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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (51695)	3/4/2008 10:37:45 PM
From: neolib	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542169

There is more money to be made in processed glop foods that last forever, than money to be made in greens and fruits and veggies I hate to enlighten you, but similar problems exist in the fruits and veggies and it is partly the fault of the consumer. Consider the Red Delicious apple for example. The early versions where not totally red, in fact, they were red striped over green. They had wonderful flavor, especially when picked ripe off the trees in late fall. But the consumer liked red, and the apple industry, eager to provide the consumer with what they wanted, chased red skin genetics, as well as the odd elongated shape characteristic of the Red Delicious (called "type" or "typeness") to the determent of 1) flavor, 2) crispness, and 3) sugar content. Indeed, for many years, the Washington Extra Fancy grade system was based on size, color and shape for these apples. Duh, per that metric, a plastic apple could have been rated Washington Extra Fancy! Eventually, these well shaped, nicely sized, very red apples tasted like ****, and consumers stopped buying them, and growers started ripping the trees out. Who could have thought of that! Regrettably, similar things happened to Strawberries (think of your large, pretty, CA strawberry with so little flavor and sugar, that it stays pretty all the way to your fridge). Apple growers didn't learn from the Red either, but are repeating the stunt with Gala and Fuji, where red skin color is the main breeding trait. They do look pretty, and sell better than green apples. I should note that sometime in the last 5 years (IIRC) the Washington grade system decided that sugar and crispness should be part of rating. There is hope. Oh well, the consumer gets what they want, so who can argue with that.