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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] To Grow Sweeter Produce, California Farmers Turn Off The Water : The Salt : NPR

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  • From: Jacqueline Greenleaf <jacque@book-woman.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] To Grow Sweeter Produce, California Farmers Turn Off The Water : The Salt : NPR
  • Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 11:57:30 -0700

Thanks for posting this Lawrence, I've been thinking idly along these lines
for years.

In a past life, I had occasion to talk to a famous strawberry breeder about
the lack of flavor in those huge supermarket strawberries. He told me that
the giant berries are a result of a mutation which makes the individual cells
able to absorb and store more water inside their cell walls. There are about
the same amount of individual cells in those giant berries as there are in a
smaller, traditional berry, and each of those cells has about the same
machinery for making all those wonderful flavors - so when you buy those
giant berries, you are paying for water, not strawberry flavor.

Now I have noticed recently that the flavor of some of those giant berries is
improving, and I wouldn't have a clue why, but I think the basic idea that
less water = more flavor is completely sensible. For instance, I seldom
irrigate potatoes, and I think the resulting spuds are much better tasting
than irrigated ones.

I would love more detail on how exactly growers are managing tomatoes and
other fruiting vegetables, whose growth always seem to be so sensitive to
water.



On Aug 30, 2013, at 11:08 PM, Lawrence London wrote:

> To Grow Sweeter Produce, California Farmers Turn Off The Water : The Salt :
> NPR
> http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/08/23/214884366/to-grow-sweeter-produce-california-farmers-turn-off-the-water
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