Picking Fresh Fruit
I can remember it well. In Adelaide’s hot summer weather, when I was very young, the fruit trees that grew in our back yard suddenly ripened. We (my sister and I) would have surreptitiously picked some before they were really ripe. My sister and I longed for the taste of freshly picked stone fruit. We were impatient. Then, when the fruit became a little soft, we felt like we were in heaven – that is until we indulged in the fruit too often, and had to suffer “tummy problems.”
In the following weeks, the jam making and preserve preparation was in full swing. My mother was adept in making jam, and the three of us (Mum, sister and I) worked during school holidays. We created plenty to use for the next almost twelve months until the next fruit season arrived.
Tasteless Fruit in the Supermarkets in 2019
When the stonefruit appears on the shelves in the local supermarket, my memory of those childhood days comes back, and again I enthusiastically reach for the new season’s fruit. But, alas, I shall mostly be disappointed. The fruit looks clean, with good colour, but when I pick up one of them, I become depressed. The fruit is rock hard. Not ripe. Not edible. I am shattered. This year I have had several nectarines that I purchased with a few others from the nectarine display, sitting in my fruit bowl. I was hoping they would soften up, but two weeks later they remain rock hard!
Fruit Growing Areas
I checked out that these fruit are grown here in Queensland, though I confess I don’t know where my hard supplied came from. I recognise some of the challenges growers have. If they let them ripen too much, they get damaged in transit. They try and pick them hoping that they will ripen by the time the customer gets them.
Stone Fruit Image by Christiann Koepke
The season is coming to an end now – so I don’t know when supplies will cease. I will have to wait for next season and be more selective in choosing my fruit.
