Curvy Cucumbers Make a Major Comeback

[hawk20]

Curvy cucumbers and nobbly carrots will be back on sale in the shops from next July if, as expected, more than two dozen laws banning imperfect-looking fruit and veg are scrapped.
EU-wide marketing standards ensuring only the finest-looking produce reaches supermarket shelves have been in force for 20 years. But to reduce red tape and bureaucracy - and make cheaper fruit and veg available as household bills rise - eurocrats say it is time the unnecessary restrictions disappear.
EU standards currently stipulate the size and shape of 36 types of fruit and veg sold in Europe, from apricots to watermelons.
If the vote goes through, the rules will be repealed for 26 of them, including artichokes, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, onions, peas, carrots, plums, and ribbed celery.
Specific market rules would stay in place for the 10 products which account for 75% of EU fruit and veg trade - apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches/nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes. But national authorities could exempt even those 10 from the rules on shape and size, as long as they are put on sale labelled as "product intended for processing" or something similar.
The Commission said that, if the vote goes through, the changes cannot be implemented until the start of July next year, for practical reasons.
But when the mis-shapen produce does reach the shelves, retailers estimate it could be sold as much as 40% cheaper than the current "class one" goods.
I wonder how much cheaper cars would be if the Commission started to relax some of the plethora of regulations on cars?

 

[Ade B]

Since moving to the suburban south, one thing I miss about living in Hackney is the lack of a decent fruit and veg market selling the stuff that the supermarkets didn't want for 1/2 the price.

I was under the impression that the grading of these things was as much to do with supermarket consumer demand as any EU directives - how they can charge £1.50 + for a bag of leaves is astonishing..

What regulations aside from emissions, embodied energy, recycleability(?) and safety (none of which are inherently bad ideas) would they be able to relax on a car?


Ade

 

[Howard]

When i was in Spain earlier this year , the fruit and veg we bought in the supermarket was all shapes and sizes ...

Last time i checked , Spain was a member of the EU , so why do these laws not apply to the fruit and veg sold there ? Oh , i know , because they won't stand for nonsense rules like that ...

By the way , the knobbley peppers , cucumbers and what not that i bought tasted fantastic , miles better than the offerings in the supermarkets here !

 

[Ted]

Yes, Howard the cucumbers (and tomatoes for that matter) are tasteless, and really not nice.
It really is easy to grow your own - they are packed full of flavour - you can almost eat the cucumbers on their own.

Stuff the supermarket rubbish!

 

[Mr E]

The standards are not about what can and can't be sold - they define the standard of (usually) appearance and size. Hence why "Class 1" carrots are more expensive than the value brand carrots which are class 2 or 3.

It's us as the consumer who dictates these things - when we want to buy unseasonable foods, non-knobly veg or pre-prepared stuff, that's what the stores stock (especially when they can make more money on it.

As others have said, buy in season and locally - or better still grow your own!

 

[Deleted member 6183]

When i was in Spain earlier this year , the fruit and veg we bought in the supermarket was all shapes and sizes ...

Last time i checked , Spain was a member of the EU , so why do these laws not apply to the fruit and veg sold there ? Oh , i know , because they won't stand for nonsense rules like that ...

By the way , the knobbley peppers , cucumbers and what not that i bought tasted fantastic , miles better than the offerings in the supermarkets here !

I didn't really believe organic would be any better until the Missus started buying some.

The tomatoes taste brilliant. I saw a tv programme that showed that you can only be sure that organic tomatoes are grown in earth, the economy ones
and most non-organic are grown in similar stuff to loft insulation soaked in water.

The organic tomatoes, kept out of the fridge, smell like a greenhose when opened!

 

[robert.saunders]

Is this Off-Topic?

 

[scumbag]

Is this Off-Topic?

No because Hawk started this thread and therefore its correct. End of!

 

[Darrell]

In our garden in Skiathos,we have tomatoes the size of your fist,cucumbers of all shapes and sizes,huge melons,spring onions,carrotts and everything else you can think of.The lemons on our trees are the size of grapefruit and our grapvines are looking very good.The olives are ready so very soon we will have our own olive oil,extra, extra virgin of course.

When we go to the supermarket and look at the fruit and veg counter,you would not believe the shapes and sizes of the produce.No-one here seems to mind and when I tell the locals about the EU laws (?) they just laugh.

The temp here today is around 22 degrees and tonight we had fish and prawns that came from the boat at 6.30pm and was on our plate by 8pm.

EU regs !!!!!!

 

[Swiss Toni]

In our garden in Skiathos,we have tomatoes the size of your fist,cucumbers of all shapes and sizes,huge melons,spring onions,carrotts and everything else you can think of.The lemons on our trees are the size of grapefruit and our grapvines are looking very good.The olives are ready so very soon we will have our own olive oil,extra, extra virgin of course.

When we go to the supermarket and look at the fruit and veg counter,you would not believe the shapes and sizes of the produce.No-one here seems to mind and when I tell the locals about the EU laws (?) they just laugh.

The temp here today is around 22 degrees and tonight we had fish and prawns that came from the boat at 6.30pm and was on our plate by 8pm.

EU regs !!!!!!

Yes, yes, yes, but are you happy?

 

[bigbobs cl]

tonight we had fish and prawns that came from the boat at 6.30pm and was on our plate by 8pm.

EU regs !!!!!!

I had fish and chips, left the chippy at 6:30 on my plate at 6:40, beat ya!!

 

[Darrell]

Oh yes,we are happy.

If you are a fish eater then Greece is the place to be.
The way it works here is that you go down to the local cafe-bar around 6.00pm,you must watch the little fishing boats come in and then approach the captain when they dock.You can then select the fish,squid or prawns you want and then it's off home for your dinner.

We have central heating but yesterday we had a delivery of olive wood for the fire-place in the house.It smells wonderfull and is a damn sight cheaper then oil for the boiler.

Everything is rustic,rural,quiet and peacefull.No stabbings on the street or your Mercedes getting vandalised.People respect you here if you have a nice car.My drive to work takes 10 mins along the beach road with absoloutley zero traffic.Our 3 year-old speaks fluent Greek and to cap it all off I am sitting here watching UK television,using the laptop with wireless broadband with a super log fire roaring away behind me.

And we have odd-shaped vegetables!!......and they taste superb.

 

[Ade B]

Oh yes,we are happy.

If you are a fish eater then Greece is the place to be.
The way it works here is that you go down to the local cafe-bar around 6.00pm,you must watch the little fishing boats come in and then approach the captain when they dock.You can then select the fish,squid or prawns you want and then it's off home for your dinner.

We have central heating but yesterday we had a delivery of olive wood for the fire-place in the house.It smells wonderfull and is a damn sight cheaper then oil for the boiler.

Everything is rustic,rural,quiet and peacefull.No stabbings on the street or your Mercedes getting vandalised.People respect you here if you have a nice car.My drive to work takes 10 mins along the beach road with absoloutley zero traffic.Our 3 year-old speaks fluent Greek and to cap it all off I am sitting here watching UK television,using the laptop with wireless broadband with a super log fire roaring away behind me.

And we have odd-shaped vegetables!!......and they taste superb.

Come on it can't be that good - bet you can't get a decent bacon butty with brown sauce.


Ade

 

[Darrell]

You have hit on a thorny subject there.
The brown sauce we can get as well as tom ketch and Hellmans Mayo,BUT we just can't get the bacon.English sausages are available but at a price.
Friends and family from the UK bring us out the El Paso kits from the supermarkets and we have some people bringing us some Jaffa cakes out when they visit next week.

 

[Dave Lewis]

I get a box of mis-shapen, locally grown, organic, muddy vegetables delivered to my door every week. Luvverly! Stuff the supermarkets.

It's easy to take the mickey out of the EU, but not long ago, we were all killing each other in our millions. Arguing over the shape of cucumbers is a distinct improvement

 

[hawk20]

What regulations aside from emissions, embodied energy, recycleability(?) and safety (none of which are inherently bad ideas) would they be able to relax on a car?


Ade

That is quite a list Ade!

I guess the biggest one that is going to affect us all is the impending emissions regulations. At the moment not one single Mercedes reaches the emissions standard they are supposed to meet for all their cars on average. Isn't it 120gms/km (less than an A160cdi)? Or somewhere I saw it said they are raising to 130gms/km.

Even the revolutionary new diesel coming in the C class (and already available in Germany) does not meet the requirement - even in manual form.