With all the beautiful produce out this month, we thought some tips for choosing wisely would be fun and useful.
First up: FIGS.
Choosing a delicious, ripe fig is a bit challenging. Figs don’t really ripen once picked, so what you see in the store is pretty close to your best possible end result. They also have a short window between perfect and spoiled. A good fig should be slightly soft to touch but still hold form and have smooth skin.
Our Next Fun Fact: Red, Yellow and Orange Bell Peppers.
Did you know that they all start green colored? When choosing your pepper from the bunch, be aware that the deeper the color, the sweeter the pepper will be so chose wisely!
Last But Not Least: Sweet Potato vs Yam?
For the most part here in the US we are buying sweet potatoes exclusively, regardless of what the label says (unless you are making your way to specialty ethnic markets). Sweet potatoes from the US are predominately produced in North Carolina whereas yams are imported and are predominately from regions in Africa, Southeast Asia, Caribbean and Central America. Taste, texture and color all differ between the two. The sweet potato is indeed sweet with a smooth moist texture and has an orange interior. A yam is starchy in texture and has a white interior unless you find the more rare purple version. Happy hunting in the produce aisles this month!
