2016 produce list is out!

[Pajarita]

This year's dirtiest and cleanest lists are out and there are some changes (strawberries are now the dirtiest of all of them, regular tomatoes are back on it, etc).

http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/f ... ocid=edgsp

http://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/f ... ss-BBrI9YY

[Chantilly]

Arg, this is just heartbreaking!!!! NOOOO not the precious straberries!

Hey, on the brightside mango and kiwi fruit are considered clean.
Thats really uppsetting about the straberries though.

[Pajarita]

And that's why my birds hardly ever get them! The organic strawberries cost $8 a pint and I would need two for all the birds so the poor things don't get them more than once or twice a year (the prices goes down when they are in season). Thankfully, blackberries, mangoes, papayas, oranges, bananas, cantaloupe, watermelon and kiwis are never on the dirty list; apples and pears are but the organic ones are relatively inexpensive and organic grapes are not that expensive during the season so we make do.

[seagoatdeb]

My pois get more varity of fruits and veggies in the spring, summer, and fall and straight from my garden. For myself, I trust what I grow, using organic methods, "green hoses" for watering etc. I get my apples form a local organic grower and I can visit there, I mistrust imported items the most, no way of checking on them really, but do have to use them in the winter. Right now the collards are starting to bloom so we have all been eating the yellow flowers, and buds. they are so yummy and the pois love them too. My kale is very good right now too. Strawberries are starting to grow, and so are the blueberries.

[Chantilly]

I wonder if it would make any difference if you took of the outside layer on everything first then (apples, carrot, zucchini, strawberries ect:) ?

Lucky seagoat! We have gardens, but everything dies because we slacked of on the watering.

[Lwalker]

I am a bit confused about "organic" being viewed as necessarily cleaner as it doesn't mean pesticide-free. While organic farming involves non-synthetic pesticides, the natural pesticides used can be toxic and damaging to environments and ecosystems (in some case more so than there synthetic counterparts).

[Pajarita]

Well, some of your premise is right, Lwalker, in that organic pesticides can be harmful if overused (although never as much as non-organic ones) but they are SOOOO expensive to begin with that overusing them will bankrupt the farmer. Organic farmers simply don't rely on pesticides as much as the non-organic ones, they use other cheaper/free methods first (crop rotation, crop diversity, beneficial insects, etc) and pesticides only as a last resource (bottom line always been the main concern in any business).

Chantilly, scrubbing non-organic thinking that you will get rid of the pesticide doesn't work because you will notice that all the produce listed as 'dirtiest' have thin skins which allow the chemical to go through it and absorbed by the 'meat' inside. But, mind you, this doesn't mean that you should not scrub or wash organic produce thoroughly! I always soak my produce in water with a bit of dish detergent for a few minutes (soap is a great bactericide but you need to give it time to work properly) and then scrub or simply wash it in my hands before I rinse it. I had a friend who lost all but one of her canaries, all of her budgies and some of her tiels to a e coli infection from a locally grown organic kale because she just used water to rinse it -water alone doesn't kill anything.

[seagoatdeb]

LWalker, you are right to be confused, I only trust local and what I can grow. I am lucky to be in a region that a lot of real organic is being used. i do my best to keep my garden completely organic, i mulch with my own grass clippings, make my own compost as much as i can, and use green hoses, but even doing that i cannot prevent my nieghhbours from poisoning thier dandelions etc, or our water supply from having toxic elements in it. I just try to get the best quality I can when I have to buy from markets and stores.

Buying organic is still better though,.