Guide To Buying Vegetables

Now, I'll share about simple tips on how to buy vegetables. Before we buy vegetables, please check the characteristic and the freshness such as bright, crispness and lively color. As we know that vegetables are usually have the best price and the best quality in the peak of their season. With good preparation and some creativity, we can turn the vegetables as special as occasions, beside as everyday meals. Please enjoy the tips below.

Should be firm, fresh, bright, well-shaped, of good color. Avoid withered or shriveled cucumbers with are tough , rubbery, and bitter. Puffiness and dull color indicates over -maturity and toughness. These, however, are suitable for pickling. Irregular dark, sunken areas indicate decay.

Best quality is large, tender-leave, and fresh. Wilted, flabby, yellow, or tough leaves indicate are or damage and are wasteful.

Best qualities are heavy, firm, free from blemish, and of uniform dark color. Wilted, shriveled, soft or flabby condition indicates age, poor handling, or staleness, and consequently poor flavor or bitterness. Worm injury is self-evident, can usually be cut away. Dark-brown spots on the surface indicate decay.

The bulb has a number of cloves, each in its own skin, and all enclosed in an outer skin. If the outer skin is split, the bulbs are called "splits" or doubles. There is no different are in quality. Garlic is usually sold in strings of 50 or 100, in red or white varieties. They should be dry, clean, not soft, with outer skin intact. Decay may appear in the form of mold or rot. Dry root causes shrinking and shriveling and works downwards.

Beet tops, broccoli, chicory, collards, cress, dandelions, endive, escarole, kale, mustard, sorrel, spinach and turnip tops are available on most markets. They should be clean, fresh, young, green and tender. Flabby or wilted plants indicate age or damage. They may sometimes be restored by trimming and placing them in water. Seed stems indicate age and toughness.

Color is usually dark or bluish green, clean and fresh. Brownish appearance may indicate growth in cold weather, but does not affect quality. Avoid plants with yellow or wilted leaves as wasteful.

Four varieties are marketed-crisp head (Iceberg), butted head (Big Boston), romaine, and leaf lettuce. Crisp heads are firmer, larger, and crisper than butter heads. Romaine is elongated, has a coarser leaf and a stronger flavor. Leaf lettuce does not head, has curled or smooth leaf and a crisp texture. Head lettuce should be fresh, crisp, tender, and firm to hand, with only a few wrapper leaves, and free from decay. Lettuce with well-developed seed stems at the knob the head usually has a bitter flavor and is wasteful. Dead or discolored areas on the outer leaves may indicate decay. Sometimes a soft rot penetrates to the interior of the head. Broken, ragged, bruised, or wilted leaves usually do not affect quality. Even decay, if not deep, may be removed by trimming.

Greens should be fresh, tender, crisp, and of good green color. Wilted, dirty, discolored, or spotted leaves indicate poor quality, are usually wasteful. Seed stems indicate age and toughness.

Pods should be young, tender, fresh, clean, and of small-to-medium size. They should snap easily when broken, be punctured easily. Pods past their prime are dull, dry, hard, woody, fibrous, and the seeds are hard. Those that have been held too long are likely to be shriveled and discolored.

Two general classes are sold: Bermuda and Spanish (Valencia) types; and domestic American type.

The Bermuda is a flat type, in white, yellow, and red varieties. Popular size are 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches in diameter.

The Spanish type is large, mild, sweet, and either white or yellowish brown. It is usually globular but may be oval in shape.

Domestic Onions are globular, may be yellow, red, white or brown. They keep well and are available year around. White varieties are mildest.

"Boiler" is a small-sized onion, 1 to 2 inches in diameter, either are Domestic or Bermuda. Those under 1 inch, particularly white ones, are used for pickling.

All onions should be bright, clean, hard, well-shaped , with dry skins. Where seed stems have developed (accompanied by thick, woody stem) they are undesirable. Rot may attack either the outer scales or the center scales. Moisture at the neck is an indication of decay. Misshapen onions (usually splits) tend to be wasteful.