Allotments 4 All

.........do the vegetables I grow take so much less time to cook? 
twinkletoes

i think its simply because they are fresher, i have been caught out a couple times ::).

My sprouts take about 5 mins..  Any longer and thery taste awful.  Like the ones we had years a go at school.

I think you must be right thisofamom - wonder how long the veggies have been hanging around in the supermarkets (and what have they had done to them to make them appear fresh?).  My sprouts only took a few minutes last night - lucky I checked them....."just in case"!   ;D
twinkletoes

cauli steams in 5 minutes, any longer and it's mushy  ;D

Higher water content because they haven't been drying out.....  :)

It's down to the water and sugar content in your veg; the fresher it is the higher these are. The supermarkets use cold storage and water misters to keep veg looking fresh

I have to steam my spuds as if I boil them they just disintegrate.
It's because of the starch. .I leave them in the ground until the tops go down completely so they end up with a high starch content.It also means they taste fantastic! The starch is also associated with increased water content
Commercial growers usually harvest them early ready for the markets so they don't disintegrate.
Having said that this year was a total disaster. We had buckets of rain in August and I lost 90% of my crop to various fungal rots.