Supermarket comparison: Edeka (DE) vs. Coop (CH). Why are vegetables in Germany so much bigger? Swiss farmers use the same chemicals and artificial fertilizer as their neighbours. But why are their farms not as productive as their EU peers?
Supermarket comparison: Edeka (DE) vs. Coop (CH). Why are vegetables in Germany so much bigger? Swiss farmers use the same chemicals and artificial fertilizer as their neighbours. But why are their farms not as productive as their EU peers?
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Why are German Shepard’s larger than Schnautzer? Why have tomatoes not all the same size and why is the San Marzano long? Why are Red Boskoop Apples so much larger than Gala Apples?
Typically, bigger is not better. A lot of fruit and vegetables are grown huge but contain a lot of water weight since they are sold by weight, but not much flavor.
Chad German vegetables vs virgin Swiss vegetables
I guess consumer preferences would be largely at play here in terms of the type of product is being sold in the supermarkets (smaller/younger veg is just easier to sell than a tough 3kg cabbage even if per kg price is lower).
the bigger the better !!
Is there really that much of a difference here if you zoomed out to the same level? Sorry, I need a banana for scale.
Actually, Swiss farmers are smaller in stature than their counterparts in Germany, where the German farmers are supersized people. So the smaller farmer thinks his carrots/grapes/apples are big enough, whereas the German farmer, being as large as he is, waits until the apples are not looking like the Swiss apples which look like grapes in comparison to the German farmer. 😁
Tell me you are american without telling me you are american
Yeah, no.
Because Switzerland.
Need banana for scale /s
Could it be Switzerland’s ban on genetically modified crops?
Cabbage, photographed with a potato.
Most likely these are different cultivars/sorts that are both sold under the term cabbage. Similar to how pumpkins come in a range of sizes.
As for why a specific sort is grown and sold can be anything from tradition to climatic conditions to overall consumer prefference.
I have seen fairly big cabbages on local fields too, so I assume that this is more a Coop decision than a farming issue.
The only thing I see/saw… “balls, balls, balls”
The bigger cabbages I believe end up in Lidl and aldi. I guess it’s more a consumer preference thing for coop and migros.
Why are your supermarkets so foggy?
My guess is they just let them grow longer before harvesting.
Ok ours might be smaller, but I’m sure they are also twice the price to even it out.
Because Migros and especially Coop wants smaller vegetables. They wont even buy cabbages over 1 Kg.
Because Swiss vegetables have to be stored in [small] Swiss refrigerators 😛
Sry mein English erlaubt mir nicht hier meine Antwort zu formulieren: In der Schweiz werden grosse Gemüse,Salate usw an Restaurants Grossküchen usw Verkauft die kommen nie in den normalen Handel.
I prefer smallest one because I live alone (sometimes with my girlfriend) and it’s two big for 2 people. (That’s what she said 😂)
In Germany a lot of products are made “Stinginess is cool”-oriented (Geiz ist geil) and the most important thing is price/kg, same goes for meat, fruits, bread and other stuff. In Switzerland quality is usually more important. The bigger and faster you grow vegetables or fruits, the more taste gets lost.
Btw size of the cabbage has nothing to do with productivity. The output is measured in total kg not cabbage size. And if the goal is to plant and harvest nice reasonable sized cabbages, instead of big huge ones who taste like Iceberg lettuce, those two cant even be compared.
Another example is the apple tree. Depending on how you cut the tree in winter and during the year, you can influence how many apples will grow. The less apples the tree can grow, the bigger they will get. So you have bigger apples, but less in number. Then, of course, you can also take varieties that grow much faster and become big (compared to other varieties) anyway, but those usually have less flavour.
So someone told me this, so keep me honest:
The Swiss, much like Norway, have smaller farms and are not industrialized farms like in Germany. No Swiss cow farmer has 2,000 cows, but a German one needs that to survive. Given so much of the industry is protected here, a Swiss farmer can survive on 50+ cows.
In Germany you can find fresh broccoli in December if you like, but not in a lot of Switzerland and especially not in Schwyz. Because it’s not in season. That tells me the Swiss do not grow crops like the rest of the EU. It’s far more organic and natural, and thus the veg will usually be more naturally shaped too.
Have small fridge and don’t want to eat cabbage all week?
Cabbage can grow huge if you water them insanely frequently. One year my parents tried it, and had like 5kg and bigger heads. Same soil and process as the previous years. Taste was the same as small ones as far as I’ve remember. Both fresh and as ‘sauerkraut’.
That was more than 20 years ago and in different country. I just remember how gigantic they were and that only single factor was at stake – regular watering. And of course, giving them time to grow.
So, no gmo or anything special. No clue about other veggies, just know how we got gigantic cabbages once 😀
Don’t complain, just accept that Swiss-made is always, always better and worth triple the price.
/s
smaller country = smaller cabbages