I would never have guessed the shape in which the produce would arrive up here. Hardy broccoli, which you'd think would ship very nicely, often is flaccid and rubbery. Delicate lettuce is almost always perfect. Nary a wilted nor brown leaf to be found. It looks like it was picked just the day before. Oranges, which I'd always thought of as sturdy fruit, are dry and flavorless. Grapefruit are delicious--juicy, sweet, and, currently, thirty-three cents a piece. What is going on here?
But most surprising of all is that I have yet to purchase a bad avocado in Fairbanks. Seriously. Isn't it bizarre? In California, avocados were only so reliable when I bought them directly from the grower, at the farmers' market. Avocados from the supermarket were a crap shoot. Half would be brown or have that spongy business going on inside. But here, every one looks like this:
I just can't figure it out. But my diet has changed somewhat. :)
7 comments:
That looks like a great avo!! We have an avo tree and every second year it produces about 400 avos lol and they dont even look that good (ok well most do, but still)!
Some of the best (insert food) is often found furthest from where it is produced. It is not an iron clad rule, granted, but it is a good rule of thumb.
It has to do with the cost of transportation. Crappy avacados and good avacados cost the same to ship. By the time the food gets to Fairbanks transportation costs are more than the productions costs. Customers are not willing to pay a lot more for poor-looking food, but will pay more for good-looking food.
In the UK all of our oranges, avacados, grapefruits etc are shipped in (obviously!) and can be pretty variable in quality depending on the time of year. Unless the only fruits you like are apples and pears, it can be fairly hard to stick to locally produced fruit here, though we do get a short season of soft fruits such as strawberries, blackberries etc.
If we manage to achieve our plan of moving to Shetland (far northern UK islands level with southern Alaska), I suspect we'll find the differences even greater.
Not surprised about the broccoli. I love reading the Mariquita farms blog (a local farmer down towards Hollister, I think). Before he had his own land, he worked for a broccoli farm up past Marin. He'd have to drive into town before dawn to buy ice with which to pack the broccoli that would be picked that morning. Without the ice, by the time the broccoli got to the market in San Francisco at noon it would be limp and look a week old.
Lettuce you can just put into the chiller with some moisture and it will keep crisp and fresh-looking.
you wouldn't have thunk it, huh?
So where does your meat come from? Do you have local ranches that raise cows and chickens in heated barns or something?
Hmmm... I haven't bought meat in a while. I'm still working on the stashes of buffalo and elk I put in the freezer when I could buy them over the summer. Except for our Thanksgiving turkey! It was from Foster Farms. I felt guilty because I had wanted a local turkey, but it was $250 from 4H!! I'm sorry, but Foster Farms is family-run, and I don't find supporting them so odious that I'm willing to shell out that much dough. I get fresh local milk and eggs from the Feed Store. They label the cartons "Laid on" and it's usually within the previous 2-3 days! Last time I was there, I bought duck eggs! I know they are in barns, but I'm not sure if they are actually heated or just super-insulated. I'll have to ask the next time I see them!
Mariquita Farm... darn you, Rena, now you've triggered me to add links to all my favorite Bay Area farms to my sidebar... a real time-waster! :D
Arvay: Barn laid are almost as good as free range, and a lot cheaper. They eat the same stuff as free range and get to hang out under cover (high UV down here). So don't feel bad about buying barn laid eggs --I will refrain from making any jokes about a roll in the hay!
Also, there's a Korean grocery in the basement of the bowling alley on Cowles st. They have very fresh, hard to find, asian produce. It's flown up twice a week from the states. I used to deliver a couple of pallet loads each week from the airport to them. And if you want fresh, local, pickled ginger that's the place to get it. Almost everytime I was delivering there, the great-granma of their clan was sitting by the counter peeling and slicing fresh ginger for their stock.
Oh, and if you want the best bananas, Fred's on Airport Way is the place. They're the only ones who have a temperature and climate controlled "banana room" in the back for when the shipments come in. Also, their produce managers randomly test the internal temp of banana from each shipment. If just one of them is too cold, then they'll reject the whole shipment.
I'm going to check that place out. Thanks for the tip! By the way, I can't taste the difference between duck eggs and chicken. *shrug*
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