Develop a relationship with your organic supplier, writes Hugo Arnold.
Memory plays tricks on us, or so some would have us believe. Wax lyrical about the past and you are accused of being a romantic ... the enormous cakes in Bewley's, the wonderful Irish summers (there may be some truth in that one) and how fruit and vegetables really used to taste of something. That last one might not be so far off the mark. Research suggests that the levels of nutrients in fruit and vegetables are substantially less than they were some years ago. Tests show that the level of minerals such as potassium, iron, magnesium and copper have all fallen in a range of tested fruit and vegetables, sometimes quite substantially.
Although the study emphasises that it is still far more healthy to eat fruit and vegetables than processed foods, the results makes for stark reading. The suspected reasons are complex, but are almost certainly connected to the increasing demands on agriculture which, while delivering efficiency and consistency, would appear to be denying plants some of the essential nutrients which make them so good in the first place.
Other research in the US suggests that the level of sugar in fruit has also increased. In apples, for example, where three decades ago sugar scored between 8 and 10 per cent, it is now quite common to find 15 per cent. Is eating an apple as good as cleaning your teeth? Not any more, apparently.
The dilemma for many of us is in trying to digest the constant catalogue of warnings over what to eat and not to eat, coupled with having no real idea of the long-term effects. If we eat junk, inevitably there are some bad side-effects. So what do we do? Putting food higher up our list of priorities might be one route. Which means we need to know more about what it is, where it has come from and what was involved in getting it there.
I buy my fruit and vegetables from Denis Healy, who grows quite a lot of what he sells and also buys from other growers and from abroad. Why do I trust him? Because every week, if not twice a week, we discuss what he sells, or some aspect of what he does. Denis sells only organic produce.
I'm not a consumer of exclusively organics, but organically grown fruit and vegetables often have more taste. The lemons I buy are dull in colour and not laced with chemicals. I like, too, the facts that the beetroot comes with its leaves (delicious), that when he sells tomatoes he has five or six varieties to choose from, and that his potatoes come crusted with earth. Are they rich in copper and sodium, calcium and iron? I'm not too sure, but they taste of something, so I suspect they probably are.