Finding the right organic produce

Finding the right organic produce

For many years I didn't buy any organic produce. First of all, most of them are not good looking" for example, there might be small blemishes on a pear. Also the price of organic produce in Australia can be three times the price than conventional.

So what prompted me to start buying organic produce?

I was curious, so one day I bought a bunch of kale. It looked exactly the same as the conventional ones, but smaller and pricier. I steamed it plain and added only a little bit of tahini sauce and wow, I can really taste the difference. It is much sweeter and I feel it is what kale really should taste like.

However, there were other times when I bought organic produce and I couldn't taste any difference.

So I started going to different organic stores and finally I've found one that I liked. The fruits and vegetables are harvested on Thursday or Friday and they're sold on Saturday morning.

It is true that the taste is incredibly different. So what I've learnt so far is that you just can't go by the "organic" label, you should learn about the farm and taste it for yourself. In another words, don't just buy any organic produce, find out more about where they come from.

Talking about learning about the farm where the fruits and vegetables come from, I now try to buy fresh produce that were locally grown. Why is this? That's because I support the farmers who are nearby but most of all I believe that eating fresh produce that are grown around you and in season is healthy.

Bananas are grown extensively in Queensland in Australia and the northern part of NSW as well. I now choose bananas from NSW over bananas in Queensland because the temperature in NSW is a little cooler than Queensland and as a result, the bananas take a little longer to mature. This makes the bananas in NSW more nutritious than the ones from Queensland. Now, this doesn't mean I don't eat bananas from Queensland, but if I am given a choice, I would choose the one with higher nutrition.

I believe that the organic produce regulations are quite strict in Australia. I now look for the Australian organic certification label on all the food. Why is this important to me? Because there are some farms and companies that are organic, or half organic or somewhat organic and they just call their products organic anyway. But with the certification, I know that it has passed strict regulations.

In my next article, I will talk about organic meat.