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Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

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Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#61

Post by dagw »

travisjungroth wrote: post #37
loosetypes wrote: post #32

It's good that the less shopper-favorable produce is put to use, but I'm always curious about the somewhat analogous-to-ugly-fruits case with milk: Looking at the dairy fridge and choosing solely by expiration date. Naturally, I choose the latest to expire to maximize my options within the consumption time-frame. And I think everyone does? But do you actually care about food waste if every time you make that decision…

I have never done this, and I gently suggest you stop. Do you really need those extra few days of milk expiration? If the milk with the soonest expiration date was the only one available, would you buy it or just walk out without milk? A good rule to avoid tragedy of the commons situations is to think “what if everyone did as I do?”. This is a pretty classic example here.

Do you really need those extra few days of milk expiration?

Absolutely. Even when getting the milk with the farthest away expiration data I rarely end up finishing a whole carton of milk until 1 or 2 days after that date. Without those few extra days, half the milk risks getting poured down the sink.

If the milk with the soonest expiration date was the only one available, would you buy it or just walk out without milk?

If I didn't really need milk that day, I'd almost certainly skip it. If really needed milk I'd buy it and possibly end up pouring half of it down the sink because I almost never manage to use a whole carton of milk in 3-4 days

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#62

Post by mrob »

>every once in a while you'll run into a variety of produce that only really works for fresh & doesn't lend well to processing. This mostly happens w leafy greens (we don't make … lettuce sauce)

I wish I could buy frozen lettuce. Lettuce can be cooked (e.g. for lettuce soup), and cooked lettuce loses the crisp texture, so there's no drawback to freezing it first. The idea that lettuce is only a salad vegetable is an irrational tradition, like the idea that there are foods only suitable (or unsuitable) for breakfast. I'd eat more lettuce if it wasn't so expensive compared to frozen spinach.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#63

Post by loosetypes »

Sharlin wrote: post #50
loosetypes wrote: post #32

It's good that the less shopper-favorable produce is put to use, but I'm always curious about the somewhat analogous-to-ugly-fruits case with milk: Looking at the dairy fridge and choosing solely by expiration date. Naturally, I choose the latest to expire to maximize my options within the consumption time-frame. And I think everyone does? But do you actually care about food waste if every time you make that decision…

Products nearing the best before date are typically sold at a discount at least where I’m from. And those that don’t get sold but are still edible get increasingly donated to the needy instead of just being thrown away. There’s a big movement going on to reduce retail waste. In France grocery stores are required by law to donate food that doesn’t get sold.

I always remember that Noah's Bagels would make certain to throw away excess bagels at the end of the day. It's probably, unfortunately, America-specific, but when I asked why staff said if they gave away "old" baked-goods and someone were to get sick they would be liable to lawsuit.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#64

Post by jompe »

mrob wrote: post #62

>every once in a while you'll run into a variety of produce that only really works for fresh & doesn't lend well to processing. This mostly happens w leafy greens (we don't make … lettuce sauce) I wish I could buy frozen lettuce. Lettuce can be cooked (e.g. for lettuce soup), and cooked lettuce loses the crisp texture, so there's no drawback to freezing it first. The idea that lettuce is only a salad vegetable is an…

In my experience, I've accidentally heated lettuce when making some kind of salad which makes it really bitter. Because of that, I've thought of lettuce as only fresh food. Is that not the case then?

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#65

Post by gadders »

godelski wrote: post #6

I seriously wish I knew how to buy B grade food. Slightly misshapen tomatoes at a discounted price? Sign me up. I feel like I'm not the only one too.

Quite a few supermarkets in the UK have started selling "Wonky Veg":

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/05/asda-put...

https://www.wonkyvegboxes.co.uk/subscribe/

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#66

Post by mrob »

jompe wrote: post #64
mrob wrote: post #62

>every once in a while you'll run into a variety of produce that only really works for fresh & doesn't lend well to processing. This mostly happens w leafy greens (we don't make … lettuce sauce) I wish I could buy frozen lettuce. Lettuce can be cooked (e.g. for lettuce soup), and cooked lettuce loses the crisp texture, so there's no drawback to freezing it first. The idea that lettuce is only a salad vegetable is an…

In my experience, I've accidentally heated lettuce when making some kind of salad which makes it really bitter. Because of that, I've thought of lettuce as only fresh food. Is that not the case then?

Lettuce soup is traditional in some countries:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettuce_soup

I'm not sure if heating actually increases the bitterness of lettuce, or just the perception of bitterness because the softer texture makes better contact with your tongue. I personally am not very sensitive to bitter tastes, but if you are, you could use a smaller portion. Easy portion control is another advantage of frozen vegetables, because you don't have to worry about the unused portion rotting.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#67

Post by [deleted] »

mrob wrote: post #62

>every once in a while you'll run into a variety of produce that only really works for fresh & doesn't lend well to processing. This mostly happens w leafy greens (we don't make … lettuce sauce) I wish I could buy frozen lettuce. Lettuce can be cooked (e.g. for lettuce soup), and cooked lettuce loses the crisp texture, so there's no drawback to freezing it first. The idea that lettuce is only a salad vegetable is an…

[deleted]

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#68

Post by coldtea »

feross wrote: post #3

> The "eat ugly fruit!" movement is classist as FUCK. You've got to have a debilitating level of ignorance to assume that if Whole Paycheck Market doesn't stock ugly fruit, it must be getting "wasted." It is possible to not know much about the agricultural industry without being "classist as fuck." There are an infinite number of things one can learn about and a finite amount of time. While the content is interesting…

>Are there advantages to this communication style that I'm missing?

It does make the author feel superior, which saves on psychoanalysis bills.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#69

Post by coldtea »

pizza wrote: post #17
feross wrote: post #3

> The "eat ugly fruit!" movement is classist as FUCK. You've got to have a debilitating level of ignorance to assume that if Whole Paycheck Market doesn't stock ugly fruit, it must be getting "wasted." It is possible to not know much about the agricultural industry without being "classist as fuck." There are an infinite number of things one can learn about and a finite amount of time. While the content is interesting…

The author is just expressing their frustration of having to constantly correct this particular strain of naivete. Contained naivete (e.g. keeping incorrect opinions to oneself) is mostly harmless to everybody, but if naivete spreads that's bad. Of course, there's also the "outrage gets you likes" aspect, but I guess if I were in the agriculture field I might have reason to genuinely be somewhat outraged. I probably…

>The author is just expressing their frustration of having to constantly correct this particular strain of naivete

Why do they have to "constantly correct" it? What is their business?

Besides, it's not really "naivete".

Eating uglier fruit and vegetables is still good advice, to not get sucked buyinh tasteless but nice-looking produce that selectively breeds for size and color over taste, and even uses BS tricks like coloring and such to make it more appealing.

Re: Most “ugly” produce gets turned into soups, sauces, salsa, jam

#70

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

asteli wrote: post #25
heyjudy wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Farmers markets that have actual farmers selling produce they grow. It's primarily the supermarkets and corporatized/lazy markets that sell primarily pretty cardboard. Also, grow your own.. anyone with at least a balcony and sunlight in California has no excuse to grow tomatoes and peppers in the summer. Grocery Outlet sells hydroponic Live Lettuce for cheap, including the mixed varieties box, at least here.

I have some friends who planted (4) four tomato plants in a ~6'x6' planter in their backyard. Fast forward a few months and they're overrun with tomatoes. Salsa, pasta sauce, food dehydrator running constantly, foisting their bounty upon friends and lovers. I was severely impressed by their yield.

We've grown tomatoes every year for the past 10 years or so so this sounds very familiar. It's not difficult - to be honest all you do is stick them in the ground and leave them to it!

I should add that tomatoes freeze very well as long as you're using them for sauces, soups etc.

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