Eat More Pineapple

Have you ever stood in front of the produce at the market and wondered, "What's the most important thing to buy organic? Strawberries? Apples? Bananas?" If you're like me, then you have ... and often. Thank you to the Environmental Working Group for putting this incredibly useful resource together (and thank you to Tamara for forwarding it to me): it's a wallet-sized guide that breaks down produce into "best" and "worst" categories according to the amount of pesticide found on them in laboratory testing. Conducted by the Environmental Working Group, the study tested 44 imported and domestic fruits and veggies to determine what produce had the greatest frequency of detectable pesticides, the greatest number, and the greatest number of pesticides found on a single sample. What's the worst fruit? Peaches. The worst veggie? Sweet bell peppers. And the best? Pineapple, avocado, and onion. That should make for an interesting chutney. Using this list should help you decide what to buy organic and what not to buy at all. Sorry, apple, you're not looking too good, anymore (with traces of 9 -- you heard right, 9!! -- pesticides found on just one sample). But really, take a look. They even have a downloadable version, you can print out and take to the market with you.