North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Michael Dossett <phainopepla@yahoo.com>]

Rivka,
 
Quality really means both.  The stone fruit industry in particular (not that 
others aren't) are acutely aware of the role this has in their competitive 
ability.  When was the last time you bought a peach at the grocery store and 
could say it was REALLY good?  One of the major goals in stone fruit breeding 
is firmness, but that is part of the road to quality.  Something that retains 
firmness longer can be left on the tree to ripen longer and still be firm 
enough to ship and/or store.  The biggest constraint on the quality of this 
fruit in the supermarket is that it is picked when physiologically mature, 
but not yet ripe.  This is because of the firmness required for shipping but 
also the length of time it takes from the orchard to someone's shopping cart. 
 Would you believe that raspberry growers are expected to produce a fruit 
that will hold up for 10-14 days to allow time to be shipped and stocked on 
the shelf?  This is an unbelieveable
 constraint on most perishable fruit if picked when fully ripe.  At the end 
of the day, most people would be pretty happy with the quality of the fruit 
they buy if it was just picked when it was ripe, and increased firmness is 
one part of what makes this a little more achievable.  Flavor is definitely a 
breeding target as well, but the biggest thing they can do to improve flavor 
in grocery store fruit is to leave it on the plant longer.
 
Michael

Michael Dossett
Mission, British Columbia
www.Mdossettphoto.com
phainopepla@yahoo.com
 

________________________________
 From: Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>
To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org> 
Sent: Friday, June 7, 2013 6:17 AM
Subject: Re: [nafex] Book: The perfect fruit: good breeding, bad seeds, and 
the hunt for the elusive pluot
  


On Jun 7, 2013, at 3:32 AM, <dwoodard@becon.org> <dwoodard@becon.org>  
wrote:

> Brantley discusses the California stone fruit industry (especially
> Japanese plums), the careers
> and contributions of Luther Burbank and Floyd Zaiger and others, and
> recent developments in Japanese plum hybrids.
>
> He emphasizes the quest for quality as a route to competitive
> advantage.

"Quality" means different things to different people.

I suspect that to most of the large-scale "industry" it means ability  
to ship without bruising, and appearance. To me it means flavor -- not  
just sweetness, but the specific characteristic flavor of that fruit.



-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale




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On Jun 7, 2013, at 1:49 PM, Michael Dossett wrote:

> When was the last time you bought a peach at the grocery store and
> could say it was REALLY good?

Never.

Some grocery stores do occasionally have fairly good peaches -- if
they're locally sourced, from within twenty miles or so, from a farm
catering to the local trade.



-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale