A MARKET SECRET

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19867, 15 June 1927, Page 10

A MARKET SECRET

RECONDITIONING VEGETABLES IN THE EARLY HOURS Ait the fruit and vegetable shops of Wanganui, before the customary marketing hour, one may learn the secret of their seldom failing .freshness. It lies in expert knowledge of the art of refurbishing. Those who sell to Wanganui are aware, that the city buys by its eye. A sprig of fern enhances the saleability. A bit of parsley increases the desirability of a link of sausages. As a vegetable shop cannot afford to be otherwise than fresh and green, the dealer plies pruning shears upon yesterday’s stock during the opening hour. The early marketers find brussells i sprouts turned out on the floor, while the dealer, with a grip here and there, repacks the box with smaller, trimmer sprouts, holding out the roundest and the firmest for the top. Wilted lettuce leaves are peeled off; yesterday’s luxuriant celery stalks are offered as to-day’s hearts. Brown spots on cauliflowers are pared off; shrivelled mushrooms are picked out of the basket; apples are rubbed until their cheeks shine; grapes Are dusted off. What is past going over is sold at bargain rates. Finally the greengrocer gets out his hose and waters his plucked garden until the spinach quivers with new life and the carrots glow. Theoretically, the freshening process is hardly economical. The wilted outside leaves of a head of lettuce may serve to keep the inside intact. But. since Wanganui buys by its eye, the wastage is slight, so far as the greengrocer is concerned. “.Soup celery.” of which country people never hear until they come to town, is not a new species, but only the discarded outer leaves of the higher priced hearts. The call for soup greens offers a means of disposal for many other bits of vegetables eliminated in the course of refurbishing.