Yes, because the varieties you get at the grocery store are varieties that are optimized for profit. That means fast growing and sturdy enough to withstand the insane logistics of modern supply chains. Taste, shelf life and nutrition all come later. Buying veggies that aren't grown in greenhouses year-round off-season also means that by the time you pick it up at the store, it might have been in storage for months already.

Try getting in-season heirloom varieties at a local farmer's market. The result will be very different. Sometimes the prices won't even be that different, since a lot of middlemen are cut out.

As a little bonus, you help your local economy, and the person selling to you will be able to tell you what it is you're getting your hands on.

Yes. Actually, we have a lot of fruit and nut trees in the garden ourselves, but this year there was no good harvest, probably because it was too cold for the fruit blossom and hardly any bees flew. Only mirabelles we had plenty, so that we could make jam out of them. I hope that things will get better next year. 🙏🧚