at Thu, 08 Sep 2005 10:18:03 GMT in
>,
(sd) wrote :

>In article >,
> (Alex Rast) wrote:
>
>> Grapes. No grapes today are worth even looking at. ... Everything you
>> find are large, insipid waterbags.
>
>I've given up on grapes as merely packaged sugar water.
>

I wonder why it is, in fact, given that there seems to be some consensus
on this point, that grape growers don't wake up and start growing some
better-tasting (hopefully seeded) grapes again.

>> And
>> Washington is a big grape state - there's no excuse for that here, as
>> there might be for, say, Minnesota. The move to Zante grapes for
>> currants and to Thompson grapes for raisins has had disastrous effects
>> on the qualities of these baking staples.
>
>At the co-op the other day, I found some locally-grown grapes
>similar to Concords, called Hoeft grapes (IIRC). Small, seeded, but
>they actually taste like grapes. Let's see if they ever show up
>again.

Yeah, that's been my experience. Occasionally you get lucky (a few years
ago a local organic farmer brought in Cabernet Sauvignons - I bought as
many as I could afford, more or less cleaned him out in conjunction with
one other buyer) but the general picture is bleak. And such appearances
rarely get a repeat.

>> Speaking of Minnesota - wild rice. There *are* sources, but you
>> generally have to mail order.
>
>Fortunately for us Meeneesohtans, real wild rice (harvested by
>Indians) is available at the better grocery stores. You're right,
>though -- there is no comparison between the slender brown wild rice
>harvested by hand and the cheap fat black grains most usually sold
>as "wild rice."
>
>I hope Barb chimes in on this; IIRC she has a source for wild rice
>here in the Twin Cities metro area (?) that's supposed to be the
>real deal and not terribly expensive, and they ship by mail.

Yeah, as I said, by mail order you can get the real deal. I've ordered from
http://www.northernlakeswildrice.com and been pretty happy. I usually get a
5-lb bulk sack when the harvest comes out and this lasts me through the
year. But as far as getting it in local supermarkets, not a chance, and I
think without the awareness that there is a better option, most people
don't even realise what they're missing, which further reduces the demand
and hence availability of the better real wild rice.


--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)