It is always a great idea to shop for vegetables with the seasons. When vegetables are in season, most likely the vegetables are fresh and it’s a great time to eat them. The prices are lower, particularly for the locally grown because there is no added cost of transportation or shipment of the produce. And, without a doubt local vegetables are by far fresher. It’s a smart idea to talk with your local farmer’s market or produce clerk and determine the seasons for each vegetable, and then you get everything fresh.
A really good example are tomatoes, which grown during the winter tend to have a thick skin and taste bland. A tomato doesn’t even splat when you hit it with a baseball bat – more like a solid base hit in baseball. When tomatoes are grown in season, they appear juicy, solid and taste yummy.
When you go looking for green leafy vegetables, so you can make the tastiest salad or coleslaw, it is a very wise move to use a smart eye and patience to pick the freshest bunch. You see, fresh lettuce is crisp to the feel of the hand. You can easily break a leaf, and if it snaps, you’ve got a fresh one. Then, take a bit of the lettuce, so you know it is crisp all the way through. Also, look for brown spots or tears through the lettuce leaves. If the lettuce has plenty of brown spots or tears the older the lettuce is.
A common mistake is putting the lettuce on ice. That is a big no-no because ice freezes the lettuce leaves and causes them to turn to mush, yuck.
Another tip concerns cabbage. Buying a cabbage that holds the large green outer leaves is the best. In that way, the vegetable is still very fresh and most likely just arrive to the produce section. Produce clerks cut the large green leaves off the vegetable when they begin to look brown, meaning they are not fresh.
Remember, if you want fresh vegetables you need to hunt for them and demand them from the farmer or produce clerk.