Organic food in supermarkets

smallblueplanet

Edwardia wrote: »

With organic food then it's not so much whether it's more nutritious, but what's NOT in it..

But ipso facto by dint of having less 'cr*p' in it, it's more nutritious.


But also I buy and eat organic as I want to try and lessen my 'footprint' on the earth (maaannnn!). I'm not claiming to be aiming for sainthood - just peace of mind. Edit- oh and I do think that mostly it tastes better!

Edwardia

Taste is subjective - people who smoke or eat a lot of salty or spicy food aren't always able to pick up the nuances. Also suspect that eating fewer additives helps develop better tastebuds somehow.

At first, many organic foods didn't taste much better but after 21 months of eating mostly organic or wild and always additive free, I do think organic salad stuff and raw veg taste a whole lot better.

I've found organic lamb can taste amazing but be quite tough whereas grass-pastured New Zealand Lamb (GM free) can be as tasty and more tender. I really don't know how long NZ lamb is matured for though, it might make a difference. Wild venison is amazing, just so much better than even organic beef, to me. For anyone eating a low purine diet though it's a meat to avoid.

Organic food isn't always low carbon-footprint eg blueberries from Argentina, chocolate from Ecuador, runner beans from Kenya, bananas from the Caribbean etc. But much of it does come from within the UK from small producers who care about their land, their crops and their animals. So I'm with smallblueplanet on that one duuuude

pink princess has found Wowbutter, which is a toasted non GM soy butter made to taste like peanut butter but suitable for people with peanut allergies or kids in nut free schools. It's Canadian but available in Holland & Barrett, Booths and Whole Foods Markets
http://www.wowbutter.com/

Edwardia

Anyone looking for a job at Whole Foods Markets ? 25% discount, childcare vouchers, cycle scheme and healthcare benefits scheme.

There are currently 31 in UK according to listings - including five in Richmond, eleven in Fulham (opening Spring 2014) four in Kensington, seven in Piccadilly Circus and one in Cheltenham.

https://career4.successfactors.com/career?company=WFM&career_ns=job_listing_summary&navBarLevel=JOB_SEARCH&site=VjItOHhManlVbWFJdjBHaCtuNVd1Z3pUQT09&_s.crb=y2oSM1GEZbSuW%2f0As0w%2fXucPVPY%3d

Kirri

Edwardia wrote: »

Anyone looking for a job at Whole Foods Markets ? 25% discount, childcare vouchers, cycle scheme and healthcare benefits scheme.

There are currently 31 in UK according to listings - including five in Richmond, eleven in Fulham (opening Spring 2014) four in Kensington, seven in Piccadilly Circus and one in Cheltenham.

https://career4.successfactors.com/career?company=WFM&career_ns=job_listing_summary&navBarLevel=JOB_SEARCH&site=VjItOHhManlVbWFJdjBHaCtuNVd1Z3pUQT09&_s.crb=y2oSM1GEZbSuW%2f0As0w%2fXucPVPY%3d

Interesting... love the discount!

however from what I've seen in store, although maybe that is the only age group that applies... they all seem mega young (and lacking in vegetable/bread identification skills).

[Deleted User]

There was an enormous celeriac in the AC box and masses of very nice looking curly kale, I also have 3 potatoes to use up before I tackle the AC potatoes, so, I have boiled the spuds and celeriac together and have lightly mashed with butter and pepper and will cool. Then I will take out what I need today and will keep the rest for 2 more days, today I will mix some with finely chopped kale and cook in a frypan, like bubble and squeak and I could serve with a nice fried egg on top but the 6kg of fish will arrive this morning so I shall cook 2 portions of salmon with it. I can do similar with the kale over the 2 extra days and mix in cheese or nuts or whatever, pan fried cakes with egg and something else maybe flaked fish on another day. My fridge is very full just now and that includes with boxes of left over seeds, lock n lock boxes to keep them airtight and they will be good to go next season

I need to make more green juice today, I have more alfalfa, some broccolli and now a lovely big lettuce as well. I don`t know if I really could be bothered today but I need the space. Anyway a quick lunch now so I can get on with some calming spinning

Not living near any shops does have its advantages or I would be even more tempted

Kirri

^ I did a few of those last winter, the potato and greens type potato cakes.

Really pleased with A&C order - love the freebie mini mince pie too I would however like to know which country things are from..
Gpigs have sampled the cavolo nero, celery and gem lettuce (so far) and given their top approval.

That wowbutter stuff sounds strange! I think it's the lairy website that's putting me off? Just had more of the WF cashew nut butter for lunch. Felt guilty buying some M&S pitta today (when I should be thinking about a sourdough starter..!).

smallblueplanet

Kirri wrote: »

...(when I should be thinking about a sourdough starter..!).

We heard that!


C'mon it's easy to start - get a biggish (0.5-1.0lt) jam jar or leparfait type jar, flour and water and off you go!


Day 1: Take a small clean jar and add 40ml of water and 40g of whole grain rye flour, stir with a clean spoon for 30 seconds.


Draw a line to mark the height of the mixture with a permanent marker on the jar so you can see any activity easily. Loosely close the lit of the jar and store at room temperature (about 20-21 degrees Celcius) out of direct sunlight for 24 hours.


Day 2: If you are lucky you should see some little bubbles of air in the mixture. Add 20ml of water and 20g of whole grain rye flour. Stir with a clean spoon for 30 seconds. Draw a new mark line if needed. Loosely close the lit of the jar and store at room temperature out of direct sunlight for 24 hours.


Day 3: Your mixture should now be getting active, throw away half of the mixture and add 30ml of water and 30g of whole grain rye flour, stir with a clean spoon for 30 seconds and store at room temperature.


This is called refreshing or feeding your starter. By throwing out half of your mixture and adding new rye flour you give the starter fresh food (the rye flour) to work on, so all your new yeast and bacteria can get ‘stronger’ and multiple again.


Day 4: Your starter should now be fully active. So throw away half of the mixture and add 30ml of water and 30g of whole grain rye flour, stir with a clean spoon for 30 seconds and store at room temperature.


Day 5: If your starter did at least double in size during the last refreshment your starter should now be ready for your first baking project. If it did not double between day 4 and 5 repeat the directions at day 4. Just keep using and maintaining the starter from now, after a while the colour of your starter should get a little bit more beige. This is a sign of maturation of the starter and the production of acid.


So how hard is that!

Kirri

Lol ok a few questions..

I have no rye flour - only white Shipton Mill or Doves Farm malted which has a small % of rye - should I wait and get 100% rye? does it affect result? or flavour? I almost have a spare jar, but have a portion of quinoa still to use..

Do I have to amend my standard bread recipe to use the starter? I use a fairly basic recipe for a white loaf with part malted flour.

My normal recipes uses 1tsp dried DF fast yeast - how much of the starter do I use instead?

See I'm all confused!

I was going to WF next week and was planning on buying a £2 Flour Power City Bakery sourdough

smallblueplanet

@Kirri as far as I know you can make a sourdough starter with any flour but I think 'whole grain' is supposed to be easier. We started with Doves organic rye flour as per the above info, but decided to have a white flour starter too for when we wanted all white dough (ie without the rye from the starter).


Anyway, the white starter was as easy as the rye it's just it looks different and is more 'watery' - but bakes the same.
There are lots of recipes on Weekend Bakery - some are completely sourdough starter and some use some starter and some commercial yeast.


http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/sourdough-pain-naturel/


http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/tag/sourdough/


We started with some of their recipes - the opolish based ones and went from there. There are loads of sourdough bread recipes about and when you get a feel for baking with starter you'll probably have preferences.
Try on http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipe and http://www.wildyeastblog.com/


Dan Leppard gives an amount of starter to use to replace commercial yeast in a bread recipe - we've modified some of our recipes, mostly the difference might be the amount of time the bread takes to proof.
http://www.oundlefoodfestival.co.uk/index.php/recipes/64-danlepards-easy-white-bread - see bottom paragraph.




Give it ago with the white flour - you'll be ready to bake with it by next week!

Edwardia

Kirri, doesn't the A&C website tell you where fruit/veg comes from - certainly does for anything else.

The Riverford clementines are tiny but really juicy and without baggy skins. I thought the one I tried was tart, my mother said hers was sweet.

Sainsbos today and got YS organic beef mince. Decided on whim to have a curry. Instead of Seeds of Change organic Korma sauce bought The Spice Tailor Delicate Korma Curry by Anjum Anand. https://www.spicetailor.com

No artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives, uses ingredients from India. You get a base sauce, another sauce and the spices to add whole or grind. All you need is some oil and the meat/veg/poultry/fish. 2.89 at Sainsbury's and Tesco but currently on offer for £2 at Waitrose and Ocado. Serves 2-3.

Bought Tilda pouch rice, normally 1.58 ASDA, 1.59 Waitrose and Ocado, 1.65 Sainsbury's, Currently 3 for £3 ASDA, £1 Sainsbury;s and £1 Waitrose to 03/12. Gluten free, no additives.

Whole meal cooked in 15 mins and generous two people ( I couldn't eat much rice tho). Whole new level of taste, so much fresher and more subtle than jar/can Korma sauces.. I'm going to dig out the Indian cook book we bought but didn't try yet and look for organic spices

OH decided that he wouldn't use a breadmaker much and didn't much fancy a sourdough pet But he's rather keen on the idea of getting Indian and Chinese food going. The curry part and stir fry parts can both be low carb, the rice and rice noodles are gluten free and I can get organic gluten free carb free shirataki noodles too.