Leek purchasing ethics, trim in store or not?

December 10, 2008 10:00 AM

The store where I buy my produce carry stubby leeks which have maybe 5-6 inches of usable white leek at most. The store does a poor job trimming, and often the leaves left on weigh more than the usable portion of the leek itself. Much like this.
What are your opinions on my taking a knife and trimming 2/3's of the leaves off before going to the checkout?

Right, wrong or something inbetween?
It's probably not really a big deal since they are fairly cheap by the pound, but it irks me that I pay for unusable portions. It's a Raley's Supermarket if it matters.

posted by whoda to food & drink (31 comments total)

I'd disagree with your implied assertion that only the white part is good. Eat the whole leek, and be merry!
posted by AwkwardPause at 10:06 AM on December 10, 2008

You should explain your concerns to the produce department manager. You could ask them what they think about your plan as well. If you have to hide it from them, it's unlikely to be ethical.
posted by grouse at 10:07 AM on December 10, 2008

I would ask a produce clerk to do the trimming for you. Do this enough and they may start doing a better job of trimming overall. If they want to sell a leek with a lot of unusable stuff on it...well, they can, and you can't really hack up their merchandise before it becomes your property.
posted by frobozz at 10:08 AM on December 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

Ask them to do it. If they say no just kindly note that most grocers do this and you'd rather not pay extra for unusable. Chances are they'll accommodate your request. Don't do it yourself --particularly for a weighable. This is like cracking the stem off brocolli.
posted by ezekieldas at 10:08 AM on December 10, 2008

IANAL, but it seems you expose yourself to a vandalism charge if you take matters into your own hands.

What everyone else said: Ask them to do it. If they won't, you know where you stand. If they will, and they have to do it often enough, they may start doing it on their own.
posted by Joe Beese at 10:10 AM on December 10, 2008

Indeed there are many vegatables where only part is usually eaten, like brocolli or green onions. This is just like that. Ask them about it if it's a problem.
posted by mai at 10:11 AM on December 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

I always use the whole leek. I know a lot of recipes call for just the white part, but that seems wasteful and silly--the green part is just as tasty.

To answer your question though, you could try asking the produce manager but I think it would be unethical to remove part of the leek before purchasing it by the pound. This is the type of thing that we tell our kids is called "stealing".

If you won't use the green part and you feel it's wasteful to discard them, may I suggest a compost bin? Next year you can grow your own leeks with all the yummy fertilizer your ends and peels produce, and then you won't feel bad about doing whatever you please with the greens.
posted by padraigin at 10:12 AM on December 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

Leeks are sold that way for a reason. There are plenty of uses for the green part, such as seasoning stock, among others. Do you have them peel potatoes for you?
posted by trip and a half at 10:13 AM on December 10, 2008 [2 favorites]

... I pay for unusable portions.

As does the grocer.

You wouldn't peel your potatoes or core your cabbage before purchasing, would you?
posted by gyusan at 10:18 AM on December 10, 2008 [7 favorites]

There is also the issue that the store is paying per pound for leeks. Part of the reason that they are inexpensive is that expect to get so much per leek. If you cut off the greens, you will be paying much less per leek - good for you, bad for the store. On the other hand, you can always ask. If it is OK with them, no one else would have any reason to object.
posted by metahawk at 10:20 AM on December 10, 2008

I'd argue it's unethical as well, as long as the price is per lb. If it's per leek, then trim away.

The green parts are usually too tough to use in a lot of things you use leeks in, but you can use them to make stock.
posted by electroboy at 10:29 AM on December 10, 2008

Oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, strawberries, bananas, pomegranates, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes, nuts in shells, asparagus, zucchini, artichokes and, as previously mentioned, potatoes, cabbage and broccoli are all examples of products from the market that have waste when you prepare to eat them.

Would you hack those up before buying as well? There is no difference.

When it is processed, trimmed, bagged, washed or otherwise prepared for your convenience they charge more in order to remain in business.
posted by pixlboi at 10:40 AM on December 10, 2008 [5 favorites]

Exactly - the price of the leek is set by the store to generate the margin they need in order to make money, rather than lose money, carrying leeks. They could trim the leek much closer for you, but I expect the price would then go up due to both the labor and the increase in value per pound. My store actually sells trimmed leeks, packaged on foam in plastic, and also untrimmed loose leeks. Guess which is more. I think it's entirely fair for them to set the price point that makes it possible for them to carry and sell the vegetable. It can't hurt to talk to the manager, but it really is no different from other vegetables that come with 'waste.'

And, like others, waste is what you make of it - leek tops, along with carrot shavings and tops, potato and sweet potato peels, wilted celery and celery tops, broccoli and asparagus stems, and chicken bones all go into a Ziploc bag in my freezer, a little at a time. When the bag is full, I pop it into a pot with water and simmer for an hour or so. Strain it, and you have awesome stock - it can go into soup, into curry, into rice-cooking or braising water, etc.
posted by Miko at 10:55 AM on December 10, 2008 [4 favorites]

Another who generally eats the whole thing in different ways, the stalk of the broccoli is also perfectly tasty! However occasionally they have way too much green and it's dried out and kinda skanky, and then I just give it a good twist (you don't need a knife to trim it!) and bring what is left to the checkout. Noone's ever mentioned anything, but they are fairly conflict-shy here.
posted by Iteki at 10:58 AM on December 10, 2008

Apart from the leeks themselves, whipping out a knife in a privately owned entity is a little dicey.

Pun not intended.
posted by jgirl at 10:59 AM on December 10, 2008

Trimming them yourself would be unethical and likely to get you into trouble if you're found out. Every store I've bought leeks from had them the way your show in the picture. The whole leek is usable, but if you choose not to use the green part, you still have to pay for it.

Same thing with carrot tops, various peels, nuts and seeds, etc. You can't take those out/off before weighing.
posted by fructose at 11:01 AM on December 10, 2008

The store is paying for the green portion, and leeks are pretty cheapstyles anyway, homes. Make stock, potato leek soup, sauteed leek greens with onions and butter for a tasty topping for baked potatos, mac and cheese, hamburgers, etc.
posted by Juliet Banana at 11:03 AM on December 10, 2008

Yes, it would be unethical, since the per-pound price probably factors in the relative value of the greens. For comparison, imagine you were buying a coconut. If you bought it whole, you'd get lots of inedible material but pay a much lower price per pound. If you bought just the coconut meat, you'd get 100% edible material and pay a higher price per pound. This is absolutely fair.
posted by ourobouros at 11:19 AM on December 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

What everyone else said.

Also, the photo doesn't show poorly trimmed leeks. It shows normally trimmed leeks.
posted by Perplexity at 11:30 AM on December 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

Perplexity's right about the normal trim (I hadn't looked). I actually end up buying leeks whole, and trimming them at home until they look like your picture. That's trimmed already.

There's another good reason for buying veggies in minimally processed form - those leaves are a good indicator of freshness. In the case of leeks, when they're bright green and resilient like in the picture, not leathery, faded, and tired, then that gives you an additional clue as that they are fresh and of good quality.
posted by Miko at 12:07 PM on December 10, 2008

Yea, I mean, if I'm going by the picture you linked to, it almost sounds like you're misunderstanding how leeks work or something. You can eat the leaves part. You might not want the very ends of it, but the green parts are perfectly edible and have their own use.

And as already pointed out before this statement from another poster "Indeed there are many vegatables where only part is usually eaten, like brocolli or green onions," is incorrect because you also can eat the green portions of green onions as well as brocolli stems.
posted by kkokkodalk at 12:28 PM on December 10, 2008

Seconding the stock option - nothing better than always having a few quarts of various stocks in the freezer. As for trimming vegetables before purchase, obviously when you purchase a product, you are purchasing it as is. Meat and produce that receive more care in preparation are sold for more money, period. Raw artichokes become artichoke hearts. A tenderloin becomes filets. You aren't paying for some perfect specimen you have in your mind of what the product should be, you are paying for what you are looking at and what went into bringing it to market. If you don't find value in what you are looking at, talk to the produce or store manager. I've found managers to be pretty responsive at grocery stores (less so at mega-mart type establishments).
posted by mrmojoflying at 12:39 PM on December 10, 2008

The green part is the best part, and if I wind up with too much leek, I typically discard the white bit first.

Also, it is very much not-cool to take a knife with you to the supermarket and trim off anything from anything before you go to the register. If it's that much of a financial burden on you, then you can't afford to be eating leeks and should scale-back to something less pricey like beans or rice.
posted by MaxK at 12:49 PM on December 10, 2008

Don't trim.

If the shop doesn't sell a product that you like (as in leeks trimmed to the length you want them), perhaps a word in the managers ear would help? They're unlikely to change their working practices just to suit you, however. If that's the case, shop elsewhere. Vote with your feet and dollars.

Disliking the way the shop does business doesn't give you the right to force them to do business your way.
posted by Solomon at 1:09 PM on December 10, 2008

I was just thinking this re broccoli crowns where they leave a few inches of stem on. Mr. Llama hates broccoli stems, and I was thinking hmmm...maybe I could just snap a few off, but came to the conclusion that it's theft; it damages the product that could otherwise be sold, and is a form of my saying, I won't pay 1.79 for this, I'll pay .99 for this. Which isn't how supermarkets work, and thank God, because the stress would be amazing.

So I'm stuck with broccoli stumps.

As other people have said, the green parts of leaves are good in soup, and give a nice color to vichyssoise.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:20 PM on December 10, 2008

I should add that the amount that they leave on really calls the whole terminology of "broccoli crowns" into question--they're clearly playing fast and loose with the produce scale.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:26 PM on December 10, 2008

Do a search for "leek greens" there are all kinds of things you can do with them.

So I'm stuck with broccoli stumps.

I'm a fan of creamed broccoli and potato soup, and also of broccoli gratin. Stems can be used in both.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:40 PM on December 10, 2008

We throw 'em in the freezer and then use them when making stock.
posted by Atom12 at 1:44 PM on December 10, 2008

You can also throw broccoli stems in a food processor with some parmesan cheese and make a pesto-like sauce that's great on pasta or pizza.
posted by padraigin at 4:46 PM on December 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

Posting to add another voice to the deafening crowd of 'Don't trim', but mostly to thank padraign for the sauce suggestion which sounds awesome.
posted by the latin mouse at 2:11 AM on December 11, 2008

Right, wrong or something inbetween?

Wrong for the reasons ourobouros said. The grocer quoted you a price per pound for the entire stubby leak, stems and all. You're trying to surreptitiously apply that price to the best parts of leeks, which would likely sell for more.
posted by malp at 6:13 AM on April 14