I think it was pretty clearly implied in Gruntled’s OP:
If the asparagus was sold by the bunch, then Gruntled would have been paying the same “premium price” whether or not s/he cut off the ends, and I don’t think this question would have come up.
Well, that was…something.
Y’all are going to hell!
You are deluding yourself!
Hell is not a place one goes to for acts!
Hell a place that one creates by the acts!
That is EXACTLY what I thought about the grapes, even before the stealing part. Covered with dirt, pesticides, mouse and bug cooties, and germs, yet you just grab them off the display and chow down like a snack handed you by your mommy? ICK! …
How about huge heads of romaine lettuce sold by the pound? Is it OK to tear a few leaves off, put them in a plastic bag, weigh them on the scale and print out a price label? I don’t need a bushel of lettuce, and I know the store throws away tons of perfectly good lettuce anyway. I just take a few leaves from the outer part.
Jesus would eat the tough, woody parts and hand out the succulent stems to the poor.
That’s why I asked “how sure are you?” The OP might’ve assumed it was sold by weight, when in fact it wasn’t. I can’t think of any pre-bundled produce like that that’s sold by weight. Here, it’s all sold by the pre-made bundle. If it was by weight, you’d think they’d let you decide how much you want.
I’m pretty sure that I often see asparagus bunches sold by weight, and examples like this store produce list appear to confirm that:
I think I’ve seen pre-bagged grapes sold by the pound, too: I’ll check next time I’m at the supermarket.
Wow, cool. Awesome. I don’t really care . . .
If you don’t really care, then next time maybe you shouldn’t really bring it up.
I asked if he could’ve made a simple mistake that would make this whole discussion irrelevant. I didn’t need the solution to the case of the Lindbergh baby.
Kimstu provided a counter-example and helpfully included a cite. No Lindbergh babies were harmed in the making of his post. Now, if we can get back to the discussion of who is and is not doomed to burn in the fiery pits of Hell, that would be great.
Never been to Rhode Island, I take it? 
Of course you stole. They offered asparagus with long woody ends for a particular price. You could have opted to buy them for that price or pass on them.
straight larceny would not be the appropriate criminal charge here, since you aren’t actually taking away anything you didn’t secure ownership over.
No one seems to have pointed out that trimming asparagus wastes the ends; you should be peeling them instead. (Here’s more tips.)
Whether you peel them in the store or not is up to you.
Telling them you ate some does nothing save soothe your own conscience. The checkout operator has no way of charging you for the produce you ate, whether you admit it or not.
If sold by the weight, then you stole. If sold by the bunch, you did not. But if sold by the bunch, why did you bother?
Um, because I can read?