Why are supermarket apples so disappointing?

Sunbed · 5 Oct 2011 at 13:24

I just ate an apple from a guy at work who picked it off his tree on Saturday, and it's so much nicer than any apple I've had recently. It should be prime time apple season now in the UK, but the Coxes and Spartan apples I've had from the supermarket (UK grown) have been so bland and mushy

Granted, pink ladies, braeburns, Jazz apples are nice and pretty consistent all year round due to them being shipped in from all over the place, but Coxes and other english varieties can't be beaten when they are not mass produced.

I get the impression that supermarkets sacrifice taste for size (coxes aren't normally that big, but they tend to be in the supermarket), colour (normally they are yellow/green, but in the supermarket they are half red :confused:

) and shelf life.

I'd rather just have a smaller and uglier but nicer tasting apple thanks Mr Tesco. Actually this applies to all fruit from the supermarket (looking at you strawberries).

/rant over

Dave · 5 Oct 2011 at 13:43

It's funny you say that, as I just had a British Cox apple that I bought from Waitrose this week and thought it was very nice - crisp and tasty

Then again, the only apples that we grow at home are cooking apples, so they're not really great for comparison (but great in crumble). Again, the strawberries at Waitrose tend to be nice and juicy too, whereas the Sainsbury's ones tend to be more watery. The Waitrose ones are almost on a par with home-grown ones - I think that the Waitrose fruit & veg is generally of a better quality and I try to go there for fruit & veg instead of Sainsbury's as much as I can.

boxman2000 · 5 Oct 2011 at 13:46

M&S have the best apples IMO. Fruit from other supermarkets is nowhere near as good, although we only have Co-op, Waitrose and M&S. M&S bananas which arent' that nice compared to Co-op.

M&S granny smiths are from South Africa which my mate who works in quality control tells me is the best area for taste/quality. He also said oranges/satsumas etc are best from Israel.

Oh, and apart from bananas we keep all our fruit in the fridge as it lasts much longer and retains the taste, especially apples.

Agree though, you can't really beat a fresh-from-the-tree piece of fruit.

NinetyOne · 5 Oct 2011 at 14:18

Apples from our tree seem to be very dry, not very nice

Cosimo · 5 Oct 2011 at 14:24

It’s just pot luck these days whether they’re good or bad and it’s the same for the local shops.

Sunbed · 5 Oct 2011 at 21:43

Hmmm, looks like I'll have to check out M&S and Waitrose for my apple shopping.

"HOW'D YOU LIKE THEM APPLES?!"

PlacidCasual · 5 Oct 2011 at 22:42

Now is the time of year to get good British apples. I'm planning to go to an apple fayre in Berkshire this weekend and I would imagine many others will be going on too. Farmers markets will also be more likley to have local produce that isn't bred for long chilled transport chains to market but for taste and texture instead.

Haze · 5 Oct 2011 at 23:00

i think its mostly the difference between eating mass produced apples and home grown apple,, they have had more love

#Chri5# · 6 Oct 2011 at 14:55

Sainsburys have had an excellent British variety in recently - Early Windsor. As good as imported Pink Ladies for crispness and flavour.