zico's mum Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 I've just unearthed a bag with 2 pears in the back of the fridge - with a use-by date of January 25th BUT they are solid,skin's intact,no sign of mould at all.What on earth have they put on/in these pears for them to last so long They've gone in the bin but does make me think there may well be something in buying organic foods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzeanna Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 I read an article in the paper the other day..entitled so you think your food is fresh? It covered things like bread, cakes, and a lot of types of fruit, and it was rather unsettling to find that what you think are fresh apples etc can be six months old! They gave a list of things they are sprayed with to keep them from going rotten, and it's made me decide to plant some miniature fruit trees and grow my own! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lil_angel Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 We had a lettuce from Lidle once which didnt go brown at all. We named it atomic lettuce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyMalc Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Fruit can be stored in giant fridges for months on end, so as to keep the price at a profitable level and not to have too much waste. They might well stay decent looking on the outside, but their nutritional level will be about zilch (used to work at a fruit n veg stall, you do pick up some interesting bits of information every now n then ). I wouldn't really bother with a "best before" date; shops legally have to put a date on all their food stuffs, but I know that what is "out of date" on 25 January at Sainsbury's might not be "out of date" until the 28th at Asda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackmagic Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 As we like to have fruit and veg out of season a lot is kept in cold storage. It is picked before it is ripe and put in cold storage. Once it comes into the heat- room temperature- it starts to ripen. The potatoes etc that you buy in the winter have been kept in cold storage since harvesting unless you buy imported goods. Apples and pears are similarly stored for usage later. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to have apples and pears except during the harvesting months and they would probably overripe before they reached the shops. When our Tesco used to get deliveries every few days, you could tell the new boxes of fruit on display as the fruit was cold and covered in condensation. A pear is only fully ripe for 12 hours and then it starts to get overripe. It is recommended to keep pears in the fridge and only take out what you are going to eat to allow it to ripen. So, by keeping it in the fridge you have kept it in cold storage as opposed to the supplier keeping it in cold storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elainew Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 \w've only just finished our pears put away carefully last autumn - and still have apples. No chemicals at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 I naively thought that the bagged salad leaves kept fresh because they were in an airtight bag. I have just read that the bags have a gas in them, to preserve the contents. Am I the only one who didn't know this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 I didn't know this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zico's mum Posted April 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 When I first moved to UK from Middle East I found the fruit quite disgusting,nothing tasted fresh,lacked natural juiciness and now I know why.Our fruit was seasonal and absolutely delicious,I can still smell the unbelievable sweet white peaches we used to eat.Only fruit we didn't have was strawberries,they won't grow there well at all and I used to love coming to UK and eating them but now they too are just tasteless and don't have that delicious smell anymore.I'd like to get back to eating/buying fruit that is in season - and vegetables too for that matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 here's a link linky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackmagic Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 When I first moved to UK from Middle East I found the fruit quite disgusting,nothing tasted fresh,lacked natural juiciness and now I know why.Our fruit was seasonal and absolutely delicious,I can still smell the unbelievable sweet white peaches we used to eat.Only fruit we didn't have was strawberries,they won't grow there well at all and I used to love coming to UK and eating them but now they too are just tasteless and don't have that delicious smell anymore.I'd like to get back to eating/buying fruit that is in season - and vegetables too for that matter. I know what you mean. The best peaches I have tasted were in Austria and they were the size of a large orange. The oranges we got in Florida were so juicy and full of taste. I only buy strawberries when they are in season here. Our locally grown ones are delicious, but have a short season. I also grow my own in planters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts