You need to increase the Ethylene gas around them to ripen them. Put them in a paper bag that is loosely sealed and place in a warm spot (some recommend a brown paper bag but I find any paper bag will do). Add an apple that is ripening or a ripening tomato/avocado/pear as these will add extra ethylene gas to hasten the ripening process. You can use a plastic bag just ensure it is plumped up with air before sealing (to ensure a decent oxygen supply during the ripening process). This should mean that your fruit will ripen within days.
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Oh thanks for this advice, I’ll keep it in mind for the future.
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We did this a long while ago when my children were small and we joined the local church babysitting club. Within the club we had a fruit and vegetables club, taking turns to shop at Flemington markets each fortnight and dividing it equally in the organiser’s garage. It was brilliant,
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thank you for the apple season chart - very handy 
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Rachel
I consistently have problems with Bosc pears sold loose being bruised and going rotten in the bin at the shop and the “good” ones not lasting long in the fridge at home. Would be interesting to know whether other people experience this. Also whether it is a problem with all pears or just the Bosc variety. I still buy them because I like the taste and texture but never buy more than will be eaten within 2 days.
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Nothing disappoints as I eat only seasonal and buy it from the farmers.
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I have searched both the internet and Choice pages for (hopefully) an explanation on whether pre-packaged fruit and vegetables require a use by date. I could not a find simple answer for my request. Short story (I hope). Recently I opened a container of ‘fresh blackberries’ (bought approx 3 days prior to opening - I buy the same two prepackaged items each week) and keep them in the fresh fruit section of my 3 year old fridge. I found several of them already had mould on them, and after examining the packaging found there was no date about anything; ie ‘packed on’ ‘best before’ etc. It was from this experience that I started to check every prepackaged fruit or veg I bought. Yesterday after shopping, I took photos of all the pre packaged fruit and vegetables I bought, and found that the labelling of them was somewhat hit and miss. The Blueberries and the Strawberries had no dates for anything on them, however the mixed Broccoli & Cauliflower, the Baby Corn, Cherry Tomatoes, and Celery (all pre-packaged) definitely had ‘best before’ dates. Whilst I was shopping I asked the young lady who was re-stocking prepackaged products whether she knew the answer, and unfortunately she did not. She said she had always been surprised that some prepackaged fresh food items were labelled and some were not, and it had been this way for as long as she remembered - 3 years at that store. Thus my question; which pre-packaged fruit and vegetable must have these dates and which don’t and thirdly why don’t they? I am aware that cut items like Pumpkin, Rockmelon and Watermelon, do not have a use by date, as they are cut up in the store before being arranged on the shelf, and that is totally understandable, but not when they (supposedly?) come direct from a farm. I’m hoping I can obtain a ‘simple’ answer to this question.
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Hi @pforte,
I merged your comment into this topic that Choice began in 2017 and more recently has attracted new interest.
It is a very germane question to this topic. If you look back from about post 18 some of the issues have been commented on. I hope it is at least a bit helpful.
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Thank you PhilT. I now see just how everything concerning fresh fruit can be so difficult to answer. I was aware of the practice of slowing down the ripening etc until a later date, but I would’ve thought that by now there would be a guideline of just how long the product was expected to last. i.e. the ‘use by’ date. However it may well be, that sadly, my question can never be answered appropriately. (sigh)
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I just assume, these days, that fruit and veg I buy from the supermarket will not last more than a few days. If I buy from a local fruito, it lasts longer, but is still not as fresh as direct from the farmer. Sadly, I can no longer afford to buy like that and get it delivered. I did find an online shop and they are local and serve Newcastle and Sydney, but the prices in some cases were almost twice what I normally pay, even at the local purveyor, never mind the supermarket… what I did like, though, was that they don’t sell things which are not in season. I may have to look into it further. If i can remember the name of the store (gahhh!)
How successful this can be, and the same for the local F&V will reflect location as well as season. It’s best to assume that a portion of the produce has been sourced from the Capital City F&V market.
It may not be a bad outcome for the 2 in 3 Aussies who live in or near the larger Capitals. What comes into markets fresh on a daily basis can be overnight from nearby growing regions, and barely 24hrs since picking. A reliable specialist provider hopefully has both the knowledge and sellers agents at the market to be selective based on the wholesaler and growers.
The produce coming into market from all the smaller producers is clearly identified and traceable at the wholesaler in the markets. The larger producers may ship whole truck loads with product picked and stored over several days. The smallest will drop boxes off to a local depot on the day timed for a general pickup. The second to compete need to offer either better product or product when supply of produce in demand is short. IE When there is oversupply of product the premium at market for smaller producers tends to disappear. They may choose not to pick which can be a gamble on recovering the on costs of sending to market.
While we have a smattering of close knowledge of farm gate to market, it would be great to see some informed comment from others.
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I have some information about one particular case but not the whole market.
About 15 years ago in a country town nearby a bunch of enthusiasts who knew about growing fruit and veges domestically set out to build a garden to table system that provided fresh seasonal food directly (almost - see below) from grower to consumer. They were very keen and knowledgeable but had little money. As profit was not their motive they started a non-profit incorporated organisation.
They did very well initially getting a substantial government grant, leasing some public land and attracting many keen supporters. Many of the supporters also donated time - in some cases it became a way of life for them. As well as growing in their own garden the organisation set up a system where home or small farm growers could sell through them.
The organisation continued on but constantly ran into constraints that they could not get around. A few years ago the membership voted to dissolve the organisation as it was and a subgroup continued on as shareholders in a collective intended to make a profit. They couldn’t make a profit and now the lease has been given up and the equipment sold.
They had two types of problems one was the contrast between ideals and reality and the other was money and scale, the two are related.
Ideals were a problem as while many adherents followed the eat fresh and seasonal not everyone does. Some people will not do without tomatoes in winter, some will not take the extra trip to the farm gate even though it was only 2 kms out of town. The volunteers who were the main support were getting older and looking forward to not stooping and digging and planting and carrying; they wanted to hand over to the younger generation. The youngins did not step up with a few exceptions. They tried to use organic principles and consequently lost production to insects.
They discovered that if you make no little or profit it is hard to expand. When the grant ran out capital works became a real issue. Storage and transport were a problem. Cool rooms are expensive to buy and operate as are cooled trucks. And anyway all that is the work of the devil - they started the scheme to not get their fruit and veges out of a refrigerator. Lack of mechanisation and lack of money to pay wages for stoop labour kept the scale small.
If you got there early in morning after a harvest you got great produce at a fair price. But if there was a glut of something half would end up in the compost as they couldn’t preserve it on a commercial scale. And of course at some times of the year the only thing you got was cabbage and broccoli.
So here we see the converse of the widespread complaint about supermarkets. Grown fresh without chemicals, almost no food miles, not kept in cold storage for aeons, harvested at its peak using cultivars chosen for flavour not appearance and durability. But even with a high proportion of volunteer labour it wasn’t sustainable. If they had charged twice as much they might have got enough cash flow to expand and become a local employer but the chances are their sales would have suffered as Woolies is cheaper and they may have folded quicker still.
It is all rather sad. I really wanted them to succeed.
So next time somebody says that supermarket produce isn’t fresh enough ask them if they are prepared to do without at many seasons so they can eat seasonally. Ask them if they would move to an area where good land is cheap and there is water available so they food miles are low. Ask if they will pay much more than at the supermarket. Most will say no to some or all of these things and that is why supermarket produce is as it is.
Food is a fraction of the budget compared to our grandparents’ day and you can get it all at one stop. The majority want to have the impossible; the quality and ideals of the old ways and the price and availability of the new. Since they cannot have it they grumble.
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What I got from your great story is the sad reality:
- Things seem easy/it’s a great idea if someone else is prepared to do it.
- Complaining is far easier than doing.
- The concept of what ‘hard work’ means has changed significantly with each generation (and not for the necessarily better).
- Having fresh fruit and veg in the back yard is now passé, and not a necessity.
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I wasn’t trying to criticise anyone for being lazy or complaining. They were doing education or jobs that paid wages and were raising families. The volunteers were mainly retired and had no need of all that so their time was theirs to give.
Even the most dedicated members did not expect the scheme to continue based on volunteer labour for ever. We hoped that it would become self-supporting and be able to pay wages so it would do all the good things about fresh veges and be a local employer too while keeping the money circulating in the district rather than going to big business elsewhere. If you detect a whiff of socialist ideals (as opposed to socialism as a government) in this you are not dreaming.
Some of the dreams of these ageing hippies did come true through their hard work and cooperation with hard working youngins but we are drifting from fresh veges.
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This is the heart of the matter and something that can be remedied.
To return to my original post, I do feel that I have a right to know if something advertised as ‘fresh’ is fresh from the plant or from cold storage. This is about choice.
Perhaps it comes down to creating a very specific definition of ‘fresh’ - a regulated definition, just as ‘organic’ or ‘free-range’ have. Produce sold as ‘fresh’, either explicitly or implied (i.e. a ‘fresh fruit and veg’ sign hanging above the display, must conform to that definition. One might extend this definition to all produce sold as such.
This would be a fairly simple matter and won’t require any extra work, just proper advertising. At the moment ‘fresh’ is used in a misleading way.
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To the vagaries of words, is a ‘fresh’ apple in better condition than an apple from cold store that is not ‘fresh’? Other than one may have F&V that has not been in cold store, what does it mean in the context you suggested? One could easily have a fresh and very rotten apple that looks perfect on the outside.
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With ‘free range’ being 10,000 chooks per hectare, where they dance in dust or mud depending on the rainfall, I wouldn’t say that was a good example.
‘Organic’ is also problematic - not to mention very hard to enforce.
But you are right in the sense that the modern commercial use of ‘fresh’ has been tortured to the point where it will confess to anything you say.
So lets us call the new standard ReallyFresh ™. How do you define it? How long do you allow from picking to shelf? Is refrigeration allowed, if so for how long? What sized premium will you be prepared to pay for such produce?
If there is a commercial opportunity there I can see somebody wanting to try it. Does anybody know of any such system anywhere?
Farm gate fresh might satisfy some. However unless one is purchasing at the gate and the product has not been stored in the shed for a week, equally open to confuse.
I’d suggest ‘picked today’ could qualify as unambiguous. It still depends on the product. Being left in the open and hot sun for more than hour or two can wilt greens or set berries on a rapid fermentation.
There are occasional opportunities to pick your own of out of town. It assumes the picker knows what and how to take and what to leave.
The remedy of home grown has been covered.
I remain aligned to the date picked/harvested being provided for all produce sold as fresh, regardless of it’s age. From the point of view that’s too hard, let retailers choose not to display the date and require them to label the product accordingly, ‘not fresh’, and require a best by or use by date to be displayed. It’s how many supposedly fresh or not products are dated. Includes milk bread, dairy and chicken. No need to say any of those are truely fresh, as in produced today.
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The big ones have a ‘fresh or free’ policy for acceptable quality. Although invoked after the fact of purchase we have used it multiple times in recent months where the F&V looked fine and felt fine but was rotted on the inside or showed signs of pressure of being piled high. A punnet of apples and some patty pan squash being notable surprises on the downside.
That works for me. If it is bad I don’t really care when it was picked or if it is ‘fresh’ by whatever definition.
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Is that a certification system? If so what are the rules?
