Serious question, has anyone else's local produce quality tanked this season?

Honestly, the heirloom tomatoes from my usual farm stand in Portland went from perfect in July to mealy and bland by late August. Tbh I think the extreme heat wave we had for two straight weeks cooked them on the vine before they could fully develop flavor. What are you guys doing to adjust your late summer menus for this?

4 comments

4 Comments

carr.luna3mo ago

Feel the same pain with my peppers in Austin. They just got scorched and never really sweetened up. Switched to roasting whatever looks okay and making more sauces and soups.

hannah_craig3mo ago

Austin sun just turns peppers into little leather pouches of disappointment. My poblanos looked like they'd been through a desert car wash. Roasting the survivors is the only move, turns that sun-baked sadness into something with depth. My freezer is now a pepper soup archive for the emotional winter ahead.

robin89626d ago

Wait, are we really acting like slightly sun-damaged peppers are some kind of emotional trauma? I mean, they're just peppers, right? I get that they didn't turn out perfect, but calling them "little leather pouches of disappointment" feels like a bit much. Maybe it's just me, but roasting them to make soup sounds like you're doing extra work for something that could have been a simple jar of salsa from the store. And "emotional winter" for frozen pepper soup? That's a lot of drama for some vegetables that probably cost like three bucks at the farmers market. Idk, I guess I just don't see why we need to turn every garden mishap into a whole existential crisis.

rivera.shane3mo ago

Pepper soup archive" is a whole mood, @hannah_craig, but does roasting really save the worst of them?