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1. The research fairy (bgcarlisle@scholar.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Mar-2022 08:21:19 UTC The research fairy

   Did Red Delicious apples always taste like cardboard?

   I feel like they were sweet and flavourful when I was young

   But maybe that's just me idealizing stuff from my childhood?

   • The research fairy (bgcarlisle@scholar.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Mar-2022 08:21:15 UTC The research fairy

     in reply to

     Concept:

     Biohacker coop with the goal of producing extremely ugly but also extremely gigantic and flavourful garlic

     Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 likes this.
   • The research fairy (bgcarlisle@scholar.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Mar-2022 08:21:16 UTC The research fairy

     in reply to

     Anyway, reminds me of this:

     https://www.mashed.com/300870/brussels-sprouts-used-to-taste-a-lot-different-heres-why/

     > Brussels Sprouts Used To Taste A Lot Different. Here's Why

     > Dutch scientist Hans van Doorn pinpointed the exact chemical that caused Brussels sprouts to taste so bitter in the 1990s. Once this particular cause of bitter flavor could get identified, breeders began developing new strains of Brussels sprouts that didn't contain the bitter chemical—glucosinolate.

   • The research fairy (bgcarlisle@scholar.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Mar-2022 08:21:17 UTC The research fairy

     in reply to

     Wonder what the timescale is here

     Would they have tasted different ~ 25 years ago?

   • The research fairy (bgcarlisle@scholar.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Mar-2022 08:21:18 UTC The research fairy

     in reply to

     > Red Delicious Apples Weren’t Always Horrible
     > Turns out, the Red Delicious apple used to be, well, delicious. Here’s what went wrong.

     https://newengland.com/today/food/red-delicious-apple/

     > “It turns out that a lot of the genes that coded for the flavor-producing compounds were on the same chromosomes as the genes for the yellow striped skin,” Traverso explains, “so as you favored the more consistently colored apples, you were essentially disfavoring the same genes that coded for great flavor.”

   • Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Mar-2022 08:21:20 UTC Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅

     in reply to
     @bgcarlisle So, pretty much literally "more red than delicious".
   • e. e. arroyo (eearroyo1312@scholar.social)'s status on Tuesday, 01-Mar-2022 09:08:36 UTC e. e. arroyo

     in reply to

     @bgcarlisle reminds me of this

     https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/22906478/food-diversity-extinction-dan-saladino

     >Fruit breeders, over centuries, have been ingenious at giving us something that we love: sweetness. They have bred out the bitterness.

     When you realize that the bitter taste comes from compounds that help plants protect themselves from pests, then you understand why it might be beneficial to retain that flavor. We’ve taken the beneficial bitter compounds out, and we’ve cloaked plants in pesticides and other chemicals to protect them.

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