[brianc]

Hi all.
       People are always talking of the taste difference between shop bought and home grown.
       My question is if you buy shop king edwards why have they no taste what so ever but the ones
       you grow yourself have taste? i can understand the freshness to cooking part of lets say runner beans
       and the like but it seems to be the same with every thing.
       Are the farmed plants a different clone to what we can obtain? or is it down to chemical or feed .
             
       

[BabbyAnn]

It's quite a diverse answer - you pick when your crop is ready whereas the produce for the market has to be picked a little bit earlier to allow for time to bring in, pack, send to distributors before it arrives in the shop.  Your ripened crop will taste nicer for being just right, and fresher if you eat same day.

Potatoes - well, a few reasons but generally it is down to local soil conditions and what is added.  Some farmers perhaps just add chemical fertiliser whereas you might add a fair amount of organic matter to the soil.  A classic example are Jersey Royals have a unique flavour whereas you grow the exact same seed potato called International Kidney and they taste so bland ... I believe it is down to the seaweed that is incorporated into the soil.

[Steveharford]

True  If you can get seaweed fed jerseys of course. I believe that a lot are now produced in peat based compost due to such a high demand from supermarkets. The Jerseys I have bought over the last few years taste of nothing, and do not justify paying such a premium so I now dont bother with them. In any case, in a good year like this one I was eating my own earlies by the time they were in the shops.

[JayG]

Obviously doesn't apply to a 'named' variety like King Edward potatoes, but many supermarket fruit and veg varieties are chosen for appearance and the convenience of the grower rather than taste.

Agree with Steveharford about Jersey Royals - to me they rarely if ever taste like they used to, and that's almost certainly down to the almost complete abandonment of the tradition of using vraic to fertilise the soil:

http://jerseyeveningpost.com/island-life/history-heritage/vraic/

Knowing exactly what was, or more importantly, wasn't, sprayed on your produce as it was growing (and sometimes afterwards too) is another fairly compelling reason for growing your own, even if you're not particularly dedicated to organic growing.

Even so, there are times when the pests seem to be winning and I almost wish I still had access to the now banned 'puffer' packs of chemicals with scary science-fiction names which nuked just about every little bug on contact! 

[Goosegirl]

True  If you can get seaweed fed jerseys of course. I believe that a lot are now produced in peat based compost due to such a high demand from supermarkets. The Jerseys I have bought over the last few years taste of nothing, and do not justify paying such a premium so I now dont bother with them. In any case, in a good year like this one I was eating my own earlies by the time they were in the shops.

My cheffy OH totally agrees with you about Jersey pots and we don't bother getting them now.

[surbie100]

I think it might just be down to how fresh they are and the weather. My friends and family now queue for bags of my spuds and I do think that they taste better than the shop-bought ones when they are first lifted. I only really eat shop-spuds from January/Feb to June so I can't really compare anymore with the taste difference. I do love having stonkingly huge Charlottes too, which I could never buy in the shops. 

[BabbyAnn]

True  If you can get seaweed fed jerseys of course. I believe that a lot are now produced in peat based compost due to such a high demand from supermarkets. The Jerseys I have bought over the last few years taste of nothing, and do not justify paying such a premium so I now dont bother with them. In any case, in a good year like this one I was eating my own earlies by the time they were in the shops.

My cheffy OH totally agrees with you about Jersey pots and we don't bother getting them now.

I hadn't had Jersey Royals in ages and bought some as a treat last year - I'm in agreement that they are definitely not the same.  I was so disappointed

[TheWhiteRabbit]

What's been interesting for me as a novice allotmenteer, is how much pesticide farmers must use to retain a sizeable harvest of the 'perfect' vegetables you see in supermarkets. Such 'perfection' and uniformity can only be down to engineered seed, pesticide and other un-natural growing methods.

It's no wonder there's such a difference between shop bought and home grown.

I kind of wish that my carrots looked like shop bought, but I'm glad they don't taste like them!

[beesrus]

No doubt some will disagree, but I think all living things follow much the same basic rules.
Most folk now accept there is a huge taste difference between, say, wild salmon and farmed salmon, so much so in obvious physical attributes that they have to even add pink colourings. No matter what the science deployed, there is no substitute for the real thing where taste is concerned.
And so it is with vegetables as well, the best tasting veg have muscles  .
Within reason they've lived with an odd pest or two, taken their time rather than be forced, had to develop character, and are not plucked from the earth way before their time. Also, few livings things flourish quite so well under intensive monoculture life without a bit of cheating. Worn out soil has got to be an issue.
Look what happened to Dorian Gray. With the sparkling eyes and teeth down on the High Street, there must be quite a few unhappy veg up in the attic somewhere.

[New shoot]

Commercial growers supplying supermarkets and the like have somewhat different goals to aim for, so I am sure F1 seeds are the most widely grown - uniform crops all maturing at once so harvesting is easy.  Pesticides and fertilisers are amazingly expensive, so yes they are used, but no grower could afford to throw them willy nilly at a crop.

My own produce is mainly (but not exclusively) open polinated, old fashioned varieties that I grow in soil fed with my own compost and bought in chicken manure pellets.  My choice, but my productivity is way below what could be tolerated on a commercial basis and I can't feed myself year round from the plot. 

I think there are moves in the right direction.  Most supermarkets now have a value range of fruit and veg that is not so perfect looking, but tastes fine.  I often buy this, plus choose as much UK grown stuff as I can to support our farmers. 

There are some crops which just do not travel well and no clever growing tricks will ever replicate freshly dug spuds, tomatoes straight off the vine or sweetcorn eaten within minutes of picking   

[Madame Cholet]

not forgetting the addition of the odd fly and slug consumed in the soup


I agree most commercial varieties are grown for high yield, fast growth, travel and store well. We may grow for flavour, long season, stands well  and variety.

[LotuSeed]

Usually grocery stores don't even name the varieties of the produce they sell. We get the general, red potato, russet potato, vine ripe tomato, red leaf lettuce etc. Apple and pear varieties are one of the few things that are labeled with a variety. Most of the produce sold in grocery stores are varieties that ship well and "look" good and they aren't bred for taste. Produce that doesn't meet the uniformity or visual appeal grocery stores are looking for is sold at produce auctions. I think the farmers take a huge hit when selling their goods at an auction. Growing my own has definitely given me a greater appreciation for fresh produce and has increased my knowledge of the nuances of individual varieties.

[Madame Cholet]

Yes and who named golden delicious yuk

[LotuSeed]

Yes and who named golden delicious yuk

Or Red Delicious?  Blech. That variety has always tasted like cardboard to me 😦

[Steveharford]

I agree re french golden delicious, however my father in law grows them here in the Midlands and they are not half bad. Especially in the morning after being left overnight in the cold porch. Very juicy but crisp. More taste than the imported ones but to be fair  not as tasty has his Kiddes Orange