Long harvested fruit

Did u know shop fruit can be harvested up to six months ago? and the containers they are shipped in are sprayed with chemicals to stop over ripening? My fruit is home grown and is harvested the same day. but still people will not buy from me.

 

Yes, I did know that. New Zealand is a long way away! So is Chile. Also, it doesn't take much thinking to work out how "fresh" English Cox's can be on sale in May given that the harvest occurs in September.

I worked with someone once who brought fruit (apples, oranges etc) to work every Monday and stored it in the fridge "to keep it fresh". On Friday she would chuck anything still uneaten into the bin because "it wouldn't be fresh any more". You could point out till you were blue in the face that it had already been in a fridge without going off for 6 months but nothing sank in. Oh well, what would Tesco et al do without such folk?

I try to avoid buying apples, pears etc that re grown outside Europe. It's not realistic to only eat English grown ones. I don't buy much tropical fruit anyway but this has to be an exception to the Europe-only rule.

I believe the fruit is sprayed with chemicals that retard or speed ripening. Some of these chemicals occur naturally, such as ethylene, so I'm not unduly worried.

Cost is quite important to me so i look for stuff that balances these factors: what I like, good value, lowish food miles.

Shame people don't buy your stuff - why do you think that is?

 

I didn't know anything about spraying containers to stop ripening.

I know we get bananas that are ripened by adding gas, probably the same for pineapple.
But I cant see the reason for other fruit, apples from NZ, Chile Aust. S. Africa are all in season right now so cant think they are 6 months old.

I know English apples have been kept in cold stores through winter sometimes but thats been going on for years, and is not detrimental.