Does your Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix from Costco rot?

Triple-washed Organic Spring Mix from Earthbound Farm goes straight from the package to the bowl. I dress it simply with good extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar without added color.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

One item I always have around is a pound of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix -- a delicious salad of baby lettuce, arugula, frisee, radicchio, chard and other items. 

It's pre-washed,  so you can just grab it and stuff it into a sandwich or pile it into a bowl for a dinner salad.

I buy the spring mix at Costco in Hackensack, where the $4.49 price for a one-pound plastic tub is the lowest I've seen in North Jersey. 

(In 2013, the salad at Costco is priced at $4.79 to $4.99).

It's $6.99 or more elsewhere. But too often, some of the dark leaves turn black and rot well before the expiration date, leaving slime on your hand when you touch them.

When Costco first started offering this item, it came in a large plastic bag that was easy to store, and I don't recall rotting being much of a problem, as long as you finished it before or even on the expiration date.

The use of a large, clear-plastic tub wasn't an improvement, and made storage more difficult. And the rotting started.

A friend who is another big fan of Costco's food recommended that after purchasing the spring mix, I divide it into two or three large plastic bags -- such as freezer bags. That worked the first time. 

The second tub I bought looked like it contained dry leaves top and bottom, but when I started to remove the leaves and transfer them, I found wet ones inside that had already started to rot -- seven days before the expiration date. 

I plan to e-mail Earthbound Farm. Maybe the big cardboard boxes containing the tubs are stored improperly -- from cold to warm and back again. 

I don't know, but the rotting is an unpleasant note in an otherwise flawless product that is wonderful to eat and good for you, too.

Update

This post was written 5 years ago, and I continue to buy Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix at Costco, where in September 2015 the price remains under $5 for a 1-pound tub.

The last two times we purchased the organic salad the tub was $4.49 or $4.59.

I try to find tubs that don't appear to have condensation on the salad, with a use-by date at least 7 days away.

If you eat a salad six days a week, as I do, you should be able to finish it before it spoils.

A salad of Taylor Farms Organic Spring Mix and Campari Tomatoes, both from Costco Wholesale in Teterboro (July 2017). 

Second update

In 2017, the price for Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix at Costco has fallen to as low as $3.99 for the 1-pound package.

And I've found other brands of organic spring mix alongside or instead of Earthbound Farm, which I prefer because it contains radicchio.