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flavor Does Organic Garden Produce taste better?

I'm not so much into organic as I am local agriculture. I've gotten the tastiest produce from small local farmers who either cannot afford pursuing the USDA Organic label or just tend to think the "organic" label has been co-opted by Big Agri anyway. Plus, organic labeling is applied in some very odd places. I've seen "organic" oreo-type cookies. What does that mean? That they'll kill you with a more sustainable and eco-conscious heart attack? Organic junk food is still junk food. It was already killing people before the organic label. But I digress...

Supermarket tomatoes are an expensive way to transport and buy water. Because the flavor isn't there. I worked in Big Agri at one time in a fruit-vegetable packing shed. They pick tomatoes green and ripen them with gas. The garlic grown for the supermarket is not the best-tasting. Far from it. Most of the world that loves garlic eats what's known as a Hardneck garlic. But the U.S. growers selected the Softneck garlic sold here because it stores longer. Hardneck garlic has more flavor.

As far as tomatoes go, a person has not lived until they've eaten a Cherokee Purple tomato.
 
I don't know, because I refuse to pay several times the price just for a label that has some pointless "organic" certification. If I had to take a wild guess though, I bet there would be that there would be no noticeable difference in organic vs. non-organic food; all differences would be based on plant variety, climate conditions and growing practices besides the stricter chemical requirements of "organic" food.

And when growing plants, I'll use whatever fertilizers there are available, convenient, cheap to buy in larger quantities, etc.... which often means the synthetic stuff. Non-organic. And I won't waste a few extra bucks on "certified organic" seeds, when you can get the same exact thing cheaper. As long as it's not a GMO.

Penn and Teller had an episode of Bullshit on "Organic Food" where they thoroughly criticized organic food and called it, well, bullshit. It's hard to argue with them, really, based on the facts they presented.

The main thing I am 100% against is genetic engineering, but good luck finding out if the dozens/hundreds of groceries you just bought contain any genetically modified organisms--the label usually won't say, and they probably do. I am also not too crazy about the use of pesticides, especially the dangerous ones, if not required... but it's not like you ever know how the farmers grew the plants sold as food in the stores anyway, and chances are, they have been heavily "treated" and there's really nothing you can do about it.
 
Well, I wouldn't trust the word of Penn and Teller. They're a couple of comedians; i.e. entertainers. They also have a political agenda. IMHO, going with the word of two comedians on health/food issues is like asking your plumber to do a root canal on you after he snakes the commode.

That said, yes, in many cases organic is just a label. But with some things, it isn't. I've seen a CAFO pork operation from the inside. I wouldn't touch ANY pork coming from a CAFO.
 
Guerilla Chef said:
Well, I wouldn't trust the word of Penn and Teller. They're a couple of comedians; i.e. entertainers. They also have a political agenda. IMHO, going with the word of two comedians on health/food issues is like asking your plumber to do a root canal on you after he snakes the commode.
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Maybe so, but I've seen some of the things they said mirrored in other places. Someone recently posted a topic on these boards on organic vs. non-organic gardening. It was a long article, and reading it ironically pointed out a bunch of the facts that Penn laid down.

Besides--who doesn't have a political agenda? If you singled out all the studies, articles etc. that did have some not-so-hidden agenda, you wouldn't have much left... and surely there would be quite a few that may have some agenda, but you'd never know. Facts are facts, take what you will and believe to be plausible... I'll trust a couple of magicians/entertainers over some mega-corporation, though.
 
It all depends, Zelda. There are quite a few pesticides and herbicides that are highly toxic. Agent Orange was once considered a "safe" herbicide. There may not be a difference in flavor, per se, but there may be a difference in health effects. Point being, the words of a couple of entertainers may very well be identical to that of the mega-corporations. Like Monsanto, for instance.
 
Guerilla Chef said:
Point being, the words of a couple of entertainers may very well be from the mega-corporations. Like Monsanto, for instance.
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But once again, you would never know. There's a good chance that they have no backing from bioengineering companies, but if there is, it's hidden pretty damn well. If their views were known to be tainted by the greed of a corporation's stockholders and its corporate image, that kind of information would get out there fast. IMO, unless (or until) it seems likely that corporate bending of the truth and censorship is in fact occurring, if the facts seem legitimate, there's no reason to outright ignore them. The *potential* for a source to be tainted with corporate interests even though they may not have any such relations doesn't make facts any less true than they already are. Anyone can lie or twist the facts--and if it's obvious that people are being paid by a corporate party, then questions should arise concerning the validity of those facts (or outright disregard them completely). I do think they're biased strongly and obviously will focus on the information that supports their side and what they believe in--but at least their facts seem credible.

But who isn't biased? Heh... I'm biased as a Nintendo fan and Linux user and would be lying out my ass if I ever said I would buy a Ford over a Chevy or that I enjoy running Windows. It would also be a cold day in hell before I go out and buy any Sony hardware of any kind. But I can see facts about all of these things--whether good or bad--and still go on my Sony boycott and avoid all those Apple gadgets that seem to be getting popular these days. Certainly no one is 100% free of bias. :P
 
Most all fruit and veg's come from the main land so there picked green, taste like watery card board. if grow any way it's better than store bought, next step is buying from farmers market very limited choice, so grow you know is better. I grow as close to organic as I can: GREAT tasting. I make all my own nutes and fertilizer and use alot of fermented extra cs {Sea weed,Papaya, pineapple}
 
I was once a totally organic farmer, I now use both traditional and organic methods, I use "chemical" fertilizers and grain meal for a longer
release. I use neem for pest control & I let some weeds grow so I can turn them back into the soil with tillage. I also use Basic Slag as a calcium, ph adjuster, and micro nutrient supplement. I learned how to grow tomatoes on a local "fresh" tomato farm. Calcium is the major
reason tomatoes taste good, the more calcium, the higher the ph, you can get the tomato's to grow in, the better tasting they will be, of course
some of the heirlooms will taste better grown under the same conditions, but most aren't. Take care of the soil first, flavor will follow.
 
The original question was-
"does organic produce taste better? "


if one were to taste a home-grown 'mater against a commercially grown 'mater, the home grown would win hands down!

If one were to taste a home grown 'mater against a home grown "organic" mater...I would wager $5 that no one could tell the difference between a home grown 'mater and a home grown "organic" 'mater.



There is a huge difference between commercial/international growing operations and local operations.

JMhumbleO- a local, non-organic operation will beat out an international "organic" operation if it were to come to a side-by-side taste test.



To the Original Poster of the Q?-

What is your purpose for asking this question? Support for a theory? Perhaps direction of which way to go in gardening and where to focus? Marketing?
 
Nova-
homegrown-v-organic-v-allnatural-v-fresh-v-~~???~~~~
all can be true-~~ in the right scenario!



Processed foods usually fall under a whole other category than fresh produce and seed/seedling sales.

Wondering what pepperjoe is looking to find out by the original question...

edit-labeling and marketing a product as "organic' is tricky business in the USA. Will wait for pepperjoe to chime in on what the original Q? was about.
 
Novacastrian said:
I took "organic" to mean home grown.
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There's a huge difference there.

I believe there is usually a difference in taste too but not solely due to the chemical fertilizers but more because of the use of harsh pesticides, herbicides, fungicides etc., as well as overfertilization which is usually too much nitrogen
 
I once tried being organic, but it was too my I'm afraid. it's one thing to use all natural, well, everything... but sacrificing part of the crop to feed the soil? pfft...
I've been using over the last few years endless non-organic fertilizers, but avoided using unnatural fungicides and pesticides. I never over fertilize and my crop is always delicious! you can actually taste how much care I put into it. my tomatoes taste way better than those "organic" ones on sale.
 
well ill have to say yes and no, i grow toms and chillis in organic soil and also hydroponically with non organic ferts in coco. and i can not really tell much differnce in the taste with chilli,but the size of the hydroponic grown stuff is huge! especially the tomatos,the hydroponic plant ripened tomato are way more tasty than any of the ones i grew in soil. well thats just my 2 cents.
 
nickk said:
well ill have to say yes and no, i grow toms and chillis in organic soil and also hydroponically with non organic ferts in coco. and i can not really tell much differnce in the taste with chilli,but the size of the hydroponic grown stuff is huge! especially the tomatos,the hydroponic plant ripened tomato are way more tasty than any of the ones i grew in soil. well thats just my 2 cents.
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The hydro tomatos we get down here are no where near as good as the "dirt" tomatos, of course I'm far enough south that we get tomatos out of Florida and Mexico year round, and
while not even close to being as good as the ones I grow myself, they are far better than
the hydros (and cost a lttle more too), but both are better than the winter tomatos we used
to be force fed 20 years ago!
 
What about those organic, heirloom tomatoes that Whole Foods sells for $6.00/lb? I've tried those, and they are mushy cardboard. Not near as tasty as what I grow in my backyard, as organically as possible.
 
There are some natural foods stores selling heirloom tomatoes coming out of Mexico. They do taste bland, probably because they're picked unripe. Plus, they're being grown for mass production, not flavor. There's a lot of things labeled organic that aren't necessarily tastier. That's the nice thing about local agriculture community markets. When you've got several people selling heirloom tomatoes, the farmer with the tastiest ones is going to get the business. The other growers see that and make a better effort to grow better stuff. At the supermarket, they buy only from their distributor.
 
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