Produce Guide - P

Papayas

Whether they're small or large, ripe or unripe, I'm a papaya man through and through. This lovely tropical fruit may be shaped like an avocado or be as round as an orange, but it will usually have a smooth green skin that acquires blotches of yellow, pink, and/or orange as it ripens. Once ripe, the papaya's flesh is soft, juicy, and deep orange or yellow in colour, surrounding a central cavity stuffed with tiny black seeds. Smaller-sized fruit are most popular with, and perhaps familiar to, North Americans, but giant papayas are now imported regularly, ranging in weight from two pounds to 20 (1-10 kg). And while many of us have only tasted the juicy, sweet flesh of a ripe papaya, in the West Indies, Southeast Asia, and other places where they grow, the green, unripe fruit is commonly eaten, both cooked and raw.

We see papayas year-round, thanks to imports from Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Hawaii. The thin-skinned papaya is a delicate fruit, which bruises easily when ripe. And so it is that papayas are harvested when green, in order to survive the rigours of long-distance travel. While they do ripen quite successfully after picking, imported fruit never quite develop the flavour of a tree-ripened papaya. Bear this in mind, and - unless you are deliberately buying green papayas - choose those with at least a partially yellow or orange skin. Better to buy a blemished or mottled yellow fruit than a smooth-skinned green beauty. Look for fruit that give slightly to gentle pressure, like a firm-ripe avocado. Leave unripe papayas out on the counter, or in a paper bag alongside a banana, until they soften up. At that point you can keep them in the refrigerator for several days, although you should bring them back to room temperature before eating.

Parsnips

Before Columbus brought potatoes to Europe from the New World, parsnips were the main source of vegetable starch for ordinary souls like you and me. While they weren't exactly banished in favour of the potato, they did take a back seat. Then they became as widely used in sweet dishes as they were in soups and stews, not to mention the country folks' wine. We still think of parsnips as a humble sort of root, despite the fact that they are turning up in fashionable restaurants in the form of croquettes, purées, and chips.

Although these roots are available year-round, we still think of them as a winter veg, as many insist that they need to be nipped by frost before they develop their characteristic sweetness. I happen to like tender new-crop parsnips, braised in a little butter and sprinkled with lots of parsley and a bit of parmesan. I also shred them into salads and eat them raw. When choosing parsnips, look for the smaller and mid-sized roots, as the very large ones can be a bit woody. Make sure they are firm and unblemished, and avoid any that seem limp or have rootlets sprouting from them.

Passion Fruit

Before you add this tropical fruit to your culinary stock of love potions, you should know that its name refers not to the desires of the flesh, but to the Passion of Christ. Native to Brazil, the fruit was named by Christian missionaries, who believed that its flower represented Christ's wounds, crucifixion nails, and crown of thorns. That said, there's still plenty to get passionate about … as long as you don't judge by appearances. Unlike its remarkable flowers, the poor little passion fruit is no great beauty.

We see three main varieties of passion fruit on and off throughout the year in Canada. The purple passion fruit is most common, and is grown in New Zealand, South and Central America, and California. It looks like something out of Dr. Seuss - a purple egg that takes on a slightly deflated, much wrinkled appearance when ripe. And inside? Not much better, I'm afraid. The gelatinous pulp ranges in colour from mustard yellow to orange, and encases loads of crunchy black seeds. But the cut fruit gives off the most amazing fragrance - an intense tropical blast of jasmine, citrus, and honey. And the flavour lives up to the promise of the scent - sweet but tangy, with a hint of banana custard to round it out.

Peaches

Peaches are perhaps the most celebrated of the soft fruits, the crowning glory of summer, and the star of the famous Peach Melba, created by the celebrated chef Escoffier for the even more illustrious soprano Dame Nellie Melba.

California is our biggest domestic peach producer, supplying us from mid-May through early October, but we also get gorgeous peaches in summer from British Columbia and southern Ontario, as well as local crops in season. And we can eat peaches year-round, thanks to imports from Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand. Of course, the farther peaches must travel, the more expensive they will be, and the more likely they are to have been harvested when immature. Peaches are at their best when left to ripen on the tree, and those exported over long distances rarely are.

There are many varieties of peaches, but they are seldom sold by name, and there are only two types. Generally speaking, the first half of the season brings us clingstone fruit, which make good eating, but are hard work if you're interested in putting up preserves. Clingstone peaches tend to have quite firm flesh, which will need prying from the stone, regardless of ripeness. Later varieties are more often freestone; cut around the circumference of the peach and, with a little twist, the two halves will come cleanly away from the stone. These peaches tend to have fuller flavour than the early clingstone varieties.

Pears

Easily one of my favourite orchard fruits, the pear is to autumn what the strawberry is to summer. Like the apple, the pear is a member of the rose family, and probably originated in the Middle East. Having made its way into Europe, North India, and later the United States, the wild pear was soon cultivated into over a thousand different varieties with a medley of characteristics, not counting the descendents of Asia's wild pears.

The North American pear season starts in late summer and - because some varieties store so well - lasts through the early spring. At that time the South Americans begin to export pears, and we get particularly good ones from Argentina and Chile. Some of the more notable varieties we see in Canada are the Bartlett, Anjou, Bosc, Packham, and Comice.

The Bartlett, known in Europe as the Williams, is probably the most popular of pears, owing largely to its eye appeal. The most "pear-shaped" of any variety, it has a slender neck and a wide bottom. Its skin is green, turning yellow when ripe, and its flavour is pleasantly musky. One of the earliest pears to arrive on the scene, the Bartlett is harvested beginning in late summer. Unfortunately, this pear is not a good keeper, as it bruises easily and tends to go off from the inside out. So you might be disappointed to bite into a lovely-looking Bartlett, only to discover a mushy core and mealy flesh.

Garden Peas

Garden peas are one of the few vegetables still marked by local growing seasons. Although you can find imports occasionally throughout the year, peas are a labour-intensive harvest, they don't travel well, and they have to be fresh to be good. In Canada, this means that, as a rule, garden peas are something to celebrate from July through August. Until recently, garden peas were grown purely for commercial processing, and fresh peas were the guarded treasure of home gardeners. Their growing popularity over the past half decade has led to more producers turning over some of their fields to fresh market development.

Garden peas begin to deteriorate as soon as they are picked, as their sugar converts to starch. When buying them, choose fresh, bright green, lively looking pods. They should be firm and fat, filled to bursting with plump peas. Store them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a few days only, using them as soon as possible. To prepare them, first rinse the pods under running water. Shell them by pressing open the pods with your fingers and using your thumb to push out the peas. If you don't fancy sitting on the front porch with a shelling basket on your knees, you can even find fresh shelled garden peas at some supermarkets.

Hot Peppers

Hot, hotter, and hottest. That's the way I like my peppers. And to straighten out a point of general confusion right off the bat, hot peppers and chilies are the same thing. They are capsicums, members of the same botanical family as sweet peppers, which they resemble in miniature, with their brightly coloured glossy skins and interior pith and seeds. But the resemblance ends there. Most hot peppers possess a fiery heat that makes them good for flavouring dishes rather than for eating whole. The range of heat and the variety of peppers is bewildering to the unsuspecting, but thanks to Wilbur Scoville - a man of some courage and a sense of adventure - we now have a scale to rate the heat of peppers. On the Scoville scale, a 1 is very mild, while a 10 can take the roof off your mouth.

It used to be that if you wanted hot peppers you had to buy them dried, powdered, or in a can. Now we have such an ever-increasing variety of fresh hot peppers available that it is impossible to list them all. Like sweet peppers, all hot peppers begin life green. Those left to ripen on the vine at length can become red, yellow, purple, orange, or a range of colours in between. Green peppers have a fresh, grassy undertone, while red peppers may have a slightly sweet flavour. Generally speaking, the larger the pepper the milder it is. Anaheim peppers, which are usually red or green, are a 3 on the Scoville scale. Often roasted, peeled, and puréed for soups or sauces, or diced and added to cooked dishes, they can also be stuffed and baked. Similar in size to the Anaheim is the poblano, a name for a number of different hot peppers that are all used when green.

Sweet Peppers

I'm sweet on peppers, especially sweet peppers. With their vibrant colours and snappy taste, these gorgeous creatures make my mouth water. Sweet peppers are closely related to hot peppers, or chilies, which derive their fieriness from capsaicin, not to be confused with capsicum, which is the botanical name for all pepper varieties, but which the Brits tend to use to describe sweet peppers. Confused? Don't be. In North America we simply call them sweet peppers, although people with Yankee tendencies might say "bell pepper."

Believed to have originated in South America, the sweet pepper was taken to Europe by the earliest Spanish and Portuguese explorers. Today, it's grown year-round (often in greenhouses during the winter months) everywhere from Canada to Spain; the world leader is Holland. In the past few years, Mexican growers have brought winter prices down, and in late summer and early fall, you can gorge yourself on perfect, beautiful-looking, locally grown sweet peppers and even freeze some to enjoy through the winter.

The common green pepper is one picked before it ripens to the orange, yellow, red, purple, or even black shade it would become if left on the vine. The longer peppers are allowed to ripen, the sweeter and juicier they become. Green peppers have a fresh, raw flavour, while red and other brightly coloured peppers are decidedly sweeter and more pungent. When buying sweet peppers, look for firm ones with brightly coloured, smooth and shiny skins. Avoid any that are soft or blemished. Store them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to a week. Sweet peppers are delicious raw, served with dip, sliced into a salad, or even munched as you would an apple. And you'll never run out of ways to cook sweet peppers. Stuff pepper halves with just about anything you can think of, and bake until the flesh is soft and tender. Sauté pepper slices with onion and garlic, and then braise with tomatoes and herbs for an easy ratatouille. Roasting or grilling sweet peppers adds a whole other dimension to their flavour and texture, which becomes velvety smooth and luxurious.

Persimmons

Persimmons, also called Kaki, are native to Asia and wildly popular in Japan, China, and Korea. However, it is the wild American variety that gives us its common name, from the Algonquin, putchamin, despite the fact that these days this American fruit is no longer cultivated and rarely eaten. Fuyu and Hachiya, the two most popular persimmon varieties, are distinct in shape, colour, and flavour, making them easy to distinguish.

The Fuyu is fat and round, like a ripe tomato, with a waxy orange skin and a green calyx and sepals, or heart-shaped leaves. When firm, its flavour is something between an apple and a date, and its texture is smooth and crisp. But if you allow the fruit to ripen to the point where it becomes soft and mushy, the Fuyu takes on an exquisite apricot-like sweetness. We see Fuyus from South America and Israel (where they are exported under the name Sharon fruit), but the best and cheapest come from California from October all the way through to January. These persimmons are truly sublime in November and December, perfectly timed for Christmas. They are excellent eaten on their own, or sliced into a green salad to add a bit of crunch.

By contrast, you don't want to bite into an underripe Hachiya. This teardrop-shaped persimmon needs to ripen until it is truly shrivelled and squishy, in order for it to become sweet and silky smooth, almost like jelly. When firm, the Hachiya is mouth-puckeringly astringent, so do be patient. Like its cousin, the Hachiya has a bright orange, waxy skin and green stem and leaves.

Pineapples

Pineapples, so called for their resemblance to pine cones, are grown in many tropical regions around the world. Costa Rica produces most of the pineapples we see on the East Coast, while Hawaii is still a leading exporter for the West Coast, and a major producer for the canning industry. Contrary to popular imagination, pineapples do not hang from tall trees on sand-swept beaches. They grow on low-lying plants that bear sword-like leaves similar to those smaller versions attached to the fruits. The average pineapple weighs about two to four pounds (1-2 kg), while miniature fruits may be very small and giant varieties can reach over 20 pounds (10 kg).

This tropical favourite can be a tricky fruit to buy, and customers are often disappointed by either flavourless, immature pineapples or overripe, fermented fruit. This explains the popularity of whole, fresh pineapples that are peeled and cored on site at the supermarket. However, it is not impossible to choose a good pineapple, if you know what to look for. Freshness is the key. The pineapple should be plump and large, and golden in colour near the base. The attached leaves should be crisp and green. Check the bottom of the fruit for any blackness on the core, which indicates that the pineapple has already begun to ferment. And please don't bother with trying to pull out the central leaves - this won't tell you anything and just ruins the look of the fruit. A sweet aroma is always a good sign of a ripe pineapple, but some truly gorgeous fruits won't give off even a whiff of perfume.

Plantain

If you've ever seen a pile of very green, bruised, or blackened bananas in a supermarket and thought that the produce manager wasn't doing his job, chances are that you were looking at plantain. This is the "cooking banana" so popular in Latin American, Asian, and Caribbean kitchens. While closely related to the more familiar banana we pack in our lunch boxes, the plantain is far more versatile, as it can be used at almost every stage of ripeness. When green, the plantain's flesh is very firm and rather tasteless, and it can be sliced and cooked pretty much like a potato. As it ripens and turns yellow, the flesh becomes creamier in texture and takes on the sweeter fragrance and subtle flavour of bananas. But unlike bananas, even when plantains are bruised and blackened, their flesh remains firm when cooked.

Plantains are available year-round, and are imported mostly from Central and South America. Choosing plantains depends on how or when you want to cook them. Green plantains will ripen at home over time, provided they are not refrigerated, while mottled or black plantains should be slightly soft when purchased; avoid any black plantains that are still hard. Green plantains can be peeled, chopped, and boiled, and then served with a spicy salsa, added to soups or casseroles, or roasted on their own, with root vegetables or around a roast. They are also good when mashed with sweet potatoes or winter squash and plenty of butter and salt. Sliced thinly, plantains can be sautéed in butter or oil or deep-fried like french fries. Riper plantains, yellow or black, can be cooked the same ways, although I tend to leave their skins on when boiling, as this helps them to keep their shape.

Plums

Plums are such a fine fruit that it's no wonder the word has come to mean "the best," as in, "that's a plum cherry tree in your garden." And if somebody calls you "plum crazy," what they actually mean is that you are "plumb" crazy, referring not to the fruit but to the absolute straightness of a plumb line. To further complicate matters, sometimes a plum is not a plum, nor even a prune. Neither plum duff nor plum pudding actually contains plums, fresh or dried. In old English usage, the word plum was used to refer to any dried fruit, including raisins, which is what you'll actually pull out, if, like Jack Horner, you stick your thumb into a Christmas pie.

However, aside from its name, the plum is a straightforward little fruit. Closely related to cherries, apricots, and peaches, plums contain a single stone. The earlier varieties are almost always clingstone, while those that come later in the summer are freestone. And whether they are from California, our largest supplier during the spring and summer, or from South America, where we get our winter imports, plums are either Japanese or European. Japanese varieties come in various shapes, sizes, and colours, except for purple or blue. European plums, on the other hand, are almost always purple or blue, elongated, and of the prune plum variety.

Pomegranates

God promised the Israelites that they would find pomegranates along with figs, honey, and olive oil in the Promised Land, and if you've ever tasted the fruit's ruby-red, sweet-sharp "grains" or seeds, you won't think that they made the trip in vain. The pomegranate is itself a well-travelled fruit, having made its way from North Africa to the Mediterranean, to the Americas, China, the Middle East, and India. It is still most popular in the East, where the juice is commonly used for drinks, sauces, and condiments.

This ancient fruit was named by the Romans, who called it pomum granatum, "apple filled with seeds," adopted by the French as pume grenate, and then by the English as pomegranate. And it does look a bit like an apple - in shape and colour - although it can grow as large as a grapefruit, and its large calyx lends it a rather more regal appearance.

Spanish settlers introduced the pomegranate tree into California as early as 1769, and the San Joaquin Valley is by far our biggest supplier. These "jewels of winter" are available from September through Christmas, but early varieties such as Early Foothill may disappoint. Although the skin may be glossy and deep red, the seeds can be pale and a bit tart. However, later on, varieties such as Wonderful live up to their name, bearing plump, scarlet seeds with their characteristic tangy-sweet flavour. Recently we've been getting some super yellow-skinned pomegranates from Spain, which have very sweet, golden-coloured seeds.

Pomelos

The common grapefruit is the rather refined offspring of the ancient pomelo or shaddock. The pomelo most likely originated in Malaysia and Indonesia, but also grew wild in parts of China, where it has certainly been cultivated for thousands of years. The fruit made its way west via the Arabs, who managed to grow it in Spain. And from Europe it was introduced to the West Indies by one Captain Shaddock, whose greatest legacy to the world (and to the pomelo) was his name.

The rather ungainly-looking pomelo is larger than any other citrus fruit, between a large grapefruit and a soccer ball in size. However, much of its bulk is made up of a very thick rind, which peels away easily to reveal a segmented fruit closely resembling a good-sized grapefruit. The difference is in the texture and flavour. The pomelo's flesh tends to be dry and is rarely if ever bitter, although it can range from very sweet to acid to bland. In the West Indies the pomelo is prized not so much for its flesh as for its thick rind, which is preserved in sugar and eaten as candy, or used in jams. In China the rind is sometimes parboiled and cooked as a vegetable. I've enjoyed the former, never tried the latter, and prefer to focus on the flesh.

Potatoes

One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes...and more. There are lots of different varieties around, and a good thing too, since we eat a tremendous amount of potatoes. Until very recently, New Brunswick school children were given a two-week school break each autumn to help bring in the province's potato harvest. Mechanization - and the fact that more kids were turning up in shopping malls than in potato fields - has put an end to that charming tradition. However, this cash crop is no small potatoes for the Maritime provinces, especially Prince Edward Island, which produces a third of Canada's potatoes.

Traditionally, potatoes have been categorized as bakers, boilers, and all-purpose. Bakers have a lot of starch and little moisture, which means they are fluffy and dry when baked. Because of their starchiness, these potatoes are also ideal for frying or for using in rosti, potato pancakes, or baked goods. Boilers have a higher moisture content and less starch; they can be more easily chopped or sliced once boiled, and they have that creamy texture that is so good in potato salads. All-purpose potatoes fall somewhere between the mealiness of bakers and the creaminess of boilers, containing moderate levels of starch and moisture.

While these categories are useful, there are no hard and fast rules. Bakers are also good for boiling, but only if you're going to mash them or cook them in soup, because when cooked in liquid they tend to fall apart. They will also boil faster and produce a drier, fluffier mash than boilers. On the other hand, boilers are delicious when baked or roasted, as their skins become crisp and their waxy flesh absorbs the flavour of whatever oils or butter they are cooked in.

Prickly Pears

The prickly pear is also called the Barbary pear, the cactus pear, the Indian pear, the Indian fig, and the tuna fig. Despite these various monikers, this fruit is neither a pear nor a fig, but an egg-sized berry that grows in clusters on the leaves of several varieties of the Opuntia cactus. This unusual looking fruit is native to the arid regions of Central America and the United States, but has long been grown in India, Australia, and the Mediterranean. I've seen them growing wild along highways in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, and they really are a common sight in many desert regions.

Prickly pears are cultivated commercially all over the world, but in Canada we import them primarily from Italy in the fall and winter. There are three main varieties, all fairly similar in flavour, despite their different colours. Green-skinned prickly pears have green flesh; those with orange skins have orange flesh; and the burgundy-skinned variety reveals - you guessed it - burgundy flesh. All are dotted with hard black seeds on the inside, and their skins are patterned with little spines. You have to be careful when handling this fruit, because while it may not always be obvious, the skins are covered with hair-like prickles that will embed themselves into your palms, and days later you can find yourself still trying to extract these tiny barbs.

Pumpkin

Never has a vegetable provided so much fun and been eaten so rarely. Pumpkins are considered one of our most seasonal vegetables, since most people don't think about them until October rolls around and the supermarket aisles get clogged with giant bins of the beautiful orange globes. At this point they are merely a pleasing and festive sight for most of us, although in rural areas pumpkins take on great importance - especially the enormous ones. Towards Thanksgiving, dedicated bakers and pie lovers will pick one up, knowing that the canned purée doesn't taste nearly as good. But by the end of the month, everyone and their mothers rush off to choose the fattest, brightest pumpkin possible, and the slaughter begins.

Let's put aside the fun. Pumpkin is a vegetable to be eaten. Pumpkin is a generic name for any winter squash that is round in shape, usually ridged, and bright orange in colour. Generally speaking, excessively large pumpkins won't be very sweet (although don't buy the tiny, palm-sized variety for any-thing other than decoration). It's a good idea to take weight into consideration - choose one that feels heavy for its size. It should have firm, smooth skin, with no blemishes or mouldy patches. A fresh pumpkin will keep for up to a month when stored in a cool, dry place, so it's worth picking up a few during the Halloween mania. Once cut, the pieces should be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for no longer than a week.

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