How to Buy the Best Produce

Everyone eats fruits and vegetables, but very few people actually know how to buy premium produce. Do you know how to pick the best sweet onion, or a ripe cantaloupe? I have compiled a list of how to choose produce that is at its freshest, peak flavor, and will have the longest shelf life.

First, you always need to look at the produce, either fruits or vegetables, and check the appearance. Look for discoloration, soft spots, dehydrated stems, and wrinkles. Skins on fruits and vegetables should be unblemished, firm to the touch, and look appealing.

Then check the smell, if the cut stem smells fresh, not fermented, and should even smell good like the vegetable or fruit it is. Smell the bin the produce is in. Does it smell like the apples it contains? If it's a good smell, great, it if smells moldy or no smell at all pass this bin up.

The stems on grapes should be green, not all brown and dried up. Give your grapes a gentle shake, if half the grapes fall off they are old, don't buy them. If the stem is green, the grapes feel heavy, and they all stay on with that gentle shake, you're good to go. Any time you have a soft, slimy, moldy, or shriveled stem, pass on that produce it is too old, and will not have a good texture or flavor.

The most important thing to remember is weight! The weight of any produce should be heavier than it looks. A lightweight vegetable and/or fruit is generally an under ripe one or an old one. Either way, you do not want this lightweight. Pick up a medium sized orange, lemon, or lime, weigh it in your hand for a couple of seconds, do the same with a second piece of fruit. Which one is the heaviest? Return the lightweight, pick up a third fruit again weigh it. When you have several heavy oranges, you have the best there is in that bin. Remember the largest is not usually the sweetest; it is generally the medium sized fruit that will have the best flavor, most sweetness, and the most juice.

Generally, the best places to buy produce are the Farmer's Markets, or the local fruit vendors, and local groceries if they carry local seasonal farm fresh fruit. This produce from local farmers will be the freshest because it is not picked under-ripe and allowed to ripen during transport. The produce will be best tasting and sweetest if it is allowed to ripen on the vine. It will also be cheeper because there is little to no transport cost to pass on to us the consumers.

Specific produce:

Onions: Look for the flattest one that you can find. The flatter an onion is between stem and root, indicates the sweetness of the onion. The perfectly round or enlongated onion will always have the strongest and most bitter flavor regardless of the type of onion. Also, look for firm onions. The onions available in stores in the Spring are always last year’s crop. Old onions will have a spongy feel, try to find the firmest onions so they will last a week or two.

Cantaloupes: Look for an evenly rough skin all over. They should have no green showing through the rough ridges on the skin. This whitish/yellowish fruit will be a ripe, sweet cantaloupe. Again, also check the stem end and the weight of your fruit before buying.

Pineapples: Look at the skin, each of those little points are called eyes. The eyes should be the same size over the whole pineapple, which indicates that it is fully ripe. The coloration of a pineapple can vary, but should be bright in color, not a dull all over brownish color. Pineapples do not ripen after cut, so what you buy is what you get. Pineapples should also be heavy in weight and have a firm feel with a little give for the best fruit.

Corn: Feel the tops of the corn, the end with the silk hanging out. If you feel a pointy tip, exchange for another one, until you find some with rounded tops. This means, they have had a chance to fully develop their flavor and sweetness.

Watermelons: They should be a medium size. Big is not better. Look for that buttery yellow to white spot on the bottom. That is where it sat on the ground, but also where the sugars have settled. The bigger the sugar-spot the sweeter the melon. If the watermelon has clear unbroken stripes all the way around the melon, choose a different one. This one will not be fully ripe or it will have a dull flavor with a mealy texture.

Avocados: Look for dark skins, with no blemishes. They should have a firm texture with a little give. If everyone has been squeezing the avocados they all will be bruised, look for the least "squeezed" ones. Avocados will continue to ripen after they are picked. If you want them to ripen quickly, put them in a brown paper bag for a day or two. The ethylene gas that all ripening fruits and vegetables give off naturally, will help to speed up the ripening process, if you keep it contained within the brown bag. This ripening technique also helps with apples and bananas.

Tomatoes: They should be red, or at least the color of the type of tomato that it is. Pale red tomatoes will not be as flavorful as a tomato left to ripen before harvested. Most tomatoes in the stores are picked green and ripen in transport. They never develop the intense flavor of a truly vine ripened tomato straight out of the garden. If you put the tomatoes in the refrigerator, the tomato will ripen, but with little flavor, and will turn mealy in texture. Store your uncut tomatoes on the counter, and the under ripe tomatoes on your kitchen windowsill to develop the maximum flavor.

My last advice is look at how the produce is stored and displayed at the grocery store. Some of it is kept wet; other produce is kept strictly dry. Some is chilled and other produce is left at room temperature. Try to emulate the same type of storage at home for your produce to have the longest shelf life and most flavorful fruits and vegetables. Always buy seasonal produce in season, and buy locally for the best flavors, least cost, and freshest product. Get to know your produce guy, they are very proud of their produce and happy to talk to you about it. They often let you sample the produce before you buy it, and can tell you how to choose the best.

Buy the best and you will enjoy the best. The best doesn't mean the most expensive. Enjoy Spring, Summer and Fall, it's the best for variety and availability of our local produce. Enjoy your veggies!

All photos were selected off of Flikr, a free photo resource.