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Post by kwilds on Sept 5, 2012 12:28:28 GMT -5
I had the good luck this year to have a nice sized garden plot at my husbands parents place. It is about 20 minutes away from our own garden so climate is much the same. The biggest difference is that most of my garden space at home is in raised beds due to the horrible clay/cement that makes up the topsoil in our yard. The soil in those beds is mostly compost with years of organic mulch added every season. The in-laws garden is a larger area that gets tilled up twice a year. It has not been used for growing anything but weeds for over 10yrs.
So I planted some carrots out at the in laws - the exact same varieties that I had planted at home. I was shocked at the difference in taste! One of the varieties was Jaune de Doubs. At home these carrots were big, bright yellow and very tasty. The ones that came from the other garden were duller in colour but more surprising - they tasted TERRIBLE! Really bitter and completely inedible. The orange variety I also planted in both places also had a distinct taste difference but not quite as bad as the yellow ones. I would like to plant carrots out in the big garden next year but not if they are going to taste that bad! Any ideas what would cause that much of a taste difference? I am thinking maybe the difference in soil? Or differences in watering? I am planning to add some organic matter to the in laws garden this year and will plant fall rye. I am going to do a soil test next time I am out there.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 5, 2012 12:52:50 GMT -5
All root crops in my garden pretty much taste like the soil that they were grown in. [Taste your inlaws soil if you like.] I find it difficult to enjoy eating a Michigan potato because they don't taste like potatoes. (Only Idaho potatoes taste right to me.)
With carrots, in my un-ammended garden, water makes the biggest difference in taste, especially if they don't have enough water during the rapid root-growth phase which occurs after the leaves are robust and the plant has just started growing the storage root.
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Post by kwilds on Sept 5, 2012 12:59:22 GMT -5
Lol . . . that is pretty much what they tasted like - Dirt!
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Post by raymondo on Sept 6, 2012 2:15:18 GMT -5
I've noticed this in my own garden. In the older, better amended areas, the carrots are always sweeter than those grown in the newer beds, which don't have nearly the same amounts of organic matter. I put it down to slower growth as the newer beds are lumpy clay, like the older ones were initially.
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Post by Walk on Sept 6, 2012 16:29:45 GMT -5
Soil micronutrients, especially copper, really play a role in carrot flavor. Our soils here are deficient in copper and boron, both of which we add as soil amendments, in addition to kelp. Soils are a big part of what "terroir " is all about.
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Post by Darth Slater on Sept 6, 2012 19:19:29 GMT -5
My Michigan potatoes taste awesome!! Ask my chefs! They say they are the best they ever ate.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 6, 2012 20:24:48 GMT -5
My Michigan potatoes taste awesome!! Ask my chefs! They say they are the best they ever ate. Ha! I bet it's a problem with my thinking... Instead of thinking that Michigan potatoes taste like used motor oil, I should think of them as tasting like bacon fat....  But alas, now that I am aware that differences exist I may never taste another Michigan potato, since I am living so close to Idaho. I don't think that a Michigan potato could evoke the feeling-of-being-home that an Idaho potato triggers in my emotions. And, I am way generalizing. I am certain that if I was able to pay close enough attention, that there are many different micro-environments in Idaho and in Michigan in which potatoes are grown, and that potatoes from different farmers would taste different. |
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Post by kwilds on Sept 6, 2012 22:48:06 GMT -5
I dug up a few potatoes today from the garden with the icky tasting carrots, I'm scared to try them!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2012 22:56:41 GMT -5
Carrots at the store are apparently "ferti-gated" in sand for easy plucking.
Grown in ammended clay, the most ordinary things have intense flavor, compared to what I am used to.
But, one of my generations did not fare so well, in harder soil, under partial shade.
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Post by logrus9 on Dec 31, 2012 13:37:25 GMT -5
Ha! I bet it's a problem with my thinking... Instead of thinking that Michigan potatoes taste like used motor oil, I should think of them as tasting like bacon fat.... A potato that tastes like bacon would be awesome!   |
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Post by steev on Jan 3, 2013 1:31:34 GMT -5
OH! So yeah. I wouldn't have to add bacon grease for it to taste good. 'Kay. not good, but really good! Damn, I'm so unenlightened, but I know what tastes GOOD!
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Post by circumspice on Jan 7, 2013 16:06:38 GMT -5
Bacon grease makes everything taste better.
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Post by ottawagardener on Jan 24, 2013 10:25:43 GMT -5
Mmm bacon. That's why they are always recommending various greens to be tossed with bacon. My carrots tasted iffy at my old place - a bit metallic and bitter - but delicious here. Even daylily tubers which are *supposed* to taste good tasted yucky there. I haven't dared try them here.
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Post by littleminnie on Feb 4, 2013 21:08:38 GMT -5
Everything tastes better after a good frost.
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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 5, 2013 16:11:35 GMT -5
Mmm frosted bacon...
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