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Similar story with strawberries. The huge ones are quite bland, whereas the small ones pack a punch. I imagine it's mostly the water content that makes them big

Similar story with strawberries. The huge ones are quite bland, whereas the small ones pack a punch. I imagine it's mostly the water content that makes them bigger, but at the same time it dilutes the taste. Same for tomatoes as well. Homegrown tomatoes have a strong taste, whereas store-bought ones are quite weak in taste (as well as weirdly plastic). Pretty much anything that is produced for profits will be optimized for weight and minimal production costs. Nobody cares about taste.

fayten 5y ago
As far as I am aware the water content reducing flavor is a myth. For fruits and vegtables it comes down to ripening and temperature control. The majority of fruit we purchase from the super market is picked far before it's rip and is either sitting in storage/transport long enough to get acceptable flavor, gassed with certain hormones to speed up rippening before final arrival, or just straight up dyed. Oranges from warm climates are actually green and are dyed in a lot of cases in the US. A cooler climate is needed to kill of the green pigments in the fall turning them orange. Fate of food is an interesting book on the food supply chain: https://www.amandalittle.com/fateoffood https://www.amandalittle.com/fateoffood Food dying and our perception of flavor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FPnag_rvU8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FPnag_rvU8 A fun video with Paul Hollywood trying the most expensive strawberries: https://youtu.be/895DfGuoqvU https://youtu.be/895DfGuoqvU
- Hammershaft 5y ago
  I wonder why companies don't sell smaller quantities of pricier variants of fully ripened fruit then.
  - steve_adams_86 5y ago
    Well, I know in my own garden that fully ripened food doesn’t last long even with only a 20 meter trip to my refrigerator. It’s so delicate and tends to be prime for breaking and/or decaying.
bryanlarsen 5y ago
Strawberries; I used to think that, but it's only true for me locally. The important thing for delicious strawberries is that you pick them ripe. So locally the only tasty strawberries you get are small and in season, because that's local. However if you are in a place more suited for strawberries you can find large tasty strawberries picked ripe. Strawberries in a super market are picked green and ripen in transit. Tomatoes: small tomatoes have a higher pulp to juice ratio, so are literally less watery. But again, the big ones can be quite tasty, they just need to be reduced more, which has other effects: the long cooking time changes the flavor, which you may or may not want. But the important thing for flavor is to get vine ripened tomatoes, which usually means you need to buy canned, because the time from vine to can is a lot less than from vine to super market.
- spaceheater 5y ago
  obligatory: £350 Strawberry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=895DfGuoqvU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=895DfGuoqvU
oneoff786 5y ago
I’ve seen this on HN a lot but I just doesn’t match my experience at all. Large strawberries are generally tastier in my opinion.

fayten 5y ago

As far as I am aware the water content reducing flavor is a myth. For fruits and vegtables it comes down to ripening and temperature control. The majority of fruit we purchase from the super market is picked far before it's rip and is either sitting in storage/transport long enough to get acceptable flavor, gassed with certain hormones to speed up rippening before final arrival, or just straight up dyed. Oranges from warm climates are actually green and are dyed in a lot of cases in the US. A cooler climate is needed to kill of the green pigments in the fall turning them orange. Fate of food is an interesting book on the food supply chain: https://www.amandalittle.com/fateoffood https://www.amandalittle.com/fateoffood Food dying and our perception of flavor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FPnag_rvU8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FPnag_rvU8 A fun video with Paul Hollywood trying the most expensive strawberries: https://youtu.be/895DfGuoqvU https://youtu.be/895DfGuoqvU

Hammershaft 5y ago
I wonder why companies don't sell smaller quantities of pricier variants of fully ripened fruit then.
- steve_adams_86 5y ago
  Well, I know in my own garden that fully ripened food doesn’t last long even with only a 20 meter trip to my refrigerator. It’s so delicate and tends to be prime for breaking and/or decaying.

bryanlarsen 5y ago

Strawberries; I used to think that, but it's only true for me locally. The important thing for delicious strawberries is that you pick them ripe. So locally the only tasty strawberries you get are small and in season, because that's local. However if you are in a place more suited for strawberries you can find large tasty strawberries picked ripe. Strawberries in a super market are picked green and ripen in transit. Tomatoes: small tomatoes have a higher pulp to juice ratio, so are literally less watery. But again, the big ones can be quite tasty, they just need to be reduced more, which has other effects: the long cooking time changes the flavor, which you may or may not want. But the important thing for flavor is to get vine ripened tomatoes, which usually means you need to buy canned, because the time from vine to can is a lot less than from vine to super market.

spaceheater 5y ago
obligatory: £350 Strawberry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=895DfGuoqvU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=895DfGuoqvU

oneoff786 5y ago

I’ve seen this on HN a lot but I just doesn’t match my experience at all. Large strawberries are generally tastier in my opinion.