Variety vs. Organic

[Rmiller]

Organic produce in my area is limited. Since variety is said to be important for health too, should I also incorporate non-organic produce? What's better: variety or organic?

[rawpriestess]

I think variety is the most important, just eat as much organic as you can.

[karenbeel]

Yes I agree with rawpriestess variety is best I don't have access to alot of different varieties of organic but I buy everything i can and then the rest is conventionally grown so i too get the variety.

[sport]

Perhaps you could try to get organic for those ones that there is a heavier use of pesticides on and ones that you do not peel. Then you can have what you want with the rest and not worry too much about it.
I find the choosing organic sometimes adds to my variety because I buy things that I would not otherwise buy just because they are organic but I do not limit myself to what is organic.

[RowanC]

I was amazed on my recent trip down to California at the short supply of organic produce there! I'd ask about organic and people would look at my like I was an alien!

I'm SO happy I'm here in Oregon where organic is plentiful. But if I weren't, I think I'd stick to organic on things like bell peppers, tomatoes which are heavily sprayed with pesticide and just scrub and peel the other conventional stuff.

It is a lot easier here though...

[rawandama]

I understand! I live on an island and our food comes to us by a barge, so it's usually pretty old when it gets to us. It's also hard to get organic produce as it's all wilty and stuff when it arrives. I just make sure not to eat potatoes or apples that aren't organic. The apples just gross if they're waxy and the potatoes are highly contaminated.

[heabrook]

I would avoid non-organic:

tomatoes
cucumbers**
potatoes
spinach
strawberries (most berries really, because of high pesticide use)
cherries
peaches
cantaloupe
celery
apricots
green beans
chilean grapes
bell peppers
citrus fruit

Cucumbers are very high in pesticides.. we will not buy a non-organic cucumber. I've purchased a non in the past and the taste was absolutely despicable, you could practically taste the pesticides. Yuck.

We buy all organic because it us available to us and the price isn't higher (or not much higher) than non. However, we have purchased non-organic avocados in the past because the organic ones were either too much or rotten. Avocados are the only thing that we let slide on occasions though.

[sport]

And do not forget that you can buy organic seeds on the internet and sprout sprout sprout.

[Rmiller]

What about hot house grown veggies?

In BC, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers are grown in green houses. I thought they weren't sprayed very much in this case because they don't get many bugs.

Lisa

[Kris]

I understand! I live on an island and our food comes to us by a barge, so it's usually pretty old when it gets to us. It's also hard to get organic produce as it's all wilty and stuff when it arrives.

Me too! I feel your pain. I've discovered that the best way to get around this challenge is to try and buy locally grown produce whenever possible.

In the summer, I drive up the island to the BEST little farmer's market. I remember the first time I bought apples there...the farmer cut one up for me to try and I was shocked and amazed that the apple had so much flavor and tasted exactly like apple-flavored candy. I never knew that's what apples were supposed to taste like! When I told him I had never tasted an apple like that before he said, well, that's because it was still growing at this time yesterday. I've also bought fresh-picked corn there -- so fresh it still has the dew on it from when it was picked the same morning. Ahhh....summer....can't wait!! :)

[Rmiller]

So any suggestions for my hot house (greenhouse) question in my last post?

[heabrook]

So any suggestions for my hot house (greenhouse) question in my last post?

I don't know much about that, sorry. I have found this web site on BC hothouse grown vegetables and fruit. Hope it helps!

http://www.mydissmores.com/quality/hothouse.htm

[JazzPrincess]

I read that if you wash your conventional produce with a biodegradable soap, it gets rid of a ton (something like 75%) of the pesticides and etc... So there are ways to enjoy conventional while reducing the effects.

[Shivananda]

I read that if you wash your conventional produce with a biodegradable soap, it gets rid of a ton (something like 75%) of the pesticides and etc... So there are ways to enjoy conventional while reducing the effects.

Good point, and most NFSs carry one type or another of veggie wash, usually a citrus oil based cleaner especially made for the purpose. And they are totally foodsafe themselves, so no worries if you don't quite get it all rinsed off.

And as I've said before, nothing beats a good tawashi, the Japanese natural fiber vegetable brushes sometimes called a "tiger brush" because they are very aggresive. Asian stores carry them. http://www.openkitchen.net/dic/tawashi.html

Using a combination of the two does a very thorough job against anything on the surface of your fruits and veggies.

[Rmiller]

Thanks all.

Heabrook: The info you from the web-site you gave was great. Right now I use food grade hydrogen peroxide to wash all veggies (even organic). Hopefully this is good enough for non-organic as well.

Good idea about the veggie brush. I know what kind you mean since I've seen then before in China Town.

Lisa