North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jfruth@uslink.net>]

   I spent six years selling at farmers' markets in California before I 
came to Minnesota.  Californians actively sought new and different 
vegetables and I didn't think Minnesotans would be any different.  They are! 
If the produce doesn't look like something that might be selling at a 
grocery store, they won't buy it!  Not only will they not buy it, they won't 
even taste it!  Purple tomatoes?  I might plant some in my garden but I 
won't bother bringing any to market.
   Anecdote:  Second only to sweet corn, home grown tomatoes are a much 
sought-after fruit at farmers' markets.  Customers do have their priorities 
though:  Demand No. 1)  They have to be BIG.  No. 2)  They have to be 
pretty.  No.3)  They have to be locally grown.  In the twenty years I've 
been selling at farmers' markets, I've only ever once been asked, "Which one 
tastes the best?"  As amazing number of market customers don't have a clue 
that home grown tomatoes might taste different from the 'cardboard' tasting 
tomatoes at the grocery store.
   Anecdote:  Home grown tomatoes have the best flavor when slightly soft 
but most customers won't buy them unless they are hard, like grocery store 
tomatoes.  Alot of folks think that produce dealers gas their (grocery 
store) tomatoes to ripen them.  Actually, the (ethylene) gas just causes 
tomatoes to change color from green to red.  They are really red, green 
tomatoes.
   Anecdote:  I once had a customer ask to see my back-stock of tomatoes 
because she said she needed really big tomatoes.  So I asked her, "Why do 
you need big tomatoes?"  Her reply, "I'm going to cut them up for a salad."

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
www.bberryfarm.com
(218)568-8483 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]

Oregon State developed the purple tomato to promote health, but it's the
colour that will draw the most fame, said Rose Marie Nichols McGee, the
owner of Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany.

Gardeners and consumers seek out unusual produce colours such as orange
cauliflower and purple carrots, she said.

"I think we respond to something that looks a little bit different," she
said. "It just catches our curiosity."

Brungardt, Sam