Why eat terrible fruit when you can eat wonderful California fruit, or should be able to?  All too often fruit which is shipped for several weeks from far off groves arrives distressed and put into cold storage here and then this is mishandled at the retailer. What the consumer ends up with is postharvest damage.  Fruit that has been held too long in cold storage at the wrong temperature and you get fruit like that pictured below.  Barely edible if you eat around the black stuff.  

In January, I bought a bag of 4 fruit from the local store.  When it had ripened, I cut open all 4 fruit and saw cold damage.  I took them back to the store and they gave me another bag.  When ripe, I cut them open and found the same damage.  Took them back and they gave me another bag.  Same thing.  Took them back and asked for my money back.  The produce manager said I was the only one to complain.  It's a good store to back their product, but I wonder if they ever complained to their supplier.  And what about the other buyers?

California can grow great fruit year-round.  Some of it could be the old 'Fuerte' which is a great eating winter fruit or a 'Reed' or 'Nabal' in the summer.  And some people just really like 'Zutano' or 'Bacon'. We all don't like the same taste. Add some variety to life.  I was reminded of this the other day when I went to look at a recently planted 'Reed' orchard.  When asked why, the grower said she loved the fruit and had a buyer for all her fruit.  That's what it takes when you don't grow 'Hass', finding the market for some of these unusual varieties.  Or find a packer that will take a chance on your fruit.  

There's been a call for a long time on the part of growers to sell their greenskins, but the consumer needs to be taught what a good piece of fruit taste like at the right time of year.  There have been lots of advocates for variety for a long time, and now that consumers have turned into 'foodies' it's time to feed them. They don't want to go to the store and buy a bad piece of fruit.  And then throw it out.  Instead they should go back to the store and demand a good piece of fruit.

End of rant.