Strawberry's...

I have always loved them since I was a child but in the last few years I have not had a good one.
It is not that I buy rubbish because I have bought them from farmers, markets and even grown my own but I don't know why but they just don't taste the same, no flavour red berry's of crap they are and I want the old ones back.
I thought it may be my age and taste buds but everything else tastes fine.

It's been forever since I've had a good old fashioned sweet strawberry. Even growing up in FL where they grow the crap out of them, they were always tart.

I also noticed in the past few years, even blackberries & blueberries were starting to become more tart than sweet. Organic ones seem to retain the sweetness, but conventional ones most certainly aren't, of all 3 berries.

a reply to: boymonkey74

I agree it's really hard to get a tasty strawberry, unless you grow them yourself, or pick them in the field yourself too.

You know what else, can't get a decent tomato to save my soul. I've had great tomatoes grown in eastern Washington, drive there and get some, except then any tomato you eat after that...you will be asking yourself, "What the heck is this ?!"

I will say cherry tomatoes from the store taste pretty darn good, not like home grown, but really close.

a reply to: boymonkey74

We got the same "problem" over here (Sweden).
My grandma says it's the weather...... The strawberry's gets too watered down and lose flavour because of it.........

The UK supermarkets tend to sell commercially viable fruits grown for size and longevity rather than flavour.

I buy certain varieties if they look good, they have to be ripe and fresh, Cambridge is a good variety. I have bought nice strawberries from Tesco and M&S recently, if I recall correctly they are grown in Kent. They are also best if eaten on the day of purchase and not refrigerated.

It could be that if they are locally sourced, the abundant northern rain affected their flavour, where Kent is rather hot and dry, the UK's best place for most fruits.

It's obviously a sign we are in the matrix, they could not replicate the flavor.

I used to love picking wild blackberries as a kid. and honeysuckle.

originally posted by: Indigent
It's obviously a sign we are in the matrix, they could not replicate the flavor.

i think its just a sign of getting old.
is it more likely your taste buds have changed, or have strawberrys changed?
i dont think strawberrys have changed.

originally posted by: Hidinout
a reply to: boymonkey74

I agree it's really hard to get a tasty strawberry, unless you grow them yourself, or pick them in the field yourself too.

You know what else, can't get a decent tomato to save my soul. I've had great tomatoes grown in eastern Washington, drive there and get some, except then any tomato you eat after that...you will be asking yourself, "What the heck is this ?!"

I will say cherry tomatoes from the store taste pretty darn good, not like home grown, but really close.

Agreed, some are better than others, plum toms are very nice too...make very nice Sengwiches
Strawberries, I don't know what's going on there, it's not just the taste, buy a carton, sorry a fecking punnet , and they don't achieve the sell by date, by a long margin.

Have a deck? A window? A front porch? You can definitely grow your own, and eat them in season to your hearts content! There are tons of alternative solutions for gardening. Tomatoes and strawberries especially can be grown hanging upside down. Enough seed potatoes to grow up to forty pounds of new potatoes can be purchased for less than five dollars, and then grown in a burlap sack with holes in it, or in a garbage bucket!

a reply to: boymonkey74

Could it have something to do with your sense of taste changing with age (not that I'm calling you old). Maybe it's the variety of strawberry that's being sold. For example, here is a list of different plants: Types of strawberry plants.
Here is another. It seems to be a little more in depth: Another list.

I was listening to something the other day about certain strains of food dying out. The kind of banana we eat today wasn't the one that was always eaten. Up until the 60's, I think, there was another variety that was more flavorful. Unfortunately the crops were wiped out by disease and the one we have now was introduced. I can't find the video or I'd post it. Youtube's viewing history only goes back so far and I can't remember the name of the video. It's been the day for that I guess.

a reply to: boymonkey74
About 40 years ago, I found a field of wild strawberries. They were very large and incredibly sweet for wild strawberries, and the taste was unmatched by any I ever had eaten. The field was turned into a housing development shortly after I discovered them and the strawberries were gone.
Those delicious berries ruined strawberry eating for me forever.

cut them in half and sprinkle some sugar on the cut side. that brings out the flavor.

sprinkle salt on watermelon. does the same thing

a reply to: boymonkey74

Can't stand them. Seeds. Yech!

a reply to: boymonkey74

We planted some strawberries around our buildings this year and they have been doing wonderful. We encourage residents to pick them as soon as they are ripe and eat them on the spot, and they have been the most awesome strawberries I have had in years, big, sweet, and juicy.

Our new asst manager dug them up from around his property and we transplanted them here, and I am amazed at how good they are. Definitely different than store bought, just in flavor, they are damn good!
I'll have to ask him if he knows what the difference is between what he has brought our buildings and what everyone buys in the stores, because there is a difference.

a reply to: boymonkey74
They grow them in sand and pee chemicals on them.

You can find this entire wonderful documentary on Youtube, here is a taste of a better strawberry.

a reply to: Mugly

We sometimes soak them for a good 30 minutes in some sugar water before straining and eating. Highly recommended, they just don't have the taste without some sugar.

a reply to: ugmold

They grow them in sand and pee chemicals on them.

And not to mention they are picked unripe and put into cold storage.......

As is mentioned in the doco you posted there,first grow soil and then the soil will grow plants ....

originally posted by: Rikku

originally posted by: Indigent
It's obviously a sign we are in the matrix, they could not replicate the flavor.

i think its just a sign of getting old.
is it more likely your taste buds have changed, or have strawberrys changed?
i dont think strawberrys have changed.

Good, but Boymonkey is only a boy! anyway he shouldn't be eating modern strawberries, bad for the old teeth, and make him humpy like us Homo Sapiens Sapiens..they make you repeat yourself too! Funny enough Darwin loved strawberries!
Bananas are out too for the same reasons, and that's official. More fibre is required, so he'll just have to go back to chewing his nuts.

originally posted by: Rikku

originally posted by: Indigent
It's obviously a sign we are in the matrix, they could not replicate the flavor.

i think its just a sign of getting old.
is it more likely your taste buds have changed, or have strawberrys changed?
i don't think strawberrys have changed.

I tend to agree with this, even the poster about the tomato's, even to me cantaloupe and watermelon do not tastes the same anymore. I am 50 btw.