Monday, June 27, 2011

The Dirty Dozen

My friend at the health club has a wonderful organic garden. I love seeing her walk in with a bag in hand. It means fresh veggies for me. Fresh tomatoes, squash, okra, onions, eggplant, Swiss chard, kale, cucumbers, and on and on. Last week I was the lucky recipient of basil (two varieties) rosemary, fennel and stevia. The rosemary went right on to a pizza crust, the basil into the marina sauce. Fresh tomatoes from her garden were on top. Delicious! Yesterday she included in my bag an article from USA Today, “Apples are the No.1 produce for pesticide contamination”. The Environmental Working group studies and reports which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticides after washing and peeling. Apples were at the top of the list with 92% of apples containing two or more pesticides. While the pesticides might be in small amounts, the long term effects might not be so small.
Check out the "dirty dozen" and the "clean 15" at www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary. Stay with the apple a day. When you can buy organic.