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Questions tagged [produce]

20 questions
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What is the point of washing produce in cold water?

You can find tons of tips online saying you should always wash your produce. What is the point of it though? I mean with some hard produce, say carrots you can obviously give them a good scrub with a brush and I can see how thoroughly it cleans…
user3681304
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Do I need to worry about differences in produce in foreign recipes?

I am from Egypt and so I think some produce is different from the ones in Europe or the US where most of the recipes found online are written. Should I stick to a regional cook book or is the variation in things like garlic, onions and tomatoes…
Ahmad Hani
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4 answers

Is unnecessary refrigeration problematic?

Our local grocery store's produce section has a few areas of refrigerated produce along the walls--mostly "wet" vegetables like lettuce, squash, peppers, green beans, etc. The rest, in the middle of the produce section is simply on shelves in bins,…
Ray
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Fruit Flies and Storage of Fresh Produce

What is a good way of keeping fresh produce (in particular, from the garden) and herbs in the kitchen without attracting fruit flies? We dispose of tomatoes etc as soon as they start to go bad, but it seems like leaving out the produce that would be…
mfg
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What's the skinny on fat asparagus?

I had always heard that pencil thin asparagus is the best, and that has always been what I look for. But now I've heard from a few (what I would consider reliable) sources that skinny isn't better when choosing asparagus. My local grocery tends to…
Jolenealaska
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Should you wash raspberries?

I know, the hard and fast rule is to wash all your produce, but I have the hardest trouble washing raspberries. They inevitably get waterlogged and lose so much texture no matter how gentle I am. I see raspberries on cooking shows and online recipes…
Auntie KK
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Is there a reason to peel onions for storage or sale?

I typically try to buy organic onions. Recently the only organic onions that are available are already peeled (i.e., have the outer papery skin removed). Why is this being done? Presumably there is a cost to peeling the onions for the consumer so…
DQdlM
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How can I tell if vitelottes/purple potatoes have "green flesh"?

I know not to eat white-fleshed potatoes if the skin/flesh is turning green. Is there any way to tell with purple potatoes? I know this variety is darker purple all the way through, unlike some... so I wouldn't be able to see a green flesh color…
jeanschwalenberg
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How should I choose corn?

What should I look for when I'm buying corn on the cob? We have a lot of roadside corn stands where we live, and I'm never sure how to pick the best ears.
Rebekah
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What methods are there of getting fresh local meat & produce?

I often go to Whole Foods, but I feel like I'm getting ripped off there. I can walk out having spent $120 on a single bag of groceries. I try to get to a Farmer's Market occasionally, but not often enough I guess. Are there other ways to buy as…
hobodave
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How to tell if fresh chilli is off?

So, I keep running into this difficulty. I buy and use a lot of fresh chillies in my cooking, but sometimes the dish turns out, well, significantly worse and I cannot identify anything I am doing differently, at least, until I started suspecting…
user2754
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What's the best way to clean and dry blueberries?

I buy organic blueberries which come in a little plastic container. I like to wash them and put them in a tupperware container. After I wash them I place them between some paper towels to let them dry, but they take forever to dry this way. Is…
Rob Sobers
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Why is grocery store celery trimmed of its leaves?

I only use celery as an ingredient. It’s part of the trinity, and gumbo wouldn’t be gumbo without it. While I was in Asia, I learned how useful and delicious celery leaves are, but I can’t find a local supermarket that sells un-trimmed celery. Is…
Just Joel
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How does produce grading in the US work?

The US has a lot of standards about grading produce. Is everything graded on the same scale (with the same labels)? What characteristics do the grades generally depend on, and what characteristics do they ignore? And is all produce graded, so that…
Cascabel
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Substituting fresh vegetables/fruits for canned

I've made a commitment this year to reduce the amount of waste coming out of my home. This includes cooking and buying in smaller portions so less is composted and paying attention to what kind of packaging my food comes in, so it can be eliminated…
QMusic3
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