The Foolish Quest for the Perfect Apple

The insane quest for "quantifying" quality!

This is a copy of my article on my other Substack channel. As you may know by now (especially if you read my book), the new species of humans I call Homo economicus, is a “quantitatively-driven” species which tirelessly pursues and monetizes “perfection” through the relentless expansion of scale (quantity), speed and convenience. And even his perception of “quality” is formed by physically “quantifying” it! For example, when it comes to apples, many producers classify the “quality” of apples in standardized “sizes” such as “Minimum 2.5 inch in diameter” or in the “degree” of redness or “depth” of skin color (which are not necessarily indicators of quality if the fruit is harvested prematurely and gassed for color development, or if the variety has a naturally dull colors).

So commercial “large-scale” apple growers go through great lengths to ensure they grow, harvest, sort, and package more standard (uniform) and colorful apples. And to achieve this level of perfection and standardization (which is unnatural because nature follows spectral and biodiverse growth patterns, as explained in my book), growers often have to resort to chemical pesticides, post-harvest gas chambers, and other non-regenerative mechanized approaches (please read my article about the neurological impacts of certain pesticides).

Interestingly, the US Agricultural Marketing Service has also designed a complex system of grading the “quality” of the fruit by measuring how close it is to having a “perfect appearance!”

The current grades are categorized as Extra Fancy, Fancy, Number 1, and Utility. For example, here is what inspectors will look for if you want to market your product as Extra Fancy:

U.S. Extra Fancy - “U.S. Extra Fancy” consists of apples of one variety (except when more than one variety is printed on the container) which are mature but not overripe, clean, fairly well formed, free from decay, internal browning, internal breakdown, soft scald, scab, freezing injury, visible water core, and broken skins. The apples are also free from injury caused by bruises, brown surface discoloration, smooth net-like russeting, sunburn or sprayburn, limb rubs, hail, drought spots, scars, disease, insects, or other means. The apples are free from damage caused by bitter pit or Jonathan spot and by smooth solid, slightly rough or rough russeting, or stem or calyx cracks, as well as damage by invisible water core after January 31st of the year following the year of production except for the Fuji variety of apples. Invisible water core and smooth net-like russeting shall not be scored against the Fuji variety of apples under any circumstances. For the apple varieties listed in table 1 of §51.305, each apple of this grade has the amount of color specified for the variety. (See §§51.305 and 51.306.)

What is The Problem with Large, Standard, Perfect Looking Fruits?

The problem is that unlike factory farming, natural biological (regenerative) farming does not produce uniform-sized, perfect-looking fruits. Nature’s creations are not uniform and perfect the same way humans are not all created of the same size, height and perfect complexion (unless we resort to genetic engineering or Botox as I described in my recent article).

As usual, in his “quantitative” quest to expand scale, speed and convenience, Homo economicus sacrifices (trades away) “quality.”

When I ask friends about the definition of “quality,” many of them are at loss for words. For years, our educational systems have focused us on numbers and quantity. Our economies are measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth and our personal happiness in the size of our cars, TVs, refrigerators and homes. When I ask friends how do they determine the “quality” of anything (food items like fruits, vegetables, meats, chocolate or non-food items like furniture, cars, etc.), they often cannot think of a decisive algorithm to distinguish quality from appearance or quantitative measures (like size or price).

What is Quality?

I define Quality as “That which cannot be measured/quantified in the short-term.” For example, we cannot measure the “quality” of our relationships (as spouses, friends, coworkers, parents, etc.) by numbers (how much money we spend in that relationship, how many children or friends or lovers we have, etc.). As parents, we cannot use the size of our children and their game/toy as indicators of the “quality” of our parenting. By the same token, political leaders cannot use GDP and the size of our homes, cars and weaponry as indicators of the “quality” of our societies.

Usually only “time” will judge the “quality” of anything particularly when it comes to health (of our body or relationships). For example, a perfect-looking extra fancy apple that causes a spike in our blood sugar a few hours after its consumption will be judged by historians as having a lower quality (health-wise) than a slower digested (hence not causing a spike in our blood glucose levels) odd-looking deformed pale-looking apple of heirloom varieties (such as Rhode Island Greening or Newtown Pippin) grown without chemicals in wild nature, small orchards or someone’s backyard. These heirloom varieties are often smaller, more pale or yellow-greenish color, more tart (sour and acidic, less sweet) but also have thicker skins, with higher fiber, vitamins A, B, C, E and K than most cross-hybridized perfect looking larger, redder, sweeter apples.

As an impatient superficial species, Homo economicus continues its misguided pursuit of perfection by trying to “quantify” and then “scale up” everything. Meanwhile, we are fast losing “quality” in everything we do or make!