Organic Vegetables Help You Avoid Pesticide Residues

I don't spend a lot of time writing about buying organic but I honestly think that organic is better, especially if it means that you will be exposed to fewer, and less, pesticides. I believe that pesticides are at least incidentally responsible for the huge rise in all types of cancer in the U.S., and likely the world.

Anyone born before World War II did not suffer the pesticide exposure in their youth the way that any post-War babies (now grown-up people) did. The group most likely affected by pesticides are the "baby boomers" as pesticide use was in full swing by the time that they were born.

The 1960s counter-culture wanted a return to more natural processes and it was the rebirth of organic (which it hadn't really been called before because most things were grown naturally). Babies born after that time to highly conscious mothers had the chance for less pesticide exposure but the truth is that we've all been poisoned by pesticides (and let's not forget herbicides, fungicides, and all other cides -- destined to kill something) in the air and water, if not in your food.

But it's not all doom and gloom. You can find out which foods are highest in pesticide residue and avoid them whenever possible. Read this article by The Organic Center to learn which vegetables to avoid.

Here's the list of domestic vegetables with the highest pesticide residues:

1. Green beans
2. sweet bell peppers
3. celery
4. cucumbers
5. potatoes

If you want to learn more you can also take a look at The Environmental Working Group's recently released guide to pesticides and download it to your phone or print it out. It contains the Dirty Dozen (includes many fruits, too, just in time for stone fruit season, so pay attention) and the Clean Fifteen.

I urge you to buy more organic foods when possible but especially the vegetables that eat regularly. What you do most often will have the largest impact on your health.

Happy shopping. And whenever possible support your local farmers, they need it, and you need them. Without farmers, we wouldn't need farms. And then what would we eat?

Do You Want to Eat Healthier -- For Real?

Last night I taught a private pressure cooking class for a group of runners. The host thought that it would be fun to get her friends interested in pressure cooking because they're all busy and want to eat fast. But do they want to eat healthy? And more importantly, what do they think that even means? And what do you think that it means?

I know that I live in some other reality where I am choosing between red rice or quinoa for breakfast, of all things. Should I eat it with tofu or tempeh? And include nettles or the beautiful purple kale that is new to our farmer's market?

This is a far cry from a bowl of dry cereal with a splash of milk and a banana, which is something I rarely eat. But many people do. So where is healthy on the continuum of life? Does it mean never eating any white products such as pasta or sourdough bread? Only eating organic?

Honestly, I don't know the answers to these questions. I know that the more that I think about it, the more questions I have.

What do you think? What's your best suggestion or tip for "real" healthy eating? I really want to know.

BTW, the menu for the evening was White Bean Soup with Sage, Red Rice with Braised Tofu and Vegetables, Maple Winter Squash Puree, Winter Greens Salad with Beets and Avocado with Blood Orange and Smoked Olive Oil Vinaigrette and Winter Fruit Compote for dessert. All easy, delicious and, dare I say it, healthy.

Back to Blogging -- The Fancy Food Show and More

After 2 days of standing on my feet and managing the kitchen at SOMA mushroom camp where we served an all-out mushroom meal to 240 happy people, I attended the Fancy Food Show, where I walked the floor of Moscone Center for many more hours.

Luckily at Moscone, I was buoyed by chocolate. I mean lots of chocolate. One of the first booths that I arrived at was Newtree chocolate. They have a functional and nutritional line (right!) that contains roasted flax and rice crisps which are made to resemble a bar made by Nestle. This is quite unlike the bars from my youth as they are made with Belgian chocolate, high quality ingredients and each bar likely retails for around $5. But they score high on the tasty scale, and if you're going to eat something decadent such as chocolate, you really want the good stuff, which for me, is at least 65% cacao content. (They were included in my story on the new chocolates that I wrote for Natural Food Network magazine last year.)


After starting off with chocolate, I was on my quest for new beverages and found 2 very new ones at O.N.E., a company now known for its coconut water. Their newest products are Coffee berry which is just what it says, with the caffeine content of green tea, and cashew fruit. They are unlike any other fruity beverage and worth trying if you are looking for fruit juice. (I don't drink much fruit juice.)

Next I encountered old-fashioned sodas called Fentimans. I generally don't drink soda but had to try this because they had one with dandelion and burdock root, both of which are good for your liver. (They don't make any claims about their drinks.) It was tasty, as were all their products, most of which are ginger-based. If you're going to drink a sweetened carbonated beverage this might be a good choice.

Aloe drinks were prevalent. And I also saw a drink made from with hibiscus, and another with rose juice.

I could go on and on about what I saw but will now just write a short round-up. Be on the lookout for more gluten-free products, tea of all types, especially in biodegradeable bags and packaging, more chocolate than you'd ever want to eat (and I mean ever), exotic fruit in lots of different items and the next great thing. It just could be roasted flax from Flax USA in North Dakota (which I will be giving away in March for National Nutrition Month).

And if you want to get an amazing tea maker, to go with all that tea be on the lookout for the Analon one that has 6 different settings for your type of tea. But you better start saving your pennies now for later, as it comes with the hefty price tag of $350.

The one thing that I did get while there was an amazing grinder called The Spice Ratchet which I will be selling along with my new herb and spice blends which are in the works.

I am still sorting through all my Fancy Food show information so expect to hear more, hopefully before you see it on store shelves.

The Veggie Queen's Favorite Fall Salad For Thanksgiving

I actually have 2 favorite fall salads but this is the most special of them because it uses fresh pomegranate arils (seeds) in it. This salad gets people's attention which I like. No one will say that it's boring. If there are any ingredients that you can't get, substitute, except for the pomegranate seeds which is essential.

Bright Autumn Salad
Serves 4
Most of these ingredients are native to my area of Northern California. If you cannot find them, substitute the most colorful and freshest seasonal fruit. You are aiming for a colorful salad that is sweet, tart, crunchy and bitter. I imagine that the Native Americans living where I do would have served this for their Thanksgiving meal using local, wild bitter greens instead of endive or radicchio.

1 medium head radicchio or 3 small heads of Belgian endive, sliced into shreds, or arugula (any bitter green)
2 fuyu (firm, flat Asian) persimmons, seeded if necessary, and diced
½ POM wonderful fresh pomegranate, cut, arils (seeds) removed to be used to equal 2 cups (save the other half to make more salad or just double the recipe)
2-3 kiwi, peeled and diced
¼ cup or more dried cranberries
¼ cup toasted slivered or sliced almonds
1-2 tablespoons raspberry or other fruit vinegar (optional)

Cut the bitter greens or reds into shreds. Put on a plate.

In a medium bowl, combine the persimmons, pomegranate, pineapple guava, and most of the cranberries and almonds. Arrange the combined mixture over the shredded bitter greens. Top with the remaining cranberries and almonds. Drizzle fruit vinegar over the top, if desired, right before serving.

Enjoy.

Did You Say that the Figs are Ripe?

Some people attract money but I attract fruit and vegetables. This arrangement seems just fine to me since you can't eat money but you can eat produce.

Today I got my first dehydrator, used from ebay, and it works just fine. Not a top of the line Excalibur but it has an adjustable thermostat. I am currently drying persimmons.

My neighbor has a persimmon tree and one of the branches broke so I ended up with a huge bag of still kind of green persimmons. Since you can dry not quite ripe persimmons and get good results, I cut these and put them in to dry.

Today another neighbor said the magic words: the figs are ripe. That is music to my ears. It didn't send me running to get them as I had a 2 deadlines to meet but shortly thereafter I went to pick. The fig tree is huge and because of how it's been pruned I don't need a ladder to reach the lower part of the tree.

I have been picking figs for years and consider myself an expert. The funny thing about picking figs is that it's hard to see them when you are in the tree, maybe more so for figs than for other fruit which proves the "forest for the trees" theory. And I am very particular about how ripe my figs are except now that I have a dehydrator I may pick some that are not quite as ripe as I usually want them.

I just had a chance to try one of the best figs ever -- desert king. It is light green outside and bright red inside. If I had a place for it, I'd plant one of these in my yard. But for now, I am content to buy these occasionally and to pick my neighbor's black mission figs when they are ripe. I will surely enjoy them dried and canned this winter. I am going back for more as they ripen, and before the winter rains arrive. Oh, let's see -- what can I do with figs? Figgy pudding, fig bars, fig chutney, hmmm? Any good fig ideas? Just let me know jill@theveggiequeen.com.

Considering Blackberries

Throughout the summer I think about blackberries because they grow wild where I live. They are an amazing plant with a good defense. You likely know the saying that the best offense is a good defense. Well, blackberries have it down.

I see the green berries forming early in the summer, and watch the vines grow long and thorny. Then when the fruit is ripe, the vines get incredibly unruly and tangled so that picking the berries can be a painful affair. The vines snake across the path and even up into trees -- they are good at movement for something without legs.


There are 2 kinds of blackberries that grow here -- one is large and the other is small. And when they are ripe, they are equally as delicious. When they're not quite ripe, and picked by mistake, they are both sour. They're always full of fiber which means that they have seeds although when dead-ripe and almost falling off the plant, the berry seems to just melt in my mouth. This is the exception, not the rule.


Some of the best berries are hard to get to or hidden high in a tree. I'm short so they are a challenge to pick but worth it.

And as I worked on this blog post, I came across a link to a rat study recently done on black raspberries and their anticancer effect http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/mediaroom/press/article.cfm?ID=4214. That fruit likely contains the same kind of antioxidant activity as blackberries. So eat them up, when you can easily get to them.

Summer Fruit is So Yummy

I am sure that I have been blessed as I have had the opportunity to pick great fruit all summer. It started with cherries and has progressed through apricots to nectarines, peaches and plums. I just wish that I had more freezer space to accommodate the riches of fruit that I have received.

To combat the lack of freezer space, I have been cooking some of the fruit with great results. 2 of my latest, greatest accomplishments have been apricot ginger butter and plum ginger butter. They are simple to make and delicious on their own or mixed into savory dishes such as my Sweet and Sour Squash, which I will be making for a cooking demonstration this evening.

To make the fruit butter all you do is cut up the fruit and put it in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. My 4-quart Fagor pressure cooker works well for this (without its pressure lid). Cook over medium heat. Use a microplane grater and add ginger to your liking as the fruit cooks. Add sweetener to taste. I use agave syrup which is a low glycemic index sweetener that may be almost as sweet as sugar but doesn't give you that fast blood sugar rise. The agave is much more expensive, though.

I cook the fruit until it gets thick. And then it's done.

When it's plum season, there are lots of plums and this is a great way to use them. You could potentially add some spices to the plums, if you like. I haven't tried that yet.

Once the fruit is put into glass jars, you can can the jars to seal them in a boiling water bath for about 10 minutes. I won't go into the canning process but will say that I like to do what is called small batch canning. I might do 4 to 6 half-pint jars at a time, and that's all. It's easy to do and helps me use the fruits of my labor. Yes, I do pick the fruit myself.

If I did all this in a certified kitchen, I supposed that I could sell it but for now, I will enjoy it myself. And during the holiday season, what's left will become special gifts. This year, people might really be in luck. Need to get picking again...

Nature's Treats While Walking the Dog

I get up and walk my dog every morning when I am at home. I love the ritual of doing it -- most of the time. I walk no matter what -- cold, hot, rainy, windy, sunny, foggy or anything else. I'd have to say that I most enjoy walking the dog when we both have our needs met.

This morning was a perfect example of that. Bear wants to sniff, take care of bodily functions and eat as much oat grass as he can find. I, on the other hand, want to get a bit of exercise, observe nature and forage for wild fruit, and eat s much as I can get my hands on while walking a dog.

Today was glorious as it's a bit overcast, which is much better than 80+ degrees at 7 a.m., and cooler. Before we even hit the creek path, I had picked a ripe blackberry (notice the restraint here -- just 1 blackberry), followed by an unctuous ripe fig from a tree that I affectionately refer to a "my fig tree", which just happens to be on someone else's property and hangs on the side of the fence that I can get to. Now, if I were only taller I could get more figs. And, if I didn't have the dog with me, I could really stop and pick. But 1 ripe fig was absolutely wonderful, and a good way to start out.

As Bear found one of the few patches of green oat grass,, I spied a small, ripe, dark red wild plum which I picked and ate. Delicious. But Bear did not want to leave his oat grass eating and move on. I said, "Bear, I think that you are more into eating grass than I am into picking fruit." He was now chewing on dead grass. But then, I realized that he was done with grass-eating and I would continue to consume small amounts of fruit throughout the walk, as I found it: a few more blackberries, a yellow wild plum, a pinkish wild plum and then the path ended. So, my fruit escapades were done.

Throughout the walk, I reflected on nature's abundance and how we need to appreciate it. It became apparent to me that eating refined sugar is not a good option when you can eat real fruit and have it be so satisfying. I do eat foods containing sugar occasionally but they just don't compare to what our mother has to offer. Please keep this in mind.

And if you get a chance to walk a dog, have a good time while you're doing it. It could change the way that you see the world. It has for me, and for that, I thank Bear.

The Veggie Queen Makes More Raw Pie and the Delight of Ripe Fruit

Since the local cherry season has concluded, my next raw pie is likely to be nectarine or peach. Today I bought the slightly bruised fruit, which means that it's really ripe and ready to eat, to use for slicing, freezing and making more raw pies. Funny how the fruit was in fairly decent shape when I bought it but by the time that I got it home in my plastic bag inside my big farmer's market bag, it was kind of squishy. So, I had to do a lot of quality control to be sure that the fruit was still edible. OMG, it was so good that I think that I ate a lot of it in the process.

What I want to remind you is that your food will never taste better than what you started with, and this seems to be most evident with fruit. You cannot likely purchase really ripe fruit at your supermarket so find a farm stand, a farmer, farmer's market or CSA that can provide ripe fruit in season. It can't be beat. You don't even have to make raw pie with it.

But if you want to make the pie you can get some almond flour from Angie at http://www.nutnother.com. Imade a small pie and used 1 cup almond flour and 2 tablespoons agave syrup. I mixed it and pressed it into my pie shell. I then made cashew cream. Don't ask for specifics at the moment, at my computer is still indisposed. Top with the fresh fruit and a drizzle of lemon juice (which was unncessary with the cherries as their cut sides were down). I would also like to try this with halved apricots.

I have go now as I am getting ready to drool on the keyboard. Oh boy, do I love summer fruit.

Raw Cherry Pie, Vegetarian Summerfest in Pennsylvania and A Crashed Computer

As I prepared to leave town, I had an abundance of cherries so I made raw cherry pie. You would see the photo here but my tale of woe, in Pennsylvania, is that right before my talk on Mushrooms as Medicine (wish that you could protect computers with mushrooms), my computer was attacked by a virus. But back to the raw cherry pie.

I made a crust with almond flour and agave nectar. Next I made a raw cashew cream with just a bit of vanilla extract and orange zest and spread that inside. Next came the sliced, pitted raw cherries with the cut side down. And that was it. It looked beautiful and tasted great. And I really did take a photo but that has disappeared into the ether, at least for now.

I headed off to Johnstown, PA on a Tuesday night and arrived very early Wednesday morning. But my suitcase took a detour to Phoenix and Omaha (now why would you want to go there? I asked). It arrived at 2 a.m. 1st lesson learned -- always pack what you might need for the rest of day in your carry-on bag. I survived just fine, as I bought a toothbrush.

Everything seemed to be going great at the conference, which I will post about separately later, until Saturday when the aforementioned computer crash occurred. And still, it's not been the end of my life -- just a big bump on the current path.

People ask why I'm still smiling when a big chunk of my work (My mantra now involves the words "back up") seems as if it might be nonexistent? My answer, "What are my other choices?" So, I am smiling and enjoying life to the best of my ability. And I am very able.

More on Cherry Picking

I met motivational speaker Tom Mitchell, Ph.D., who co-authored The Winning Spirit with Joe Montana, this morning at the farmer's market just as I was ready to leave. He is a former basketball coach and explained that cherry picking has something to do with a defender hanging back and making an easy play. Thus, cherry picking is when it's easy to get to the cherries. And I definitely had that happen with my cherries yesterday. The picking is the easy part -- the pitting, freezing, drying and canning take more work and planning. But I am still thrilled that I got to do it.

Now, to get to work on that raw cherry pie. I'm pretty sure that I decided to do it with some cashew creme as the filling in the nut crust.

And I am going to try out a new appliance that I received recently -- hint -- it has to do with pressure cooking. All good stuff but not as much fun as standing by a tree cherry picking.

Cherry Picking Home Grown Humor

I have been picking cherries with my friend Ellen a number of times in the past week. Most enjoyably we spent a couple of hours doing this just a few days ago and then for another hour this morning. This morning's picking on Ellen's neighbors' roof yielded about 40 pounds of cherries in a hour. (Wow. Thanks Ellen.)

I can't think of a better way to connect with your food than by picking it with your own hands. There is something about the repetitive motion and the silence in the fields, punctuated with the sounds of buzzing insects and birds, that brings you back to your primal self. I have said it before and I repeat it, "I am a gatherer, and I love it."

I also enjoy dealing with the fruits of my labor and figuring out the best thing to do with surplus. The choices are eating fresh, cooking, canning, drying and freezing. For many things, eating fresh is best but eating too many cherries can be painful. What I mostly do is freeze them but drying would be good, too, although I must get a dehydrator. Think that I will look for one on Craigslist or Freecycle.

Today I am going to make raw cherry pie with an almond agave crust. Yum, yum. (If it turns out great, I will share the recipe in my next post.)

On a completely different topic, this morning I went to buy something for the potluck for the last day of school for my son. I paid by credit card and the young woman laid a napkin down on the glass case and said, "These slips are funny and it's easier to sign them like this."
I said, "Not ha ha, funny, right?"
She replied, "No, they have no sense of humor."
"You obviously do," was my retort.
She shot back, "I grew it myself."
"That's really good," I said, as I fumbled for a dollar to put in the tip jar. Humor like that is priceless but the dollar would have to do.

You know how much I love the connection with growing things, and you can't beat home grown humor, or fruit for that matter.

A New Corn Variety at the Market

I didn't have much time at the farmer's market on Saturday because I was busy buying fruit to make fruit salad for 35 for my mother-in-law's 75th birthday. I had hoped to get some melon and hadn't found any from my favorite farmers. I was almost ready to leave the market when I ran into a former student, April. She wanted to buy a copy of my book The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment (shameless plug here http://www.theveggiequeen.com/book.html) so I went to my car to look for one, knowing that I hadn't brought any with me. I did, however, have a number of them in packages that I was shipping so I ripped one open and it became April's latest purchase.

I headed back into the market and was at Cliff Silva's stand, Ma and Pa's Garden, where I saw some corn and bought a couple of ears. In a last attempt to buy melon I took a walk around the corner and to my delight I saw Larry Fields at a small table with melons. I told Larry that I was happy to see him and he said that he hoped that I would come by. (I don't know if this is true but it does feel good when people say that, doesn't it?) He offered me an ear of corn and asked me to take a bite. I did and it was incredibly sweet. Now, just having bought corn, I didn't really want to buy more but Larry said that I could have the ear that I bit (great marketing tactic, I told him) and then I bought another couple ears, along with 5 melons including musk, Charentais and another kind that I can't remember.

Larry was telling me how much he liked this new variety of corn. I must admit that it was sweet and delicious. It had a name like Miara or Maira but definitely something with an M. I couldn't wait to get home to eat it.

While I was chatting with Larry someone saw me there and knew who I was. He said that if I liked it that it must be good. (I have to say that I didn't know who the guy was and he could have been a former student, seen me at a cooking demonstration or seen my photo in the paper.) I am glad to have some produce influence and share what I like.

The corn was delicious in my pressure cooked veggie dish with peppers, potatoes, squash, onions, garlic and Mexican type seasoning. Yumm.

The fruit salad that I made for the birthday party was also a hit. And honestly all I did was pick out the fruit and cut it up. But the fruit was in its prime and that's what made it delicious. Please remember that you can't make dishes that taste better than the ingredients you start with. Go for fresh and quality.

A Fruitful Season for The Veggie Queen

I am about more than just vegetables. I am into all plant foods. This year there has been a bumper crop of fruit. Luckily I know a number of people that have trees and have been able to harvest all manner of fruit from peaches and plums to grapes, apples, pears and Asian pears, and I can't forget the figs. At times I have been overwhelmed with all of it. And at other times I have been thrilled to open my refrigerator and find a jar of homemade applesauce with cinnamon, as if someone else made it for me. (Ask me about my 5 minute pressure-cooked applesauce.)


The rhythm of the season is in full swing. I am sure that when canning was at its peak, mothers didn't have to leave their boiling pots to shuttle their kids from one activity to another. The Moms stayed at their task, cooking and canning until the project was done. But now, it doesn't work that way and with the advent of the modern freezer, sometimes canning doesn't seem worth it. Although unlike many people I do not have an extra freezer or refrigerator, so back to the jars and lids. If it doesn't fit in the space available, then I must can to preserve the harvest.


Pulling a bag of peaches out of the freezer mid-winter to make a tart, crisp or compote is a touch of sunshine in a sometimes bleak season. When I am up to my elbows in peaches on a hot summer's day, though, it's hard to think of winter and the enjoyment to come. There is always the dilemma that summer fruit brings but this year it has been exaggerated.


My wish and hope is that everyone can enjoy the bounty of the season in its abundance. And to that end, I hope to get some fruit dried in a solar dryer (built by a friend) so that I can have yet one more way to preserve the harvest for the coming months. It worked in the past and I have faith that it will continue to keep me satisfied in the future.

Blueberries for The Veggie Queen

Traveling these days can be tough. I have been to many cities in the past 9 days and the work part of my travel is over (if you don't count the traveling). They say that timing is everything. And despite have a cancelled flight which resulted in a long taxi ride to an alternate airport, and, separately, a 3 hour flight delay, all has gone relatively smoothly. But nothing can top my experience last night picking organically grown blueberries in Duxbury, MA. Steve Berall and his wife Ellen are friends of my very good friends. Steve does organic lawn care professionally and has many blueberry bushes planted on his exquisite property.

I saw them (Steve, Ellen and the blueberries) last year and when I was trying to arrange a visit with my friend Barbara (the first of the 30+ that I know), we decided to meet in Duxbury. I asked it if was blueberry time and Barbara didn't know. But I suspected that it was. When I asked Steve on the phone as I drove toward his house, he confirmed that by saying that the timing was "perfect". I couldn't agree more.

He has a variety of blueberry cultivars. And I must say that there is nothing like having berries directly from the bush, although this is my first time picking them. I am sure that I ate at least a pint of them while harvesting, yet we ended up with 4 quarts in about 10 minutes.

My favorite fruits are blueberries and figs, so I truly felt that I was in paradise. And now I am sure of it. All this blueberry talk has made me hungry so off to the berries I go.

Apricots, Peaches and Cherries, Oh My

Here in California we are into the stone fruit season with an abundance of wonderful, fresh, ripe apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apriums, pluots and other new stone fruits that are crosses -- the names that I can't remember. Also, there are cherries.

This year my friend Ellen had a bumper crop of cherries and she made a pie. I don't really eat pie but I do love the fruit inside. I prefer fruit crisps for their taste and higher nutrition value with oats, nuts and cinnamon and other spices which enhance rather than enrobe the fruit. I am not into crust. But oh, the cherries -- which Ellen gave me a bag of since I didn't want pie. I am savoring them. They are ripe and deep red bings.

Amazingly, that same day I was able to pick Ranier-type cherries from my late friend Jon's tree and ate far too many before going out to dinner. They taasted much better than dinner. I realize that I could sit and eat cherries for much of a day, if I had the intestinal fortitude. And I mean that seriously since cherries, like all fruit, have a lot of fiber. So when you eat too much of them, you know it. Therefore Mother Nature has created something of a perfect system, unlike that of manufactured food such as potato or other chips, where it's almost impossible to eat too much fruit without suffering the "natural consequence".

My favorite summer salad contains stone fruit, lettuce and bitter greens with spring onions and a raspberry or strawberry dressing, topped with toasted sunflower seeds and ripe avocado. It is divine decadence and so satisfying. And the good part is that you can eat quite a lot, in fact, pretty much all you want without feeling stuffed. I urge you to try this and see how you feel.