Fruit and vegetable flavor depends upon taste (the delicate balance between sweetness and sourness or acidity, and low or no bitterness) and aroma.
The maturity stage at harvest is the second most important factor (after the specific type) influencing flavor quality of fruits and vegetables.
Vegetables are best tasting when harvested immature, while fruits are best tasting when harvested fully ripe.
At Delicooh we evaluate fruit and vegetables on the basis of flavor rather than appearance.
To make it easy we created 3 categories: Early, Young and Mature.
Early
READY TO KEEP
The is no balance yet between sweetness and sourness and the sensation when eating the product can be dry or “astringent“.
Astringency, the dry, puckering mouthfeel caused by the tannins in unripe fruits, lets the fruit mature by discouraging consumption. Ripe fruits and fruit parts including blackthorn (sloe berries), Aronia chokeberry, chokecherry, bird cherry, rhubarb, quince and persimmon fruits, and banana skins are very astringent; citrus fruits, like lemons, are somewhat astringent.
The fruit and vegetables will be firm so they won’t be damaged easily.
Young
READY TO TRY
Sugars and acids are now more developed and the aroma starts to develop.
Fruit and vegetable flavour is a combination of aroma and taste sensations.
Volatile compounds like alcohol are responsible for aroma and flavour and they vary quite a bit per type of fruit or vegetable.
Especially when it comes to fruit, aroma plays a more dominant role in the flavour.
Storage of the product is now essential to develop both aroma and taste and the producte should be handled with more care.
Mature
READY TO EAT
There is now a perfect balance between sugars and acids. The astringency of the Young and Early stages is completely gone.
The aromas are fully developed.
The “flavour shelflife” is shorter than the “appearance shelflife”.
It is time to enjoy the fruit and vegetables and don’t let the looks fool you: the flavour deteriorates faster than the looks.
Handle with care, the products will damage easily. Off flavours and undesirable odours will tell what to finish first.
No Lies
No Lies
The lack of transparency, food fraud and media hype has to lead to Culinary Chaos.
The food you buy and eat has to reflect your values.
You want transparency from the food producers.
That is not too much to ask.
We look for producers who agree with that.
Transparent
No Waste
No Waste
The way is produced food is being criticised. Too many resources are wasted in the process like water, packaging and most importantly: the soil.
There is another way.
More and more farmers switch to regenerative farming because they see the impact of chemicals on their land, crops and animals. It is hard for those farmers to find people who appreciate what they do and buy their products.
We connect with those farmers and we help them to bring their products to the market, to you.
Sustainable
Just Taste
Just Taste
Taste beats appearance, anytime. So we select on flavour, not looks.
Food that is produced locally in a sustainable way tastes better. It is fresh, seasonal and full of flavour.
The farmers we work with put quality first, second and last and that results in a superior product.
We use taste as our most important criterium when we select our products and producers.
Seasonal