Do you remember how horrified and shocked I was to learn about all the unseasonal fruit you could buy in the UK?
Well today I went to a supermarket that I don't go too very often. I was not unduly surprised to see strawberries from Spain there already, but! They were surrounded by raspberries, peaches, plums, blueberries and..... yes you've guessed, blackberries from bloody Guatemala!!! How they even grow the things in a hot country like that I do not know!
God I hope all the supermarkets do not start doing this. Grrrrrrrr.
I've noticed my local supermarket now puts 'air-miles' stickers on vegetables/fruit/veg flown in from far away places, which makes it easier to spot them and put them back on the shelf in favour of local or near-er products.
I mean you only have to wait a couple of month to get it from the UK.
And they are still selling N.Z red onions (in threes) right next to the bag of small ones from Cambridge (UK)
Does my bonce in.
It's not easy being Cheezy
So you know how great Salsify is as a veg, what about Cavero Nero,great leaves all through the winter , then in Spring sprouting broccolli like flowers! Takes up half as much room as broccolli
The strawberry season is at least 6 months long now in Britain. How people can't manage to live for the other half of the year without, I don't understand.
I probably ranted about that last year - at the height of the local asparagus season, they had some from Chile (or somewhere else thereabouts) in the local Coop. About 5 miles away from the farmer where I'd just bought the most wonderful, fresh, and much cheaper asparagus...
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I can't help remembering when I was ... so ... high (a fairly long time ago now) that I enjoyed the seasonality. Vegetables you'd almost forgotten about suddenly came back onto the table ... my perceptions of what new potatoes tasted like back then are very different to my present sensations. Strawberies were sheer heaven (as opposed to pressure-grown tasteless slush). Loads of stuff - the first sprouts, spring cabbage ... all newly rediscovered. All-year availability means that we lose that simple pleasure.
MKG wrote:I can't help remembering when I was ... so ... high (a fairly long time ago now) that I enjoyed the seasonality. Vegetables you'd almost forgotten about suddenly came back onto the table ... my perceptions of what new potatoes tasted like back then are very different to my present sensations. Strawberies were sheer heaven (as opposed to pressure-grown tasteless slush). Loads of stuff - the first sprouts, spring cabbage ... all newly rediscovered. All-year availability means that we lose that simple pleasure.
I agree. Knowing something will be in season soon is part of the fun. Eat asparagus or blackberries all year round and you don't appreciate it when they are ripe and ready over here - not to mention how bland a lot of shop fruit and veg can be because it is often picked before it is properly ripe which is why it doesn't taste as nice.
What is the 'wrong' time of year for a new potato? If you plant them early in a pot in the house and transfer to a cold greenhouse later; you can have 'new potatoes' in April. The same applies to planting the tubers later - providing you survive blight - 'new potatoes' in August and beyond.
I have heard that if you harvest new potatoes and put them in a tin and bury them in the ground - voila - 'new potatoes' at Christmas.
couscous wrote:What is the 'wrong' time of year for a new potato? If you plant them early in a pot in the house and transfer to a cold greenhouse later; you can have 'new potatoes' in April. The same applies to planting the tubers later - providing you survive blight - 'new potatoes' in August and beyond.
I have heard that if you harvest new potatoes and put them in a tin and bury them in the ground - voila - 'new potatoes' at Christmas.
It's Maris Peir that you plant around September ready for Christmas new pots. I tried them one year , in tubs but forgot to water them and they turned out too small.
It's not easy being Cheezy
So you know how great Salsify is as a veg, what about Cavero Nero,great leaves all through the winter , then in Spring sprouting broccolli like flowers! Takes up half as much room as broccolli
urgh yes i could.. but if i want roast potatoes at Xmas...logical thing would not be to grow special new potatoes, or buy imported to the make into roast.. but just use my store potatoes. works fine. the whole point i was making was new potatoes should come at new potato time.. in mid winter we should be eating mash and roast and thats what feels right. just like strawberries are a summer thing, and blackberries and autumn thing.. etc etc
Red
I like like minded people... a bit like minded anyway.. well people with bits of their minds that are like the bits of my mind that I like...
doesn't it say on the boxes and bags