The Modified Produce Thread

[tippy]

I got a complaint about these "seedless" watermelons: Has anyone else noticed bony swirly things that take up too large a portion of the flesh between dead center and rind? It's almost like a seed or more has sprouted within the melon texture into a ring curlycues that interrupt a good deal of the flesh - which should be consistently flat and smooth in the best melons. Also, I think these rings possibly cause the flesh to rot more quickly too.

I hope I run into old-fashioned melons this summer because I am getting concerned that they are all like this now. When I was a kid watermelon was my absolute most favorite food and I hate to think that the farming industry thought seeds were such a powerful nuisance I would overlook a mottled flesh and compromised flavor in order to eagerly purchase this new fruit (which still has smaller younger white seeds by the way which people are more likely to ingest for being harder to pick out leading to watermelons growing in tummies all across America).

[Gentle Giant]

Are you sure those aren't worms?

Lately, we've been buying Clementines, and a lot of them are filled with seeds. I thought Clementines by definition were seedless.

Sin semilla is the way.

[tippy]

yes, I'm certain these are not worms.

Agreed about the weed.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

That's what you get for eating produce. Stick with pork and beef.

[Al in NYC]

I agree, those seedless watermelons are awful - pulpy, stringy, and pretty damn tateless. And they are now sold pretty much everywhere to the exclusion of the much better old-fashioned seeded kind (at least in NYC). Who the hell decided that folks disliked seeds in their watermelons so much that they wanted a highly inferior product just to avoid them? (and how the hell do these things reproduce with no seeds?) What, people haven't eaten enough watermelon over the past several thousand years or so?

I almost died and went to heaven when I saw real, seeded watermelons from Texas the other day at the Fairway in Red Hook. Even though they were huge and 59 cents a pound I bought 2 of 'em. Will be enjoying the second one later this week.

[clinthopson]

Watermelon makes me burp, seeds or no.

Melon season is here and a great crop is expected. I especially like the ambrosia.

[Jazzzoline]

"I knew there was something wrong when, at the supermarket, fruits and vegetables started to look like toys, perfect and bright colors."

I'm reading "Toxic" (Written by a French living in the USA), nothing to make your next meal really appetizing.

[Chris D]

The stores and farm stands around here still have real watermelon.

We get our vegetables -- and the occasional fruit -- from a community supported organic farm. We pick up a box each Saturday from early May to early December. The strawberries and salad mix are killer at the moment.

The melons should start showing up any week now.

[Scott Dolan]

All of our meats, and most of our fruits and vegetables (the ones that can be grown in this climate) are local products. Definitely one of the big upsides to living in the midwest.

Oh, and seedless watermelons suck major fucking dog ass.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Cantiello

That's what you get for eating produce. Stick with pork and beef.

Jimmy,

I love you for this response!!!

I've been trying to eat a little more - or some, rather - live, raw vegetables and two things I've discovered 1. they are harder to digest and 2. I think they increase the opportunity/likelihood for bacteria and parasites to enter your body so while I'm trying to be good and healthy I'm not sure it wouldn't be better in the end to stick with meat, cheese, potatoes and sandwiches.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Al in NYC

I agree, those seedless watermelons are awful - pulpy, stringy, and pretty damn tateless. And they are now sold pretty much everywhere to the exclusion of the much better old-fashioned seeded kind (at least in NYC). Who the hell decided that folks disliked seeds in their watermelons so much that they wanted a highly inferior product just to avoid them? (and how the hell do these things reproduce with no seeds?) What, people haven't eaten enough watermelon over the past several thousand years or so?

I almost died and went to heaven when I saw real, seeded watermelons from Texas the other day at the Fairway in Red Hook. Even though they were huge and 59 cents a pound I bought 2 of 'em. Will be enjoying the second one later this week.

EXACTLY on the mark to what I'm thinking. You know, I haven't been presented with a choice of regular watermelons yet - I am hoping they will still show up.

[larrycohen]

Originally Posted by tippy

Jimmy,

I love you for this response!!!

I've been trying to eat a little more - or some, rather - live, raw vegetables and two things I've discovered 1. they are harder to digest and 2. I think they increase the opportunity/likelihood for bacteria and parasites to enter your body so while I'm trying to be good and healthy I'm not sure it wouldn't be better in the end to stick with meat, cheese, potatoes and sandwiches.

I'm vegetarian, so maybe I'm biased, but I find both of your reactions odd.
1) Vegetables are harder to digest than meat? I always thought of meat as heavy, fatty stuff (I grew up as a meat eater), and as far as I know it takes a lot longer to digest meat.
2) As far as bacteria and parasites - aren't most cases of food poisoning due to eating animal products, not plants?

[Jazzzoline]

Originally Posted by larrycohen

I'm vegetarian, so maybe I'm biased, but I find both of your reactions odd.
1) Vegetables are harder to digest than meat? I always thought of meat as heavy, fatty stuff (I grew up as a meat eater), and as far as I know it takes a lot longer to digest meat.
2) As far as bacteria and parasites - aren't most cases of food poisoning due to eating animal products, not plants?

pesticides

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Originally Posted by larrycohen

I'm vegetarian, so maybe I'm biased, but I find both of your reactions odd.
1) Vegetables are harder to digest than meat? I always thought of meat as heavy, fatty stuff (I grew up as a meat eater), and as far as I know it takes a lot longer to digest meat.
2) As far as bacteria and parasites - aren't most cases of food poisoning due to eating animal products, not plants?

Says who? C'mon, Larry, you know you want a cheeseburger.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by larrycohen

I'm vegetarian, so maybe I'm biased, but I find both of your reactions odd.
1) Vegetables are harder to digest than meat? I always thought of meat as heavy, fatty stuff (I grew up as a meat eater), and as far as I know it takes a lot longer to digest meat.
2) As far as bacteria and parasites - aren't most cases of food poisoning due to eating animal products, not plants?

1) is just my experience. 2) came to mind because I think of eating raw foods that haven't been washed well enough so that you might end up ingesting bacteria and parasites which is less likely if the majority of your food is cooked. I think people who eat higher up on the food chain will have more toxins residing in their own tissues but I think people who eat primarily raw produce are going to have more digestive upsets (but cleaner tissues). That's just my way of thinking about it though is all.

[Enforcer]

(sigh)
Yes, tippy, you can come over for dinner tonight. And yes, I'll make you, "sammiches."

[tippy]

larry, you know what throw out #1 and just have #2. Veggies are probably not harder to digest in the intestines probably, they just hurt more in the tummy because of the bacteria.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Larry Nagel

(sigh)
Yes, tippy, you can come over for dinner tonight. And yes, I'll make you, "sammiches."

Larry Nagel,

Thank God!

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Cantiello

Says who? C'mon, Larry, you know you want a cheeseburger.

Jimmy, private to you and me but a couple weeks I went off of all sugar and I even stopped eating my lunchtime potato chips too. Around day 10, last Wednesday, I eat a salad with ONLY vegetables (no meat or cheese sprinkles or pork rind "croutons" or creamy dressings) next day BOOM - sore throat, aches, pains, infection in sinus that dropped into the lungs by Friday - sickest I've been in a long time.

moral of the story, Everybody: Eating healthy can make you really f'ing sick.

[larrycohen]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Cantiello

Says who? C'mon, Larry, you know you want a cheeseburger.

I'll admit that for me becoming vegetarian had nothing to do with taste or health. I did it because of the killing. That's why I'll still eat dairy and eggs.
So a cheeseburger would taste good, but I'd feel guilty that I was responsible for murdering a poor innocent cow.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by larrycohen

I'll admit that for me becoming vegetarian had nothing to do with taste or health. I did it because of the killing. That's why I'll still eat dairy and eggs.
So a cheeseburger would taste good, but I'd feel guilty that I was responsible for murdering a poor innocent cow.

my mantra is "if it's stupider than you, it's okay to kill it."

totally kidding - my brother has been a vegetarian for a long time also for philosophical reasons. I gotta hand it to you guys because omg, I love meat, fish and poultry and all that.

I did once hear a strawberry scream though.

[Enforcer]

If God didn't intend for us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

[Tom Storer]

Tippy, why don't you just wash your vegetables if you're afraid they're crawling with bacteria? Fresh produce really doesn't cause tummy-aches any more than meat does, honest.

You'd have a hard time over here, where you buy lettuce and then have to wash the dirt and bugs off it. But it really tastes good.

[shrugs]

Thanks for mentioning watermelon.

I need to call my friend Alan who lives in Franklinton, LA.

If you ain't ever had a Washington Parish watermelon, you ain't ever had good watermelon.

Summer tip:

Grease a watermelon up with Crisco and throw it in the pool. First person to "land" it, gets to eat it.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Originally Posted by larrycohen

I'll admit that for me becoming vegetarian had nothing to do with taste or health. I did it because of the killing. That's why I'll still eat dairy and eggs.
So a cheeseburger would taste good, but I'd feel guilty that I was responsible for murdering a poor innocent cow.

Don't worry, Larry, you wouldn't be responsible for murdering the cow. Somebody else does the dirty work. Btw, if somebody didn't steal eggs from the hens they would eventually develop into full grown chickens so you better rethink that whole lacto-ovo thing. And stay the hell away from mouthwash. That stuff kills millions of innocent germs.

But seriously, the last two food borne illness incidents involved, you guessed it, veggies. Remember the tainted spinach a while back? And remember all those people that got sick eating at Taco Bell? It turned out that it wasn't the tortillas with shredded beef or even bad cheese. It was the not so fresh scallions/green onions!

Oh, and for the record, I eat tons of vegetables and other foods that never had a face but damn, I would not be able to survive without the occasional cheeseburger. Alright, alright, I lied. I eat cheeseburgers, steaks and other animal derived protein quite often. But at 58 years old, I figure my time is limited. All I ask is for you to hand me a napkin, look the other way and don't pity me as I wipe the remnants of barbecue sauce from my lower lip.

[Enforcer]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

You'd have a hard time over here, where you buy lettuce and then have to wash the dirt and bugs off it.

It's the same way buying meat at my butcher.

[Jazzzoline]

La France est le troisième consommateur mondial d’insecticides, de fongicides et herbicides (après les États-Unis et la Chine).

The more the product is close to the ground the more it will be treated (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides). Then products like strawberries with no protection will get more than cabbage which is covered with many layers. Problem is worst when we eat the skin (no link with the willies thread), like tomatoes, that skin keeps the pesticides even after the washing.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

Tippy, why don't you just wash your vegetables if you're afraid they're crawling with bacteria? Fresh produce really doesn't cause tummy-aches any more than meat does, honest.

You'd have a hard time over here, where you buy lettuce and then have to wash the dirt and bugs off it. But it really tastes good.

Now, Tom, of course I know that you have to wash everything. My thought was given that I eat so much food that is not prepared by me and always at lunchtime, that the salad I had might have made me sick because the person washing it, preparing it didn't care as much about doing a conscientious job as I would have done in preparing food for me. ciao ciao

[Jazzzoline]

Before:
To grow a tomato, you would need sun, water, some manure (biologic). Then you could pick it up. Tomatoes would then be distributed.

Now:
Fertilizer, chemical manure, is spread with the water.
Herbicides (14 different), insecticides (22 different), and fungicides. Products aren’t picked up when ripe, but green, then stored at low temp for stopping their growth. For removing germs they are soaked in chlore for 2 minutes where they absorb part of the liquid and more if the skin is damaged. Then stored in a maturation room with gas ethylene for the product to get color. For more than the 72 hours limit letting mushrooms develop.
Then it’s time for make up. Artificial colorant and waxing (containing toxins coming from petroleum or soap)

Bon appétit!

[tippy]

yeah that wax thing has always mystified me. Who has ever wanted that on their produce? It doesn't really wash off now does it?

Jazzzoline, how did you come to know so much about this stuff? Thanks for all the info.