if it is any good or not.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
17 Dec 08
We're too far from the good markets, unfortunately. I guess we'll have to go back to buying ther more expensive fruit from the independent greengrocers, which isn't perfect, but at least has some taste.
lash
3 people like this
@bfarrier1 (2082)
• United States
17 Dec 08
I sure can,it wasnt nothing like the garbage that they try to say is fruit today.I have almost quit completely buying fruit it cost way to much and it normally isnt any good.The only time I buy now is when the farmers market is going,that is fresh grown.You have a great night.
2 people like this
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
17 Dec 08
Unfortunately the farmers' markets in our area are monthly and also cost a fair bit in petrol to get to, so we don't get much chance to get to them. But you're right, that is the way to go if you can manage it.
Lash
2 people like this
@Rosekitty (19368)
• San Marcos, Texas
26 Dec 08
I lose so many discussions since i don't get notifications from all.... so i have to search and saw this is a week old... but since i bought alot of fruit yesterday for this morning i had to say my fruit was great and all gone..
huggs
1 person likes this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
26 Dec 08
Well you are very lucky and I am quite jealous. If you had not eaten it all I would have asked if I could pop over to taste it. 
I wish our local shops were better. I am surprised that a country town has such expensive poor tasting fruit. I thought it would stock the produce of the local growers but the world does not seem to work like that any more.
I wish our local shops were better. I am surprised that a country town has such expensive poor tasting fruit. I thought it would stock the produce of the local growers but the world does not seem to work like that any more.
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
17 Dec 08
I think I'm with you, I picked up a bag of grapes tonight and there was mold on the bottom of the inside of the bad. Needless to say I wasn't paying $1.99 a pound for moldy grades. I wish it wasn't winter here I could just pick them from the neighbor's vines1 person likes this
@ladynetz (968)
• Canada
20 Dec 08
The best thing is to go to a farmers' market and buy them from there.
In stores, you mostly have what was grown fast using lots of chemicals that take away the taste we are used to.
I agree with you - supermarket is not what it used to be.
I dream to have my own piece of land and grow on it whatever I like - vegetables and fruits.
I imagine having a garden full with fruit trees like apricot, cherry, apple, plums.
And an other one for vegetables...Oh, what a nice dream...
1 person likes this
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
21 Dec 08
Yes I wish we could grow fruit trees. We have the space we have just not managed to get the trees that we have producing. We will keep working on them though.
There are no farmers markets near us. I think there is one a couple of towns away but it only runs once a month. Still we could try it I suppose.
@jakill (835)
•
17 Dec 08
It depends what you buy here. Some of it is very disappointing. Conference pears are still good wherever I buy them. We also have pick-your-own farms for berries in season. That makes a great trip out with kids, and you get good fruit if you have the time.
@sharra1 (6340)
• Australia
29 Dec 08
We do not have farms where we can pick our own berries. We have a big pine plantation near us and I am not sure about other fruits. We grow our own strawberries which produce a little bit.
I am planning on growing my own fruit if I can get the trees to produce.
@MichaelCorleone (327)
• India
17 Dec 08
Uh!!!
Nostalgic comment on the "MOTHER" !
Try to get your hands on organic and native Apricot sharra!
Not the hybrid ones or the ones using inorganic manure or pesticides
@zhouliannie (78)
• China
17 Dec 08
i have no idea about fruit,i dont buy fruit often.
2 people like this
