When I was growing up in a London suburb, we bought fruit fresh everyday. The greengrocer (a word most of you have probably never heard of) would receive a delivery of fruit and vegetables early every morning direct from Covent Garden. Only seasonal produce or products which kept well in storage were available. Prices varied according to the harvest - it was lovely when summer fruit was cheap but when prices were high we went without. As children we were sent shopping after school with a list. It always included a pound of eating apples, 2 or 3 bananas and 2 large Jaffa oranges. This was all cut up and served in the evening when we were doing our school homework. Seasonal fruit such as strawberries was usually served for dessert. Everything tasted good! We rarely had a dry, tasteless satsuma, or an overripe banana. However, we often found creepy crawlies - particularly in raspberries, plums and cherries - on our plates 
. Over-ripe, squashy tomatoes were always sold separately and cheaply for cooking.
Today fruit is free of worms and insects. It looks good and fresh and has a long shelf life The price is fairly stable throughout the year. But it doesn't always taste nice. So I can't say I have a favourite. I eat bananas (for magnesium) even though they often taste like cardboard. At the moment green, seedless grapes are good, strawberries look lovely but be careful. A beautiful birthday sponge cake my daughter made had to be thrown away because, when we wanted to eat it, the strawberries had "turned". They still looked fresh and wholesome but tasted dreadful!
. Over-ripe, squashy tomatoes were always sold separately and cheaply for cooking.Today fruit is free of worms and insects. It looks good and fresh and has a long shelf life The price is fairly stable throughout the year. But it doesn't always taste nice. So I can't say I have a favourite. I eat bananas (for magnesium) even though they often taste like cardboard. At the moment green, seedless grapes are good, strawberries look lovely but be careful. A beautiful birthday sponge cake my daughter made had to be thrown away because, when we wanted to eat it, the strawberries had "turned". They still looked fresh and wholesome but tasted dreadful!
