Buy Organic, or Not?

Do you always buy organic produce to avoid toxic pesticides? Or has the always-rising price of food driven you to ignore those more expensive fruits and vegetables? Or do you just buy organic apples and other produce when you’re going to eat their skin?  How can we eat the most healthy foods without going broke?

Some time ago Dr. Andrew Weil sent out a list of which fruits and vegetables should always be bought organic, and another list of which ones are safe to eat when they aren’t organic. I stuck it on my refrigerator. Here it is for yours. In Maine our neighbors told us it’s really necessary to spray apples only at petal fall. We did, and had lovely, crisp, tart Macintosh apples with never a worm or blemish. I never have sprayed my lone apple tree, and the fruits seldom contain a worm or brown spot.

Fruits--buy organic, always:
Apples (commercial growers spray seven times between blossom and ripe fruit)
Grapes
Nectarines if imported
Peaches
Strawberries

Vegetables--buy organic, always
Celery
Cucumbers
Peppers, hot and bell types
Potatoes
Spinach

 Fruits okay to buy non-organic:
Avocado
Cantaloupe
Kiwi
Mangoes
Papayas
Pineapples

 Vegetables okay to buy non-organic
Asparagus
Cabbage
Corn
Eggplant
Mushrooms
Onions
Sweet Potatoes

Kale and collards may or may not have been sprayed with insecticides. Make your choice: wash them or live dangerously? I always wash them.

Notice that the only root vegetables on the buy organic list are Potatoes. But Beets, Carrots, Rutabagas, and Turnips are not on either list. Safe? I’m thinking that if they are planted in the same ground that last year grew cabbages, corn, eggplant, onions, or sweet potatoes, they could have picked up some insecticide, as could any plant. To be really safe, I spray my patio pot “garden” only with soapy water, not detergent-laden water.