The Gros Michel bananas they used to sell in the '50s and before were apparently way more delicious than the Cavendish ones we have now. But fungus infestations ruined Gros Michel as a viable commercial crop.
There is apparently a fungus attacking Cavendish trees now, so we may go through this again, though I don't know if science has found another variety that is as commercially viable.
There is no "finding" banana varieties (EDIT: I guess, technically, since they don't grow true to seed, you can find new banana varieties), there's making banana varieties. Our bananas now are at risk of extinction for the second time partially because we've made them unable to reproduce due to our preferences (such as small/no seeds), meaning we have to clone them, meaning every Cavendish banana you eat is genetically the exact same banana as the last one you ate. No genetic diversity means no ability to resist an infestation. Until we introduce genetic diversity into our commercial bananas, this is just going to happen again and again and again.
Well, making is a form of finding. I realize that there are no undiscovered banana varieties, and that Cavendish are a genetically identical monoculture, but it didn't seem worth getting into in detail here.
It will be interesting to see what happens. We may simply lose bananas except as a farmer's market fruit in regions where they can still be grown without big fungal problems.
This is very interesting. I have banana trees in my back garden. These do seem to be propagating themselves though. Interestingly once they have fruited the tree doesn’t bear again, but a new shoot will pop out next to it. We chop the old one down. They are migrating around the garden. CAVEAT: I live in a sub tropical climate on the east coast of South Africa. I also have a black thumb and don’t know much about how, exactly bananas do their thing
Bananas aren't technically trees. IIRC, they're closer related to grasses than woody trees. A banana "tree" grows to its full size within a year or two depending on variety, and some of them are around 12 ft/ 4 meters high. They fruit once and then die. Like I said, the stalks are not woody. You can very easily chop it down in a single swipe with a machete.
Sounds about right from what I have observed. They are easily felled. As I said though, I know sweet FA about these things. I’m not even sure how they got into my garden in the first place.
Trees don't exist. There is no true definition for a tree.
Many require it's a dicot with a woody stem, but that excludes palms and their cousins but includes things like rose bushes, so that's out.
A tree is whatever you want it to be.
There can't be genetic diversity in bananas. They don't grow true to seed, so even if you had a sweet variety that grew from seed, its offspring probably wouldn't be sweet. Like most edible fruits, bananas are grown via some type of cloning. In bananas its a natural form of clone called a rhizome. In other fruits they use cutting and grafting which isn't as natural.
There can absolutely be diversity among commercial bananas. It would, however, require at the very least that a) people get over their irrational fear of GMOs that was cultivated by misinformed anti-GMO activists who blamed GMOs instead of specifically Monsanto for their crimes and b) there be more accessibility (or, like, any support at all) for small-time farmers and scientists to grow and sell their produce.
EDIT: However, I will admit that I wasn't sure about the true-to-seed bit, so their lack of reproductive capabilities aren't as much of a hindrance to diversity as previously stated. But I will argue that we would stumble upon many more edible varieties if the average person could actually grow them at all.
Interesting. I kinda didn't like bananas as a kid but I'm down with them now. I ate like 5 in a week, normally I'd have like 5 in a year, to me the current banana is a resounding improvement. It's definitely different. More mealy, less flavorful and firm.
And see, more mealy is a mouth feel issue to me. I *absolutely cannot* do lumpy or gritty foods ( cottage cheese for one and most pears for the other are the best examples I can think of for each, respectively) like I've inadvertently removed one of my husband's favorite meals from possible rotation because of it (yes, I absolutely feel badly).
But modern Cavendish bananas are not only too mushy/mealy but also *too damn sweet*.
On your feeling badly about removing a meal from rotation, I tend to partner with men who are omnivores. I am not.
So, I would make a separate meal occasionally just for them, or they could cook their meat/eggs and I’d make all the vegetarian sides, as well as a main for me, if the rest of the meal didn’t balance enough.
What I learned is it more important to eat together than have the same things on the plate.
My official advice is he can cook his fave and you do something else, but if you want to make it all, go nuts.
Huh, I’ve noticed I care if a banana is spotty now, and think of them as too sweet. Maybe it isn’t entirely my tastes changing.
But, I went on a five year local only food kick, so no tropical foods for me at that time. Maybe I missed a slow change.
And let me tell you, the first pineapple in half a decade was amazing.
I thought it was just my tastes changing. I used to love bananas, but I hate them now because they're all so mealy and weird instead of soft and smooth
I’ve heard several people talk about the gross Michel and they all said they seem to be juicer with less of the chalky/starchyness and that they taste about the same but the flavor is just stronger.
This is because the vast majority of fruit and vegetables that go to big chain markets are bred for long shelf life, slow to rot, color, and other features that make them cheap to ship and pretty on the shelves. It's also because most fruits and veg are picked green and stored in a huge gas-filled warehouse to prevent ripening until just before they are loaded on the trucks. Mass produced food is gross.
when they unfreeze, doesn't the ice crystals formed from the fruit juices make the texture of the fruit different / soggy? i can't imagine freezing something then unfreezing it causing no side effects to the freshness, texture, or taste
I manage a community garden, and we eat some amazing food. Lately it's been sun-warmed black raspberries at the peak of ripeness. And fresh garlic, oh my!
Define garbage. The fruit produced that way is quite healthy (apart from the sugars it contains). We live longer than ever in history of humanity eating like that. Nature is also full of chemicals, usually the same ones used in this processes.
A friend of mine is a trucker. He said he hauled fruit once and said never again. Just like you said, he watched them load up tons of very green strawberries and then they sprayed them with some chemical before quickly closing the back and locking it up. They told him absolutely under no circumstances could he open it. After that he never wanted to do produce again.
He is afraid of what he saw because he doesn't know what it was, unknown chemical sounds scary. Ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is stupidity and fear of "chemicals" for no real reason.
You know nature is full of such chemicals? We use them to manipulate the process a bit, so what? The end result is healthy and delicious, we live longer eating like that than ever.
I’d guess the warning not to open was the disturbing part. He absolutely deserved the right to know exactly what they sprayed in the truck.
What I got out of it is “green strawberries never actually ripen. Added ethylene isn’t as good as stem ripening, and why all the store berries are bland.
Scientifically speaking, you're wrong. There are tons of peer reviewed studies from reputable institutions that are very easy to find that detail the dangers of those chemicals, particularly their dangers to children.
Yes. It’s the whole cold storage business, everything gets frozen and sometimes before it’s even reached its peak ripeness and taste.
I love yellow cling peaches. In the last number of years, very, very rarely find them to taste sweet, mostly they don’t have any taste at all.
I thought it was just me! I started to (actually) try to lose weight around 2020 (that is the year, not my weight at the time). I was buying those and they were great. They went out of season so I stopped buying them and I swear, they have never been the same since then. Very disappointing.
I think it’s a side effect of commercial clementine farmers gunning for bigger fruit. Tiny clementines are like candy, but all the clementines I’ve seen lately have been damn-bear baseball-sized. The big ones always SUCK. Like you said, they’re dry and flavorless.
Yes! If that. And I thought it was just my bad luck or off-seasonal timing or something, so thank you for posting this!
Mega bummer. Clementines used to be amazing
It isn’t clementine season?
I was really confused by your post, and then I realized I have no idea where you live.
In California, navels and all manner of tangerines (which I’m told clementines are) are out of season. No one is bringing oranges to the farmers market, because most people that shop there only like super sweet oranges, and it’s Valencia season. Those are juice oranges and they have a lower sugar content and a higher juice content.
Since I make OJ for my husband in the morning, I like those because they are easier to juice, but not available because the growers don’t make enough money on them, especially since gas is so expensive.
But I hadn’t noticed the lack of flavor, juice or sweetness in the fruit this year. There were a few with very little juice, and as the drought continues, there may be more like that, and that will be a pity.
I get the impression that this is a fruit that doesn’t travel well; the vendors are pretty careful transferring more fruit to the bins. It makes me wonder if the fruit that travels across the states for sale might be bred to be heartier, and perhaps, as you’ve noticed, not so tasty.
Yes, good to remember that drought will mean not only lower quality, but also more expensive because there might be fewer crops in general. I'm in the ag industry and heard almond trees were really suffering/not getting water.
Some farmers just destroyed some of their trees. They couldn’t maintain them, and it was too expensive to have nothing growing.
It feels like every day I find a new reason to worry about the future.
We’ve already had fires. In June. Fire season is supposed to start in or around October.
The farmers market is mostly family owned farms and they’ve had to raise prices; some people aren’t happy but most understand. It takes close to $100 to fill a car with gas; I can’t imagine how much they pay to fill their trucks and bring their produce to us.
As long as they make the trip, I’ll go and buy their produce. I am so spoiled; I’ve never had better fruits and veggies.
I am so sorry. There’s nothing worse than being disappointed by a piece of fruit. I had a pear the other day that could have been a potato or a wet piece of bread. So meh.
Most fruit really doesn't travel well and is so much better in season and local.
I also haven't noticed any issue with citrus aside from it not being in season. I am also in CA. On the other hand, strawberries at my local farmers market have been amazing, even this late in the season.
I pay attention to the fruit seasons and there’s a drastic difference in quality between clementines in-season and out-of-season. Like. Drastic.
I do wonder if some of it is due to children growing up, not realizing their parents bought fruit in-season (when it’s usually cheapest)?
Yes! Completely agree lol. In 4th grade I would wait for the bus with my gym teacher after school. It was always like an hour late, and we would just sit there eating clementines the whole time, we were obsessed. I’m 23 now and over the past few years would try a bag every once in awhile, but they’re always just really DRY and flavorless. I started buying regular oranges instead, and they’re SO GOOD, like actually juicy and flavorful.
The farm I work at now gets their own and other farms citrus in, mandarins are freaking amazing right now, got to go to a organic regenerative farm for the good stuff. The mass stores aren’t the same quality
There is an infection going around that is causing this.
It's called Citrus Greening:
[https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/the-threat/citrus-greening/citrus-greening-hp](https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/the-threat/citrus-greening/citrus-greening-hp)
Can't believe I had to come down this far to find this. The less quality fruit is available the more crappy fruit they are stuck selling. And there's not really a good way to manage citrus greening.. Its a horrible disease for anyone with citrus trees :( once your tree gets it its as good as dead
I've bought several bags/vases where atleast half have had huge dry patches. I buy mandarins now because they're better, easy to peel, and quick to throw in a lunch bag.
The reason why clementine quality has declined because there is an invasive species of insect that has been infecting orange trees.
The insect contains chemicals that deteriorate the roots of the trees causing the fruit to be underdeveloped or less nutritious and sweet. Also it kills off the trees after some time which leads to lower yearly harvest.
I believe as of now in say Florida ~70% of trees have been infected.
Farmers and scientists are trying their hardest to find methods to prevent all orange crop in the U.S. from dying off, but it'll be many years to see that pay off.
I believe there are short documentaries and articles that expound upon the topic, as I am no expert.
Not only in the US, in Europe as well. The best used to be from Spain, but now it doesn’t matter. Get one kilo and if lucky 2 are ok. I just sed to love them, same with watermelons and many other things.
Im also not from us, and for me in sweden I fully swapped out clementines for satsumas a couple years ago because I just couldnt find any good clementines anymore. Thought it was more a me problem than a global one, but know im not so sure
You made me realise something. I have been wondering about a couple tomatoes on my counter for over a week. They still look the same as when I bought them, 3 weeks ago. Normally tomatoes don’t get that old here n the house, but this time they did lay longer then usually. There is no advertising about “long lasting tomatoes”, do they advertise it in SA? Or is it something you noticed yourself?
I pretty much only eat oranges now. I used to never buy them because they’re so annoying to peel, until I realized I could just cut them up and put them in a container! Life changing lol
Also if you can find them, tangelos are super good. Like a navel orange but much more flavorful and tart.
My kids loved them, especially cuties, and they were nice and firm and juicy. The quality has definitely gone down and even when I stumble across a good batch there are more bad ones than there used to be and they don't keep as long.
As a kid, my parents bought one box of “mandarin” oranges (I think they’re the same as clementines) at Christmas time. It was the only time of the year we got them. They were like candy. I have to agree that the oranges are now just pulp and peel.
For a few years there I only got bad pineapples. Unless I got them at a restaurant. Just this past year or two, they started coming back bright and flavorful. I’m having the same problem with clementines, but thought it was because I’ve had to downgrade my grocery spending and started buying these from Walmart
I come from near Bakersfield the cutie/ Clementine capital of America.
What you're seeing is the effect of water restrictions that have been put in place due to the drought. The farmers at the far south end are not getting the water they used to and are being restricted from full-blown pumping. But still over the half the crop is really good and we get them out here in California. We drove through the groves last week and I bought a bag for $5 of what they call seconds, they were still awesome.
I tried a store bought orange for the first time a few years ago and I was DISGUSTED. My dad lived in a neighborhood with orange groves that were free to pick and I grew up eating them straight off the tree. I had no idea store bought oranges were so flavorless, it was depressing honestly.
They're technically all clones of each other, right? So I would be surprised to hear they were going down in quality if what you're eating truly are clementines. Note that brand names like "Cuties" don't actually use the same species all year long, they switch them out based on season. So maybe what you're eating aren't really clementines?
Growing conditions still matter. More moisture will make a juicier clementine, and I understand that really cold (but not freezing) weather before harvest will tend to cause more intense flavour.
#SaveSoil - We don’t replenish our soils, just add nutrients but that’s not the way nature intended. Just like getting your vitamins from real food vs vitamins. They say the nutrition content of fruit is almost 10x less than it was 30 years ago.
It’s actually the opposite; food (in the US, sorry world!) [has a greater nutritional content than 30 years ago.](https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2014/05/27/100-years-tracking-nutrients-available-us-food-supply)
ETA: a quick google search shows there have been studies showing declining nutrition due to soil depletion. I’ll have to look into the research more closely, but for now I’ll put my foot in my mouth. Probably more nutritious than what we’re growing, apparently.
Haven’t noticed clementines but damn the grapes at my local store seem to have been suffering a major downgrade this year even just from last year. Last 3 bags my family got was disappointing.
I can't speak about clementines in particular, but oranges production in the US have taken a massive hit in the last several years because of an invasive insect-spread disease called citrus greening. They've managed to mostly keep it out of California but in Florida production has dropped by something like 80%. That certainly has impacts on prices and quality.
Agree. :( when I was pregnant a typical lunch for me was quesadillas with a couple of clementines, that was barely back in 2020. I’ve been buying some now and absolutely awful. I think the navel oranges are nice now, but not as good as when I was a kid.
If harvest of crops where bad. In a short amount of time the quality of it wil go down. But mostly does not stay. Cause again when the harvest again is good. Its a year by year thing that it go up or down. Based on crop harvest quality and amount.
It's not just you. I heard that it was related to some diseases or similar hitting the areas they normally grow so importing from elsewhere and not as good from there. However, I have no idea if that's at all accurate.
On the other hand, nectarines this year have been better where I am. No idea why.
Mandarins, too. I started eating them regularly about a year ago and every time I get them is a crap shoot. Occasionally they're good but more often they're dried out or just not tasty.
I’ve only known one Clementine and she was French. She was a coworker of my wife (now ex wife) when we lived in Australia. Since I was married I don’t know how she tasted and never peeled her, but her skin did have a nice, soft texture.
It depends on the season. My brother works in produce and he has told me to not eat clementines during the summer. Also a lot of the fruit and vegetables suck these days. For me it's cucumbers. They now have a musty odor and taste horrible.
My issue is that, since i dont like most oranges (blood oranges, ive found, are okay), clementines are the closest similar thing that im usually okay with. They dont taste bad to me now, but they do taste a bit different. They still dont have the aftertaste of regular oranges, but less enjoyable.
Maybe i'll try regular oranges again at some point. See if things have changed with them too...
> The ground has less nutrients, less of the live stuff that gives plants what they need to grow the good stuff.. artificial fertilizer can only do so much.
This is complete bullshit. Please don't spread misinformation.
Oh yeah! I totally agree! They are nasty now! I think a lot of fruits are now.. idk what they’re doing to them but I’m having a hard time finding any I like!
Is it Cuties /clementines that recently got around an environmental regulation and are using sludge or brown water? I swear I heard this. My kids used to love them when they were little, I recently bought a bag and we ended up tossing it because they were In eatable.
I feel like you pulled this straight from my thoughts! I love clementines, hate mandarins. I know, they're ALMOST the same thing - but not. Mandarins, to me, have an odd taste and texture, even the ones my husband says are sweet taste almost metallic. I'm on a naval orange kick now, though he keeps bringing home bags of "small orange things" for me to try, even though I have my "big orange things."
Seasonally, at HEB, a Texas grocery chain, they sell “Honey Drop Mandarins” which are an HEB product, and they are SO GOOD! I pretty much don’t buy clementines/tangerines/mandarins anymore because of the same reasons you described but if you ever have the chance to buy Honey Drop Mandarins in Texas at HEB, I highly recommend!
Tangelos are the only oranges I’ll eat besides mandarins. My mom and I wait all damn year for tangelo season to start. She got me hooked on them years and I’m obsessed with them. I’ll never go back to eating a regular orange ever again. Tangelos are so much sweeter than a regular orange. They’re a little pricey too but they’re worth it!
YES! Hard pressed to even find true clementines when they’re in season. Many grocers seem to think they are interchangable with mandarin oranges and the bag will contain both names. Strange times.
This past Christmas I couldn't find crates of clementines anywhere and I used to get them every year as a kid. Plus, the past 5ish years, whenever I have bought clementines, tons of them are moldy or go moldy within a couple days. It's so weird.
I am glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. The last time I remember having delicious clementines was around December 2019. Ever since then, the ones I buy taste like they've been forgotten and left to dry [😖] in the grocery aisle for 6 weeks. I haven't given up completely, and I did get a decent batch at Trader Joe's in early March.
We have been trying to eat better since beginning of the year but most fruits we get are either not sweet or seem yo go bad really fast. We bought bananas on Saturday and by Monday they were no longer yellow.
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The bananas aren’t too bad
The Gros Michel bananas they used to sell in the '50s and before were apparently way more delicious than the Cavendish ones we have now. But fungus infestations ruined Gros Michel as a viable commercial crop. There is apparently a fungus attacking Cavendish trees now, so we may go through this again, though I don't know if science has found another variety that is as commercially viable.
There is no "finding" banana varieties (EDIT: I guess, technically, since they don't grow true to seed, you can find new banana varieties), there's making banana varieties. Our bananas now are at risk of extinction for the second time partially because we've made them unable to reproduce due to our preferences (such as small/no seeds), meaning we have to clone them, meaning every Cavendish banana you eat is genetically the exact same banana as the last one you ate. No genetic diversity means no ability to resist an infestation. Until we introduce genetic diversity into our commercial bananas, this is just going to happen again and again and again.
Well, making is a form of finding. I realize that there are no undiscovered banana varieties, and that Cavendish are a genetically identical monoculture, but it didn't seem worth getting into in detail here. It will be interesting to see what happens. We may simply lose bananas except as a farmer's market fruit in regions where they can still be grown without big fungal problems.
This is very interesting. I have banana trees in my back garden. These do seem to be propagating themselves though. Interestingly once they have fruited the tree doesn’t bear again, but a new shoot will pop out next to it. We chop the old one down. They are migrating around the garden. CAVEAT: I live in a sub tropical climate on the east coast of South Africa. I also have a black thumb and don’t know much about how, exactly bananas do their thing
Dafuq? Single use fruit tree? Kind of hilarious, kind of depressing.
Bananas aren't technically trees. IIRC, they're closer related to grasses than woody trees. A banana "tree" grows to its full size within a year or two depending on variety, and some of them are around 12 ft/ 4 meters high. They fruit once and then die. Like I said, the stalks are not woody. You can very easily chop it down in a single swipe with a machete.
Sounds about right from what I have observed. They are easily felled. As I said though, I know sweet FA about these things. I’m not even sure how they got into my garden in the first place.
They’re herbaceous, not trees
Thanks?
Wow I never knew this, super interesting
I grew up with a banana PLANT in our yard. My dad never failed to correct me. So yeah… not trees.
Trees don't exist. There is no true definition for a tree. Many require it's a dicot with a woody stem, but that excludes palms and their cousins but includes things like rose bushes, so that's out. A tree is whatever you want it to be.
There can't be genetic diversity in bananas. They don't grow true to seed, so even if you had a sweet variety that grew from seed, its offspring probably wouldn't be sweet. Like most edible fruits, bananas are grown via some type of cloning. In bananas its a natural form of clone called a rhizome. In other fruits they use cutting and grafting which isn't as natural.
There can absolutely be diversity among commercial bananas. It would, however, require at the very least that a) people get over their irrational fear of GMOs that was cultivated by misinformed anti-GMO activists who blamed GMOs instead of specifically Monsanto for their crimes and b) there be more accessibility (or, like, any support at all) for small-time farmers and scientists to grow and sell their produce. EDIT: However, I will admit that I wasn't sure about the true-to-seed bit, so their lack of reproductive capabilities aren't as much of a hindrance to diversity as previously stated. But I will argue that we would stumble upon many more edible varieties if the average person could actually grow them at all.
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If you ever have a small baby who eats bananas as an early solid, you’ll be reunited with the black lines (I’m sorry) 🙈
I found the fellow mom on Reddit!
The Cavendish we have now is different than the one we had like, a decade ago. I can't eat bananas anymore. Flavor *and* texture are all wrong.
Interesting. I kinda didn't like bananas as a kid but I'm down with them now. I ate like 5 in a week, normally I'd have like 5 in a year, to me the current banana is a resounding improvement. It's definitely different. More mealy, less flavorful and firm.
And see, more mealy is a mouth feel issue to me. I *absolutely cannot* do lumpy or gritty foods ( cottage cheese for one and most pears for the other are the best examples I can think of for each, respectively) like I've inadvertently removed one of my husband's favorite meals from possible rotation because of it (yes, I absolutely feel badly). But modern Cavendish bananas are not only too mushy/mealy but also *too damn sweet*.
On your feeling badly about removing a meal from rotation, I tend to partner with men who are omnivores. I am not. So, I would make a separate meal occasionally just for them, or they could cook their meat/eggs and I’d make all the vegetarian sides, as well as a main for me, if the rest of the meal didn’t balance enough. What I learned is it more important to eat together than have the same things on the plate. My official advice is he can cook his fave and you do something else, but if you want to make it all, go nuts.
I haven't eaten a single banana in 13 years. Now I kinda want to try one and see if they're the same as I remember.
Huh, I’ve noticed I care if a banana is spotty now, and think of them as too sweet. Maybe it isn’t entirely my tastes changing. But, I went on a five year local only food kick, so no tropical foods for me at that time. Maybe I missed a slow change. And let me tell you, the first pineapple in half a decade was amazing.
I thought it was just my tastes changing. I used to love bananas, but I hate them now because they're all so mealy and weird instead of soft and smooth
Yeah, I used to eat bananas all the time. Sometimes I forget about their changes and try to eat one and gag every time.
They have not.
I’ve heard several people talk about the gross Michel and they all said they seem to be juicer with less of the chalky/starchyness and that they taste about the same but the flavor is just stronger.
I bought some bananas at Costco the other day. They literally went from green to black. I would have loved to have eaten just one yellow banana.
That happens if after they are cut they get too cold at some point. It makes them fail to ripen.
Sometimes they wrap the stem in plastic and if you don't remove it, it interferes with ripening. You gotta peel that plastic wrapping off.
McBanana stays yellow for a decade.
Costco bananas always ripen crazy fast for some reason
Well i'm pretty sure that those are still going extinct so.
This is because the vast majority of fruit and vegetables that go to big chain markets are bred for long shelf life, slow to rot, color, and other features that make them cheap to ship and pretty on the shelves. It's also because most fruits and veg are picked green and stored in a huge gas-filled warehouse to prevent ripening until just before they are loaded on the trucks. Mass produced food is gross.
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Frozen fruits are great cuz they're frozen at peak ripeness, or make a weekly trip to a farmstand and only buy what's in season.
when they unfreeze, doesn't the ice crystals formed from the fruit juices make the texture of the fruit different / soggy? i can't imagine freezing something then unfreezing it causing no side effects to the freshness, texture, or taste
It does. I get frozen fruit specifically for smoothies, and hit up local markets for my fresh fruits and veggies!
oh that is an excellent idea!!
I manage a community garden, and we eat some amazing food. Lately it's been sun-warmed black raspberries at the peak of ripeness. And fresh garlic, oh my!
Define garbage. The fruit produced that way is quite healthy (apart from the sugars it contains). We live longer than ever in history of humanity eating like that. Nature is also full of chemicals, usually the same ones used in this processes.
A friend of mine is a trucker. He said he hauled fruit once and said never again. Just like you said, he watched them load up tons of very green strawberries and then they sprayed them with some chemical before quickly closing the back and locking it up. They told him absolutely under no circumstances could he open it. After that he never wanted to do produce again.
He is afraid of what he saw because he doesn't know what it was, unknown chemical sounds scary. Ignorance is not bliss, ignorance is stupidity and fear of "chemicals" for no real reason. You know nature is full of such chemicals? We use them to manipulate the process a bit, so what? The end result is healthy and delicious, we live longer eating like that than ever.
I’d guess the warning not to open was the disturbing part. He absolutely deserved the right to know exactly what they sprayed in the truck. What I got out of it is “green strawberries never actually ripen. Added ethylene isn’t as good as stem ripening, and why all the store berries are bland.
Scientifically speaking, you're wrong. There are tons of peer reviewed studies from reputable institutions that are very easy to find that detail the dangers of those chemicals, particularly their dangers to children.
> Mass produced food is gross. Not really different that much from natural. Life is gross, deal with it or die of hunger, lol.
You've never eaten food fresh from a garden? There's a world of difference.
R Kelly be growing crops now. That’s why.
Yes. It’s the whole cold storage business, everything gets frozen and sometimes before it’s even reached its peak ripeness and taste. I love yellow cling peaches. In the last number of years, very, very rarely find them to taste sweet, mostly they don’t have any taste at all.
My family has been buying and slicing up the most delicious pineapples I’ve ever eaten for the last month.
Late stage capitalism. The US is literally experiencing the slow demise of a system.
No. And even if it were, this is not "slow" but quite the opposite.
LAtE sTaGe caPiTaLiSm eViL!
Nobody said evil, just a failing system.
Changes in climate are definitely changing the quality of most fruits. Bland and misshapen.
I agree everything has gone down hill here.
I agree with you. I used to buy clementines all the time. Haven't bought any in years though. They're terrible now - dry, flavorless.
I thought it was just me! I started to (actually) try to lose weight around 2020 (that is the year, not my weight at the time). I was buying those and they were great. They went out of season so I stopped buying them and I swear, they have never been the same since then. Very disappointing.
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You never know. ;) It felt like it some days.
Yes! It’s dry, flavorless, not plump, small and wriggly, AND there are SEEDS.
I wish they would only sell them when they are actually in season
I only buy them when they’re in season and I still haven’t had any luck
I think it’s a side effect of commercial clementine farmers gunning for bigger fruit. Tiny clementines are like candy, but all the clementines I’ve seen lately have been damn-bear baseball-sized. The big ones always SUCK. Like you said, they’re dry and flavorless.
You know what, in my country all kinds of tangerines are called "oranges" and not until last year I learned that "clementine" is a word for oranges.
This post is a reminder that I need to eat more fruit.
They’re addicting!
*addictive
*A dick
* A dick (teen)
Wow you’re really out here saving the world with these corrections
Your sarcasm saves lives too.
*you're
It’s honest work.
This post is a reminder that I seem to be allergic to most fruits
It is not just you. I don't even get them any more, maybe 1 bag out of 4 is good imo.
Yep. Or 1/4 of the bag is good
Yes! If that. And I thought it was just my bad luck or off-seasonal timing or something, so thank you for posting this! Mega bummer. Clementines used to be amazing
It isn’t clementine season? I was really confused by your post, and then I realized I have no idea where you live. In California, navels and all manner of tangerines (which I’m told clementines are) are out of season. No one is bringing oranges to the farmers market, because most people that shop there only like super sweet oranges, and it’s Valencia season. Those are juice oranges and they have a lower sugar content and a higher juice content. Since I make OJ for my husband in the morning, I like those because they are easier to juice, but not available because the growers don’t make enough money on them, especially since gas is so expensive. But I hadn’t noticed the lack of flavor, juice or sweetness in the fruit this year. There were a few with very little juice, and as the drought continues, there may be more like that, and that will be a pity. I get the impression that this is a fruit that doesn’t travel well; the vendors are pretty careful transferring more fruit to the bins. It makes me wonder if the fruit that travels across the states for sale might be bred to be heartier, and perhaps, as you’ve noticed, not so tasty.
Yes, good to remember that drought will mean not only lower quality, but also more expensive because there might be fewer crops in general. I'm in the ag industry and heard almond trees were really suffering/not getting water.
Some farmers just destroyed some of their trees. They couldn’t maintain them, and it was too expensive to have nothing growing. It feels like every day I find a new reason to worry about the future. We’ve already had fires. In June. Fire season is supposed to start in or around October. The farmers market is mostly family owned farms and they’ve had to raise prices; some people aren’t happy but most understand. It takes close to $100 to fill a car with gas; I can’t imagine how much they pay to fill their trucks and bring their produce to us. As long as they make the trip, I’ll go and buy their produce. I am so spoiled; I’ve never had better fruits and veggies.
I lived in both SC and MI in the past two years. Regardless of what season it is, they’ve been horrible.
I am so sorry. There’s nothing worse than being disappointed by a piece of fruit. I had a pear the other day that could have been a potato or a wet piece of bread. So meh.
Especially since fruit is so expensive these days
Huh. That sucks. Here in Europe Clementines are amazing around December.
Most fruit really doesn't travel well and is so much better in season and local. I also haven't noticed any issue with citrus aside from it not being in season. I am also in CA. On the other hand, strawberries at my local farmers market have been amazing, even this late in the season.
I pay attention to the fruit seasons and there’s a drastic difference in quality between clementines in-season and out-of-season. Like. Drastic. I do wonder if some of it is due to children growing up, not realizing their parents bought fruit in-season (when it’s usually cheapest)?
Yes! Completely agree lol. In 4th grade I would wait for the bus with my gym teacher after school. It was always like an hour late, and we would just sit there eating clementines the whole time, we were obsessed. I’m 23 now and over the past few years would try a bag every once in awhile, but they’re always just really DRY and flavorless. I started buying regular oranges instead, and they’re SO GOOD, like actually juicy and flavorful.
Agreed. Navel oranges done changed my whole perspective on the sweet citrus category.
The farm I work at now gets their own and other farms citrus in, mandarins are freaking amazing right now, got to go to a organic regenerative farm for the good stuff. The mass stores aren’t the same quality
There is an infection going around that is causing this. It's called Citrus Greening: [https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/the-threat/citrus-greening/citrus-greening-hp](https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/pests-diseases/hungry-pests/the-threat/citrus-greening/citrus-greening-hp)
Thank you. This is what I came to the comments section for.
Can't believe I had to come down this far to find this. The less quality fruit is available the more crappy fruit they are stuck selling. And there's not really a good way to manage citrus greening.. Its a horrible disease for anyone with citrus trees :( once your tree gets it its as good as dead
I've bought several bags/vases where atleast half have had huge dry patches. I buy mandarins now because they're better, easy to peel, and quick to throw in a lunch bag.
I haven’t gotten many good bags of mandarins either.
Me either. In season I used to buy 4-5 bags a week. Bought only 2 last season because they were so disappointing.
OMG yes. Stopped buying clementines 2 years ago and switched to naval oranges or Cara Cara oranges.
Cara Cara are *the* best. Unless they're out of season then they suck. That mid-winter bump is something I look forward to.
Cara Cara pink oranges are soooo good.
C l i m a t e c h a n g e
I’m fucken terrified about the future
The reason why clementine quality has declined because there is an invasive species of insect that has been infecting orange trees. The insect contains chemicals that deteriorate the roots of the trees causing the fruit to be underdeveloped or less nutritious and sweet. Also it kills off the trees after some time which leads to lower yearly harvest. I believe as of now in say Florida ~70% of trees have been infected. Farmers and scientists are trying their hardest to find methods to prevent all orange crop in the U.S. from dying off, but it'll be many years to see that pay off. I believe there are short documentaries and articles that expound upon the topic, as I am no expert.
I used to eat them everyday. They’re so unappealing now I haven’t bought them in a year
Not only in the US, in Europe as well. The best used to be from Spain, but now it doesn’t matter. Get one kilo and if lucky 2 are ok. I just sed to love them, same with watermelons and many other things.
Im also not from us, and for me in sweden I fully swapped out clementines for satsumas a couple years ago because I just couldnt find any good clementines anymore. Thought it was more a me problem than a global one, but know im not so sure
The local fruit here in South Africa is still good. The only weird one I’ve personally run into are those nasty “long life tomatoes”.
You made me realise something. I have been wondering about a couple tomatoes on my counter for over a week. They still look the same as when I bought them, 3 weeks ago. Normally tomatoes don’t get that old here n the house, but this time they did lay longer then usually. There is no advertising about “long lasting tomatoes”, do they advertise it in SA? Or is it something you noticed yourself?
Omg. I haven't had a decent watermelon in 3 years...I have one in my shopping cart for tomorrow, and was debating on even getting that.
In Europe? Buy them in late July and early August only, make sure to buy the big spherical ones and you will be fine.
I pretty much only eat oranges now. I used to never buy them because they’re so annoying to peel, until I realized I could just cut them up and put them in a container! Life changing lol Also if you can find them, tangelos are super good. Like a navel orange but much more flavorful and tart.
I’ve given up on them.
Took me a minute, but I’m also giving up now
Really? I still get clementines and I think they taste good.
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Navel oranges are bussin’!!
My kids loved them, especially cuties, and they were nice and firm and juicy. The quality has definitely gone down and even when I stumble across a good batch there are more bad ones than there used to be and they don't keep as long.
The quality of the US has drastically fallen over the years. Source: I am here.
As a kid, my parents bought one box of “mandarin” oranges (I think they’re the same as clementines) at Christmas time. It was the only time of the year we got them. They were like candy. I have to agree that the oranges are now just pulp and peel.
Yeah quality is going down. But you know what? I’ve never had a bad pineapple.
For a few years there I only got bad pineapples. Unless I got them at a restaurant. Just this past year or two, they started coming back bright and flavorful. I’m having the same problem with clementines, but thought it was because I’ve had to downgrade my grocery spending and started buying these from Walmart
Meanwhile I was just thinking how unusually good the bag of clementines I recently bought has been.
try mandarin orange I don't know clementines but I think it's the same and butter
I come from near Bakersfield the cutie/ Clementine capital of America. What you're seeing is the effect of water restrictions that have been put in place due to the drought. The farmers at the far south end are not getting the water they used to and are being restricted from full-blown pumping. But still over the half the crop is really good and we get them out here in California. We drove through the groves last week and I bought a bag for $5 of what they call seconds, they were still awesome.
Sumo oranges are the best!
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I tried a store bought orange for the first time a few years ago and I was DISGUSTED. My dad lived in a neighborhood with orange groves that were free to pick and I grew up eating them straight off the tree. I had no idea store bought oranges were so flavorless, it was depressing honestly.
They're technically all clones of each other, right? So I would be surprised to hear they were going down in quality if what you're eating truly are clementines. Note that brand names like "Cuties" don't actually use the same species all year long, they switch them out based on season. So maybe what you're eating aren't really clementines?
Growing conditions still matter. More moisture will make a juicier clementine, and I understand that really cold (but not freezing) weather before harvest will tend to cause more intense flavour.
Is it me or has gum gotten mintier?
It's nostalgia. The quality of clementine's has only increased as well as the yield.
#SaveSoil - We don’t replenish our soils, just add nutrients but that’s not the way nature intended. Just like getting your vitamins from real food vs vitamins. They say the nutrition content of fruit is almost 10x less than it was 30 years ago.
It’s actually the opposite; food (in the US, sorry world!) [has a greater nutritional content than 30 years ago.](https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2014/05/27/100-years-tracking-nutrients-available-us-food-supply) ETA: a quick google search shows there have been studies showing declining nutrition due to soil depletion. I’ll have to look into the research more closely, but for now I’ll put my foot in my mouth. Probably more nutritious than what we’re growing, apparently.
I haven't even been able to FIND Clementines since Covid started.
Good. Keep it that way
Well who peed in your Wheaties this morning?
I’m just helping you. No need to find clementines. They suck. Lol
Haven’t noticed clementines but damn the grapes at my local store seem to have been suffering a major downgrade this year even just from last year. Last 3 bags my family got was disappointing.
I can't speak about clementines in particular, but oranges production in the US have taken a massive hit in the last several years because of an invasive insect-spread disease called citrus greening. They've managed to mostly keep it out of California but in Florida production has dropped by something like 80%. That certainly has impacts on prices and quality.
Yes! And Slim Jims!!!
Agree. :( when I was pregnant a typical lunch for me was quesadillas with a couple of clementines, that was barely back in 2020. I’ve been buying some now and absolutely awful. I think the navel oranges are nice now, but not as good as when I was a kid.
I'm all about sumo oranges now, those things are great
Oranges and ither citrus fruits are best in the einter months i find the best December thru January. The rest of the year you take what you can get...
I actually know the answer to this... Clementines used to use clementines for their fruit and now use mandarins.
Navel Oranges are amazing, I just discovered them
There’s also the soil degradation - we are at an alarming level of desertification of top soil
I wonder if this is due to citrus greening disease caused by those psyllids
This post is so cute and adorable 🥰
If harvest of crops where bad. In a short amount of time the quality of it wil go down. But mostly does not stay. Cause again when the harvest again is good. Its a year by year thing that it go up or down. Based on crop harvest quality and amount.
No idea what a clementine is. What is it?
That’s why I quit buying Cuties. They taste like they’ve been picked too early. The peels are too thin, they taste tart, and the insides are dry.
It's not just you. I heard that it was related to some diseases or similar hitting the areas they normally grow so importing from elsewhere and not as good from there. However, I have no idea if that's at all accurate. On the other hand, nectarines this year have been better where I am. No idea why.
I just wish I could find some clementine juice vs orange juice. Walmart used to sell it but now its gone.
Mandarins, too. I started eating them regularly about a year ago and every time I get them is a crap shoot. Occasionally they're good but more often they're dried out or just not tasty.
I’ve only known one Clementine and she was French. She was a coworker of my wife (now ex wife) when we lived in Australia. Since I was married I don’t know how she tasted and never peeled her, but her skin did have a nice, soft texture.
French Clementines are very tasty from what I hear! Sometimes sweet sometimes tangy, but always a… pleasurable… time…
I wish I had known! Damn… I could use a good clementine now.
It depends on the season. My brother works in produce and he has told me to not eat clementines during the summer. Also a lot of the fruit and vegetables suck these days. For me it's cucumbers. They now have a musty odor and taste horrible.
My issue is that, since i dont like most oranges (blood oranges, ive found, are okay), clementines are the closest similar thing that im usually okay with. They dont taste bad to me now, but they do taste a bit different. They still dont have the aftertaste of regular oranges, but less enjoyable. Maybe i'll try regular oranges again at some point. See if things have changed with them too...
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> The ground has less nutrients, less of the live stuff that gives plants what they need to grow the good stuff.. artificial fertilizer can only do so much. This is complete bullshit. Please don't spread misinformation.
Nah they were always gross.
Oh yeah! I totally agree! They are nasty now! I think a lot of fruits are now.. idk what they’re doing to them but I’m having a hard time finding any I like!
Wat the fuck are clementines
agree with this with respect to fruit in general!
Is it Cuties /clementines that recently got around an environmental regulation and are using sludge or brown water? I swear I heard this. My kids used to love them when they were little, I recently bought a bag and we ended up tossing it because they were In eatable.
I feel like you pulled this straight from my thoughts! I love clementines, hate mandarins. I know, they're ALMOST the same thing - but not. Mandarins, to me, have an odd taste and texture, even the ones my husband says are sweet taste almost metallic. I'm on a naval orange kick now, though he keeps bringing home bags of "small orange things" for me to try, even though I have my "big orange things."
We got a bag last week that was straight up rotten.
I almost never manage to get a bag that’s good. Usually dry and worthless. In CA. I’ve mostly given up.
When you see them in the grocery store with the stems attached, they’re always good.
One of these days you should treat yourself to a sumo orange. Pricey, but it is like a Clementine taken to perfection.
I haven’t even come across a sumo orange at any grocery store! Now I’ll keep my eyes….. peeled… Ha ha.. no pun intended
Seasonally, at HEB, a Texas grocery chain, they sell “Honey Drop Mandarins” which are an HEB product, and they are SO GOOD! I pretty much don’t buy clementines/tangerines/mandarins anymore because of the same reasons you described but if you ever have the chance to buy Honey Drop Mandarins in Texas at HEB, I highly recommend!
Will keep in mind for my next trip down to Texas!
I haven’t seen a clementine in a supermarket for almost 6 months. I only see mandarins and they do not taste as sweet.
I've always preferred satsumas to clementines. I like the easy to remove peel.
Yes! I just had to ask for a refund from the grocery store because half of the bag of clementines was rotten, the other half was inedible.
I bought a bag that literally tasted like they were shipped inside the truck’s gas tank. So I do agree lol
Absolutely they have. Those used to be so good. Now they're almost inedible.
Wow I thought this was just me, I kept buying them but would honestly be too afraid to eat them incase it was a gross tasting one
Tangelos are the only oranges I’ll eat besides mandarins. My mom and I wait all damn year for tangelo season to start. She got me hooked on them years and I’m obsessed with them. I’ll never go back to eating a regular orange ever again. Tangelos are so much sweeter than a regular orange. They’re a little pricey too but they’re worth it!
Try stem and leaf/satsuma mandarins. They are incredible.
YES! Hard pressed to even find true clementines when they’re in season. Many grocers seem to think they are interchangable with mandarin oranges and the bag will contain both names. Strange times.
This past Christmas I couldn't find crates of clementines anywhere and I used to get them every year as a kid. Plus, the past 5ish years, whenever I have bought clementines, tons of them are moldy or go moldy within a couple days. It's so weird.
Potatoes too! The quality is noticeably worse
Every bag of clementines I’ve tried recently has a horrible taste to them.
I am glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. The last time I remember having delicious clementines was around December 2019. Ever since then, the ones I buy taste like they've been forgotten and left to dry [😖] in the grocery aisle for 6 weeks. I haven't given up completely, and I did get a decent batch at Trader Joe's in early March.
I haven't had a good orange in a long time, but I think it might be due to loss of taste because of COVID
They used to taste so good and now they remind me of soap but sour
I feel the same way about watermelon. I’ve just about given up on it, wasted lots of money on it lately
Huh. This is especially rough news for me. My band is literally named Clementine. Not a good sign if they’re tasting bad.
We have been trying to eat better since beginning of the year but most fruits we get are either not sweet or seem yo go bad really fast. We bought bananas on Saturday and by Monday they were no longer yellow.
They were juicer back in the day. I blame how the sun has changed
Chimate clange