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I used to eat wild strawberries as a kid...they grew in the outfield, which was the position I always got assigned. I may not have paid too much attention to the game.

I have noticed that "feral" citrus fruit seems to lose much of its sweetness, citrus trees that have been abandoned and are just growing wild in the jungle. It's not nearly so sweet as the stuff we farm.

Once, years ago, on a Boy Scout hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we came upon a wild apple tree that was bearing fruit. Those apples were really sour...but wonderful. I have always wished since for an apple that tasted like that, but never found one in a store.

"Those apples were really sour...but wonderful. I have always wished since for an apple that tasted like that, but never found one in a store."

And you won't find a really good apple in a store here down South. To find the apple you seek you will have to make a trip to Wisconsin or Minnesota in mid to late October and pick up some Haralson apples. Haralson is a "type" apple like Macintosh, Red Delicious(yuck,ptooie,nasty), Granny Smith, etc. are types.

Haralsons are like eating the most delicious apple you can think of soaked in lemon juice. They also make the best apple pies or crisps(sorry, too many carbs?). They are very hard to grow "pretty"---very finicky apples---but boy, are they worth it!

What apples we get in stores down here have been in CA(controlled atmosphere) storage for at least a year or so. Very bad on the texture and taste buds. In short, it ruins good apples. It can't ruin Red Delicious because they all start out ruined. :-) They sure are pretty, though. Use them as a centerpiece during the Holidays then toss them in the garbage!

Ex-apple orchard owner, Lakeside

Oh, yeah, I'm on Atkins, too!

I used to eat wild strawberries as a kid...they grew in the outfield, which was the position I always got assigned. I may not have paid too much attention to the game.

LOL! I remember the same thing about playing softball when I was little...I can't catch worth doodley squat, so I'd always get put wayyyyyy out where it wasn't likely a ball would ever make it. I can remember picking strawberries and sorta vaguely being aware that a game was going on.

And I know what you mean about wild apples. There are several up in a meadow above my Dad's...not sweet, but GOSH they're good! We used to sit up there and just eat them one after another, still warm from the sun. Took about half a dozen to make up as much fruit as a normal store bought type.