rank the fruits

[Spexxvet]

Peach
Mango
Cherry
Seedless grape
Cantaloupe
Blueberry
Banana
Pineapple
Apple
Pear
Watermelon

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Griff

We have excellent wild blueberries here as well. I have tame bushes that are way better than those oversize suckers. I think the blueberry breeders almost screwed up as badly as the strawberry folks.

Hold on there, Griff: you're thirty or forty years behind the times on the strawberries. Here in the heart of strawberry country, we routinely eat huge strawberries the size of a baby's fist that are packed full of flavor. It might be simply that it's short shipping distances, or it might be that the berry growers around here decided, "okay, we got size, now how about flavor?" and got flavor too.

Way back when, the bigger the blander, and the little wild ones concentrated strawberry flavor impressively -- but now you don't need to go wild-berrying to have the good stuff. I make a strawberry shortcake of the farmed stuff that will knock your socks over your back fence. Sometimes with a dollop of Mexican crema agria (like a slightly sour rather thick kefir) for a bit of adult taste. Haven't tried liqueuring the whipped cream yet...

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I don't rank fruits one over another; they are either the fruits I like, or the fruits I don't, which is a much shorter list. Hell, I see the attractions of durians. (Durian works as an ice-cream flavor.)

Melons are seeded fruits, and do have to be ripe to be fun. Canteloupe you can at least check for ripe by ear, holding it up and listening for it to slosh. Watermelon, regrettably, I got too glutted on one church picnic and now need to season either with lemon juice Russian style or with chile pepper and salt Mexican style, with or without lime juice as well. Cuts the excess of wateriness.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Here in the heart of strawberry country, we routinely eat huge strawberries the size of a baby's fist that are packed full of flavor.

They don't make it here, and unfortunately those producers have such a stranglehold on the market, it's hard to find anything else.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Griff

We have excellent wild blueberries here as well. I have tame bushes that are way better than those oversize suckers. I think the blueberry breeders almost screwed up as badly as the strawberry folks. Wild strawberries are absolute dynamite. We're lucky with berries because Danny Wegman's buyers do a particularly good job keeping the right varieties on the shelf.

Not unlike the roses you'll find at the floral counter adjacent to the produce section in Safeway, etc. They look uniformly gorgeous, but they could be plastic or photoshopped for that matter, as they have no smell at all.

The strawberries here also emphasize, emphasis on size, size over flavor.