Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Missing the Fruit of My Youth!



One of my Facebook Friends posted a picture of some mighty fine looking Peaches today. Everyone was commenting on them, saying "I love Peach Pie" or "I'm gunna make a Peach Cobbler", every one's mouth was watering just thinking of those Peaches! It made me think of my trip to the Winn Dixie yesterday,
I passed the Peaches in the produce department and you couldn't even smell them, they were so pretty all stacked up into a big Pyramid and they felt like rocks!!! Not the same juicy peaches that we had when I was growing up. You would take a bite and have to bend forward so the juice wouldn't  drip on you, you'd hold out your elbow cuz the juice had ran down your arm and was dripping from them. Mom always made us eat Peaches out in the yard, she'd almost have to hose us down afterwards. Smiling just thinking of it..Peaches in a bowl on the kitchen counter would always make the whole room smell so good! But something has happened, I don't know what it is, but it is sad. It is something I fear our Grand Children will never get to experience, and it is the TRUE TASTE OF FRUIT!!  Are you with Me on this?? The taste and  the juice, are just not there, now how can you cut into a Peach and not have one drop of juice come from it , or the aroma alone just makes you wanna  stuff a big ol bite in your mouth. I miss it. Now if you go to a farm and buy homegrown you will get that tasty fruit. But why can't we get that at the store? There is a whole generation of Kids that have never seen a farm, much less be able to drive to one!



And that is the same with Watermelon, we would cut one open and the whole kitchen would fill with the clean crisp aroma of mouthwatering Watermelon, now you can cut one open and nothing...I mean you might as well spray it with Glade to get a smell. and the taste...where in the hell did it go??? Is it a new variation, one that is totally tasteless? Daddy would bring home the largest Watermelons ever, I remember him taking his pocket knife and cutting along the top, grabbing each side and pulling , causing a loud CRACK! as it split in half! Then a huge explosion of Watermelon smell filling the kitchen..don't you have memories like that? Dad always like to shake salt on his  bite, but that sweet taste mm mm mm just can't beat it. Now when I get a Watermelon I actually put salt on it, just to get FLAVOR! wha?? Dad said "Salt on Watermelon and Pepper on Cantaloupe"! word.



Sad to say the same can be said for all the fruits,  they look the same, but the aroma and their wonderful juices just aren't there. Big ol juicy Strawberries, now some are hollow and dry, and you have to put your nose in the box just to smell them, Apples would give off an aroma like no other, their different taste, sweet or sour, Bananas! I sliced one on cereal the other morning and I could feel it in my mouth, but that strong Banana flavor wasn't there, even though the color was yellow, the taste was green! And being a Floridian don't get me started on Oranges! Mom and Dad would stop at Stuckey's and buy a big red mesh bag full of Navel Oranges, they would be half the size of a bowling ball! Mom would peel them and then pull apart, giving Me and my Brother each a half, send us out to the yard, pulling those big plugs apart, juice squirting out in the sun, the smell making your mouth water with anticipation, so much so you would get a little lock jaw! Such a sweet flavor as you bit into that plug, the juice was coming out the corners of our mouths dripping right down our tummies...uhoh here comes the hose!