Organic Hummus

I think Hummus is a great product. Although it is not very popular in the US, it is very popular in other places around the world such as Israel, where Hummus is in most hotels and restaurants.

At Whole Foods Market they sell Emerald Valley Kitchen Hummus, this hummus says that it is organic, and has the stamp of approval right on the front with the USDA Organic symbol in plain view.

At Costco they sell Oasis Naturals Hummus, this hummus says that it is all natural. Now all natural is not the same as organic, it is not even close actually.

On the cover if you didn't really know any better you could get confused. The fronts both look very similar, they say low fat, or not trans fat and what not. The Oasis Naturals just uses all natural products, not actually organic natural products.

When you take a look at the sides you will see that for the most part they both have all the same ingredients. The difference:


+Emerald Valley Hummus+--------------+Oasis Naturals Hummus+

+Organic Garbanzo beans--------------------------+Garbanzo beans
+Organic Tahini Butter----------------------------+Tahini
+Organic Feta Cheese and Organic spinach------+Roasted peppers
+Organic Garlic powder----------------------------+Canola Oil
+organic hulled sesame seeds----------------------+Olive Oil
+Organic Lemon juice------------------------------+Lemon Juice
+Organic pasturized milk---------------------------+Cultured skim milk

"To be organic, everything in the product has to be organic, everything," said Laura Burkhart, Organic specialist at Whole Foods Market. "Lots of food say its all natural and some food can say partial organci if some stuff is organic, but the USDA will only let it say all organic if it is 100%."

As you can see most of the ingredients in the two are very similar, a few differences, but as you can see everything in the Emerald Valley lists straight up that it is organic.

As for the differences in the more physical aspect the two seem to look a lot alike, the non-organic hummus is a bit smoother than the organic kind but not a huge difference really.

As for the taste test, of course they are different flavors, but they both are really good and i really cant see a difference. The Organic hummus is a lot healthier for you though, it has more than half the fat and about 1/3 less calories. "I think all the Organic stuff tastes exactly the same,"said Uncle David, customer service at Whole foods.

Emerald Valley has also done a few very nice things that are listed on the cap. These things are very eco friendly such as put a recycle sign right on the label letting you know that the container itself is recyclable. Also it says that 1% of its sales goes to humanitarian/environmental projects.



A little how-to video on how to make your own hummus
-just replace all the ingredients with organic ingredients to make this hummus organic

The Booming Organic Trend

I must say that when i was searching the web i was shocked at how popular that organic food is becoming in todays world. There is organic being mentioned at every turn from late night talk shows to all over youtube.

There are grocery stores that are popping up all over the place that are just dedicated to Organic foods such as Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market.

Even when you go to your normal grocery stores such as Safeway and Albertsons, there are special organic sections. And they just keep getting bigger and bigger.

There is of course the notion that Organic food is a lot more expensive, but whenever you go to either one of the organic only markets or to Safeway you find that some things are and then some things are not, just like everything else.

Being healthy is the new big trend that is sweeping the nation and organic foods are jumping right on the train. You can basically buy anything you want now from cereal to organic fruits and vegies. "I think that eating organic foods is helping out the world and thats great," said Stephanie Wagner, NAU student.

Food is not the only thing that you can get organic, they make organic lotions and oils, also there are organic bubble bath. Just shows how big this organic thing is really getting today.

There is a lot of money to be made in the organic business, this was proven by the merger of Wild Oats Market and Whole foods that took place. The buyout was for 565 million dollars. That is a lot of money that is being spent of green foods.

GREEN COWS?!?!?!

Milk is one of the big things that has gone organic.

According to Organics, to be certified organic, the dairy cows that they use to get the milk must be watched and managed under organic practices for at least one year before they can give away their milk as organic. The cows feeding must be grown on land that has been under organic cultivation practices for a minimum of three years before their milk can be used.

The land is maintained with the use of recognized organic horticultural practices according to Organics. They also state that their cows enjoy a 100% certified organic diet and that they are not given growth hormones or treated with antibiotics.

Now at the store there are some rumors that organic milk is more expensive and that it never goes on sale. Only half of that statement is true. The organic milk was listed at $3.99 per half gallon, but was on sale for $3.29. So that means that organic milk does go on sale. Although it was on sale it was more expensive than the price of regular milk which was $2.99 and was also on sale for $2.79.

So organic milk is more expensive, and if you are like most people you would go with the cheaper milk and thats about all that matters. There was however another very big difference in the two milks that could mean a lot to tons of milk drinkers. The expiration date on the organic milk was more than one month longer than the regular milk which was very surprising. This is a great thing for people who really wanna have milk in their houses but don't seem to drink it all that often. This would be a great way to always have milk and would end up saving people money by not having to go out and buy new milk all the time.

The look, the smell, as well as the taste of the milk all seemed to be exactly the same as regular milk.



http://www.organicpicks.com/product/400031021/
http://www.seedtoplate.com/organic-certification.html

THE NFL GOING GREEN

The NFL Experience was held for a week before the Super Bowl in Glendale, AZ.

It was suprising to see that all over the place there were lots of organic food being sold. "The organic food really seems to be selling very well here," said Jimmy, who was selling food behind the counter. There were food stands all over the place that had everything from organic hot dogs to organic burgers, organic steak sandwich and organic steak sandwich.


Most of the time when you think of organic food you expect it to be just a little more expensive. The organic hot dogs and the regular hot dogs were the same price. "I assume people just figure that they might as well get the organic food if its gonna be the same price," said Jimmy.





There were also seperate stands that were selling organic beverages such as organic coffees and organic smoothies. The lines for these venues were very long and everyone said that the smoothies were delicious.



"I know its kinda weird to see organic food at something like this," said Jimmy. According to the NFL's superbowl web page(SuperBowl Goes Green), the superbowl is going green. This will be the second year it states and that the NFL Experience as well as the Super bowl is run off of 100% renewable energy.


Superbowl Goes Green