Does produce taste better "in season"?

Question

What do you think?

Answer 1

Definitely! Fresh local produce does taste better than insipid out of season, just off the plane rubbish!

Answer 2

Definitely as in season produce is more likely to have been grown in a "normal" environment at its own pace. Forced food is more likely to have been subjected to chemicals such as fertilisers and hormones to make it grow quicker. As a result the ripening phase is usually significantly quicker and the end produce doesn't undergo natural chemical changes as it is designed to do. An example is the tomato. A fresh tomato that has ripened in the sun is a juicy, lush, aromatic fruit that tastes sublime - and it can have a signficant impact even on strong dishes such as curries. An out of season forced tomato is a hard, pale, tasteless fruit that adds little to salads or other dishes.

Answer 3

Of course, because it has had more of a chance to ripen naturally, than something shipped over from half way across the world. Also this means much less shipping, and the costs and environmental impact associated with it.

Take asparagus for example, you should ideally eat it within hours of picking, but if it comes from Peru or Kenya, who knows how old it is? Much better to eat (and truly appreciate) asparagus when the English stuff is in season, even if it's only for 6 weeks, rather than insist that there must always be asparagus on the shelves when it's tasteless and woody.

Answer 4

absolutely! I will only eat peaches in season. Avocados taste much better in season. And did you know that the tomatoes we buy out of season are picked green with no real flavor then subjected to a room full of methane gas to turn them bright red, but this does not improve the taste? Go for whats in season, it is cheaper, and tastes marvelous! You should watch Alton Brown in good eats sometime, you would be shocked!

Answer 5

Of course. Asparagus used to be a treat - available for less than a month as Spring turned to Summer - locally grown and picked - divine! Now you fly it half way round the world from Peru and it tastes of nothing. Strawberries should be the very taste of summer - worth waiting for and looking forward to. Now you have them all year round but they are just big watery red things with no particular flavour. Same for all the other things - I can remember when the first new season's lamb was sweet, juicy and tender. Now the lambs are being born earlier than nature intended - no flavour, no life and no quality of life. Cut down the food miles, stop the insane pandering for all year round foods.

Answer 6

When produce is "in season", you'll have a much larger variety to choose from and will get better products.

"In season" simply means the time of year when they're plentiful and often locally grown instead of having to be shipped half way around the world from a location where the weather is more seasonly appropriate for plant growth.

Answer 7

Yes - and it tastes much better when taken directly from the grower to the kitchen with as few delays as possible via a local market or organic box scheme unlike supermarkets who buy up all summer produce then freeze it as they think, for example, we all want strawberries in December whereas they taste better 'in season'.

Can we assume you haven't read "Shopped" by Joanna Blythman?

(I recommend it heartly!)

Answer 8

I wouldn't know - I've never found an easy way to tell what produce in my local Sainsbury's store (Lyons Farm, Worthing) is in season.

Now if the first "stall" in the produce section always contained locally-produced in-season goods (rather than always bananas and mangos) I could provide you with an educated answer.

Answer 9

Yes. All produce tastes better when it vine, tree, plant, bush ripened in season. Tomatoes taste fruity like they are supposed to instead of like cardboard from cold storage. Etc.

Answer 10

I think it does. It also has higher nutritive value because it is eaten sooner after picking. Of course, this is a vegetable gardner answering this question - - try this test for yourself. Grow a tomato plant next summer - it can be a cherry tomato plant grown in a pot even. When they become ripe, go to the supermarket and buy one of their tomatoes and compare. Do a taste test for yourself. You won't believe your tastebuds. The best local produce is home grown.