HELLO JI!
SOUR GRIPES! WHY ARE ONTARIO FRUITS SO TART THIS SUMMER?
Ontario fruits are so tart they are almost bitter. Image credit: HIMANSHU DEWANGAN on Unsplash.
The grapes are sour! Not like the fox in Aesop’s Fables consoling himself, nor am I the person who believes all fruit in our northern climes is “Watery, insipid and flavourless”.
No, the grapes really are sour. Peaches, too, and don’t even get me started on plums! All year I wait for our brief but glorious summer, for produce that is grown close to home and not shipped from thousands of miles away. For tree-ripened fruits, not ones that are picked half-ripe so they arrive looking good.
This year, I was sorely disappointed.
First the grapes. Then baskets of Ontario-grown peaches. And the yellow plums that were so tart they were almost bitter.
Undeterred, I decided to make ambal, a Bengali relish made with green mangoes, panch phoron and sugar. But no amount of sugar and gur could salvage this batch of plums. A Google search suggested adding baking soda to neutralize the acid. When that didn’t help much, I decided to see if others had the same experience with fruits.
A friend said berries were sour. Another said, he, too, had picked up fruit that was sour, but assumed it was a one-off.
We decided to dig a little into just what was going on. It was obvious others had had the same experience, and were asking the same questions. Someone had noticed that mustard was hotter, while another wondered if this was a way to get everyone to opt for American produce. Because they’d noticed that the fruit imported from the US was sweeter and placed right next to Ontario’s tart fruits.
Moving past the conspiracy theories, we learnt from all-knowing Google that Ontario fruits may taste sharper or more tart this year due to a cooler, wetter spring combined with late frost events. These conditions slowed early fruit development and reduced sugar accumulation in specific crops like stone fruits and berries, amplifying their natural acidity. Weather factors impacting flavour included spring frosts – early low temperatures damaged blossoms and stressed young fruit sets, particularly impacting crops like tart cherries.
Cool and wet conditions through Spring and the lack of consistent heat early in the season slowed down the photosynthesis process needed to build up natural fruit sugars. Lower amounts of direct sunlight during critical ripening phases kept acid levels prominent while delaying sweetness.
Grant’s Desi Achiever Dr Praveen Saxena (2013) had spoken about the effect of climate and habitat change on plant properties. Included in Canada’s Who’s Who, the internationally renowned expert on plant conservation said, “Climate change brings about natural changes in biodiversity. Plants need time to adapt.”
So there you have it. Climate change doesn’t just affect some people in some remote corner of the world, it comes home in more ways than one. We’re going apple-picking with the youngest member of the family soon and I’m really hoping we are not left with a sour taste in the mouth.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Dussehra!
Happy Halloween!
Shagorika Easwar