Buying Veggies & fruits
On selecting your vegetables and fruits
here are some things to try, some will look a little funny, but you'll find real experienced shoppers doing this anyway
- .Smell the produce, this is best with fruit and melons, it should smell worth eating with a rich but fresh perfume. If it smells too strong, or odd in anyway, it may have been damaged or is old even if it looks OK.
- Examine the color, this one is pretty straightforward (such as brown bananas etc), but some fruit such as pineapple display their ripeness by their changing from green to gold.
- Examine it for lumps, bumps and bruises and insect damage. Do the store a favor and discretely hand in any damaged or old produce on their display as it removes the risk of contamination spreading and makes their display look better.
- Originally it was recommended to test by squeezing fruit near the stem (such as mangoes and avocados), but in reality this is a bad habit to encourage as this is a sure way to end with bad fruit, even if you take the fruit you tested. Just don't do it.
- Talk to the people who work in that section - they know if a particularly choice range of new season produce has just come in, or some rare produce worth trying. Compliment them (regardless of the size of the store) if they have something good as it's always worthwhile to encourage this.
- Leafy greens, broccoli, carrots etc should be crisp and firm, any sign of wilt or discoloring and its past its prime.
- Particularly with tomatoes and soft fruits - buy & use good ripe ones for today and select slightly under-ripe ones to ripen at home for the next use. Don't buy all ripe food, unless you intend to eat it today as it could go bad before you needed it. If this sounds like it may be too complicated, shop when you need to.
- Avoid anything that has sprouted when it shouldn't (such as potato, sweet potato, onion, garlic, ginger etc).
- The common white mushroom should be closed (look at them stem pointing up - the mushroom should still be closed to the stem). When they open and reveal the brown underside, they age quicker. If they are open so the top curls up, they could be over-ripe which can make you very ill. Some varieties are OK like this, some aren't.
- Eggplants are usually light purple when they are fresh and darken more as they ripen. Near black eggplants have little time left.
- Ginger should be smooth with the smaller bulbs pinkish.
- The "Bargain" rack should be explored carefully - occasionally you might find a win of surplus stock to make pickles and chutneys, but sometimes its only suitable for the compost bin. Save money, buy fresh and be healthy.