Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I did come across one thing that is better tasting in the several months I was in Europe. Chocolate! That was 20 years ago so it may have changed. When I returned home, my luggage was packed with candy bars in all the spare space.
Swiss chocolate can't be beat. And the Swiss know it! The best brands have a higher cream content than the rest. Most American chocolate tastes like it's made from powdered skim milk, lol.
Swiss chocolate can't be beat. And the Swiss know it! The best brands have a higher cream content than the rest. Most American chocolate tastes like it's made from powdered skim milk, lol.
I would say it normally doesn't make a difference where the chocolate was produced or by which company. Making good chocolate is not rocket science. When I remember correctly, the first 3 places in the last chocolate taste test was won by 3 store brand chocolates.
The Choceur Rahm Mandel (Cream Almond) is in my opinion way creamier than everything what I had so far from Lindt. Moser Roth seems also at least on par with Lindt. Ritter Sport Alpenmilch is also very creamy.
Marabou from Sweden taste awesome, too.
The worst chocolate I have ever tried was Hershey's milk chocolate. Absolutely inedible. Taste like vomit. But I have heard Hershey's taste perfectly fine if you had grown up with it.
America has the highest quality food of any Western nation; you just have to hunt for it and pay for it. Trying living in Northern Europe. I have.
Yep what on earth. America has great food. Especially compared with Europe. I've only been to Paris, but the produce was OK. Try an American farmers market if your supermarket does not have nice produce.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ottawa2011
A lot of "chocolate" doesn't contain cocoa... carob is a less costly substitute used by many manufacturers. Also, there are other substitutes.
Where did you get that? I've been looking for the carob bars I ate when I was a kid and can't find them. To me carob tastes just as good as chocolate, but it tastes different. I'm not sure if it is less costly because I sure have not been able to find it, and nobody seems to be making the bars anymore. It comes from a bean and is a yummy and natural product.
Just walk around the veggie aisles of your supermarket. There's more "foreign" produce than American.
The produce grown by the mega farms are grown for consistent looks and size.
Taste has pretty much been bred out of them.
When was the last time you bit into a peach or plum that was perfectly ripe and full of juice.
I have my own plum and peach trees and the fruit that comes off of them cannot even compare to imported supermarket produce.
My veggies and fruits have TASTE which is what is missing from supermarket produce.
Nothing like fresh for sure. I believe some of the problem in not tasting like "off the tree" is because the fruit is picked before it's fully ripe so it doesn't get all the sugar content that a ripe piece of fruit gets. A grower has to consider the shipping time to a destination, storage in a warehouse, etc. Especially something like a peach, as you know a truly ripe peach is delicate and wouldn't ship well or last all that long sitting around at a warehouse, time on trucks, stacked upon one another many pounds deep, etc.
We live in the low desert of AZ and have a garden, many different kinds of citrus trees in our backyard, peaches, and they are incredible of course as you mention picked right off the backyard tree. Especially given the low desert summer heat produces lots of sugar content in the fruit and the cooler nights of winter here produce the acid and it's a great balance, ultra sweet with a nice tart. I've can tell you within 2 seconds by the sweetness alone if the citrus was grown in a low desert or not. With that said, we get citrus in the stores that's grown in the region and it can taste just as good as what I get from our backyard trees. Why? Because it's grown close to us, down the road or within a few hours. Yuma AZ, Coachella valley, or of course the Phoenix metro match pretty close to what I pick off my trees as it doesn't have to be picked in an unripened state and/or sit around in transportation/a warehouse for longer periods of time as it will get to the supermarket shelf in our area quickly.
I even find many varieties of mangoes that come from up from Mexico are sweeter/taste better when I buy them here vs if I bought them in a region in the US thousands of miles away. My mom lives far away from AZ and has trouble often with the mangoes ripening properly while here we rarely have that problem. I'm not sure if they were stored for shorter periods of time in the shipping process or allowed to ripen more on the trees in our region because they didn't have to be shipped as far. Or perhaps a little of both.
The bottom line is that US farming mostly is about agro-industry: growing in huge volume, and using strains of vegetables that lend themselves to harvesting machines to the extent possible, and that have an appealing appearance. The agricultural model in some European countries isn't so industrial; there's still a strong base of family farms, for one thing.
Also, look at the photo accompanying the article. Those are what in the US are called "heirloom" tomatoes, not more conventional modern strains. Heirloom vegetables are a growing niche market in the US, but a very small niche so far.
The Florida farmer highlighted in the article says no one would buy the tomato variety he developed because it's too small, even though it's tastier than any other tomato available commercially. If he explored local and regional food co-ops and other "alternative" grocery outlets, I bet people would buy those. And as word got out, the popularity would spread, and he might be able to go into the seed business, selling his tomato variety nation-wide.
The big grocery chains won't buy that stuff, not when it's new and untested by the market, but the local shops that support local farmers would. You have to start small with a new product, and build from there. Whole Foods and Sprouts now carry heirloom vegetables when they can get them. They're not produced in large quantities yet, but that day may come.
Do you really think the large markets in Europe do not depend on commercial farming? There are small farms and weekend farmers markets just like we have, but probably more. They are small farmers, just like our farmers markets, and yes, the produce is very good. Basically though, there is very little difference. I would have to ask you, have you experienced the produce personally in other countries or just done some research?
Natural fragrance of fruits and vegies -100% absent, I miss those smells and scents so much. I dont think most of Americans know those smells to miss. Growing your own may improve taste, but fragrance is bred out, only faintest hints of scent remain.
Just walk around the veggie aisles of your supermarket. There's more "foreign" produce than American.
The produce grown by the mega farms are grown for consistent looks and size.
Taste has pretty much been bred out of them.
When was the last time you bit into a peach or plum that was perfectly ripe and full of juice.
I have my own plum and peach trees and the fruit that comes off of them cannot even compare to imported supermarket produce.
My veggies and fruits have TASTE which is what is missing from supermarket produce.
Back up please: I certainly didn't mean all our produce is locally grown or only grown in America. I never buy a produce without checking to see where is was produced. My comment was in reference to the OP was talking about produce we see or buy when in other countries, not what we get in our super markets.gy
Of course we all know, and I said exactly that: super market produce, regardless of where you get it is, normally purchased from commercial farmers.
We generally buy all our spring and summer produce from our local farmers markets. And yes, we grow some ourselves. Did I say anything about the super market produce being just as good as what we all enjoy, grown locally. Even our Walmart buys come of their produce during the summer from our local farms. Our independent grocery store does as often as possible.
I was raised in So. CA. As a child we had an avocado tree, 3 apricot trees, plum and fig tree, as well an tangerine, grapefruit and most of our neighbors had orange trees.
I just think you totally misunderstood what I was saying about foreign versus American produce.
Originally Posted by LIcenter View Post
I don't know of anyplace here where you can productively grow fresh produce year round, so if you feel the need to have a tomato, or the like off season, there are gonna be sacrifices. The only other option would be to hop in your private jet, and fly to the nearest in season farmstand.
And this is the nub of it. If you want it out of season, there will be a consequence of some kind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk
And this is the nub of it. If you want it out of season, there will be a consequence of some kind.
/drop mic
Whew, tell me about it! Thanks to three posters I've got a handle on the elusive out of season tomato.
Fly to Mexico...
Fly to California...
Drive upstate NY... (I like this one, as I used to have a cabin on Indian Lake!)
Drive/Train? to New England. (This one's good too. Many parts of of this area I have not seen.)
While my post had the word "tomato" in it. It was not the intent of focusing on just one fruit/vegetable.
I'm quite sure if I wanted to grow a fresh tomato during the winter I could with the right gadgets, and gizmo's. But, in my case it just would't be worth the effort.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With that said, we get citrus in the stores that's grown in the region and it can taste just as good as what I get from our backyard trees. Why? Because it's grown close to us, down the road or within a few hours. Yuma AZ, Coachella valley, or of course the Phoenix metro match pretty close to what I pick off my trees as it doesn't have to be picked in an unripened state and/or sit around in transportation/a warehouse for longer periods of time as it will get to the supermarket shelf in our area quickly. 
