JACKSON, WY— Whole Grocer is thrilled to now offer online shopping to their customers to make shopping easy and enjoyable. But one of the biggest concerns they hear is: “what about the produce?”

It’s a reasonable worry. To many, produce shopping is personal. We want to make sure our produce is just ripe enough, or big enough, or unbruised. Luckily, Whole Grocer has a team of expert Foragers who will carefully select the best the store has to offer. Here’s how they pick some of your favorite produce items (these also serve as helpful tips for picking your own produce!):

Organic Broccoli:

  • Choose broccoli with bright green heads
  • Favor compact clusters of the broccoli florets. The more open the florets, the older and closer to flowering the florets are.
  • Choose firm, strong stems and stalks. If the stem seems woody, do not buy it.
  • Avoid broccoli with yellow flowers. It has gone past the stage of desirable texture. However, if your own broccoli has flowered, it will still work in soup or as stock flavoring.

Organic Green Kale:

  • Check the leaves and stems for firmness. The leaves and stems on fresh kale should be firm and not limp or wilted
  • Look at the color of the leaves and stems. The leaves and stems should be a dark green or light green color, depending on the variety of kale you are looking at. Steer clear of any kale that has brownish or yellowish looking leaves.

Organic Carrots:

  • Pick out larger carrots for sweetness. Larger carrots tend to signify longer growing times. The longer the carrot is in the the ground, the more sugar it can develop.
  • Look for carrots with deep coloring. Fresher carrots have more intense pigmentation.
  • Look for bright green leaves on carrot tops. You can also judge the carrot’s freshness by the color of the leaves. Fresher carrots have brighter leaves.
  • Avoid excessively cracked or split carrots.

Organic Red Leaf Lettuce:

  • Choose lettuce with healthy outer leaves
  • Avoid overly large heads of lettuce which may have tough, fibrous leaves

Organic Bell Peppers:

  • Choose a bell pepper that has a deep, vivid color
  • Be sure there are no blemishes, bruises or soft spots—these indicate damage or overripeness.
  • The skin should feel firm and taut

Organic Bananas:

  • Pick the bananas according to what you will use them for and when you plan to use them.
  • Buy only the amount of bananas you feel you can consume before they become overripe (you can tell your forager exactly how many bananas you want in your cart!).
  • Look for bananas with no brown spots or obvious signs of handling damage.

Organic Navel Oranges:

  • Select a firm, smooth and thin-skinned orange that is full-colored and heavy for its size.
  • Brown surface patches do not mean the orange is unripe or spoiled, but rather that it was grown in a very warm and usually humid region.
  • Avoid oranges that are soft or moldy.

Organic Grapes:

  • Ripe, healthy grapes should be firm and plump on all sides.
  • Look for a smooth skin tone  —  healthy grapes should also have a light silver-colored dusting on the skin called bloom.
  • Check the stem. The stem of a healthy grape cluster should be green and flexible.

Organic Berries:

  • Look for a clean, dry berry that are plump, firm, and fully red. The caps should be green and fresh looking. Avoid bruised or wrinkled berries

Organic Honey Crisp Apples:

  • Apples should be firm to the touch. Avoid apples that are noticeably soft, discolored, or indent easily after you press the skin.
  • For red varietal apples, look for the green background to be covered mostly by red or pink-orange hues. Apples with full color have absorbed lots of sunlight which leads to great flavors.
  • A fresh, high-quality apple should have a pleasant aroma.

There are over 18,000 items available to choose from in Whole Grocer’s online shop, and they are adding more everyday! Click here or visit the online store and shop now!