August 13th: More ready for harvest.

This weekend, I’d hoped to have my chef friends to prep something with my first real harvest. 

Alas, they weren’t available. so I did my own cooking.  My harvest included the following from both the Miracle Gro and Better World beds:

• Basil

• Eggplant

• Tomatoes

• Jalepeno peppers

Miracle Gro eggplant.

Miracle Gro pepper.

Better World eggplant.

Better World pepper.

Better World tomatoes.

Better World tomatoes.

Better World raspberries begin to ripen!

Miracle Gro tomatoes.

Miracle Gro tomatoes.

A handful of Better World peas.

Test Bed Two: Miracle Gro tomatoes.

Test Bed Two: Better World tomatoes.

Figs not ripe yet.

 And so to dinner...

I diced up the tomatoes and served them raw, sprinkled with aged cheddar and chopped basil.

The difference in the taste of the tomatoes was very subtle. My dinner guest (a self-confessed food snob) and I agreed the Better World tomatoes were slightly sweeter, with a tart edge.  As for the basil, there was no question that the Better World basil was a powerhouse of fuller flavour, with a peppery taste that added a boost to the tomatoes. The Miracle Gro basil, while good, was bland and papery in comparison. 

The main course was a Thai-style, basil & eggplant on rice. 

Much more subtle. We confess to not being able to perceive much difference. It may be that the cooking (partly fried, partly steamed) neutralized any noticeable differences. Still, the idea that the organically-grown eggplant and basil was free of artificial chemicals rested easier on my mind, as well as on my tongue.

June 14th: Boom! Now THAT’S a strawberry!

As promised, today’s report is a taste-test of my first, albeit minor, harvest. 
At a glance, the romaine lettuce looks pretty much the same throughout the test group.

The difference is in the strawberries. The MiracleGro gave me this single, deformed little fruit the size of a blueberry.  

 Better World Plant Food gave me a full-sized, properly formed berry roughly twice the size of the deformed MiracleGro berry.

 The taste test was limited to comparing two berries and some lettuce. Not too exciting, but it’s only been a few weeks. I used Naya water as a palate cleanser, since the local Toronto tapwater has noticeably increased its chlorine content in the last 2 weeks (this happens every summer, when the bacteria levels increase with the heat. But that’s another story). 

I assumed that the lettuce raised only on water is “normal” ie: what it should taste like, and so used that as my benchmark. And...

Face it— plain lettuce is pretty boring and neutral in taste. Like the plain leaf it is.

The MiracleGro lettuce had a slight bitterness to it, something like a dandylion leaf. Not exactly unpleasant, but not at all appealing either, if you follow me. 

The lettuce grown on Better World tasted identical to the neutral, water-fed lettuce. So I guess that’s good.

Now, the berries... 

these had flavour! Both of them. Kind of party-in-your-mouth, I-remember-this-taste-as-a-kid flavour. There was just a whole lot more berry with the Better World. 

So at this stage, I don’t think I have enough food samples to give a fair judgement on the taste superiority of one over the other. 

So I made a salad. (The tomato is from IGA.) Added a little salt, and Austrian pumpkin seed oil (mmmmm-mmmm good!).

When I get my own crop of tomatoes in, I plan to invite some celebrity chefs over for a blind taste-test. I’m guessing this will be in another month or so. How long does it take for a tomato to grow, anyway? 

In the meantime...

who wants to join me for dinner?