Fresh Test Looks Often Deceiving In Quest For Fresh Produce

Summer is the season for choice produce: Succulent, bright berries. Ripe, round melons. Sweet, crisp corn. Juicy, fragrant tomatoes.

But choosing the best, freshest fruits and vegetables can be a bit of a challenge.

If you’ve got a garden, or frequent a farmer’s market, it’s relatively straightforward. You know what you’re getting hasn’t been out of the ground for more than a day or so. Grocery stores, where produce is often shipped from farther away and stored for several days, are another matter.

“When it’s fresh, 10 days is just about the shelf life of any vegetable,” says Diane Green of Greentree Naturals, an organic farm in Sandpoint. “In the store, if it’s seven days old, you’ve only got a few days that it’s going to hold in the fridge.”

When she shops at supermarkets, Green says, “Anything that’s been cut — lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, anything with a stem — I always pick it up and look at the base. If the base is really brown, it’s a good sign it’s been sitting around for a while.”

Firm texture, fresh smell and full, even colors also are positive signs, she says.

But sometimes looks can be deceiving. Who hasn’t picked up a bright red tomato in the dead of winter and discovered it to be dull and lifeless inside?

“Some people make these big beautiful fruit trays. They buy honeydew melons that are hard as a rock but they look great,” says Rick Phillips, a 21-year veteran of the Spokane produce business who operates a stand seven days a week at Sprague and Mullan.

From Phillips, Green and the comprehensive “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” by Deborah Madison (Broadway Books, 1997), here are a few tips for getting your money’s worth when purchasing produce:

Berries: Look for firm, bright, uniformly colored berries with no signs of mold. If the bottom of the container is stained, that means they’re too ripe.

“They don’t like to get warm at all,” Green warns. “If you buy berries at the store and you don’t have air conditioning, and you stop somewhere else to shop, you’d better use them that night or they’ll start to get moldy.”

If you see a moldy berry in the bunch, she says, get rid of it right away so the fungus doesn’t spread.

Melons: Since these are picked fairly green for shipping, they need to sit a while before they ripen, Phillips says.

Cantaloupes, he says, are ripe when they develop small dents over their surface: “It kind of looks like craters on the moon.” Make sure the stem end isn’t wet or gooey, or they’re overripe.

Honeydews have a net that holds their seeds in place. If you shake them and hear the seeds rattle, that means they’ve broken free from the net and the melon is getting ripe and sweet, says Phillips.

“Honeydews are really ugly when they’re ready to eat,” he says. “Everybody thinks honeydews are green (inside), but when they’re ripe, they’re white. You’ve got to let them sit around for three, four, five days. They get really ugly, show all their scars.”

With watermelons, the trick is making sure they’re still firm, Phillips says. Some people thump to see how solid they sound, but unless you’ve got an expert ear, pressing on them might be a better bet (use your thumbs for maximum pressure). Phillips also suggests checking for stems: “If there’s a little stem connected, like an umbilical cord, chances are they were picked pretty green. They might be a little pink inside (instead of red).”

Green says she always picked out bad melons until her husband taught her a simple test: “On the stem end, where it was picked, press with your finger. If there’s a little movement, it’s ripe. If it’s hard as a rock, it was picked immature.”

Peaches: While they should give just a little bit when squeezed, color is the real key here. The background should be creamy or yellow; if there’s any green, they haven’t ripened, and they’re not likely to.

Sweet onions: This year, the larger Walla Walla sweets have tended to be rotten inside, Phillips says. “Get one just above medium size and make sure it’s firm,” he advises.

Avoid onions or garlic that have sprouted, adds Green. “Anything that’s starting to grow again is old,” she says.

Carrots: Cracks usually indicate woody cores, writes Madison: “Although not a problem for stocks or juices, cracked carrots aren’t so good for eating.”

Carrots with the greens attached will be fresher, Green says. If the tops of the carrots were cut off and are starting to sprout small white hairs, that’s a sign of age.

Green beans: Look for smaller beans with a smooth texture and bright color. Pods should be firm but not tough; the more tender they are to begin with, the better they’ll be cooked.

“If you pick up a bean in the store, or a snow pea or sugar snap pea, and it feels rubbery, it’s been sitting there for a while,” Green says.

Bell peppers: While Madison frowns on wrinkles, the main thing to look out for is soft spots, Phillips says.

“If they’re wrinkled, I discount them,” he says. “They don’t look as good. But that wrinkle doesn’t mean anything. When you throw them in oil in a pan, they’re going to wrinkle anyway. It depends on how you’re going to eat them.”

Green peppers keep better, since they’re actually red, yellow, orange or purple peppers that are picked before they’re ripe. (That’s also why they’re cheaper.)

Cucumbers and zucchini: Here, wrinkles can mean the vegetables are getting rubbery, Phillips says; make sure they’re firm. For the best flavor, zucchini should be glossylooking and not too large.

As for color, cucumbers with streaks of lighter green just mean that side was exposed to the sun, says Green. But if you see yellow, usually near the stem end, that’s a sign they’re overripe.

Corn: It’s clear what you’re looking for: moist, green husks covering plump, juicy kernels in well-filled rows. To peel or not to peel, that is the question. Stripping back the husk to peek dries out the corn, and many experts say you’ll do just as well feeling with your fingers.

Green looks for tassels at the tip, the browner the better; that means the corn was pollinated and is mature and ready to eat.

To test the overall quality of a batch, Phillips suggests trying one.

“Give the guy a quarter and peel the husk back,” he says. “It’s ready to eat. The problem lot of people have with corn is they overcook it.”

Tomatoes: The best tomatoes are heavy for their size and have a noticeable aroma; attached stems are a bonus. It’s well worth the extra cost to buy vine-ripened tomatoes, Phillips says, instead of the standard ones that are picked green and gassed for color.

Vine-ripened tomatoes are more evenly colored, while those that are picked early tend to be blotchy, adds Green. And tomatoes should be slightly soft, she says: “If you have a really firm tomato, it wasn’t ripened on the vine.”

Got that? Good. But it’s only part of the story. Once you’ve picked out your produce, what do you do when you get it home?

Soft fruits generally should stay out of the refrigerator to preserve their flavor, although melons benefit from chilling just before serving. Berries need to be refrigerated, but they fade fast; use them within a day or so.

“I get people who buy bananas and put them in the refrigerator,” Phillips says. “They turn all dark and gray. Those poor bananas grew up in Ecuador. They’re used to warmer temperatures.”

Many vegetables do well refrigerated in plastic bags, but you shouldn’t chill onions, potatoes or particularly tomatoes, which lose flavor, permanently, at temperatures below 54 degrees. Declares Madison: “Cold kills everything about them that’s good.”

Onions and potatoes need to be stored in cool, dry places away from light and kept apart from each other; the interaction of their gases causes decay.

Mushrooms go in the fridge, but in closed paper bags, not plastic; plastic makes them slimy. Green also has better luck with green beans in paper bags; Phillips prefers paper over plastic for most produce because it doesn’t hold in moisture, which hastens rotting.

Whatever bags you use, produce shouldn’t be washed, peeled or cut until just before eating, cautions the American Institute for Cancer Research. That removes protective coatings and increases the moisture content, which shortens shelf life.

Lettuce is an exception, says Green. She cores it, washes the leaves (leaving them damp), lays them on a length of paper towels, puts more paper towels on top and rolls them up before refrigerating in a plastic bag. As well as staying fresher longer, she says, “You’ll end up eating more lettuce if it’s already prepared.”

Green also wraps damp paper towels around the root end of vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower before bagging them.

While most produce keeps fairly well for at least a few days, you should eat it as soon as possible, Phillips says.

“The biggest mistake people make is buying it today, and they’re going to have a picnic Sunday, and they expect it to be good by Sunday,” he says. “If people would just shop every day, they’d be a lot better off.”

Of course, that takes time. But for better taste and nutrition, it just might be worth it.

It’s your choice.