Why were the last two punnets of blueberries that I bought from Waitrose so horrible?

[bran]

The looked fine on the outside but on the inside instead of being blue and juicy and full of blueberry flavour they were pale green and didn't taste of much at all, except for the small ones which taste bitter. Is it just because it's a different variety or are European blueberries always inferior to North/South American ones? This lot are a variety called Bluecrop and are British grown, the previous ones were from Spain but I don't know the variety.

I don't think I've ever had duff blueberries from across the Atlantic, but I would rather keep my food air-miles to a minimum, and anyway there only seems to be European in the shops atm.

I would imagine it's the crop/growing conditions. They are not native to these soils/lack of sun.
I bought a punnet of strawberries yesterday and they were from hereford and delicious. Picked another one up today from the same place in the same store and they were from the USA and disgusting. I will certainly look closer in future!

are they not "in season" at the moment?

its worth noting which variety you like - they are different. Not that I can remember any at the moment!

I'm not sure about Blueberry seasons, but I think they're a summer crop so they ought to be in season now.

The weird thing about the bad Spanish ones is that I bought two punnets on the same day because they were on special offer. The first punnet was delicious and ds ate tons of them, so many that I fear his digestive system would wreak a dreadful revenge, but then the second punnet was horrible. They were both Spanish but they may have been different varieties.

I've never had good French ones, which may be a lack of sun issue and I suspect Britain would have the same problem, but they do grow well quite far north in the States.

I think I will just have to learn the variety names [sigh], there just isn't enough room left in my brain for all the different varieties of fruit/veg. I already know the different tastes of different potatoes, tomatoes, apples, pears, lettuces and grapes, and now I'll have to make a bit of space for blueberry types.

Are they not indigenous? I grew up picking what I called 'frachan' berries in Ireland which were very similiar. I'll google it.....

apparently they peak in late summer

the Waitrose Spanish ones have regularly been the variety "Star".

My blueberry bush is just ripening and they're still a tad sour.

i have heard from welsh and scottish people of picking blueberries (blaeberries for sc, don't know cw) anyway neither of them thought much of them and they were eating straight off bush. blackberries have all the same or better nutrients haven't they? blueberries are dead nasty.

Frochans are similar but not exactly the same Carmenere, they're much smaller for a start and I don't think you can cultivate them. (My mouth is watering at the memory of roaming the hills behind Glencullen stuffing myself with them. )

Ah yes they are European bilberries aka Myrtilles in France.

the ones from spain are the nicest at the moment i got some from waitrose the other day and they were vile too!!

i love blueberries, but the ones you can get in the uk are vile, usually are quite tasteless
am going blueberry picking with the dds in canada later this summer.....mmm......we will all have blue-stained faces and shoes!! (will be late summer - mid to late august in eastern north america for the crop btw)

My bluecrop (I have two blueberry varieties, get me) is cropping right now, and yes they are green inside but still v nice