One thing you might not know about me is my first job was working at an open air fruit and vegetable market in Union City. I loved the smell of the fresh fruits and vegetables everyday I came to work at Ponticorvo Brothers. I was 15 years old when I started there. Sal Ponticorvo was at the store from opening to closing. He loved talking to customers but he also watched what they were doing. I remember him saying very nicely to customers "don't do that" when they were being unkind to his fruits and vegetables. His produce was better than any supermarket in the area. His prices were great too. I think part of the reason his prices were good was because he did his best to make sure he didn't loose money to customers who damaged what he was trying to sell.
When it comes to buying fruits and vegetables one thing you should never do is damage what other customers could buy. Many of us are unaware or just don't care when we do the things we do in the produce section. So here are some common mistakes we should stop making.
Man Handling the produce is the first one. It's nice to be able to see and touch before you buy. Just be gentle. Pressing to hard to see how ripe fruit is will take it's toll.
If you buy avocados don't pop the stems off to see if it's ripe. It interrupts the ripening process.
Bagging up every little thing is not necessary either. Things like one or two oranges or a bunch of bananas don't need a bag.
People also read prices the wrong way. Sometimes produce is sold by the item other times by the pound. A bag of cherries marked $1.99 a pound might cost you $5.00 at the check out.
Annoying produce department employees by asking them to check for better produce "in the back" is also a waste of time. Like all perishables produce is rotated. Usually what's in the back came in the same day as what's out there already.
One more thing. The produce department is not the sampling department. If you let your kids or yourself start to eat a piece of fruit while you are shopping make sure you pay for it when you check out. Throwing half eaten produce behind the bread is gross.
Source: The Kitchn