DailyDirt: Better Tasting Fruits And Vegetables

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

If fruits and vegetables tasted even better, maybe people would include more in their diet. Part of what researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are trying to do is to improve the taste and nutritional profile of specialty crops like fruits and vegetables, in the hope that Americans will adopt a healthier diet. For generations, humans have been inadvertently breeding the nutrients out of fruits and vegetables, by selecting varieties that are more palatable (i.e., higher in sugar and starch). Then, somewhere along the way, appearance became important, and farmers began breeding aesthetically pleasing varieties, often at the expense of taste. So, now we're stuck with some pretty bland products. Here are some more tasty links. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: apples, breeding, climate change, crops, diet, farming, food, fruits, gmo, taste, tomato, vegetables
Companies: usda


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • icon
    Zakida Paul (profile), 25 Oct 2013 @ 5:08pm

    Fruits and vegetables always taste better when you grow them yourself. We grew tomatoes, peas, beans, strawberries and more this year and they were much more tasty than anything you buy in a supermarket. Anyone who has the time should do this as it will give them a whole new appreciation for fruit and vegetables.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2013 @ 5:13pm

    sure lets mess with the food supply even more so they can charge more for it and sue anyone who uses the seeds for gardening .. hello monsanto ..

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2013 @ 9:57am

      Re:

      If it were up to the food industry, private residential gardens would be illegal. There are some municipalities that use zoning to attempt this, a recent case the homeowner won.
      If a private party were inclined to save seeds for private reuse, I doubt there is anything the robber barons could do about it - but they sure would try.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    ShellMG, 25 Oct 2013 @ 5:35pm

    I plant heirloom varieties whenever I can. My grandmother was an avid gardener and always had fresh veggies in the summer. I've grown summer squash, zucchini, butternut, purple cherokee tomatoes (which are excellent), grape tomatoes and herbs. I've had rotten luck with carrots, though.

    The Fuji apples may be mushy, but those harvested in Michigan were OUTSTANDING. The trees, scorched from last summer's drought, tried to make up for it by giving us the sweetest, juciest apples ever. The Gala are awesome...I put up more than 17 pints of homemade apple butter.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Sheogorath (profile), 25 Oct 2013 @ 6:35pm

    I have a cunning plan

    Researchers have shown that by re-inserting an intact copy of the [SIGLK2] gene into tomatoes, they could increase the amount of glucose and fructose by up to 40%, while still retaining the uniform color ripening trait. Too bad they weren't actually able to taste them (federal regulations prohibit sampling experimental crops).
    Okay, so why not announce the research complete so that these fantastically delicious tomatoes can be sold and we can all try them? Oh, wait. No, bad idea. I just received a 'friendly' letter from Monsanto, warning me of the consequences of their IP being infringed as a result of anyone doing that.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Oct 2013 @ 11:03pm

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2013 @ 10:08am

      Re:

      As a kid I remember beef tasting much better than today. This can be attributed somewhat to aging of the taste buds but it probably has more to do with grass feed vs feed lot feed beef.

      link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.