Kosher Fruits & Vegetables - Part 1:

 

The good news is that all fresh raw and dried fruits and vegetables are fundamentally kosher and parve. Consequently, they all may be eaten with other parve food, meat or dairy.

They may be consumed subject to verification that they are free of non-kosher pests such as insects, worms and slugs. Vegetables usually eaten raw (i.e., romaine lettuce and other salad greens) may be found in sealed packages with hashgacha certification that the contents have passed kosher inspection and, in some cases, are pre-washed.

When buying fresh or dried fruits and vegetables that have no certification, it is the consumer’s responsibility to perform due diligence that the produce is free of non-kosher pests, and to remove any other undesirable foreign substances by washing.

Many salad plants and fruits are magnets for non-kosher parasites, but while such parasites are readily found while washing/rinsing salads leaf by leaf, parasites that infect fruits are typically found inside the fruit, eating their way through it. Worms found inside fruits are often larvae of winged insects that hatched from fertilized eggs deposited by the female insect to provide the larvae with food when they hatch.

Some kosher authorities recommend removing the gills from the undersides of mushroom caps, especially portabella caps. However, if the mushroom is fresh, its gills will be firm enough to allow easy inspection and rinsing away of dirt and/or pests.

Other mushrooms, especially wild morels and porcini, are more susceptible to pests than are the cultivated portabella. The deep curved ridges on morel caps may contain a dense population of tiny vermin that prevents adequate cleaning for consumption.

The younger and firmer the porcini, the less likely are they to be infested with wormy larvae. Should external inspection of porcini reveals tiny holes, chances are some pests are inside. But if the mushroom has remained firm, the pests will be few and easy to eliminate as the mushroom is sliced.