It is the mantra of food marketing both in shops and restaurants that all natural products have to be as fresh as possible for the customer to both buy and consume but nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is quite different as most foods that nature gives us actually need a bit of time before they are at their best to eat or drink. The minute something is caught, picked or dug out of the ground it starts to decay and the natural cycle of decomposition begins and it is somewhere in that cycle that we have figured out when it is best to eat it. There is a distinct difference between the aging and rotting processes.
When we prepare some foods to preserve or cure, it will take time for the process to do its thing and it reaches its optimum moment of just right to eat. Even freshly harvested fruit and vegetables do not want to be left hanging until they are overripe but if picked at the right time then they will still be perfect after a few days if stored in the appropriate conditions keeping away the damaging elements of air, damp and heat that will only accelerate their spoilage. I will wait until the exact day for a green banana to go through it stages to peak and I will then have that perfect degree of sweetness and texture.
Meat is the classic example of having to wait for the flesh to relax. Even tender parts need some time and the flavour requires this period to mature so our eating experience will be the best. I recall the discount section of a supermarket on a Saturday evening seeing a worker unload from a trolley all the newly expired joints of beef and lamb to be sold at half price.
I could tell they were just entering their best to eat time so whoever bought these not only got a bargain but ironically the meat at its tastiest. Fish too can be tough when they are fresh out of the water, okay, some like shellfish are ready to consume straight away. The bivalves like oysters and mussels are best while still alive and others like lobsters and prawns are still fine when a day or so old. However a fishtail that has been threshing around in the sea or lake and been the main muscle part for moving about will not be ready to eat until it has had at least day or two to be more ready for a pot or pan. The Japanese are very specific about their fish flesh aging for sushi with tuna still on boats for a couple of weeks before landing and then could be another week before being sliced up as the enzymes need to be broken down to the correct point so that the fish will be as tender and tasty as possible.
Cheese would be another good case in point where time is an essential. I made a car wheel size round of cheese with an Irish artisan producer and it was only eighteen months later that I was able to cut it into wedges and give them away as Christmas presents. If tasted after a week it had nothing going for it. Cheese historically came about as it was a way of preserving milk which would have gone off so quick in warmer climes in the days before refrigeration.
Wine is not very drinkable either, when just pressed and straight out of a new barrel. Okay they have the annual Beaujolais Nouveau thing in France but that is merely a marketing jape, even white wine needs a year or so never mind red needing decades at the high end of the big Bordeaux vintages. They have recently unearthed a two thousand year old sealed urn with wine still inside that they tested to find it was not only white wine but actually still safe to drink though not very good looking as black murky liquid. So the next time you reckon something is gone by its best before or sell by date have a closer look and sniff and it may instead just be hitting that sweet spot for your taste buds.
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