How to Select Fresh Produce

Picking the best and freshest produce – demystified.

First rule of cooking: use the best quality, freshest ingredients available to you. Simple rule really. A dish can only be as tasty as the ingredients used to prepare it.

Subtlety is a chef’s greatest tool. Many of my favorite dishes consist of mixing flavorful, fresh ingredients together and doing little else to them.

Mouths beginning to water. Pushing forward.

The above mentioned first rule of cooking is especially true when selecting fresh produce. Here are a few secrets from the MCL Restaurant & Bakery test kitchen to help you ensure you’re getting the good stuff.

• Organic is good, but local is better.  Fruits and vegetables lose nutrients the longer they sit after harvest.  Local produce has less distance to travel thus retaining more of its nutritional value, and flavor.

• Eat whatever is in season. It’ll be the most flavorful.

• Choose fruits and vegetables that snap when broken.  If a green bean bends it is no good.

• To tell if a melon is sweet, hold it right up to your nose and smell it.  Ignore the odd stares from other customers. If it smells sweet it’ll taste sweet too.  Sweet is good.

• Don’t store tomatoes in the fridge.  It stops the ripening process and makes them lose their flavor.

If you have specific questions, shoot me an email. I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

Now I’m off to prepare some tasty goodness concocted from in-season, locally grown fresh produce. Encouraging you to do the same.

Best,

Chef