[Sca-cooks] New Topic - Farmer's Market vs Chain Grocery

[Heather M]

Huette von Ahrens wrote:

><snip>
>However, the key I have found is that the quality of the Farmer's Markets foods are better than
>the Chain Groceries, IMHO.  Especially with fruits.  While beans, peas and potatoes have a fairly
>long shelf life, fruits don't, especially fruits like tomatoes and peaches.  When you compare the
>taste of a vine ripened tomato to a picked green and gassed to look red tomato, you never want to
>eat another Chain Grocery Store tomato again.  
>
I have found that in the off-season, I tend to buy on-the-vine tomoatoes 
(usually they've also been hydroponically grown). And even then, there's 
a point in, oh middle to late spring, that even those start to stop 
smelling like a tomato. That's my rule of thumb - if it doesn't smell 
like a tomato plant, it's a cheap impersonation. My grandfather STILL 
plants about an acre in just gardening/production, so I got spoiled. 
Ohhhh, his cantelopes were marvellous, even warm.

>Ditto with the soft fruits.  The peaches and
>apricots that I have picked ripe from my trees are infinitely better that anything that a Chain
>can provide because the Chain fruit has been also picked too early, gassed and frozen.  I would
>rather pay more for really properly ripened fruit than pay less for inferior fruit.
>
>Huette
>
>Remember that while money talks, chocolate sings.
>  
>
I lived in South Carolina for a while. The above-named grandfather 
spoiled me for much of store-bought strawberries, even now. Well, living 
where I did in SC did the same thing for peaches, where it seemed like 
every store bought them locally, in peach-growing country. I love them, 
and I've only bought maybe a handful since being back home.

Margaret Northwode