Life is too short to stuff a mushroom, as Shirley Conran once said, but what about scrubbing it free of pesticides? To gauge how much you need to bathe fresh produce, first consider whether it's one of the Dirty Dozen — a list of pesticide-infused shame compiled last year by the Environmental Working group in Washington (available from www.foodnews.org). Based on analysis of more than 100,000 US government pesticide results, it named and shamed peaches, apples and bell peppers as the top three fruit and vegetables to hold the highest levels of pesticide residue.
But don't let this instill a false sense of security — health professionals are adamant that all fresh produce should be cleaned to remove potential pathogens.
This includes organic. In fact, critics of organic produce are at pains to point out that the spinach in the 2007 outbreak of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in Californian was grown using “organic methods.” Perhaps more significantly, it was also processed using industrial methods. Even produce sold as
“pre-washed” needs to be washed.
DISHING THE DIRT
Again, increasingly, this includes organic pre-washed. Organic produce used to wear clods of dirt as a badge of honor, symbolizing its relatively simple and wholesome, traceable journey from plot to plate. This is still the case at farmers' markets, with more local produce, and often with box schemes — and to be fair this is more than
cosmetic. A bit of soil also helps to
preserve the product as it gets to market.
But that depends where your market is. It would be bad economics and against food-hygiene rules to import a large amount of earth with your runner beans. As organic produce has been annexed by big commercial enterprises, it is increasingly scrubbed up in huge pack houses that bring together produce from large numbers of farms for a dousing.
CHLORINE DRESSING ANYONE?
A day in the life of a carrot includes an initial wash, a polish with water to remove grit and a spot of hydro-chilling with cold water before being inspected by mechanical optical graders, where it might not make the grade in any case. More energy often goes into cleaning and packaging fresh produce than goes into actually growing it. This is particularly true of cut greens, such as lettuce, which are washed in ice baths to remove debris, followed by the routine use of chlorine to sanitize bagged salads.
However, rather than providing extra security, pack-house innovations (including chlorine) make me want to empty leafy greens into the sink as soon as I buy them, scrub potatoes and peel carrots. In fact, it actually makes me want to steer clear of pre-washed or pre-bagged at all. I would even use a pH-balanced fruit and vegetable wash that lifts off and kills pathogens on fresh-cut produce. I cannot promise that I will never again moan about scrubbing potatoes, but I'd rather keep veg prep as a kitchen sink drama.
Taiwan, once relegated to the backwaters of international news media and viewed as a subset topic of “greater China,” is now a hot topic. Words associated with Taiwan include “invasion,” “contingency” and, on the more cheerful side, “semiconductors” and “tourism.” It is worth noting that while Taiwanese companies play important roles in the semiconductor industry, there is no such thing as a “Taiwan semiconductor” or a “Taiwan chip.” If crucial suppliers are included, the supply chain is in the thousands and spans the globe. Both of the variants of the so-called “silicon shield” are pure fantasy. There are four primary drivers
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behavior of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired. The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance — a locally approved regulation — to protect service industry staff from kasuhara — the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment.” While the Tokyo ordinance, which will go into effect in April, does not carry penalties, experts hope the move will highlight a growing social problem and, perhaps, encourage people to think twice before taking out their frustrations
Two years ago my wife and I went to Orchid Island off Taitung for a few days vacation. We were shocked to realize that for what it cost us, we could have done a bike vacation in Borneo for a week or two, or taken another trip to the Philippines. Indeed, most of the places we could have gone for that vacation in neighboring countries offer a much better experience than Taiwan at a much lower price. Hence, the recent news showing that tourist visits to Pingtung County’s Kenting, long in decline, reached a 27 year low this summer came
From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the US. The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This