10 Things Gourmet Grocers Won't Tell You

4. "Organic food is a crapshoot."

In some gourmet grocery stores, “organic” might seem like it's nothing more than a synonym for "expensive." Shoppers generally pay a premium of 30% to 40% for the label, says Lisa Young, professor of nutrition at New York University and registered dietician.

To receive the organic label, a product must be grown without pesticides or fertilizers for at least three years, says Barbara Haumann, a spokeswoman for the Organic Trade Association. But what defines "organic" isn’t always clear. Even after the U.S. Department of Agriculture implemented standards in 2002, the labeling remains confusing to many consumers. “The biggest problem is that when something is made with organic ingredients, it doesn’t mean it’s organic” – instead the entire product must be organic, says Dr. Young.

Other problems range from salmonella and E. coli -- just because something is organic doesn’t mean it can’t be contaminated -- to mislabeling. A number of companies have been fined for the latter practice, among them Private Label Foods in Rochester, N.Y., which in 2008, paid a fine for selling jars of pasta sauce that were mislabeled as “organic.” In 2007, High Desert Foods in Colorado paid a fine for mislabeling sauces and nuts. Neither company returned calls for comment.

5. "Buying the best isn't always what's best."

Many gourmet stores pride themselves on their high-quality products. But often their best and most expensive items aren’t necessary for everyday use. Consider olive oil, which can run more than a dollar an ounce and is meant to be used sparingly. Rather than using extra virgin olive oil to fry fish, consider good canola oil, which is cheaper and has a higher burning point. Consumers shopping for high-quality Parmesan cheese should also consider how they’ll be using it; if it’s going to be blended with other cheeses, it makes sense to pass on paying top dollar for it.

But that won't stop grocers from encouraging foodies to spend too much on high-end products that they’ll end up mixing with other ingredients. Case in point: caviar. Many gourmands like adding condiments such as crème fraiche, hard-boiled eggs and onions to their caviar. But if you are going to do that, you might as well use $41-an-ounce roe from the American paddlefish, not an $840-an-ounce, top-of-the-line Russian caviar.

6. "Looks can be deceiving."

Gourmet food stores make their products look great, but do they taste better? Consider cheese, which can be made to look and smell much tastier than it is. Many cheese merchants employ a process called "cheese cleaning" in which the moldy parts are skillfully shaved away in order to maintain the quality and visual appeal. But some unscrupulous retailers do it to make fast-fading cheese look fresh.

Some merchants will "cut off the surface of the cheese's exposed sides, and it will look and smell fine for that day" but not much longer than that, says Roger Soudah, owner of Say Cheese in San Francisco. "Two days later, well, you'll figure that you didn't eat it quickly enough," he says. Consumers should always ask to taste the cheese before they purchase it.

Softer cheeses are more temperamental than harder cheeses and they tend to go over the edge quicker, says Soudah. But “when purchased from a reliable retailer, the cheese should remain in good condition for at least a week when properly handled at home,” he says. “Also, a personal relationship with someone you purchase [cheese] from better ensures that the [cheese] you are buying is in optimal condition.”