Freshness

When you think of all the vegetables that are marketed as “fresh” don’t you wonder how fresh it can be if it isn’t something you picked?

Most of our vegetables are shipped to us from somewhere else. In the winter the closet “fresh” vegetables are hydroponically grown. OK, I’ll admit there’s hydroponic and then there is Frisk Fra Boksen or fresh from the box. I’ll get to why we are fresh from the box in a moment.

If it isn’t grown hydroponically here in Minnesota between October and May it is coming from well somewhere far away. Which means it really isn’t fresh. No matter how fast it is picked, cleaned, packaged and shipped. Add all of this up and you’re looking at best case 10 days and most likely 14 days or longer.

Numerous studies have been done trying to measure the nutritional loss that occurs between harvest and your plate. And to be honest there is loss but is it significant. That depends on quite a few factors. Bottom line though is the fresher the produce the higher the nutritional value.

As important as nutrition is to your health isn’t everything. Taste plays a big part as well. If whatever it is you are eating doesn’t satisfy your tastes you aren’t going to eat it. Fruits and vegetables lose their taste faster than their nutrition. They lose taste when they are cut from the vine, picked from the branch, or have their roots cut off.

Lettuce, when it’s fresh say the same day it’s harvested or within a week is sweet to slightly bitter depending on the variety. That taste when combined with other ingredients can be a delight on the pallet and plate.

However lettuce that is already 14 days old needs more than a few other ingredients. Typically we’ll add a dressing. Sometimes we add too much dressing because we’re accustomed to bland tasting lettuce, and we just defeated one of the healthy benefits of leafy vegetables which is helping us to feel full and reducing our calorie intake. Maybe calories is a subject for another time.

So freshness isn’t about refrigeration or packaging (maybe with inert gases to slow oxidation, or in special UV blocking packaging) it’s about how much time has it been since harvest and how it’s harvested.

Fresh from the box means harvest is typically within 24 hours and the roots are still attached.

Even the local large commercial hydroponic farms cant’ get it to you any faster than that.