Industrial Produce: What's the Worst?

[vice]

Peaches bother me the most though, because sometimes (almost all the time?) they even start to smell like peaches, but then manage to rot before turning sweet. At least I have no expectations from tomatoes. But a peach will sit on the counter, smelling like a peach, only to start growing mold before softening up.

Try giving them a soak in hot water when you get them home. In the link, Harold McGee writes specifically about berries, but I've used the same approach with stone fruits to good effect.

[Porthos]

I've never found a decent pluot in the stores. They can be so very good if they're fresh off the tree, but not from the store.

Just brought some pluots yesterday from my brohter's orchard that were picked from the tree and put into my car. Very Tasty. We also go tomatoes that he picked while we watched.

Edited August 23, 2010 by Porthos (log)

[Chris Amirault]

I regret to announce that every pomegranate I've tried this year has been a flavorless, lousy disaster, much to the dismay of my daughter, who looks forward to pomegranate season every year. It's early in the season, I know, but these things are appalling.

[nakji]

Where are they coming from?

[Chris Amirault]

Cali.

[heidih]

We had a bizarre cool summer in California. The pom trees in the neighborhood would normally be splatting their fruit all over the sidewalks and that is not happening.

[DanM]

Only use fresh tomatoes when they either come from the garden or from the farmer's market. The rest of the year, they taste quite similar cardboard... but I may be insulting cardboard. The rest of the year I avoid fresh tomatoes whenever possible and use canned (mostly Muir Glenn) tomatoes for everything else. Maybe next year I will be blessed with the time to can up a few dozen quarts of tomatoes for the winter.

Most berries are also a problem, especially raspberries and strawberries. Another thing I only buy when I get them fresh from the picking fields.

Dan