Organic vs. Conventionally Farmed Produce

There's always a lot of controversy out there about the pros and cons of organic produce. Is it healthier for you? Does it last longer? What are you paying for? I'm not sure there will ever be one definitive answer that we can all agree on. But, if you are reading this, there's probably a good chance you like to garden and prefer organic gardening practice, so I'll share with you the results of a taste test we held in the UC Davis Good Life Garden last April, to encourage you to continue in your practice. We're not trying to convert anyone; we're just letting you know what happened in a biased, non-scientific kind of way!

On Picnic Day, a UC Davis campus tradition, the Good Life Garden hosted a taste test to see if visitors could taste the difference between organic/locally-grown asparagus and conventionally farmed/non-local asparagus. Visitors knew which was which before tasting--so it was definitely not scientific or blind--but the results were overwhelming in favor or the organic asparagus. It had 'more flavor' and was 'sweeter.'

Maybe it was because it was local or maybe it was because it was organic, or maybe it was because people wanted the organic to taste better so they could justify their spending. Whatever it was, organics won the taste buds of our visitors that day. I was a even a skeptic and I'm now a convert--not only because of taste, but because organic produce seems to last longer in storage--and, in a household with just two people like mine, that saves money too!