What you see: Powdery black lines, clusters, dots or smudges on your onion. You may see black sooty stuff on the paper-like exterior and/or the inner
Black lines under shrimp shell
What you see: Dark lines on your shrimp’s flesh. What it is: Likely, naturally occurring discoloration. Eat or toss: Eat! As long as the shrimp smells
Peach with black spots
What you see: Peaches with black spots. What it is: Peach scab, a disease that tends to stay on the surface. Eat or toss: Peel. If the flesh below
Shallow blackened holes on potato’s exterior
What you see: Blackish spots or holes on your potatoes like those pictured above; they may go below the peel. What it is: Likely pores that were damaged and
Black speck in your hardboiled egg white?
What you see: A black speck in the white of your hard boiled eggWhat it is: A naturally occurring “blood spot” or “meat spot” that turned black after exposure
Sunken black spots on an apple’s skin
What you see: Dark, possibly black, sunken spots on your apple’s skin. What it is: Bitter pit. Eat or toss: Peel and eat! This disorder usually doesn’t go very
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? The avocado is edible, but may not taste as
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 structures
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
These white crystals are badges of savory cheese honor
What you see: White dots in your aged Italian-style or gouda cheeses that are clearly not mold. What it is: Crystals of an amino acid called tyrosine. Eat or
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
Those annoying brown spots on cauliflower
What you see: Brown spots on cauliflower. What it is: Bruising, most likely from bumping into other cauliflower heads, or cold temperatures. Eat or toss: Eat!
Breathe easy. Those little speckles are supposed to be on your apple
What you see: Tiny dots all over the surface of your apple. What it is: Lenticels! These are tiny pores that apples use to breathe. Eat or toss? Eat! Why
Is that blood in my egg?
What you see: A vivid red speck, or something that looks like a drop of blood in the egg yolk. What it is: A spot of blood from the chicken’s reproductive
