Growing up as the son of fruit grower’s certainly had some benefits. I’m thinking particularly of eating garden fresh vegetables.
Auntie Kay would plant peas as soon as she could which meant that sometimes she planted in February and we ate fresh peas by Easter. That was the beginning of the fresh produce.
Wally and Auntie Kay always planted green beans, carrots, potatoes, parsnips, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. As each vegetable ripened we added it to our diet. There was a weed too with a wide leaf that was cooked up and we ate it in the place of spinach.
The fresh new taste of each vegetable is only a distant memory because today I lack the acuteness I once had in discerning those flavors.
There were also the garden fresh berries which included strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Then add cantaloupe and peaches to the mix and we had a fine tasting dessert!
I want to get back to the peas. As I remember it, our peas were not blemished in any way, but since we didn’t eat the shells it wouldn’t have mattered anyways.
Today though, there is a variety called “Snow Peas” and they are quite delicious. The shells are sweet and tender so they can be eaten along with the peas without cooking them which makes them a convenient snack or tasty raw addition to a meal.
The problem I’ve found is that the shells are always damaged either by an insect or they are machine harvested and damaged in the process. I don’t know which causes the shell damage but I do wonder each time I eat them which is frequently.
If the damage is by insects, then we are becoming more tolerant to how our fresh produce looks. If that is the case then will our tolerance lead to fewer sprays being used in the future? After all is it not the consumer who drives the market with their expectations?