Are you eating year-old apples?

My kids and I recently went on a field trip to a local orchard. 

While we were there, we got to sample fresh peaches, apples & apple juice. They were so sweet and flavorful, and made me question why they were so much tastier than even the “organic” apples I buy at the store. 

Our tour guide was awesome, great with the kids and told me something I had never heard before:

Most of the apples at the grocery store are a year old. 

Wait…what?! A year old?! 

She went on to say that the apples are picked before they are ripe, placed into cold storage and then gassed so they don’t ripen any further. Even the organic ones. Then they’re waxed and sent off to grocery stores around the world. 

Part of the reason they are picked early is so that when they are shipped around the world, they don’t bruise as easily. Obviously a harder, less ripe apple will not bruise as easily as a nice, fresh, ripe apple. And you know the nutrients in a year-old apple just can’t be the same as that in a tree-ripened, fresh apple.

Now, maybe you’re ok with eating year-old apples. But it sure made me think a little longer about buying local whenever possible.

If you can, eat in season, and eat local.