OK This isn't a rant, more a frustration at certain demographics. Went into the local supermarket, you could buy regular leeks, and TRIMMED AND WASHED leeks for the same price (normalised) This raises a few thoughts in my head: I'm paying the same for less processing, someone's making a profit too much here, or some underpaid person's trimming and washing leeks. The normalisation comes from, whole leeks are slightly cheaper, but once I'd cut off enough to leave edible bits, it was the same mass as the already trimmed ones which are more expensive per kg. Also, the trimmed ones looked all dry and not so edible at the ends, so you'd have to re-trim them anyway. But the main rant is - why are you cooking with leeks that you have to cut up into slices if you can't be bothered / are unable to cut the end off yourself?!
I usually buy the fat-off huge ones from the "market value" box at Tesco. They're still the same vegetable, just gotta wash a bit of mud off. By the time you take off the outer layer which is usually a good idea anyway, most of that's gone too. If its the same thing they wash salad leaves in, its some sort of legal pesticide bath so I usually steer clear of anything that says its "washed" anyway.
They are a fruit flavoured gelatinous substance loved by children and hospital patients everywhere? Unlike the Gelatinous Cube, which is only loved by Dungeon Masters and usually appears after one of the players snaffles the last slice of pizza.
lol, now now. Dear Bit-Tech general posters... I am the troll here you bunch of gits Stop spamming up the threads on my behalf. Or I'll start wielding my hammer of immoral justice and your legs will become "fruit flavoured gelatinous substance loved by children and hospital patients"
It is a convenience but you also have to consider, with some items, especially fruit e.g. apples which is precut and bagged, they are sprayed with preservatives or packed in a nitrogen atmosphere, to prevent the brown oxidation that occurs if you leave an apple open to the air for a few minutes. It's mostly harmless but just an extra chemical one ingests that I prefer to avoid.
Umm, you won't ingest gaseous nitrogen, and any apple is absolutely packed full of chemicals anyway, why would you want to avoid preservatives which stop bacteria and fungus growing in your food?
**Removed a rant** As for the OP, un-washed / cut leeks will weigh more and take up more space, increasing the cost of transport. This price is therefore being passed onto the customer. The price of the transport would probably cost the same as the labour of a workforce to wash and cut. There will be various different reasons for the increased price. Hope i covered at least one for you.
Re: nitrogen, No **** sherlock my point is, why would you willingly ingest ADDITIONAL preservatives just for the benefit of having something pre cut when you can avoid that part altogether and use one's teeth?
scared, no Unnecessary, yes. Although for people who buy value brand denture fixing paste, this modern luxury may be more appreciated...
(worked in the produce industry for ~ 8 years) Most of the products like this (peeled onions, washed+cut lettuce, prebagged fruit) are processed in this way to regain value as they generally a lower quality product. Bagged fruit is usually smaller, or have minor imperfections. In this area it makes sense to produce a 'value added' product, as the leek would not have been saleable in it's original condition. Saves on wastage too. Quick example: 1x Leek, market value $1. 15 out of 20 are picked are in fine condition, the other 5 are not so. Managers: should we sell the 15 and throw out the 5 damaged ones? Effectively only making 75c a leek (fruit and veg cost money to grow ya know), or throw them on a production line, maybe make ~90c per unit over the lot. Makes sense to me! (sorry for the rambling!)
OK wow, I kinda started as a LOLRant, but I see there're actually some very good points behind this. I stand humbled
It's amazing how much good food we throw away. I'd say 10-20% of perfectly fine fruit and veg is discarded because tit has a slight aesthetic defect and don't get me started on how much food just simply doesn't get eaten and goes out of date. If you want to find out more you can go and check wikileeks... ...I'll get my coat.
