Questioning the authenticity of organic products

[Dreamstalker]

While the organic store does have somethings you can't get at the grocery store and they make a mean goat cheese pizza it feels that people don't shop there to be healthy but rather to be pretentious.

We know that's the case at the Whole Foods around here.

[jackfaire]

We know that's the case at the Whole Foods around here.

rofl. That was the place I was talking about too.

[Daskinor]

I generally avoid organic vegetables after an unfortunate E-coli infection from contaminated sprouts. I also can not tell the difference between the taste of the products either.

So IMHO the E-coli infection most likely did more damage then any pesticides on the food.

Another thing, whats with this whole hormone craze. It may be because I know a little on the subject but how is it bad that their are hormones in the animal products we eat. I know that most are destroyed during the cooking process, and many more can not be absorbed by or survive our digestive system. I also know that the reason more girls start menstruating at an earlier age (even this is debatable) is due to the amount of body fat and body mass a girl has. This is why very athletic girls especially gymnasts don't start thier periods until later in thier teens. And why when a woman drops a tremendous amount of body fat they will stop menstruating.

[BlaqueKatt]

Another thing, whats with this whole hormone craze. It may be because I know a little on the subject but how is it bad that their are hormones in the animal products we eat. I know that most are destroyed during the cooking process, and many more can not be absorbed by or survive our digestive system.

that and say cow hormones DO NOT fit the hormone receptors for humans-hormones are species specific.

nice thing on organics from penn and teller


and GE crops
psst organic farmers can use pesticides-however they are "naturally derived" and far more toxic than the synthetics used by non-organic farmers

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I've found that many people buy organic products because in modern culture, 'organic' has come to be synonymous with 'healthy'---but most people do not have the time or the inclination to really look into what is truly 'healthy'. It takes research and most people don't have time for that.




When I buy meat I have found that 'organic' is not so much of a concern with me as 'grass-fed'. Animals which are not grass-fed are fed grains, such as corn or soy, which changes the composition of their tissues, and thereby changes the nutrient makeup of their flesh. For example, it alters the ratio of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats, which has been shown to have a very negative effect on the human body. Animals which live on green grass have more omega-3 fatty acids in their tissues, along with a smaller amount of omega-6's---while animals fed on grain have almost no omega 3 fats in their tissues, but a high amount of omega 6 fats. A small amount of omega 6 is good for you, but too much has been proven over and over again to cause all sorts of problem in our bodies.

Here is an interesting article on omega 3's: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29104695/




As far as vegetables go, I don't pay much attention to organic but I do pay attention to genetically modified---and not for health reasons, but for taste reasons. I have found, for example, that when I go to a large supermarket, the onions they usually have for sale are gigantic. I've discovered through research that this is because they have been genetically modified to grow larger. However, when I take these onions home and try to cook with them, they taste very bland. They do not have a whole lot of 'oniony' taste to them.
On the other hand, when I go and buy onions at the local farmers market, I get onions which have not been genetically modified---they are normal size, and the farmers selling them confirm to me that they did not use genetically modified seeds. They may be smaller and cost a little more. but when I cook with them they have a much stronger, more 'oniony' taste. I can put them in a dish and I can actually taste the oniony-ness of them, which I have found that I cannot with the big onions. I have discovered the same thing with tomatoes---when I buy the tomatoes from a farmers market that are normal sized, they taste so much more tomato-ey than the gigantic ones from the grocery store.

[Tanasi]

I've found that many people buy organic products because in modern culture, 'organic' has come to be synonymous with 'healthy'---but most people do not have the time or the inclination to really look into what is truly 'healthy'. It takes research and most people don't have time for that.




When I buy meat I have found that 'organic' is not so much of a concern with me as 'grass-fed'. Animals which are not grass-fed are fed grains, such as corn or soy, which changes the composition of their tissues, and thereby changes the nutrient makeup of their flesh. For example, it alters the ratio of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats, which has been shown to have a very negative effect on the human body. Animals which live on green grass have more omega-3 fatty acids in their tissues, along with a smaller amount of omega-6's---while animals fed on grain have almost no omega 3 fats in their tissues, but a high amount of omega 6 fats. A small amount of omega 6 is good for you, but too much has been proven over and over again to cause all sorts of problem in our bodies.

Here is an interesting article on omega 3's: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29104695/




As far as vegetables go, I don't pay much attention to organic but I do pay attention to genetically modified---and not for health reasons, but for taste reasons. I have found, for example, that when I go to a large supermarket, the onions they usually have for sale are gigantic. I've discovered through research that this is because they have been genetically modified to grow larger. However, when I take these onions home and try to cook with them, they taste very bland. They do not have a whole lot of 'oniony' taste to them.
On the other hand, when I go and buy onions at the local farmers market, I get onions which have not been genetically modified---they are normal size, and the farmers selling them confirm to me that they did not use genetically modified seeds. They may be smaller and cost a little more. but when I cook with them they have a much stronger, more 'oniony' taste. I can put them in a dish and I can actually taste the oniony-ness of them, which I have found that I cannot with the big onions. I have discovered the same thing with tomatoes---when I buy the tomatoes from a farmers market that are normal sized, they taste so much more tomato-ey than the gigantic ones from the grocery store.

Parts of you post tickle me a little. What exactly does onion seed look like and where can I get it?
Vine rippened veggies have more flavor because most of the taste comes from the later part of the rippening process. Factory farms pick the veggies "green" (not rippened) and then gas them to maturity. They transport better, less spoilage and last longer. Vine rippened better taste, doesn't last as long and doesn't transport as easy, therefore it helps to buy local in this case.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Um, you can buy them online or at most nurseries, just like any other seeds.

Here's a picture of onion seeds germinating. http://www.vegetable-garden-guide.co...ermination.jpg

My reasons for my choices don't have as much to do with health as they do with taste. I grew up on a farm, we grew our own vegetables and collected the seeds. My father was a patient man, so we even waited the two years to collect the seeds from the biennials. We made our own compost. We built a scarecrow to keep the birds away. The vegetables taste so much better when they're grown simply, without trying to frankenstein them into gigantic proportions, and eaten freshly picked.

[Tanasi]

There really isn't such a thing as an onion seed, nor potato seed, garlic seed. Onions when allowed to fully mature will seperate or divide into smaller versions of themselves or "sets" and those are then seperated and transplanted at a later date, then again you already knew that and I'm going to assume what we call "sets" is what you call seeds.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Oh, I see why you asked that question now. I was totally confused.

Actually, onions are a biennial. What that means is that they produce seeds only in their second year of growing. Most people dig them up as soon as they're ready to eat, so they never see the seed pod sprout up that second growing season with all the little black seeds inside.

Sets are created when professional growers plant onion seeds under very specific conditions (wayyyyy too close together), which results in stunted growth. They make itty bitty bulbs instead of big juicy onions. These little bulbs are then dug up, cleaned off, and stored in cold temperatures until next spring, when they are sold to home gardeners by the truckful, because they are easier and faster to grow than starting from seed.

My father never used sets, he preferred to start from seed. He used to bank some of his onion plants with hay over the winter and then let them grow a second year until the seed pods popped up. Then we used to have to go out and collect the seed pods for him, much of which he would sell to one of our neighbors, whose main crop every year was sets bound for nurseries (which meant he never got seeds, so he'd have to buy more onion seed every year to start more sets).

Garlic does grow from the cloves/bulbs, yes. And potatoes are a unique plant--- some varieties (mostly the older ones) do produce seeds. (Modern commercial varieties usually don't.) After these plants flower, they produce these hard little fruits that remind me of green cherry tomatoes. Each one contains hundreds of little seeds inside. You can start potatoes from seed, but it's also just as easy to use cuttings from harvested potatoes, so it is much more common. Unlike potatoes, a lot of farmers who grow onions feel that onion sets produce inferior onions than ones grown from seed.

I grew up in rural southern Idaho surrounded by potato and onion farmers, so that's why I know so much about growing them.