Hey, Caelian, I think it has a lot to do with watering habits/moisture levels.
I stop watering a day or two before I harvest, with the thought that the flavor
and heat concentration will be higher. As for fertilizer, I think a plant will take
what it needs as long as all the macro and micro-nutrients are available. Plants don't
discriminate "organic" from soluble synthetic fertilizers, so I don't put much emphasis
on particular brands...other than to ensure that all the nutrient needs are being met.

Josh

Yeah, "organic" to me has much more meaning when referring to what you put on the leaves/fruits than what you put on the roots.

Mushrooms grown on manure taste like mushrooms, not manure (most fortunately). Soil won't have a *direct* impact on the flavor, but the balance of nutrients might. More than that I can't say as I don't know enough.

DMF - some folks would argue that mushrooms in fact do taste like the manure they were grown in. haha! For the record, I am not one of those folks. :-)

I don't have any scientific evidence, but, my thoughts are that the soil / water can make a difference in the flavor. Maybe the roots do filter out all but the essential elements it needs to grow, but, I can't help but think there are things that are dissolved in the water that get absorbed by the plant, and since there is such a high water content in the fruit it has to have some impact on the flavor. Maybe I'm just buying into the hype. Not that I purchase / apply anything specific to change / enhance the flavor.

Yup, I agree with greenman28 here 100%.

Here, you may find this interesting and helpfull-

"However, what you taste is not what you fed your plants, but what your plants were able to do with what they were fed. Organic solutions can be more complex in terms of the array of substances and organisms they contain when compared to standard synthetic fertilizer solutions. As a result, the plants have more variety in their diet which they can utilize, possibly resulting in more complex tastes, etc. Now, that was one of the upsides of organics. One of the drawbacks of organic crop production vs. standard hydroponic fertilizer is that the majority of nutrients are not immediately available to the plant. This makes it very difficult to monitor and regulate concentration and ratios of elements available to the plant. If using premium hydroponic fertilizers, the vast majority of nutrients are immediately available in precise and measurable values. As a result, healthy vigorous plants can reach their genetic potential which includes characteristics such as taste and flavor. Plants do not differentiate the nutrients they absorb resulting from hydroponic or organic nutrient solutions. For example, nitrogen is typically available as NO3- or NH4+. It does not matter to the plant whether it came from guano or bottled nutrient. "

Source: http://www.simplyhydro.com/

This post was edited by TheMasterGardener1 on Mon, Jan 7, 13 at 1:25

Thank you for all the opinions and the link.

My grandfather did not like any inorganic food and food cooked by gas and electric. He was so complicated, he liked firewood for cooking, and earthen pots for particular foods preparation. Most of his life was consumed organic food and firewood for cooking. He knew very well the differences in taste. I cannot differentiate the taste of organic and inorganic vegetables very well.

May be my grandfather's time the growers may used incorrect inorganic fertilizers and the plants could not get all the needed nutrients so the taste might be different from the organic vegetables.

An interesting link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_IoNQHMFLk

Thanks,
Caelian

I don't doubt that environmental conditions can affect the taste of veggies, but the way it happens is subtle and not obvious. It could be a combination of the soil, night temps, hours of direct sunlight and watering schedule all interacting. For the most part, two Nantes carrots grown 2000 miles apart from the same seed packet are going to taste the same in blind taste tests. And two Black Beauty zucchinis grown in organic and 'standard' gardens across the street from each other are going to taste identical in taste tests. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible to get somewhat different tastes out of some crops. But I have no doubt that the vast majority of differences are more imagined than real. That's discounting for soils heavy with salt, or other such obvious conditions.

"I don't doubt that environmental conditions can affect the taste of veggies, but the way it happens is subtle and not obvious."

The same peppers seed is grown in zone 8a it will grow hotter peppers. Same seeds grown in zone 4b it will have less heat in the peppers.

Yes environment effects taste.

Good quote, MG.

Josh

Thank you for all of your opinions.

I used fertilizer and I eat both organic and inorganic. I ate some naturally grew wild mushrooms (edible) most of them are taste so good. When I washed it it has a lot of starch/sticky and slippery that's not found in nowadays mushrooms found in the super markets.

The mushroom like this one are taste so good, I do not know this one grew in wild or in farm.

I do not understand the real taste of organic food and inorganic food because of the food preparation and the ingredients we used and the skill of the cook. Most of the naturally grew mushrooms I have eaten are good for fry cook, some onion, garlic, ginger, dry chili and oil no complicated preparation. The same style I tried the mushroom found in our supermarkets the taste is so different. To know the different taste may need simple cook, without much ingredients. The another example is coriander grow in the pot with fertilizer and the coriander grow in the garden soil without fertilizer are also taste different.

The coming season probably I may know the different between the ghost organic and inorganic.

It is just my experience and my opinion. I'll use fertilizer/compost organic or inorganic whatever my plants need.

Regards,
Caelian

This post was edited by chilliwin on Tue, Jan 8, 13 at 16:44