Where are Your Fruits and Vegetables Grown?

a reply to: zazzafrazz

there are only a few products that I will eat in a supermarkets produce section. Leafy veggies are fine. Asparagus, it tends to do well. Fall veggies are alright. zukes and summer squash...maybe. I tend to go for the calabacitas due to them tasting better.

But tomatoes? Id rather eat my shoe. Same with radishes, beets, carrots....their mushrooms are terrible but i can't get portabellas any other way. The garlic is pretty bland, and the onions aren't sweet at all.

Peppers like chile peppers, though? You can't get better than the local HEB. LOL. And we get Pecod watermelon and canteloup, fredericksburg peaches and strawberries...and alfalfa honey from out by El Paso. There are some decent things in the store.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I know right? Tomatoes from a supermarket actually tastes like cardboard and water, not tomato!

I love to know where my food comes from too. I happen to live in a tropical montane cloud forest region. Most anything grows here that does not require a freeze. From your example:

Strawberries.

Nearby farms. About $2 usd for half kilo. I've grown them too, easily.

Avacado's

Nearby neighbors. These trees are in many places around where I live and the price is around $1 usd per kilo when in season.

Cantaloupes -- Nearby farms and neighbors grown them. Also seasonal and cheap.

Baby Carrots -- Carrots are grown most everywhere in the Cordilleras. Prices range from $0.20 usd to $1.50 per kilo depending on season.

Peaches -- We don't have these here to my knowledge. I have a plum tree in my garden that produces tiny plums twice a year though.

Onions -- Lowland Philippines or China. Onions, like garlic, need a warm climate to grow fast.

Mangosteen -- Davao mostly, but some other Luzon lowland places have some trees.

Passionfruit / Masaflora -- I have 2 varieties in my garden, a yellow sweet variety and a purple sour variety (the best)

Squash/Corn/Beans -- Everyone's garden has these staples, even mine.

Banana -- I have around 50 banana trees in my yard, and they're common everywhere else

Orange / Calamansi / Lemon / Pomelo -- I have around 40-50 grafted orange trees growing here, and citrus does very well

Asian Pears -- Got them here too.

Broccoli/Cauliflower/Bok choy/Cabbage -- Another cheap staple around $1 usd per kilo.

Cucumber/Tomato/Lettuce/Daikon radish -- Also commonly grown around nearby farms.

And more veggies as well, I meant to include varieties of sweet potato, rice, chayote, potatoes, etc.

Meat -- Pigs are locally produced and butchered around 1 per day. Cows are around once per month and are free range around the mountains. The meat is organic, but tough, so it needs to be aged a bit. Chicken is local, farm or free range varieties. Large fish is brought in from the lowlands, but you can find tiny fish in the rice fields or streams, along with freshwater eels if you're lucky.

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I know right? Tomatoes from a supermarket actually tastes like cardboard and water, not tomato!

I hope those comments pertain to those god-awful greenhouse tomatoes we get in the winter, and not vine-ripened ones? What could be the difference in Australia's? Wouldn't it have to be soil composition? You know you can amend the hell out of soil. (I do it for flowers).

Have you tried 'ugly tomatoes' ? They're quite good! You typically only find them in high-end groceries, but they are worth the hunt. I was looking for some links to show you, and there are actually message-boards about them, people obsess over them. There is another brand too, maybe the name will come to me shortly (sigh). I've bought them in winter, and they are good.

www.power-produce.com...

You can also buy Ugly Tomato seeds.

So, I hate to cook, which I think is not normal for a woman, but this is something I will do, which can serve as a salad, or side dish. (Easy of course, or I wouldn't make it).

I call it tomato and caper salad. I like to use those little cherry tomatos -- the sweet ones, (just half them) or you can cut tomato into bite size chunks.

Tomatoes, add the capers, pour on some Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Let marinate. I adore this little dish.
Don't refrigerate it though, let it marinate on the countertop. All those meshing flavors, good for the taste buds.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

then you can post a few pics as well.

AS IF I would let you see something I prepared after looking at your pics. Right. (You are awesome!) I've bookmarked your thread, btw. I do admire cooking and those that do it. People love cooks.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

I think its the "perfect" hydro greenhouse ones.

As for capers and tomato....yum, throw in basil and olive oil and I will be your maid servant!

a reply to: zazzafrazz

Zazz, are you getting homesick?

originally posted by: ladyinwaiting
AS IF I would let you see something I prepared after looking at your pics. Right. (You are awesome!) I've bookmarked your thread, btw.

Thank you, I am not that pretentious however and whatever you happen to prepare is always going to look great to me since it is homemade.

I do admire cooking and those that do it. People love cooks.

I should let you talk to my wife and show you some pictures of the kitchen aftermath when I am done making some of those meals. Our deal is I cook, she cleans and I make a complete mess.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

I felt the same way about hydro supermarket tomatoes at home

originally posted by: ladyinwaiting

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I know right? Tomatoes from a supermarket actually tastes like cardboard and water, not tomato!

I hope those comments pertain to those god-awful greenhouse tomatoes we get in the winter, and not vine-ripened ones? What could be the difference in Australia's? Wouldn't it have to be soil composition? You know you can amend the hell out of soil. (I do it for flowers).

Have you tried 'ugly tomatoes' ? They're quite good! You typically only find them in high-end groceries, but they are worth the hunt. I was looking for some links to show you, and there are actually message-boards about them, people obsess over them. There is another brand too, maybe the name will come to me shortly (sigh). I've bought them in winter, and they are good.

www.power-produce.com...

You can also buy Ugly Tomato seeds.

So, I hate to cook, which I think is not normal for a woman, but this is something I will do, which can serve as a salad, or side dish. (Easy of course, or I wouldn't make it).

I call it tomato and caper salad. I like to use those little cherry tomatos -- the sweet ones, (just half them) or you can cut tomato into bite size chunks.

Tomatoes, add the capers, pour on some Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Let marinate. I adore this little dish.
Don't refrigerate it though, let it marinate on the countertop. All those meshing flavors, good for the taste buds.

I'd like to try that tomato, it looks great.

When shopping for produce I look for the "ugly" varieties, especially ones with bug bites. If an insect likes to chomp and nom on a vegetable I know it's safe for me to eat as well. The "perfect" produce that resembles a photograph I stay away from, because it most likely contains chemicals or whatever that even the smallest creatures don't want to touch.

i got some purple potatoes, heirloom tomatoes and beets, oyster mushrooms, and a few other things at a farmers market in New Braunfels. The potato salad was pretty darn good, thats for sure.

a reply to: Philippines


Actually, that might be a good rule of thumb. Like, if lost in the jungle, eat what the monkeys eat. : )

I bet you are a good wholesome cook. I've tried to be at times, but can't pull it off. I hate going to the grocery, bringing them in, putting them away. Getting everything out to cook, cleaning up the mess. It's such an ordeal!

I eat like a 15 year old boy whose parents are out of the town for the weekend. lol. (I laugh, but detest the fact that I do it, it inevitably leads to remorse) I would love to have a cook prepare my dinner every night.

Btw, I was reading about fruits and vegetables that contain the most chemicals, and discovered apples and tea leaves as the worst offenders. Even those fancy little tea leaves in packets for hot tea, are loaded in pesticides. I chucked mine.
And apples, of course, are delicious so insects love them, and it takes a boatload of pesticides to keep them away, plus the apple has a relatively large surface; so much the more.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan


I found a recipe for potato chips in the microwave! I couldn't believe how good they are!

Try these and see what you think (yes, the one who can't cook is giving recipes it's ludicrous)

Slice the potatoes thinly, coat them with olive oil and whatever salt. I used a paperplate.

Microwave until they start getting a little brown on the edge like potato chips, or until crispy.
That's it! Try it if you haven't, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I do so adore potato salad. I get mine at publix, but it's way too full of sodium.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

make it from scratch...potato salad is easy to make. I don't have a recipe other than a general guide:

- Enough potatoes to feed who is eating, boiled until done, then peeled and chopped
- a sour. Most folks use pickles. I use olives. I love olives in my potato salad
- a fragrant. Typically, this is onion
- an herb. Lots of folks choose parsely. I like dill, myself
- a sauce. Usually this is just mayo, but ive seen it done with mayo/dijon mix, with sour cream, and with cream cheese
- a color. You can do pimentos, or anything reddish. I like marinated red peppers, personally...but whatever floats your boat

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

This sounds good. I like the idea of olives, black or green, I guess it doesn't matter. I've always had it with pickles. I adore dill and keep the seed and weed on hand, I actually grow it myself. Never thought about it for potato salad. I like that this recipe doesn't have eggs. I have to avoid lots of protein. I think I will try pimentos. Yeah, mayo and mustard as the wet stuff. I'm used to it being yellow. Actually, I think everything is in the kitchen.
Okay! I will try. Your wife is so lucky.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

well...im the lucky one. But let me know how the salad comes out.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
i got some purple potatoes, heirloom tomatoes and beets, oyster mushrooms, and a few other things at a farmers market in New Braunfels. The potato salad was pretty darn good, thats for sure.

Awesome. I have many foreign friends who travel and frequent back and forth. I also recently got a purple potato that is purple skin and purple inside from Peru. They need cold weather, specific climate etc., but worked well this first try. I had 2 purple potatoes grow and flower, but no seed pods I saw. However now I have about 20 small purple potatoes I'm incubating to restart the process again and hopefully finally get to taste one after 2 years

originally posted by: Philippines

I had 2 purple potatoes grow and flower, but no seed pods I saw.

I never saw a potato with seeds.

I wait until the eyes start to grow, cut off those sections, allow them to callus over during the night and then plant them.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

So, I have to tell about you a dream I had. It's funny because

1. I don't dream that much and if I do, I probably don't remember them.
2. I have never dreamed about ATS or anybody on ATS.

I am standing at my kitchen counter making a sandwich. I am going to a lot of trouble with this sandwich. The bread is like, a loaf bought from a bakery. I have cut the loaf lengthwise, so I'm using the whole loaf to make it. I am surrounded by tons of things I'm putting on this sandwich. I want the lettuce to make a little ruffle peeking out around the edges, so it will be attractive. I'm putting a lot of effort into it. : )

Then, I slice a tomato. OMG, it's mushy. Much too soft for a sandwich! I become very distressed over this tomato and I think "OH NO! If BFFT is going to eat this sandwich, it CAN'T have mushy tomatoes! I wake up trying to decide whether to go buy new tomatoes, or abandon the whole sandwich endeavor.

ha.

The dream might have come from the fact that I was going to make your potato salad. I perused the kitchen, found all the ingredients, and then got out the potatoes. They were spongy. Read: old. So I couldn't use them in YOUR recipe. So of course I never made the potato salad. Yet.

Anyway, thought you might find that a little amusing on this overcast Thursday (GOP debate Thursday) morning.

(I'm having friends over to watch the debate as though it were the superbowl. I;m cooking a roast for roast beef sandwiches, made on bakery loaves with ruffled lettuce.) My friends are carnivores. Sadly, Publix southern-style potato salad.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

and now im hungry. When is that sandwich going to be ready?