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Off topic. I've been appalled at how tasteless store-bought strawberries in the U.S. have become. I don't know happened, a change in cultivar? 12 years ago I c

Off topic. I've been appalled at how tasteless store-bought strawberries in the U.S. have become. I don't know happened, a change in cultivar? 12 years ago I could buy flavorful strawberries in the U.S., today I cannot. I hope they have more flavor in AU.

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
When do you buy them? Where I live in Canada there are two options, big tasteless imported (from down south) stuff that's available year round, or tasty local half-the-size stuff that is only available for a few weeks once a year.
jspash 4y ago
If you have the money, take a trip to Japan and you can try the best strawberries in the world. Only $500 each! https://strawberryplants.org/japanese-strawberry-growing-secrets/ https://strawberryplants.org/japanese-strawberry-growing-sec...
- rcme 4y ago
  This company [0] is producing vertically grown strawberries with insanely high sugar content. They're apparently very good, but I haven't been willing to spend $15 on 6 strawberries. 0: https://oishii.com https://oishii.com
rootusrootus 4y ago
Maybe coming from afar and picked when they're green? Local strawberries in the summer are great, just like local tomatoes. The rest of the year it's much harder to get either one in any variety I can stomach.
pixl97 4y ago
Because consumers in the US buy on size and appearance and not taste. We'll buy a pint of massive, red, perfect looking berries that have zero flavor before we'll buy a smaller, dented berry that has the best flavor on the planet. Add to that the berries tend to be picked green and shipped long distances and you have the perfect maelstrom for the next 'red delicious' debacle.
- constantlm 4y ago
  Not sure why this was downvoted. Across the world it is absolutely the case that we optimise for shelf-life and appearance over taste. This becomes especially obvious when you grow your own tomatoes from seed.
  - fleddr 4y ago
    I think it's actually even worse than that. You're suggesting that people accept a lesser taste in exchange for the other benefits. As if this is a conscious decision. I think people don't really taste with any attention at all. They eat in a rush, preoccupied, and the ingredients may be mashed together into some mix. As long as something isn't incredibly off, they'll not consider it a "lesser" taste, this is just how a strawberry tastes. ...until you take the time to demonstrate the vastly superior taste.
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > Because consumers in the US buy on size and appearance and not taste. They buy on size and appearance signals that, within familiar varieties, correlate very strongly with taste, because you can't taste offerings in the store to choose which to buy. This is then exploited by the commercial supply chain in a way which proves Goodhart’s Law.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    > This is then exploited by the commercial supply chain in a way which proves Goodhart’s Law. That's a very interesting example of Goodhart's Law in action, and one that broadens the circumstances when I think about it applying. Thanks.
- asdff 4y ago
  Give people some credit here. If you took an heirloom strawberry and put it through the wringer of shipping it to idaho in the dead of winter, it will be moldy jam by the end. Farmers markets have heirlooms but just take a look at them: the tomatoes at the bottom of the pile will be all crushed by the ones at the top because this cultivar is not selected for its tensile strength when sitting in a pile in the produce section.
mturmon 4y ago
Many varieties were replaced with the "Camarosa", which is now the default grocery-store berry. Here's an article from the change-over: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-21-mn-61072-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-21-mn-61072-... [edited to add: see also: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/interesting-chandler-strawberry-plant-54248.html https://homeguides.sfgate.com/interesting-chandler-strawberr... -- but there are a lot of astroturf pieces out there also] Camarosa ships well (high firmness), but the taste really isn't there. That replacement was more of a circa-2000 thing. Perhaps the further decline since then has been due to relocation of berry production even farther away from U.S. markets (e.g., in Mexico or Central America). You can still get the other varieties from local producers, at least where I live in southern California. The taste difference is enormous, it's worth going to a farmer's market just for the berries. Same kind of thing has happened with tomatoes.
- metadat 4y ago
  JS-free archive link: https://archive.ph/xdkfC https://archive.ph/xdkfC
metta2uall 4y ago
Sadly the vast majority do not..
dr-detroit 4y ago
[dead]
int_19h 4y ago
BTW, if you haven't tried wild strawberries, I would highly recommend. They are not super sweet, but they have very strong, concentrated flavor, much more so than regular strawberries. Seems to be largely unknown in US, unfortunately? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca
AlbertCory 4y ago
Besides farmers' markets, which the others have mentioned, there are smaller produce markets in a lot of areas (they tend to be in strip malls, at least near me). Their whole shtick is having good produce, including berries.
skyberrys 4y ago
Try getting some Mara de Bois bare root strawberries. I plant them in old paper bags filled with soil and leave them outside.

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago

When do you buy them? Where I live in Canada there are two options, big tasteless imported (from down south) stuff that's available year round, or tasty local half-the-size stuff that is only available for a few weeks once a year.

jspash 4y ago

If you have the money, take a trip to Japan and you can try the best strawberries in the world. Only $500 each! https://strawberryplants.org/japanese-strawberry-growing-secrets/ https://strawberryplants.org/japanese-strawberry-growing-sec...

rcme 4y ago
This company [0] is producing vertically grown strawberries with insanely high sugar content. They're apparently very good, but I haven't been willing to spend $15 on 6 strawberries. 0: https://oishii.com https://oishii.com

rootusrootus 4y ago

Maybe coming from afar and picked when they're green? Local strawberries in the summer are great, just like local tomatoes. The rest of the year it's much harder to get either one in any variety I can stomach.

pixl97 4y ago

Because consumers in the US buy on size and appearance and not taste. We'll buy a pint of massive, red, perfect looking berries that have zero flavor before we'll buy a smaller, dented berry that has the best flavor on the planet. Add to that the berries tend to be picked green and shipped long distances and you have the perfect maelstrom for the next 'red delicious' debacle.

constantlm 4y ago
Not sure why this was downvoted. Across the world it is absolutely the case that we optimise for shelf-life and appearance over taste. This becomes especially obvious when you grow your own tomatoes from seed.
- fleddr 4y ago
  I think it's actually even worse than that. You're suggesting that people accept a lesser taste in exchange for the other benefits. As if this is a conscious decision. I think people don't really taste with any attention at all. They eat in a rush, preoccupied, and the ingredients may be mashed together into some mix. As long as something isn't incredibly off, they'll not consider it a "lesser" taste, this is just how a strawberry tastes. ...until you take the time to demonstrate the vastly superior taste.
dragonwriter 4y ago
> Because consumers in the US buy on size and appearance and not taste. They buy on size and appearance signals that, within familiar varieties, correlate very strongly with taste, because you can't taste offerings in the store to choose which to buy. This is then exploited by the commercial supply chain in a way which proves Goodhart’s Law.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- HWR_14 4y ago
  > This is then exploited by the commercial supply chain in a way which proves Goodhart’s Law. That's a very interesting example of Goodhart's Law in action, and one that broadens the circumstances when I think about it applying. Thanks.
asdff 4y ago
Give people some credit here. If you took an heirloom strawberry and put it through the wringer of shipping it to idaho in the dead of winter, it will be moldy jam by the end. Farmers markets have heirlooms but just take a look at them: the tomatoes at the bottom of the pile will be all crushed by the ones at the top because this cultivar is not selected for its tensile strength when sitting in a pile in the produce section.

mturmon 4y ago

Many varieties were replaced with the "Camarosa", which is now the default grocery-store berry. Here's an article from the change-over: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-21-mn-61072-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-21-mn-61072-... [edited to add: see also: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/interesting-chandler-strawberry-plant-54248.html https://homeguides.sfgate.com/interesting-chandler-strawberr... -- but there are a lot of astroturf pieces out there also] Camarosa ships well (high firmness), but the taste really isn't there. That replacement was more of a circa-2000 thing. Perhaps the further decline since then has been due to relocation of berry production even farther away from U.S. markets (e.g., in Mexico or Central America). You can still get the other varieties from local producers, at least where I live in southern California. The taste difference is enormous, it's worth going to a farmer's market just for the berries. Same kind of thing has happened with tomatoes.

metadat 4y ago
JS-free archive link: https://archive.ph/xdkfC https://archive.ph/xdkfC

metta2uall 4y ago

Sadly the vast majority do not..

dr-detroit 4y ago

[dead]

int_19h 4y ago

BTW, if you haven't tried wild strawberries, I would highly recommend. They are not super sweet, but they have very strong, concentrated flavor, much more so than regular strawberries. Seems to be largely unknown in US, unfortunately? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca

AlbertCory 4y ago

Besides farmers' markets, which the others have mentioned, there are smaller produce markets in a lot of areas (they tend to be in strip malls, at least near me). Their whole shtick is having good produce, including berries.

skyberrys 4y ago

Try getting some Mara de Bois bare root strawberries. I plant them in old paper bags filled with soil and leave them outside.