Growers and Grocers

I am all about a new trend in the produce aisle at your local grocery store: selling produce alive.  I figure that when it comes time to ruthlessly slaughtering tomatoes on the vine or living basil, I should get to do the killing.  Maybe that makes me a culinary sociopath.  I’m not sure.

All kidding aside, there has been an outcry from home cooks and restaurant chefs alike for years to deliver the freshest produce possible to grocery store shelves.  Shipping tomatoes still on the vine and basil in the earth in which it was grown fits the bill quite nicely.

To my tongue there is no comparison between the sweet, earthy taste a tomato still on the vine and the taste of other tomatoes I can buy in the grocery store (the farmer’s market is another story entirely.)  The basil I get still in its soil has such a great smell that it almost drives me into pesto frenzy on the spot.  It’s magnificent.

It’s obvious that both tomatoes and basil need to be attached to their structures to continue maturing (as do most fruits and vegetables.) Allowing the produce to get their nutrients naturally is far more preferable than what most large agrobusiness companies do: pick the fruit at the first hint that they could be sold and treat them with chemicals or dyes which make them look ripe.  I emphasize “look” because without the fruit completing the natural ripening process, they may look ready to eat, but they never develop fully.  This can leave you with some nasty tasting produce.

Still, all that living is costly.  Tomatoes on the vine are about 50 cents more pound than tomatoes not so lucky (it’s worth it) and I paid $3 for a bunch of basil still in its soil.  If I weren’t a total basil fanatic, I might scoff at that price.  Yes, I could hide bad tasting basil behind a lot of garlic, but why would I want to?

There may be one small drawback to the whole live foods thing: they die faster.  I have only anecdotal evidence of this, but it seems if I don’t use the living basil in a day or so, it’s kaput.  The tomatoes have a shelf life of a few days in the fridge.  On the other hand, the shortened lifespan goes to show that the food really does continue to live out its normal life.

Part of the advantage (if you want to call it that) of buying unripened fruit is that it takes longer to rot.  This is because, if left alone, a fruit ripens fully, stays mature for a period of time, and then begins the downhill slide.  If the fruit is picked early in its lifetime, it has longer before the downhill slide begins.

So perhaps there’s one slight disadvantage to the whole live food thing, but it’s pretty minor compared to how fresh and delicious the food is.  My hope is that despite the rough economic times, consumers continue to spend money for live foods in the hope that more and more produce is kept on its vine, stem, or roots.   That way we can have better tasting food and stimulate the culinary sociopath in us all.

Thanks USDA for the picture.