Crossword Genius

The vegetables, etc., stick in a red container (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

produce

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'the vegetables' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'etc stick in a red container' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'stick' could be 'rod' (I've seen this before) and 'rod' is found within the answer.
'red' could be 'puce' (I have seen 'Deep red ' mean 'puce' so perhaps 'red' could also mean 'puce') and 'puce' is located in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for produce that I've seen before include "Make, create" , "Make, manufacture" , "Create, manufacture" , "Create - crop" , "Bear" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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