
Should I Pay Double for Organic Blueberries?
Blueberries are a FODMAP friendly staple for me, and recently, I read (Consumer Reports) that blueberries are relatively pesticide-free, even when non-organic. That’s great news! Wanting to make a blueberry tart to entertain some friends, I did a totally unscientific, small-sample comparison study. I bought one large pack of non-organic blueberries (18 oz) on sale at $4.99, and two packs of organic blueberries (6 oz) for $2.99 each.
So…
Compared by price: Non-organic 28 cents/oz. Organic 50 cents/oz.
Compared by appearance—Non-organic: large, uniform, gorgeous. Organic: miscellaneous sizes, some slightly puckered (perhaps from sitting unbought in the store at that price). Still gorgeous, with that beautiful mottled color and delicate blossom scar.
Compared by texture—Non-organic: firm berries, tender skins, mushy interior, fewer seeds. Organic: tougher skins, wonderfully juicy interior, significantly more seeds.
Compared by flavor—Non-organic: very little berry flavor, no significant tartness, very little sweetness. In a word: bland. Organic: strong berry flavor, yummy tartness, perfect sweetness. In two words: Oh, yeah.
Proceeding—I mixed the berries in the tart, hoping it wouldn’t be easy to tell the organic berries from the non-organic ones. No such luck. Organic berries are much tastier. This confirms what I’ve read elsewhere.
But they do cost nearly twice as much.