Imperfect fruits and vegetables

Cinzia Cuneo August 25, 2012 Eat Local, Fruit, Vegetables

Harvest season is in full swing. This is the ideal time to make the most of local fruits and vegetables, not only for immediate consumption, but also for stocking up on them.

It is also the best time to go pay a visit to producers, or do the rounds of market places. You’ll see that market garden production does not yield only uniform and perfectly shaped products that can be usually found in the supermarket. In fact a substantial part of agricultural produce, despite being perfectly edible, is unfortunately wasted purely because of its appearance: Part of this produce is used for manufacturing processed products, but the rest is simply thrown away.

It is only in a producer’s organic basket at the public market, or in your own vegetable garden, if you’re lucky enough to own one, that you can enjoy these natural fruits and vegetables that are less ‘elegant’ but often tastier than their ‘perfect’ counterparts.

Three cheers for imperfections… let’s celebrate the difference!

Try some of our recipes featuring local vegetables:

• Baked Ratatouille

• Classic Ratatouille

• Grilled Vegetable Kebabs

• Lettuce, Cucumber and Tomato Salad

• Mediterranean Beef Stir-Fry

Baked Ratatouille

Originally published in the Journal de Montréal on August 25, 2012.

Author

Cinzia Cuneo

Cinzia Cuneo, founder of SOSCuisine.com, never wanted to neglect the quality of her food. She shares her special expertise to make good food quickly and without complications!