Green This, Not That
Last week, I was in Toronto for a quick promotional tour on behalf of Method Home Products (I’ve been working with them for several years now as a spokesperson/consultant). Backstage at Canada AM, sort of their version of the Today Show, I’m setting up props for my segment I called “Green This, Not That.” The basic premise: if you can’t afford to buy all organic or eco-friendly products, here’s where you should definitely spend your money and here’s where you can save it. Thought I’d share these tips with you here.
Green This: Fruit
•Thin skinned fruits like strawberries, grapes and apples should always be organic.
•Berries are like sponges, absorbing nutrients, sunlight and water to make flavorful berries, but also pesticides and herbicides.
•Apples are cultivated with high levels of pesticides, so scrubbing each apple and peeling them is key for safety; most people eat apples whole, flesh and skin.
•Grapes have been found to be one of the most sprayed crops of all fruits and vegetables. Experts recommend immersing grapes in water, using a special soap spray to clean them and even peeling each grape for safe eating. Organic is safer and more convenient.
Not This: Fruit
•Thick skinned fruits like bananas, mangos and pineapple where you have to peel the fruit to eat them are safe when purchased as conventionally grown produce.
•Fruits like kiwi are generally grown with very little amount of pesticides, plus their special skin creates a tight barrier making it impenetrable.
•Watermelon is naturally pesticide resistant, it’s tough rind is Mother Nature’s natural defense against insects and disease.
Green This: Wine
•Organic wine is made from grapes that have been grown without any herbicides or pesticides.
•To achieve an organic standard, wines can not be bottled with the addition of sulfites, a preservative. Since many wine drinkers have an adverse reaction to sulfites, choosing organic is a safe way to find a low-sulfite wine.
•A tip: choose an organic wine that is new—the current vintage—since the shelf life of sulfite-free wines is significantly less. A current vintage is usually less expensive than older wines, so going organic can also be a money-saver, too.
Not This: Spirits
•There are a flood of organic spirits hitting the marketplace—vodkas, gin, even acai berry spirits—that are made from certified organic grains and berries.
•Fermentation, distillation and filtering — intrinsic parts of spirit production — eliminate any pesticides anyway, especially in high-proof alcohol like vodka, so there is no real health benefit to the drinker for choosing organic.
•These higher priced organic varieties are often manufactured by new companies and the consistency of the taste and flavor and fluctuate greatly.
I also showed a new Method product on-air for the very first time that just launched in Canada. Can’t share it with you yet here… but if you dig around on the internet and search “Green This, Not That” in videos, you just might find the clip from this show….
Loved the tips, and I’m looking forward to more !
There is more to green produce than whether it is organic. Buying in-season and local produce is typically a greener choice than purchasing out-of-season produce which has been shipped thousands of miles in refrigerated containers or which has been treated with chemicals to control ripening.
THIS is a really useful overview. Thank you!
((((btw Danny, since it is still early morning… you might want to fix the typo in the sentence before it goes out to your gazillion readers: •Organic wine is made from grapes that have been grown with any herbicides or pesticides. ‘with’ should be ‘without’. Anyhow, I’m only writing this to you as I know you have extremely high standards, not in any way to criticize your blog, which I consider to be fantastic!!!!))))
Thanks so much for good tip! =)
I’ve handed out “The Dirty Dozen” list to friends for years. Those are the fruits and vegetables contaminated with the most pesticides. I keep the list in my purse, and refer to it when I’m in the produce section of the grocery store. Thanks, Danny, for explaining the reasons why these fruits are on the list.
Apples are cultivated with high levels of pesticides, so scrubbing each apple and peeling them is key for safety; most people eat apples whole, flesh and skin.
Oh, no! I’m gonna die.
I think it’s important to note that eating and drinking organic isn’t just about the individual’s health, but the health of the planet we’re residing on. I’ll keep drinking my organic vodka, because the massive amounts of grain grown in this country use plenty of GMO and chemicals. We are a part of a much larger whole, and I’m not ashamed to admit that since going organic, probably 20 percent of my budget (or way more) goes to food. It’s totally worth it.
Holly, I second your thoughts. Liquor is as much an agricultural product as wine or juice. Protecting land and water applies equally to anything grown organically. So it’s healthier for all of us, not just those who consume it.