For the love of Produce...

SafariGalNYC

hi! Question for my produce lovin ’ friends-

I went the easy route and bought already cut up butternut squash..

I just went to open it (2days later) and it has some black spots… the use by date is tomorrow.

Would you just throw out the black areas and fine to eat the rest or —chuck the whole batch?

argh. Thanks!

update: Dr Google said fine to cut off offending areas …. Still not sure how appealing it is now! lol.

Going back to buying the whole gourd.

mtaratoot

@SafariGalNYC

I'm not sure what I would have done. I abhor wasting food, and I also don't like getting sick!

I know that for some cheeses, it's safe to remove some kinds of mold and eat the underlying cheese. Hard cheeses (cheddar, Gouda) are safer and softer cheeses (brie) are less safe. The mold can grow faster and more easily in softer cheese. Uncooked winter squash is kind of in between textures. I bet mold can grow deep. It's recommended to cut well beyond the mold. I wonder how much of the squash that would leave.

I seem to recall that green mold is safer to cut off cheese than black or pink mold. That stuff on your squash looks more black than green.

I think I might have composted the worst pieces (probably where the growth started from) and see how badly affected the rest was. I have found that if you seed and quarter a butternut you can put it in the pressure cooker briefly and then the skin comes off really easily. You have to get the timing right if you want chunkier pieces; let it cook too long and it gets soft. That's fine for a soup I make that I puree when done, but not if I wanted to have cooked squash that maintained its structure.

I have seen the pre-cut stuff in the store. I never by pre-cut produce. I think that the flavor and texture are already degrading as soon as they're packed, I don't like the extra plastic, and I think anything that has been cut is at greater risk of causing food-borne illness. Think ground beef versus a steak or cut melons versus whole melons. I know there have been recalls of these products. Yuck.

AnnPT77

I'd 100% toss all of it - or better yet compost if available. I don't have qualms about cutting out an isolated piece of mold on a piece or two . . . but that looks like bits of mold spread through the whole package. I don't like throwing out food, either, but I think that could be a health and well-being risk.

SafariGalNYC

@mtaratoot @AnnPT77 thank you! Better safe than sorry! Into the compost it went.

yirara

I bought a pack of white strawberries, or pineberries on Friday. That's something different I guess. They're slightly milder and softer than normal strawberries. My poor brain just can't deal with the colour. It's so totally wrong.

And other than that I organized all sorts of fine net bags to deal with fruit flies this year. Everything first goes into a single quarantine bag, and once my fruits turn out to be fly-free they go into a bigger crate covered with netting. Lets see if I'll win this year (I kind of doubt it to be honest).

Athijade

Farmers Market opens up this Saturday! Still super early in the season so selection will be limited (I am in Chicago), but I am excited. I always eat so much better when I go to the Farmers Market.

acpgee

What’s your favourite way to cook fenugreek leaves (aka methi). I stir fried a bunch with garlic, onion, chilli peppers, grated carrot, cumin and turmeric. I found it too bitter and the hubby found the taste too strong. What should I do with the other bunch?

SafariGalNYC

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48602974#Comment_48602974

hey ! I Blanche them… fenugreek and broccoli rabe are so come or go for me because of the bitterness.
I stole this from my MIL- adding a bit of baking soda and lemon in the Blanche takes out some of the bitterness.

AnnPT77

The Spring-to-Summer season is getting rolling at my favorite farmers market, and I've been buying lovely things but not posting about them, recent yum including local fresh asparagus and kohlrabi.

Today, though, I bought prepared food - produce-heavy, and a special wild treat.

The prepared food was tacos de nopales, with a rich and diverse combination of veggies along with the nopales (nopales, peppers, onions, black olives, more), cheese (either dairy or vegan, I picked dairy), available either with meat or sauteed chopped mushrooms that were sourced from the multi-variety mushroom stall at the same market (I had mushrooms). It came with some guacamole and some lime chunks. Same stall had home-made lemon empanadas (real lemons), so I got one of those for dessert. Three tacos, one empanada . . . did it fit my calorie goal? Who knows, and I don't care: So good!

The photo is only 2 tacos, because I'd already eaten one. 😆😋

And then there was the treat, yet to be sauteed here at home:

Native wild-foraged morels, from the mushroom stall. Can't wait.

SafariGalNYC

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48630253#Comment_48630253

those look amazing! 🍄‍🟫

The Spring-to-Summer season is getting rolling at my favorite farmers market, and I've been buying lovely things but not posting about them, recent yum including local fresh asparagus and kohlrabi.

😋

I suddenly want to get my farmers market bag ready!

mtaratoot

Morels…..

😍

AnnPT77

Local fresh strawberries are starting to show up at the farmers markets. I got a quart of these evenly, beautifully ripe ones this week. Such a treat!

Aesop101

I eat very little vegetables and fruit. Too much starch in the vegetables and too much sugar in the fruit.

mtaratoot

@Aesop101

Some vegetables contain more starch than others. That shouldn't be a problem. They also have lots of nutrients and fiber. Fruit also has lots of nutritional benefits. Your body needs these things to function.

I might be more concerned about saturated fat and sodium from all the processed red meat you're eating.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48643500#Comment_48643500

Did you read the OP here? This is a thread clearly aimed at people who love produce. There are several carnivore threads in the Community, and a whole low-carb group.

Personally, I'm very happy to eat the starch in some of the veggies, and the sugar in fruits. Pretty healthy, too.

I think I'll have potatoes later: Very starchy, also very sating for me, with several grams of nice fiber, and a good lot of potassium, some vitamin C and B-6, among other nutrients. Maybe I'll put some plain Greek yogurt on them (which has not only starches but also lactose, plus even a little galactose and glucose from the fermentation process - sugars, all of them!)

I already has some strawberries and blueberries today. The bananas in the kitchen are getting pretty ripe, so may eat one later. Definitely sugars in there. Not too much sugar, though.

I haven't eaten meat - at least not intentionally - since 1974 . . . but that isn't generally a thing I'd go on a carnivore thread to point out, unless needed as context around something I was saying there that I thought was actually on topic to the OP, but I didn't want to misrepresent myself while I said it.

mtaratoot

I harvested my first blueberries of the year a few days ago, and yesterday I got to pick the first raspberries. I have been picking cherries; it's a fight between me, the birds, the squirrels, and the spotted-wing drosophila.

I need to cut off a bunch of the tiny Asian pears to let the others grow big and sweet.

Figs are around the corner; birds get most of those too.

I have realized that while I provide a lot of quality habitat in my yard, it means I have to share my garden more than if I didn't provide such a good home for critters.

acpgee

This year I grew four trays of peashoots instead of just one on the balcony. This is the first time I could harvest enough for a Chinese stir fry.

acpgee

Pea shoot stir fry.

Alatariel75

I finally harvested the last of my trombocino for the season, I'm definitely planing them again in Spring!

I'm pulling in decent harvests of golden beets, radishes and leeks, and my broccoli is starting to heart :)

It's unseaonsably warm here, which is confusing the garden, but it's doing its best.