Can you eat off-season fruits and vegetables? Read this and you will understand

Today, many people who pursue an organic lifestyle strongly emphasize one phrase: eat only what is in season. For example, eat loquats in spring, watermelon in summer, apples in autumn, and radishes in winter. They believe that off-season fruits and vegetables are very likely grown using some kind of chemical method, and are frightening bywords for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, hormones and the like. So what is the truth? Can off-season fruits and vegetables be eaten?

Interviews with residents

So do residents have enough understanding of off-season fruits and vegetables, and do they accept them or reject them? To find out, the reporter interviewed some residents and found that views on off-season fruits and vegetables differ widely.

The skeptical camp:

Resident Ms. Li told the reporter that during the Chinese New Year, after opening gift-boxed or boxed fruit, "they all seemed to have a common taste when eaten, maybe preservatives. There was a small box of cherries that looked very good, very large, and red with a dark tinge, with a nice gloss, but they tasted a bit bitter, different from the fresh cherries at the time cherries hit the market. Can fruit like this be eaten? It feels a bit wasteful to throw it away without eating it. But if you eat it, you worry about side effects."

The buying camp:

Office worker Mr. Wang believes that if the market offers plenty of seasonal fruit to choose from, then naturally there is no need to choose the more expensive off-season fruit. If there are very few types of seasonal fruit on the market, then buying a little off-season fruit to change up the taste is not out of the question. However, off-season fruit is generally more expensive, and not as delicious as fruit in season! Still, it should not be eaten in large amounts.

The refusing-to-buy camp:

Ms. Zhang, who lives in Jingtian, refuses to buy off-season fruits and vegetables. She told the reporter that she heard from her daughter, who is a doctor, that many off-season fruits are ripened and kept fresh with certain chemicals, and in this process some off-season fruits instead become "problem fruits." Off-season fruits generally come to market after long-term storage, and their sugar, vitamins, fruit acids and other components have been damaged to varying degrees, meaning that compared with freshly marketed fruit, their nutritional value is greatly reduced. In addition, for freshness, sellers may add certain preservatives, which are also harmful to the human body. "Spending a lot of money yet not getting the nutrition you should get, isn't that a case of the loss outweighing the gain? So it is better not to eat them."

Recommendation 1

Buy and eat them at regular supermarkets or farmers' markets and similar places

Industry experts say that the safety of off-season fruits and vegetables does not lie in labels such as "off-season" or "against the natural order," but in whether their cultivation (including the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and hormones), transportation, storage and other processes strictly comply with the relevant national regulations on agricultural production. As long as they comply with the regulations, their safety is guaranteed.

Industry experts remind residents that scattered stalls on the market generally sell their own produce directly and have not undergone relevant quality and safety testing at all, so eating from them is not necessarily safe and carries relatively large hidden risks. Because they are fairly dispersed and also have no unified supply channel, quality inspection departments have no way to start testing them. Therefore residents are reminded that when buying vegetables they must go to regular supermarkets or farmers' markets, and must not be petty and lose big for the sake of small gains.

Experts say that the biggest difference between off-season fruits and vegetables and seasonal ones is that due to factors such as insufficient light duration and intensity and longer transportation time, off-season fruits and vegetables differ in nutritional value and flavor and texture. But these differences do not mean that off-season fruits and vegetables have no nutrition, or are even harmful. On the contrary, in winter, appropriately eating off-season fruits and vegetables can provide the human body with rich nutrients such as vitamins and dietary fiber.

Recommendation 2

Choose off-season vegetables that have an "outer coat"

Be careful when selecting vegetables, and carefully distinguish shape and color. Buy as few vegetables with strange shapes and colors as possible; although some vegetables have been ripened, the peel or other parts will still leave greenish traces, so pay attention when buying. Absolutely pollution-free agricultural products almost do not exist, and "pollution-free" is only relative. As long as they pass the relevant national testing, they are safe vegetables that can be eaten. Therefore, residents had best buy green and pollution-free vegetables with clear labels.

Industry experts remind residents that compared with eating off-season vegetables, choosing seasonal vegetables and eating local vegetables is a better choice, and following nature is the best rule for health. If you want to buy off-season vegetables, it is also best to buy more onions, carrots, eggplants and similar vegetables with peels, as these have less pesticide residue.