My grandfather was very, VERY particular about picking vegetables. As a result all his children, including my dad, received very strict training. And my mother made sure that dad passed on as much knowledge as he could, to us.

Learning to pick fresh veggies is the first thing you’ll need to learn if you are starting to cook, because without fresh ingredients that are thriving, vibrating with life, your food is going to be pretty lifeless. The easiest way to learn is to touch, gently press and smell as many of them as you can while you pick. With just a little practice, you’ll know with a glance which ones are good.

Tomatoes, squash, eggplants, cucumber, bell peppers, etc.
These can be picked easily – check for three things – color/ evenness, firmness and smell.

Check their colour to make sure they are ripe (the colour should be bright and deep), and inspect the surface to see that they have no cuts, holes or bruises.

Press them a little and see if they are firm. Many vegetables today are picked raw and transported, and often sprayed with chemicals to ripen them prematurely. If this is the case, the color will be bright, but the vegetable will be hard. There should be a little give under pressure.  The over-ripe ones are soft.

Lastly, smell them near the stem. Fresh vegetables smell wonderful!

Avocados
The first two rules about even surface and hardness apply to avocados as well.

Another thing you can do, is remove the stem and check the surface underneath. It should be a nice green color. Black indicates an over ripe avocado.

Cauliflowers, broccoli, cabbage
Look around it to check if you see any holes anywhere – that indicates it has worms, so you better avoid it. If they are firm to touch, they are fresh. Old ones will be soft. In case of cauliflower and broccoli, the florets should be of even color and not brown.

Potatoes, onions, carrots or other root vegetables
Check to see that they don’t have holes either.

Tubers will be firm under pressure if they are fresh. Old ones get soft. Fresh carrots are usually bright in colour, and older ones start looking dry and pale.

For onions, see that the entire onion is pretty much the same colour. Old onions start drying up from bottom up, so the larger the dry area, the older your onion is – and the less edible.

Beans, Okra (ladies finger), etc.
Vegetables like beans and okra are crisp when they are fresh, and break easily. To check for freshness, just bend the tip, and if it breaks, then it is fresh. With age, the beans or okra become fiberous and bend with pressure, becoming hard to break.

Leafy Vegetables
Check the bunch to ensure there are no rotting or dry leaves. When you touch the leaves, they should be firm and crisp. Soft and tender leaves indicate that the bunch is old.

Peas
With peas, much of the previous knowledge doesn’t apply. If you pick the brightest pods, you will end up with baby peas – a lot of work and very little to cook with! One has to be a little careful here, because pea pods are prone to having worms. So make sure there are no holes in the pods, and pick the dry looking ones that seem filled up and are firm to touch.