What you see: A dark, scratched-out-looking spot on your grapefruit. What it is: Probably an injury from the harvest process. Eat or toss? Eat! As long as
Green caterpillars hanging in the broccoli jungle
What you see: Green wormy grubs in broccoli, maybe even left behind in your cooking water (where they probably turned white). They may have also eaten away at
There’s a worm in my turnip!
What you see: A worm thing burrowing in your turnip What it is: A maggot! Specifically, a root maggot. Eat or toss: Cut around the maggot and its trails. The
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
You can eat lettuce with little brown spots like these
What you see: Brown dots on your lettuce, especially along the lower parts of the ribs. What it is: Russet spotting! Eat or toss: Eat! This is harmless (for
What’s up with circular scars on the bottoms of some tomatoes?
What you see: A scarred ring around the bottom of your tomato What it is: The scarring is a condition called “catfacing,” which is common in some heirloom
Mango that’s brownish and purplish inside
What you see: A brown, possibly purplish color when you slice into your mango. It might look normal on the outside. What it is: Deteriorating mango flesh. Eat
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
Spin me into salad! These scars are fine to eat
What you see: Dried out rings running circles around your tomato What it is: Scarring after a growth spurt Eat or toss: Eat! The dry, brown areas may not have a
Don’t be bitter about these dark, sunken spots on your apple. The rest is still sweet
What you see: Little, dark sunken spots on the outside of your apple; and/or brown spots just underneath the skin. What it is: Bitter pit, a defect caused by
The light brown area on this grapefruit is harmless
What you see: Light brown scars on the peel, in a pattern something like broken lace. What it is: Wind scar. Eat or toss? Eat! This is only a superficial
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
Whitish stuff on chocolate is edible, but…
What you see: A light, whitish/grayish/beige-ish powdery coating on chocolate. What it is: “Bloom,” the result of fat or sugar exiting the “chocolate matrix”
Shady areas inside your eggplant?
What you see: Brownish coloring inside your eggplant. What it is: Oxidation. Eat or toss: Eat! This eggplant likely had a traumatic experience (most likely
Brown pattern on pear is perfectly edible (and kind of looks like a map of a faraway land, no?)
What you see: An odd brown pattern on the outside of a pear. What it is: Russeting, a harmless response to water, frost and other environmental conditions. Eat
Can you eat tomatoes with deep but dry holes?
What you see: A dry line running down the outside of a tomato, with a hole or two in its midst. What it is: A sign that, way back when, a part of the tomato