Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[IamRainey]

Store bought produce generally has traveled far, and taken more time to arrive at your grocery. So, 'ships well' is the most important factor in varieties chosen by commercial growers.
Home growers can select for flavor first instead, and it makes all the difference!
Mary

If you ever travel on Interstate 5 which passes through the Central Valley growing area of CA you'll see enormous trucks pulling trailers that are 14'-16' long and about 4' deep and piled high with red "ripe" tomatoes. Then you really understand they're grown to last through the rigors of being at the bottom of that pile, getting warehoused, being transferred from wholesalers to retailers and then sitting on grocers' shelves as long as possible. It's no wonder those considerations don't leave much priority left for flavor. That's why they taste like styrofoam. But they're durable!

 

[casportpony]

If you ever travel on Interstate 5 which passes through the Central Valley growing area of CA you'll see enormous trucks pulling trailers that are 14'-16' long and about 4' deep and piled high with red "ripe" tomatoes. Then you really understand they're grown to last through the rigors of being at the bottom of that pile, getting warehoused, being transferred from wholesalers to retailers and then sitting on grocers' shelves as long as possible. It's no wonder those considerations don't leave much priority left for flavor. That's why they taste like styrofoam. But they're durable!

We see lots of those here too!

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

I miss going to the library. They don't have all the books I want to read on ebook...

 

[Folly's place]

And, any tomato is better than no tomato, for all those folks who live where having a garden isn't possible.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

I miss going to the book store, and especially looking through the used book section!
Mary

 

[BullChick]

And, any tomato is better than no tomato, for all those folks who live where having a garden isn't possible.
Mary

Yes, but have you tried a bucket for growing? My first year growing tomatoes, I put two plants in a 5 gallon bucket. It worked for peppers too.

 

[seminolewind]

I miss going to the library. They don't have all the books I want to read on ebook...

I think Amazon should have sales on Kindles. They can certainly afford it. I'll bet you that their purchases have almost doubled!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's good practice to wash all edible produce to be eaten raw.
I can still recall the horror from an Italian girlfiend when I took an apple from a market stall in the UK and proceeded to eat it.

I saw that Barcelona was one of the hotspots in Spain. How is the rest of Catalonia?

Store bought produce generally has traveled far, and taken more time to arrive at your grocery. So, 'ships well' is the most important factor in varieties chosen by commercial growers.
Home growers can select for flavor first instead, and it makes all the difference!
Mary

Shipping and storage life is why iceberg lettuce is used everywhere, regardless of the fact it has so little nutritional value.
I hate it when I would order in a restaurant (when that was still possible) and the menu said garden salad. Then out would come a bowl of iceberg lettuce, some bits of carrot shavings and a greenhouse tomato wedge.
News flash, that isn't a garden salad. That could have been foods that have been in a refrigerator for a week or more.
I now (when restaurants reopen) ask exactly what tis in the salad. If it is primarily iceberg, I'll have soup.

 

[seminolewind]

I can't wait to try my own tomatoes because I'm someone who does not like tomatoes that are raw so I'm hoping doing my own I will be able to eat raw tomatoes

Do you grow from seed?

 

[IamRainey]

We see lots of those here too!
View attachment 2067916

Thanks for that picture! You've really got to see it to get how rock hard becomes a plus and flavor a minor consideration.

They expect to sell the ones at the bottom of that heap and get just as much for them as the ones on the top.