Remedies for Disappointing Produce

I'm wondering if others want to share their tips and tricks for improving disappointing produce.

I have found a neat little remedy for early season strawberries: 1) Cut out the white interior of each berry- especially the over-sized ones. 2) Apply a sprinkling of Strawberry Vanilla Sugar from The Spice House.

Adding a touch of this on top of my early, less-than fragrant berries has really improved the berries without the trouble of melting preserves. I used to add rosewater, but now I think the strawberry vanilla sugar is better. The vanilla really does not dominate.

I am thinking that their tomato powder could do a lot for some less-than perfect tomatoes. Though I generally just dry them a little in a warm oven to concentrate their flavor. This is a trick I learned from my friend Alberto, though I think Paula Wolfert has a similar approach.

Other ideas? Is there any use for discolored basil? That is something I tend to have on hand more often than I would like to. Other ideas welcome.

Winter or grocery tomatoes usually get oven-roasted by me. They work well even in salads & on sandwiches that way.

Is there any use for discolored basil

Same as for cilantro or mint gone south: start doing worm composting. Chop it, put it in a plastic bag to fester for a couple of days, and feed it to the worms. Great way to use exhausted soil from containers, too.

On the subject of cilantro, I'd be quite happy to eat GMO cilantro if it wouldn't turn to brown sludge in a couple days in my fridge.
I know there are ways to keep it alive longer, but I don't have fridge space for bouquets of herbs (those condiments have got to go somewhere).

I mean seriously, can't they at least cross-breed it with Parsley or something? I can keep flat-leaf parsley for months in a dark drawer and it's still decent.

I make chili to use up my old onions, tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and the like.

As for cilantro, if they keep it DRY at the market it does better than if it is sprayed down periodically.

Basically if something is wilted but not spoiled, or produce that is not sweet enough or mealy, for me cooking it is the answer. Usually making vegetable broth or soup broth out of it. The actual vegetables get thrown away after they do their job making the broth. For stuff like oranges, I will juice them and use them for a marinade. I've had oranges that are fiberous and not good to eat fresh but the juice is okay. If apples are mealy you can bake them or make apple crisp out of them. Mixing them with a few good apples is a good idea too.

JoelF wrote:On the subject of cilantro, I'd be quite happy to eat GMO cilantro if it wouldn't turn to brown sludge in a couple days in my fridge.
I know there are ways to keep it alive longer, but I don't have fridge space for bouquets of herbs (those condiments have got to go somewhere).

I mean seriously, can't they at least cross-breed it with Parsley or something? I can keep flat-leaf parsley for months in a dark drawer and it's still decent.

I can't make any personal claims as to the effectiveness of this, but Serious Eats did an article on storing herbs a couple weeks ago. The tested various different ways of storing, washing, etc, and showed their results. They rarely lead me astray.