Re: [CH] Purple jalapenos = bad?
raincrone@juno.com
Sun, 10 Dec 2000 00:51:41 -0500
Dave Drum said:
> The problem is that the big wholesalers want a crop that is uniform
>and packs and ships well. They care nothing for taste and nothing >for
appearance betond uniformity. It's the reason that tomatoes taste >like
moist red cardboard, apples are bland with little flavour (but, >great
appearance), rtc.
Yup. But the biggest single trend in gardening today is heirloom
varieties, stuff with less uniform prettiness and sugary blandness and
more real flavor--and I suspect the revolt against bland, boring,
oversweet, overpretty produce may evenutally carry over into the
supermarkets to at least some degree.
I mean, as more and more people get a taste of the varieties their
grandparents and great-grandparents ate and realize what they've been
cheated out of, it seems to me that commercial growers are going to feel
at least some pressure to start breeding flavor back into their shipping
varieties. 'Fact, they do sometimes respond to
what people want; already we're seeing more peppers with significant
heat, half a dozen new or long-unseen varieties of winter squash with
big, gutsy flavors, and "vine" tomatoes with at least semi-decent flavor
and acid; you can even get Winesap apples again if you look around a bit.
I suspect this'll also be good for farmer's markets and CSA operations;
already, for instance, the old central haymarket here has been rescued
from demise by its booming fresh-produce stands alone. Turns out a
surprising number of people are willing
to drive in from the 'burbs to a roughish corner of downtown
these days for real, good-tasting, un-prettied-up vegetables and fruit at
decent prices.
Keep on rockin' and support your local farmer's market,
Rain
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