Yeah you're right about the flavour/quality. I bought some strawberries at Costco this week. They are tasteless! They just taste like water. Very disappointing but I should have known better.

Oh and I live in Newfoundland (an island). Our growing season is very short and there are tons of things that are just not grown here anyway, so basically everything is from somewhere else. :(

Store bought produce rarely competes with home grown. We've had some blueberries and strawberries this year that were fruit scented and tasty for store bought. I'm in Houston so it's probably at least an 11 month growing season here. We're not that far from Mexico.

There is a variation in the flavors of the produce throughout the seasons, but it doesn't seem as pronounced as the other places that I have lived. The stores here all sell freshly squeezed orange juice and they give out free samples. I'm always amazed at how good that stuff tastes year round. Of course, those are the juicing oranges. I usually only find good eating oranges about three months out of the year.

I think that the word local is the operative one. That's certainly what the term "in season" means to me.

Yes it is definitely a small world! Anything can come from anywhere, but you pay for it. Personally, I prefer to buy local, or at least from neighboring states.

I can only find fresh cranberries in November/December. I wish they were available at other times of the year.

Growing season for strawberries in my area is in March. Seeing beautiful ones now and good prices.

Next comes Chilton County, Al peaches. The best!

This is an older picture as they now have a huge tower that you can see from the interstate.

There is definitely a season for crawfish, they bury themselves and only come out in season.

Yes, Glenda, Chilton County is known for their peaches. Right now the peach trees are blooming, so pretty.

There definitely is an advantage to living in the south when it comes to fruits and vegetables!

And "local" can often be a stretch of the truth. Here in NJ, we're kinda famous for tomatoes, sweet corn, blueberries and cranberries, to name just a few. Before we know it, we'll be closing in on Memorial Day and several roadside produce stands will be opening up again after coming out of winter hibernation. It really IRKS me that some UNKNOWING people will get roped in because of their signs. Signs starting maybe quarter mile from stands in both directions, touting "local" tomatoes & corn in time for your Memorial Day BBQ... LIES! ALL LIES!... sorta, I guess? The sweet corn will be maybe 4-6" tall in fields and tomato plants will not have been in the ground more than 2 weeks, probably not even blossoms yet. I guess it's sorta true that you could call tomatoes "local" if the hothouse is in the area?? I just don't see sweet corn being possible... trying to picture it growing indoors and whether it would be remotely worth the expense on part of grower??

adella, I drink "not from concentrate" OJ too, but you should understand it's highly processed. Oranges are picked and juiced, the juice is pasteurized, and then it's stored in vats from which oxygen is removed. This processing removes much of the flavor but stabilizes the juice for storage. In preparation for packaging and sale, "flavor packs" of orange-sourced flavors and other chemicals are added to the neutral tasting juice to restore its taste. If you bought the product as it exists while in a storage vat, it would be orange in color but not flavorful. It's another of many applications of food science in the food industry.

Reduced transportation costs (including summer produce from the Southern Hemisphere available in the US during winter months) and hybridizing to favor handling stability have led to greater availability of less-flavorful produce. Even so-called locally available produce may be grown from newer, less flavorful strains. All the same, even the most flavorful items found in the store in much of the US during the shoulder seasons (early and late in the normal seasons) can be disappointing, it's an effort to provide consumers what they want at off-peak times. Even here in California, where we have great produce and long seasons, it can be hit and miss. But much of what's grown in-state can be terrific.

Fruits and veggies from Mexico and Central American can similarly be very good, and the warmer weather farther south does extend product growing seasons compared to what's available here.

I remember the first time (as an adult about 20-25-years ago) I saw cut watermelon in the produce department in the middle of winter and my first thought was that it's JUST NOT RIGHT. We need to consume cooling/hydrating fruits and vegetables in the summer.....and warming/filling foods in the winter. But traditional foods and ways to prepare and eat them is something we really no longer practice due to the world market. The little grocery store my parents bought their groceries from in the 50's and 60's carried carrots, lettuce (most of the time, but not always), celery, potatoes, sweet potatoes (but not all the time), apples, bananas and citrus in the 6-foot produce department. We ate and preserved garden produce in-season. That crock of sauerkraut we packed with the fall crop of cabbage was used for months. Now, people kill the good bacteria in kraut by heat processing it in jars.....so it's dead food instead of living food.

In the winter I purchase very little produce, other than bananas and some citrus (which is seasonal then). I grow my own at home in the form of fresh sprouts and micro-greens, as well as fresh herbs growing in a sunny south window, supplemented by frozen and freeze-dried, which are higher in nutrients than anything from the produce department. There is nothing "seasonal", nor "fresh", nor full of nutrients, unless you can pick it yourself and eat it at the peak of freshness. Anything warehoused is DOA.

A good read on the subject is "Eating on the Wild Side" by Jo Robinson.

I really can't think of any veggie/fruit that you can't get at ANY time of the year

CA spoiled here. I am having trouble finding fresh water chestnuts at any time of the year. I think I am going to have to invest in some serious bumper to bumper to get some.

Oneonta, Alabama is known for its tomato farms.

Snidely, They juice the oranges right in front of you. You can see everything. No additives. It's put straight into the container and sealed. This is sold in the produce section. I don't usually buy that because it is 2-3 times the price of the pasteurized.

There is nothing worse than a bad strawberry. I had some really good ones recently for 99 cents a package. I have no clue where they came from , but I know in the winter most all of my fruit comes from Peru. The blackberries, raspberries and blueberries always taste like they do in season here. We have around 13 or 14 tomato plants every summer, and I eat them from the beginning of July until November and then never have one again till the next summer. Nothing like a warm tomato picked from the garden. Doesn't even resemble what the stores pass as tomatoes.

Yes, I have purchased grapes out of season. The bag was marked: Product of Chile. South of the equator, the seasons are inverted compared to the northern hemisphere. Mexico grows tomatoes and other vegetables and these ripen earlier than central California. Advances in transportation and refrigeration has made an impact. Before refrigerated trucks and rail cars, out of season produce was not as common.

However, northern apples is a different story. Orchardists have found ways to extend the storage of fall apples, but for a limited time. The hard "winter" apple gets more scarce as summer approaches and I have noticed a decided reduction in quality with time. Sometimes, the big box stores like Sam's Club runs out of my favorite eating apples by mid-summer and I must wait until a new crop becomes available. A softer, summer apple becomes available before the northern crop is ready, but I haven't found these to be as good an eating apple.

Speaking of northern apples, did you know these will not bear apples in warmer climes such as southern North Carolina? The northern apple has a biological safe guard. The blossom buds will not open and mature until these have seen 6 to 8 weeks of cold winter. This keeps them from blooming in a warm spell in early winter. A northern apple fails to produce apples in the southern states. A different species of apple is required.

adella, sorry, I read your post too fast. I misunderstood your comment, consider mine N/A.

Not a problem Snidely. I figured out you were thinking of something else. :)

Well, we had our season early and we had strawberries out really early and it was a wonder there was some for strawberry tea later in June. And we have had fruits together and one year three that just doesn't happen and kinda sad as then it means they will end fast. Depends on weather and sun and such. Corn on the cob used to be late and now its so early catches everyone off. No, you never know when things come out now adays.

I notice that some fruits are available year round but that doesn't mean they're good. I am so tired of buying crunchy cantaloupe and honeydew to say nothing of tasteless grapes.