Buying fresh peaches and nectarines

I got peaches from M&S the other week to make a peach, prosciutto and burrata salad and they were actually pretty good. I tend not to buy supermarket peaches because I'm usually disappointed by them, but these were nice. However, the best peaches I've ever had were years ago in Turkey, where our apartment had a peach tree which hung over the balcony - you could pick and eat them right off the branches and they were the most delicious, juicy peaches I've ever eaten.

I find nectarines and peaches are best from the local Turkish shop. Their tomatoes are good as well.

Soft fruit are usually picked while unripe, and these days newer varieties are bred for shipping hardiness. Also the newer varieties of peaches have much less fuzz. It means the flavour is not a priority, which is so sad. There's nothing like a fresh juicy peach.

I always smell peaches before purchasing. If I can't smell them, then I don't buy.

It's probably not your taste buds at all Magenta8, I think it's the way they mass produce fruit and the quality just doesn't cut it.
The best peaches I ever tasted were on holiday in Spain, they'd been grown locally, they were huge, juicy and delicious

We've had lovely nectarines from Tesco recently, and apricots too. Sounds as if we've just been lucky!

I bought some reduced price nectarines the other day and poached them. The juice that came out is a very pretty pink. I hope they taste as good as they look - it’s tomorrow’s pudding.

Isle of Wight brand tomatoes are good, you can get them in M&S and some other stores. I had a tomato salad tonight made with halved IoW cherry tomatoes, red, yellow, green, orange and ‘black’ ones.

I agree that lots of fruit and veg don’t taste as they used to. I’m also a Maid of Kent and remember the fabulous cherries that we ate until they were coming out of our ears.