Organic Fish and Seafood
Fish and seafood is an area of organic food where the water is muddy (pun intended). You can’t really say that fish that are caught in the wild are more organically raised than those that are raised on fish farms.
Today more and more people are demanding that the food that they eat be raised using organic standards. They don’t want to eat fruits and vegetables that have been raised using chemical fertilizers or toxic pesticides. They want their chicken to be “free range” (not raised in crowded pens or fed anything other than organic food) and they want their beef to come from cows that have not been given antibiotics or growth hormones. People are getting more selective, and that’s a good thing; but the truth is determining which fish and/or seafood is organic and which is not organic is not an exact science.
The oceans of the world are polluted. There is no denying the fact. Raw sewage is dumped directly into the ocean in many parts of the world. Fish caught in these waters would certainly not be considered organic by any standards, even if they are caught in the wild.
On the other hand, runoff water is a major pollutant of our lakes and rivers. So freshwater fish that are caught in the wild are not necessarily unexposed to toxins of all kinds. Fish that are raised on fish farms might be fed an organic diet, but the water in which they live may provide far from what would be considered ecofriendly.
You will see fish and seafood advertised as “organic,” but the label at this point really doesn’t mean much. As of this writing, the eco-label of the Marine Stewardship Council for wild-caught species has the largest reach and meets the UN standards for eco-labeling. There are various certifications for farm-raised fish, but none of these labels tell the whole story.
Green Coffee Beans
If you want coffee with the best shelf life buy green coffee beans. Green coffee beans keep their freshness for up to two years providing that they have been properly cleaned, dried, and stored. Wholesale coffee is sold as green coffee beans. When coffee is picked, the fruit, or cherry, is red. The oldest means of processing coffee, called dry processing, involves cleaning the cherry and then sun drying. During the cleaning process overly ripe cherries, called stinkers, are removed as are twigs, leaves, and soil. Although a large sieve can be used to remove foreign material a person needs to check the cherries in order to remove stinkers which, as one might gather, lend both a bad smell and a bad taste to coffee. Sun drying reduces moisture content and increases the shelf life of the resulting green coffee beans. Workers rake the drying cherries in order to assure uniform drying. If the weather is too wet cherries are dried in large chambers with dry forced air. The air drying process typically takes about four weeks. Overly dry coffee becomes brittle causing beans to fracture during the hulling process. Moist coffee rots causing mold and bacteria to contaminate the lot.
Green Coffee Beans
When the coffee cherries have been properly dried they are sent to a mill where the hull of the cherry is removed, the green coffee beans are graded for quality, and bagged. Coffee is then shipped in hundred weight bags, a quintal. Healthy organic coffee is produced and processed much the same as ordinary coffee but lots must be segregated in order to maintain purity. Many of the beneficial health aspects of coffee are due to antioxidants found both in green coffee beans and produced in the roasting process. Once coffee is roasted the shelf life for flavor, aroma, and antioxidants is reduced from two years to six months, if roasted coffee is properly stored. Once roasted coffee beans are ground, the flavor, aroma, and antioxidant shelf life is reduced to days and even hours.
Wholesale Green Coffee Beans
Where can you buy green coffee beans? Of you are looking for Panama Mountain Grown Organic Coffee or many or the Colombian Organic Coffee Brands you will need to deal with an importer of coffee or a specialty roasting company. However, it is easy to get just-roasted coffee from places like Panama by contacting us at Buy Organic Coffee, placing an order and receiving freshly roasted coffee beans in the mail in a week to ten days.
Healthy Organic Coffee
If you are going to the trouble of finding green coffee beans to roast yourself consider the coffee with organic coffee antioxidants. Antioxidants provide most of the health benefits of coffee. Coffee drinkers experience a lower risk of Type II Diabetes, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and endometrial cancer. Drinkers of organic coffee don’t need to worry about the up to one hundred fifty impurities found in regular coffee. Coffee grown under sustainable conditions, free or pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides not only has the benefits of coffee but advantage of a pure product as well. Looking for green coffee beans? Consider organic coffee as well. For more information, contact www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org today.
Organic Farming Produce Yield
There is an old and outdated idea that if the world’s food producers suddenly all decided to go organic, there wouldn’t be enough food to feed the world’s population. The idea simply doesn’t hold water.
It’s true that when a farm that previously used conventional farming techniques goes organic, there is an initial decrease in yield per acre. But that decrease isn’t sustained over a period of time. The organic techniques are better for the soil, and the total overall production per acre over a period of years is equal to or better than conventional farming techniques. And organic food production is just simply better for the earth. We won’t deplete the soil and leave a barren land for future generations.
Basically, organic food production shuns the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and drugs. That’s not to say that no fertilizer is used or that pests are not controlled. Fertilizer is used. The fertilizer that is used, however, is not made of synthetic chemicals. The fertilizer that is used is made up of all natural ingredients – grass clippings, dead leaves, vegetable peelings, etc. or manure from animals that are fed an organic feed without antibiotics or growth hormones.
Pesticides aren’t necessary for pest control in organic food production. Mother Nature has her own very workable and efficient pest control system. “Good bugs” eat “bad bugs.” It works – it’s worked for a few million years. Organic farms simply put ladybugs and others to work in the fields. They keep the pests from destroying the plants.
In developing countries, new farms that use organic methods are more productive than new farms that use conventional farming methods from the beginning. Nobody can quite explain this phenomenon, but it’s true. Maybe the moral is that we’d be better off if those toxic fertilizers and pesticides had never been invented
Reduced Robusta Coffee Output
A drought in Vietnam has resulted in reduced Robusta coffee output. Vietnam is the world’s leading producer of Robusta coffee. This is the coffee bean that Nestle uses in its instant coffee. So, will Nestle instant coffee cost more in the coming year? The price for Robusta coffee beans is likely to go up as Vietnam experiences a nearly ten percent drop in coffee production, coming off a record year last year. Does this have anything to do with healthy organic coffee? Where farmers grow coffee they also grow organic coffee. If the price of coffee rises due to a drought it may be just as profitable to sell regular coffee as to sell organic coffee.
Organic Coffee in Asia
While Vietnam grows its coffee in its mountainous spine Laotian organic coffee is also produced in the highlands of Indochina. Indochina is the world’s second most prolific coffee growing region after Brazil. In fact, Vietnam by itself is the world’s second biggest coffee producer. The central highlands of Vietnam and the highlands of Laos are idea for coffee and were first planted by the French coffee planters in colonial era. On the Bolaven Plateau in Champasak province of Laos coffee is grown at elevations between 1,000 and 1,500 meters above sea level. The rich volcanic soil and cool temperatures coupled with abundant rainfall give rise to great Laotian organic coffee. A draught in this region obviously cuts coffee production as well as quality.
Robusta versus Arabica Coffee
Reduced Robusta coffee output may put at crimp in Nestle’s style as they use this variety for their instant coffee and other instant beverages. However, serious coffee drinkers commonly prefer Arabica beans. This is the variety that dominates in Brazil and among Colombian organic coffee brands. Folks who like Arabica and hate Robusta refer to the aroma of Robusta as that of “burnt tires” and that of Arabica as “perfume like.” Arabica coffee can taste somewhat sweet or tangy whereas the taste of Robusta is often described as grain like or similar to oatmeal. In general high quality Robusta is rare and Robusta is less expensive than Arabica. Perhaps this is why Nestle like Robusta beans for its instant beverages and dislikes the idea of reduced Robusta coffee output in Indochina.
What is the Result of Reduced Robusta Coffee Output?
Vietnam, as the world’s leading Robusta producer, is under pressure to fill contracts for its crop. As production has gone up so have sales. According to news reports the country needs to produce over twenty-five million bags of Robusta coffee to meet current demand. Because of its lower cost Robusta use is rising to just under fifty percent of world production. Higher demand for Robusta may decrease demand for lower quality Arabica beans but not the best quality Arabica coffee. Excellent coffee, especially organic coffee with healthy organic coffee antioxidants will always be in demand from lovers of high quality coffee. For more information about Panama wholesale organic coffee, Panama Mountain Grown Organic coffee, and coffee in general feel free to contact us through www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org.
Organic Farming Environmental Impact
Only 2% of the world’s farmland is organically managed. That means that 98% is used for food production with conventional methods. With such a small percentage of organic farmland, you wouldn’t think that it could make much of an impact. You’d be right. Planet earth is not enjoying a lot of benefits yet from food production using organic techniques.
However, the demand for organically grown food his been on the increase since the early 1990s. With every news report that surfaces every day about tainted foods, the demand for organically produced food grows. It’s a basic fact of supply and demand – the greater the demand, the greater the production.
You’ve heard a lot about “grass roots” efforts on a lot of fronts – right now, grass roots movements in politics are being discussed at length on the airwaves. But grass roots movements are the basis for which all change takes place. Big business and big government make decisions, but those decisions are based upon what the consumer thinks and what they purchase. Grass roots – that’s us, me and you and our friends, neighbors, and relatives. We are the “demand” side of the supply = demand principle. We have power. We vote with our pocketbooks.
If we demand more and more organically produced foods, there will be more and more organically produced foods, well, produced. That 2% share of farmland used today for organically produced food could be the share dedicated to conventional food production methods.
The buying habits of the average consumer is the basis for all decisions made in business. Remember that. That means that what you think does matter, and how you spend your money does have a great effect on the products we find on the shelves of our local super markets. Buy organic and encourage everyone you know to buy organic!
Organic Coffee and Glaucoma
Is there a relationship between organic coffee and glaucoma? A scientific study recently published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science reports a relationship between long term caffeine intake and a type of glaucoma. To the extent that one drinks a lot of healthy organic coffee there may be a relationship between organic coffee and glaucoma. But just what specifically does that mean? Let us start by looking at the scientific study in question.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is elevated pressure inside the eye. Elevated pressure causes damage to the optic nerve and, untreated, can lead to blindness. There are a number of ways that the pressure inside the eye goes up. The second most common is from a condition known as exfoliation glaucoma. In this condition cells from the eye come loose (exfoliate) and plug the ducts where fluid drains from the eye thus causing a higher pressure. This is a treatable condition if the condition is found before eye damage occurs. What is recommended is that one goes routinely to the eye doctor every year or so and has his or her intraocular pressure (pressure inside the eye) measured.
Association between Caffeine and Glaucoma
The researchers looked at data from long term studies of male and female health professionals. Of the individuals who did not have glaucoma when they entered the study a number developed exfoliation glaucoma over the years. The study recorded things like number of cups of coffee consumed each day. Out of roughly 120,000 people in the study there were 360 cases of exfoliation glaucoma. Researchers compared those who did not drink coffee with those who drank three or more cups a day and found that the coffee drinkers had a statistically significant higher risk of the disease. The risk was increased further in women and women with a family history of glaucoma. The risk increase was about fifty percent. The researchers found an association between coffee glaucoma but not other caffeinated beverages and glaucoma. They did not specifically test the relationship of organic coffee and glaucoma.
However, the study did not report an association between visual loss and coffee consumption!
Why?
Previous studies have indicated that high coffee consumption can be related to a higher incidence of glaucoma. Scandinavians, who are high coffee consumers, have more than the usual number of cases of exfoliation glaucoma. The current working hypothesis is that coffee increases levels of a chemical, homocysteine, in the eye. People with exfoliation glaucoma tend to have high homocysteine levels in their eyes.
So What?
Organic coffee antioxidants have been touted as the reason that people who drink a lot of coffee have less diabetes, colon cancer, prostate cancer, endometrial cancer and certain heart problems. Now do we have to worry that in order to get the good benefits of coffee that we need to run the risk of blindness? As the study notes there has been not clear indication that loss of vision relates to high coffee intake. Certainly if one gets his or her eyes checked routinely and the doctor finds exfoliation glaucoma the condition can be treated. Also please note that the incidence of exfoliation glaucoma in the study group was 360 cases out of 120,000 people. That is three out of every thousand people. The incidence of Type II diabetes in the USA is 8 out of every 100 people. It is important in cases such as this to put things in perspective.
Organic Cooking Schools
People are demanding organically produced foods. The demand gets stronger every day. With every “tainted food” headline, more and more people are seeking the safety provided by organically produced, processed, and packaged foods. We can’t see the demand lessening as long as countries like China that still permit the use of the dangerous and highly toxic chemical DDT continue to ship food worldwide.
The beef producers have been arguing and campaigning for more years than I care to count for “country of origin” labels on beef. The government resists. There are no “country of origin” labels on beef or any other products, and you can be pretty sure that there won’t be.
With the growth in the demand for organically produced food, there is a corresponding demand for restaurants that serve only organic food. Restaurants all share one common need – they must have cooks, or chefs. These chefs must understand the principles of organic food and preparing food organically.
Not only must the uncooked food that is shipped into a restaurant be organic, but the seasonings, spices, and even the preparation techniques must also meet organic standards.
Because of demand, there are more and more cooking schools that are specializing in teaching future chefs how to handle and prepare organic food. There’s a lot to learn. There are a great many cooking schools out there in the world that are housed in brick-and-mortar buildings. There are even more organic cooking schools online that can teach professional cooks or just homemakers how to cook organically.
I’ve had people ask me if organic cooking wasn’t boring – there ARE all of those fruits and veggies. My answer is an emphatic NO. Organic is interesting – more interesting even than cooking traditionally. There’s so much room for real creativity!
Drink a Cup of Coffee to Your Health
International Coffee Day is Saturday, September 29th. Drink a cup of coffee to your health. The internet is full of reduced price ads at various coffee shop outlets. But, no matter where you have your coffee and whether you like regular or healthy organic coffee drink a cup of coffee to your health. Remember that regular coffee consumption is linked to reduced incidences of Type II Diabetes, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and endometrial cancer.
International Coffee Day
International coffee day was celebrated in Japan in the 1980’s and in China in the late 1990’s. The USA only started celebrating International Coffee Day in 2009 at the time of the New Orleans Coffee Festival. No matter how long you have been celebrating international day of coffee it is possible to get great deals on a cup of coffee on that day. As evidence mounts for the health benefits of coffee, drinkers may find themselves adding a cup or two or three of coffee to their diet every day. Healthy organic coffee antioxidants make the favorite brew a must for the health conscious consumer.
More Coffee and Less Diabetes
Drink a cup of coffee to your health. Scientific studies indicate that drinking several cups of coffee a day reduces the incidence of Type II Diabetes by roughly one half. Considering that twenty million Americans have this disease there is, in fact, public health value to drinking java. More organic coffee can lead to less diabetes according to researchers. Although the same applies to regular coffee we suggest organic because of the reduced number of impurities found in organic coffee. Researches knew for a long time that coffee consumption was linked to less diabetes. Now they know that levels of the protein sex hormone binding globulin are increased by coffee drinking. The presence of this protein helps reduce the incidence of Type II diabetes. Drink a cup of coffee to your health on International Coffee Day and enjoy the health benefits for years to come.
More Coffee and Less Cancer
Not only does coffee reduce your likelihood of getting diabetes but some types of cancer as well. More regular coffee and more organic coffee can lead to less colon cancer, cancer of the endometrium, and cancer of the prostate. In the fact the most lethal types of prostate cancer are reduced the most among prostate cancer types. An antioxidant produced in roasting coffee, methylpyridium, raises the body’s level of phase II enzymes which in turn reduce the incidence of colon cancer. Drink a cup of coffee to your health, enjoy the aroma and taste and let the antioxidants work to benefit your health. This chemical is found in other food sources such as walnuts, pecans, cloves, artichokes, raspberries, strawberries, blue berries, and blackberries. However, because we drink so much coffee it is the main source of methylpyridium in most people’s diets.
Saturday, September 29, is International Coffee Day. Drink a cup of coffee to your health and drink healthy organic coffee to spare yourself any unnecessary impurities.
Organic Baby Food
Advertising is slick. You really have to pay very close attention to EXACTLY what is said. For example, the companies that produce baby food say that they “screen” for nitrates. They don’t say that there are no nitrates in the baby food, though. I have no doubt that they “screen” for nitrates, but that isn’t the point. The point is that there ARE nitrates in commercially produced baby food…ALL of it, except for what is advertised as “certified organic.”
Poor little helpless babies! They open their little mouths and let their mommies insert whatever food they want. It’s up to the mommies and the daddies of this world to insure that those little babies are being fed safe, nitrate-free, food.
Basically, there are two choices. Parents can buy organically grown foods and make safe organic baby food at home, or they can buy “certified organic” baby food at many grocery stores and on the Internet.
There is basically no difference in the taste or color of organic baby food and conventionally produced baby food. It looks the same and it tastes the same. Both have basically the same food value. The difference is that there are no toxic chemicals in the organic baby food. There ARE toxic chemicals in the conventionally produced baby food.
Conventionally produced baby food is generally produced according to standards set up by the government. The USDA and the FDA put forth “guidelines” about what acceptable levels of toxins in foods are. Did you get that? ACCEPTABLE LEVELS! That means that there is SOME level, doesn’t it? What they don’t tell you is that these levels were determined by tests done on grown men who weighed an average of 154 pounds, and NOT on little babies that weight 10 pounds or toddlers that weigh 30 pounds. Personally, I think that going organic is the very thing to do where your little baby is concerned!
Coffee Taste and Aroma
Wine connoisseurs engage in wine tasting to judge quality. The evaluation of coffee taste and aroma to judge quality is called cupping. Although a master taster may be the one who judges coffee at an international competition anyone can try their hand, or tongue, at judging coffee taste and aroma. A so called expert may be the one who certifies the winner in a coffee competition but you are the judge of coffee taste and aroma when it comes to the brands of healthy organic coffee that you enjoy.
What is Coffee Cupping All About?
Coffee cupping is simply a formal way to assess coffee taste and aroma. Here are the steps:
- Sniff the coffee – breath in deeply to assess the aroma of the coffee
- Drink to spread the coffee over the tongue – experts often say that they slurp so that the coffee reaches the back of the tongue as well as the tip, top, and sides
- Note the texture of the coffee
- Judge the sweetness of the coffee
- Taste for acidity
- Taste the flavor
- Be aware of the aftertaste
Just like tasting wine you will want to roll the coffee over the tongue in order to present the brew to the different senses of sweetness, sourness, acidity, bitterness, and saltiness.
Aroma of Coffee
The following table has a simple list of the aromas that have been described for various types of coffee.
|
Coffee Aromas
|
|
| Ashy | Citrus |
| Burnt or smoky | Herbal |
| Medicinal | Nutty |
| Chocolate | Spicy |
| Caramel | Tobacco |
| Toast like or malty | Wine like |
| Earthy | Woody |
| Floral | |
Coffee taste and aroma are related in that what most of us consider the taste of our coffee is heavily influenced by the aroma. Regular and organic coffee antioxidants are major contributors to both coffee taste and aroma.
Taste of Coffee
* The basic aspects of taste without aroma are acid, bitter, sweet, salty, and sour. A mild degree of acidity presents a pleasing taste whereas a too acid brew can be experienced as over ripe and unpleasant.
* Bitterness to a moderate degree is considered by most to be an agreeable aspect of coffee taste. Coffee bitterness is heavily influenced by the roasting process.
* Sweetness in coffee comes from natural sugars and is experienced as caramel, fruit, or even chocolate.
* Saltiness may be part of coffee taste but if present to any great degree becomes disagreeable.
*Sourness is usually not found in properly grown, picked, and processed coffee. It is found in coffee that has fermented and has a large number of rancid beans in the batch. Sourness is often found in coffee that has not been properly dried.
Texture and Aftertaste
The texture of coffee, often referred to as “mouthfeel” is as important an aspect for same as coffee taste and aroma. The body of coffee is the sense that the brew is something other than just water. Think of a clear soup broth and then a soup broth thickened by pureeing a few of the vegetables and adding back to the soup.
The other aspect of coffee that vies with coffee taste and aroma is the aftertaste. If coffee leaves a persistent dryness in the mouth, from the alkaloids in coffee, it may be very disagreeable despite its otherwise excellent coffee taste and aroma.
Whether you choose Panama Mountain Grown Organic Coffee, one of the Colombian organic coffee brands, or Kona coffee from Hawaii you will most like the coffee taste and aroma most agreeable to you no matter what the label says.