Produce rotting quickly

[juliebove]

Has anyone else been having this problem lately? This past week was unseasonably hot here in WA so that might have had something to do with it. But it's darned annoying.

I get my shipments of organic produce every Wed. Everything looked fine when I took it from the box. Got a double order of Yukon Gold potatoes this past Wed. Daughter wanted mashed potatoes for dinner. She's not raw. Fine. Was going to make them for her. I keep the potatoes in a wooden bin. I knew something was wrong when I opened the lid and smelled the horrible aroma that came out of the box. And down in the bottom of it lurked what appeared to be an overly ripe kiwi. Now I have on occasion spaced out and put a kiwi in the the potatoes or some such thing. Most of the time the produce that comes in the box is loose and it's up to me to sort it all out. But no! This was a totally rotten potato. I tossed it out and scrubbed out the bin.

Then I started cutting up the potatoes. There were a couple of good ones, but the rest were rotting from the inside out. I'd never seen anything like it before. They were black inside and kind of syrupy. No clue at all what that might be. So I told my daughter that there were not enough good potatoes to make mashed potatoes. Oddly the few that were good were tiny ones.

I then began scouring the fridge for anything else to add to the potatoes. Found two green bell peppers. They were like gazpacho! Yuck! Out they went. Celery (yes the bitter celery) was mostly limp. Found a couple of ribs that were still somewhat crisp. One red pepper that was okay. The carrots were even limp. I'd had to put the tomatoes in the fridge because they were rotting almost instantly when left out as I usually do. I had some of those. And for some reason I'd bought waaay more lettuce than I usually do so there was still some of that I could eat. But most was wilted. There went MY dinner. Had a bowl of lettuce and some of RP's brownies with added coconut.

I did manage to scrape together enough stuff to make a sort of hash for daughter for dinner, along with 1/2 a canteloupe. Most of the fruit was still good. But the veggies just went south rather quickly. The peppers did not come in the produce box. I bought those since then. Should still be fresh. And I've had the potatoes less than a week. Those were the most puzzling. I've never seen potatoes do that!

[Sheryl]

It could be how long they were left in the heat during shipping too. I would talk to the company about the low level of quality and I am sure they will compensate you.

If it was just one or two items I would say luck of the draw, but so many... don't think so!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[Coriander74]

I agree, talk to the company about it. Even with this heat there's no reason for produce going bad THAT fast.

[luckitri]

I've always wondered what happened to the potatoes in Ireland to cause the famine that caused the mass migration here. When I get potatoes that have brown or black inside I think about it. But black and syrupy! Sounds like something really nasty! When my produce keeps too well I get concerned as to what is on it. Mine is keeping too well this week....but at this time of year I only keep potatos in the fridge here in Phoenix.

[spicyfull]

Hope all works out for you...........

[juliebove]

It could be how long they were left in the heat during shipping too. I would talk to the company about the low level of quality and I am sure they will compensate you.

If it was just one or two items I would say luck of the draw, but so many... don't think so!

Cheers,
Sheryl

Not everything that rotted came from the same place though. But then, we did have hot weather everywhere and I suppose they could have been left in unrefrigerated trucks or something.

[juliebove]

I've always wondered what happened to the potatoes in Ireland to cause the famine that caused the mass migration here. When I get potatoes that have brown or black inside I think about it. But black and syrupy! Sounds like something really nasty! When my produce keeps too well I get concerned as to what is on it. Mine is keeping too well this week....but at this time of year I only keep potatos in the fridge here in Phoenix.

I've had them with a bit of black inside or even a brown that looks like a bit of peel but it's usually an isolated potato. Not the whole batch! And I've never seen one rot to the point where it was mushy like that.