>sometimes I can't tell the difference between organic and non organic.<
Epi, if you can ever taste the difference there are factors at work other than the growing method.
Indeed, one of the mythis perpetrated by organic activists is that organic produce tastes better. It's both untrue, and counterproductive to their message. Once I can demonstrate that there is no taste difference it calls the entire organics thing into question. Many anti-organics people have used that vary argument.
As noted above, plants need 16 nutrients. So long as they have them available they will grow and produce to their full potential. Indeed, that's what hydroponics is all about.
If you can actually discern flavor differences I'd suggest any of the following:
1. The taste difference is in your head. You expect organic produce to taste better, so it does. The open question is, would you still tell the difference in a blind taste test?
2. Sourcing. If you purchase your produce at a farmer's market, it was harvested when ripe. If you buy it at the supermarket it wasn't. So the farmer's market tomato, say, will taste better---regardless of how it was grown. Vegetables produce their full flavor profile when ripe, and not before. That's why, for instance, red or yellow bell peppers taste so much better than green ones.
This difference, btw, is one of the many reasons for the locovore movement.
3. Variatal differences. Let's posit, for the sake of discussion, that the organically grown veggie was an heirloom variety, and the conventional one was the same old tired hybrid. There will, most of the time, be a dramatic flavor difference. But, again, it wasn't the growing method but the choice of variety.
Why the flavor differences? Has to do with the characterisitics looked for when developing a hybrid. Virtually all of them are choosen to meet the needs of the food distribution system. Flavor is never one of the characteristics selected for. So, any time a hybrid has flavor it's because it snuck in by accident.  |