Variation in vegetables

[gfweb]

There's a thread going now about the variation in chili heat and how to control it. It brought to mind a problem that crops up from time to time for me. How does one account for and control variation in produce?

Two examples of the problem come to mind.

I make a cauliflower gratin that occasionally comes out watery because the veg is perhaps too fresh and loaded with water. If I weigh out the cauliflower that would solve the water problem to a degree, but then I might have a pretty thin gratin if the veg is very wet. I suppose adding a roux is a solution.

Another example...last night we had roasted fingerling potatoes. They came out of the same bin at the market, looked the same, and were treated identically, but some were sweet and nutty and others tasted like dirt. WTF. I hate that.

[Plantes Vertes]

You can buy from Tesco's or local equivalent. All their produce tastes the same, all the time. It just doesn't taste like anything you'd particularly want to eat.

Otherwise, I believe you will have to go a long way to avoid variation in nature. It's just there; seed, soil, growing temperature and rainfall, harvest time, storage conditions, age since harvest and a multitude of other factors will affect the quality of your produce and it would be next to impossible to find out all these things, let alone control for them. Hydroponic growing or other scientific interventions could minimise this but I doubt that is a possibility for the majority of crops at present. Of course, growing your own is the best way to know what you're getting but this certainly doesn't eliminate dud crops or bad years.

It seems like the best solution is to know your producer and trust them not knowingly to sell inferior goods (an expensive and burdensome way to shop for many people), and to know your produce so that you can detect obvious flaws and choose varieties that you prefer. After that, as you said, reacting to the specifics of your dish as you cook it to produce a good result despite variations. But none of those will cut out your problem completely.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[Jaymes]

And, do the best you can to learn about the fruits and vegetables you regularly purchase. You can't always eliminate these issues, like PV said, but knowing how to select the best vegetables from the bin goes a long way.

[Darienne]

Peterpatch, Ontario, Canada, has had Poblanos available for about three years now. Hooray! I have never worn gloves while roasting, cutting, deseeding, etc, Poblanos. But then, one time, about a year ago, I thought I was going to die my hands were in such pain...and over the meek and mild Poblano. Nothing worked except the passage of time. Why?

Edited November 3, 2013 by Darienne (log)

[Ttogull]

Peterpatch, Ontario, Canada, has had Poblanos available for about three years now. Hooray! I have never worn gloves while roasting, cutting, deseeding, etc, Poblanos. But then, one time, about a year ago, I thought I was going to die my hands were in such pain...and over the meek and mild Poblano. Nothing worked except the passage of time. Why?

About a year ago, many of the chile growing regions that supply North America had drought. There were several news articles that stated the the resultant stress on the pepper plants caused them to bear extraordinarily hot peppers. There is also natural variation. I've had some poblanos that have had a bit of kick. Chocolate poblanos can be pretty hot.