By Lauren Kollauf on Wednesday, December 2, 2020
10 produce facts that will blow your mind
Get ready to forget everything you think you knew about fruits and vegetables. We partnered with the "produce pros" at Capital City Fruit to bring you these 10 mind-blowing facts:
1. Tomatoes are fruits and vegetables
Botanically speaking, tomatoes are a fruit. However, an 1893 Supreme Court decision legally defines them as vegetables (since they are typically used in savory dishes) for tax purposes.
2. Apples at the grocery store may be up to one year old
Don't worry – they're still safe to eat. A short season plus year-round demand requires apple farmers to store the fruit in environments that prevent apples from ripening.
3. Eating carrots will not improve your vision
Carrots are a good source of beta-carotene which contributes to overall eye health. However, eating them in excess won't actually improve your vision. This myth was started during WWII when British fighter pilots attributed their night vision skills to eating carrots in order to conceal their real secret weapon: radar.
LIVE 5-2-1-0: Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily
4. Avocados can improve bad breath
Avocados have a lot of health and beauty benefits – including ridding your throat and intestines of food debris and bacteria that is known to cause bad breath.
5. Bananas are berries
In strictly botanical terms, bananas are berries! So are avocados. Now, are you ready for your mind to be blown even more? Strawberries and raspberries are not technically berries.
6. Wash your blueberries as you go
That white-ish film on the skin of your blueberries – known as the "bloom" – is a sign of freshness. Store your blueberries in the fridge and wash just prior to eating. If you wash them and then re-store them, they will break down faster.
CAPITAL CITY FRUIT: Get fresh produce delivered to your door
7. Stop storing tomatoes in the fridge
Keep your tomatoes on the counter. Storing them in the fridge can result in mealy and mushy textured tomatoes. For more produce storage recommendations, check out these tips from Capital City Fruit.
8. All bell peppers start as green peppers
The color of bell peppers changes the longer it is allowed to mature on the plant from green to yellow, orange and red. Green peppers taste the most bitter while red peppers are the sweetest.
9. You can ripen fruit in a paper bag
Need to speed up the ripening of bananas or avocados? Place the produce in a paper bag to trap more of the ethylene gas released, ripening these fruits faster.
10. There is no need to use soap on your produce
The FDA recommends gently rubbing produce while holding under plain running water. There’s no need to use additional soap or a specially-marketed produce wash. A vegetable brush can be used on firm produce.
"Produce 101" with Capital City Fruit
Want to learn more about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables and share this information with your colleagues in virtual setting?
Capital City Fruit is providing "Produce 101" interactive training opportunities for workplaces in central Iowa. This lunch-and-learn style wellness training for employees is provided free of charge and would make a great addition to any workplace wellness initiatives!
Learn more and schedule your "Produce 101" training here.