What you see: White cauliflower with some random purple patches in the branches and stemWhat it is: Bonus colors from anthocyanins, common plant pigments Eat or
Brown dots or streaks in your avocado?
What you see: Brown and black streaks or dots in avocado flesh. What it is: Vascular browning! Mmmm! Eat or toss? This could have various causes; the avocado
Odd spots inside sweet potato?
What you see: Discolored, dry-looking patches and/or brown spots in sweet potato flesh, more toward the outside than the inside. The exterior of the sweet
A hole with a “window” in your spinach?
What you see: A spinach leaf with a hole that’s not quite a hole; there's a layer of clear tissue remaining. What it is: "Window-paning!" Evidence of a picky
Black pattern inside a raw potato?
What you see: A black pattern inside your potato. What it is: A number of issues cause black areas to form in potatoes; the potato pictured above most likely
A plum that’s brownish inside?
What you see: Brownish discoloration inside a plum What it is: Likely flesh browning from too-cold storage Eat or toss: The plum doesn’t taste good, right? It’s
Why did this orange turn purple?!?
What you see: An orange slice that looked normal and, many hours later, turned purple. What it is: A pigment in the orange reacted with iron on the knife used
The tale of the roughed up plum
What you see: Rough, pockmarked plum skin with sunken areasWhat it is: Dehydration and pitting probably caused by poor storage; this plum may have also suffered
Potatoes with stems?!?
What you see: A papery, dried stem-y bit attached to your potato. What it is: The remnants of a stem that should have fallen off. Eat or toss: Pinch or cut it
Gasp! Weird spots on your potato
What you see: Spots on your potato’s skin; they likely each have a larger outer circle and a dot at the center. What it is: An infection of the little
Lettuce with little brown spots?
What you see: Brown dots on your lettuce, especially along the lower parts of the ribs. What it is: Russet spotting! Eat or toss: This is mostly an "eat." The
Sprouting potatoes? Here’s what you need to know
What you see: Sprouts growing from your potato's "eyes." What it is: The potato trying to grow new potatoes! But the sprout may have higher concentrations of
The case of the uninvited wisp in the honey liqueur
What you see: A wispy thing at the bottom of your honey liqueur What it is: Clumping molecules! Known as “flocculation,” this can happen when organic materials
Can you eat “goopy” strawberries?
What you see: Strawberries that look “wet” and seem to be coated in strawberry juice. What it is: Not to be dramatic or anything, but the strawberries are so
This eggplant is too far gone, but smaller brown and orange skin patches can be OK
What you see: Brown/orangish colors in your eggplant’s skin. What it is: Likely chilling injury. Eat or toss: The eggplant pictured above was too far gone to
The white fuzz inside your clementine is supposed to be there
What you see: A delicate white fluff in the center of your clementine (or tangerine, or other type of mandarin). What it is: Basically just an airier version of
