Do supermarkets get offers of inferior produce at discounted prices that they offer at sale prices? I bought a seedless watermelon this week for $3.99. It looked beautiful, was very heavy for its size, very juicy but very little sweetness. Would growers, in this case, test for sugar content (brix) and knowing it was low, offer big discounts or is it not that sophisticated?
Call me an old cynic, if you wish. But I doubt whether supermarkets are in the slightest bit interested in how flavoursome a product may be. They care about how it looks and the length of shelf life. Growers will know this, so I reckon are unlikely to voluntarily discount anything.
From what I've seen, supermarkets discount items that are "old". Testing from sugar content by the growers would require a setup that hurts the bottom line. Also, that would some type of invasive testing.
When I see produce specials at the super market, they’re generally smaller sized.
Last week, a local market had cantaloupe for 99 cents each. They were much smaller than the 2.99 size ones the week before, less than half the size.
I find it’s the same for lots of produce, might also be the distributor has an over stock of less popular small sized stuff and needs to unload the product.
I know a few farmers, and none of them test their product in the manner you suggest. Years ago, while trying to figure out how to choose a good watermelon, I asked a farmer how he knew when to harvest his crop. His reply was less than helpful: "Just look at 'em!"
There are a couple markets in my area, though, that do discount some of their produce, but not the kinds to which you're referring. They take the 'veteran' produce, wrap it in plastic on a tray, and put it all on a rack for a ridiculously low price (think fifty cents each or something like that).
my store does this, especially mid-week -- clearing out space for the big weekend deliveries. 5# bags of potatoes are always 99 cents.
op: excellent points already made, but also big grocers are not ordering on a whim or by the seats of their pants. they've contracted long ago for x-amount of everything. they may indeed get a special if their supplier winds up with excess but that becomes an end-cap and has zero to do with flavor.
as for the flavorless watermelon, i've stopped buying nearly all fruit except apples, pears, citrus, grapes and avocado from the supermarket. everything tastes like nothing and i wind up giving it to the dog-- who is grateful but ugh. unless you get it local and in-season, it's all now simply grown to be sturdy and ship. :-( if anyone actually tested brix levels the whole fruit industry would collapse.
yeah yeah i know someone somewhere managed to get a delicious watermelon once at a supermarket, but cmon.
I'm guessing you got it at Shoprite with their digital coupon because I bought one too and had the same experience. Chopped it open last night, looks nice, very juicy but ok flavor and not crispy. I just looked at the coupon and it's for both seedless and seeded watermelons. I also bought a seedless. I wonder if the seeded ones are better. They had a better sale during the 4th of July for only $2.99.
I haven’t seen a seeded melon at a super market in years.
The seedless are tasteless.
Yes, Shoprite. The last one I bought at the 4th of July sale was much better. I wish there was a way to tell if produce was good. Corn is easy, I take a bite out of an ear and if it's sweet I buy more. If not, I buy the one ear. Stone fruit I find is a crapshoot. Peaches for instance can look beautiful but be meally. I've had great southern peaches this summer even know they look unripe (green naval) at the store.
Stone fruit = crap shoot, especially plums.
Can you tell me where to get a Green Gage, Late Duarte, Damson or Santa Rosa on the East Coast these days?
The fruit stickers tell you next-to-nothing...Red Plum, Black Plum, Yellow Plum, Green Plum, Purple Plum and, oh yes, Italian Prune...so aggravating.
This probably doesn't make you feel any better, but Santa Rosa plums are not that easy to find in California any more. Not even in Santa Rosa. Many available for gleaning from backyard trees, but not sold in stores. Pluots are taking over.
I've had good luck with peaches and nectarines so far this year. I hear you on the plums.
I have always found the seeded ones to be sweeter and better flavored. I avoid the seedless ones now. Unfortunately, the seedless varieties are smaller and so easier to fit in a refrigerator at home, so sell better. Gresham's law of watermelons?
Agree that it seems to be a bad year for watermelon. Too much rain in the growing areas, perhaps? One I bought early this summer was wonderful. 2 since then were sampled at a meal, found to be too juicy with diluted flavor, and then tossed. However at a recent party we were served larger 3-inch cubes of watermelon hollowed as small "bowls", filled with finely chopped cucumber and mint. In combination, it didn't matter that the melon was less flavorful.
I find that, generally, when a large chain has a chain-wide promotion on produce, the products are as good -- or even better -- than when regularly priced. Because it's on sale, it turns over more quickly so it's fresher. Chain-wide sales are usually offered as "loss leaders" to get you into the store & do your shopping. Sale produce offered in this manner is no more subpar than when milk, chicken, butter, etc. are put on sale.
Sometimes, my store will have a "this store only" promotion but I've never seen it on produce. It's typically offered when the specific store has an oversupply of meat or chicken, a few days before the "sell by" date.
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