How I wish we could get some decent fruit.

rms1

We are fed up of buying supermarket fruit only to get it home and find it is just awful.

On Saturday, we bought a bag of Royal Gala apples from Aldi, only to find that they were mushy and tasteless. We returned them the next day and refused an exchange for more of the same so paid the extra for a bag of Clementines, these were so bitter, they were inedible. Today we bought some more Royal Gala apples from Asda as well as some Bananas and Plums. The bananas are tasteless and the apples are dry and mushy, the plums are tasteless and dry.

Are we just unlucky or this this what we can expect from supermarket fruit, I have to say that we don't seem to get the same disappointment from supermarket veg.

kremmen

I had the opposite experience today with Red delicious apples ( 1st time I have seen them loose for years) and ready to eat plums ( reduced to half price) today at Morrison's . Unlucky with tangerines ( some dried out but they were only 50p).

I think the problem is that UK shopper want fruit to last and so it is kept in gasses to stop ripening.

In France you won't find yellow bananas they are almost black ( due to sugar ... Ever so sweet ).

Also in north Africa they keep the sweetest oranges ( with black sugar spots ) as we won't buy them.

Its our own fault.

Paul

A._Badger

It is, partly, due to lifespan requirements of the supermarkets - but not entirely.

Find a decent street market and buy regularly. If you can't do that, find a greengrocer. If his produce is rubbish, he goes out of business. Asda, Tesco and the like will keep going whatever muck they sell - mostly because two entire generations have never learned how to shop.

Lugh_Chronain

It could also be down to cheap imports as well. By the time fruit and veg arrives into the UK it looses most of its taste and texture.

Incidentally, it isn't necessarily true that places like France and Africa are immune from cheap imports either. Senegal for example imports around 40,000 tonnes of onions each year, mostly from Holland.

jessc_2001

Might be worth checking out the 'Natural Seasons' of these fruit. For Gala it is May through September. What you are buying now is probably kept in cold storage (or worse). This is a classic example of the public expecting all fruit and veg all year round without any expectation of deterioration of quality - sorry, but apples taste best from the bough!

rms1

Thanks for the input guys. It looks like we need to terat buying fresh produce as a science, what a sorry state of affairs.

sexpot

I find a lot of fruit is tasteless this time of year.

Sambucus_Nigra

rms1 wrote: »

Thanks for the input guys. It looks like we need to terat buying fresh produce as a science, what a sorry state of affairs.

How is it a sorry state of affairs? Fruit is in season in about 6 months in this country. The sorry state of affairs is that WE don't eat seasonally in this country and expect out of season food that has been flown or shipped here to be readily available at all times.

margy

why not try growing your own its easy to do if you follow simple instructions and you will have the tastiest fruit and veg around and an all most endless supply

rachbc

I've stopped buying apples at the aren't good at the moment, pears still seem to be lovely as are plums

Alisha2008

I think fruit in the supermarket is very hit & miss, sometimes lovely, sometimes awful, and always expensive! I try to go every weekend to my local market, for better prices & quality.

I'm not mad about apples but I tried a "Jazz" variety from Sainburys last week and it was quite nice.

Strawberries are gorgeous (from Spain), and plums seem ok (some weeks better than others..)