I had a surplus of apples this week and decided to make a pie. When a pie gets made in our house we don’t waste any part of it...well, except for the stem which I haven’t been able to come up with a use for, yet. Actually, that’s not true. It goes in to the compost and eventually back into the garden!
The pie is simple. After creating the crust and preparing the pie tin I just add apx. 10 quartered apples with seeds and skin intact into my Thermomix and add the juice of 1 small lemon and 2 tsps of ground cinnamon. This gets chopped for 3-5 seconds on speed 5 then poured over the pie crust and patted down lightly.
Now at times I might add some chopped nuts or pour coconut cream in with a bit of flour or simply mix in some soft tofu for a creamier pie. Not necessary if you don’t have it on hand though. I know some people add juice or sugar or raisins in but some of my kids think raisins are gross and won’t eat them. And we don’t find it necessary to sweeten an already sweet fruit.
Add a top crust if desired or just cover the tin with foil. Pop it in a preheated 180 C oven and in 40 minutes you have a tasty breakfast or dessert!
Last month I read about the arsenic laced apple juice report that Dr Oz so sensationally put out to the world. Now, I think if you have important information to get out to the public sensationalism is an effective way to do this. But I also think it is important to look at a whole picture when speaking about a subject. Arsenic is just a small part of the conventionally grown apple story.
If John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) knew how apples would be grown today I believe you would see a grown man cry. This well respected individual didn’t just randomly spread apple seeds as he travelled but rather created nurseries which he left in the care of the people he met along the way. He was a great conservationist who had a deep love of nature and all living beings.
Back to apples and the other issues;
75-80% of antibiotic use is not through direct human intake but rather it is being fed to animals and sprayed on fruits and vegetables.
Dr Stuart Levy, president of The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics states that just one pound of antibiotics is enough to provide a one-day treatment to 450 sick people. This really sinks in when we know that up to 50,000 pounds of antibiotics are sprayed annually on fruit trees in the U.S. alone.
Streptomycin and oxytetracycline are the two most common antibiotics used for pear and apple trees in the states. A condition called fire blight is the main reason for spraying the fruit. Fire blight has not been found in Australia though with globalisation and increased foreign travellers this will happen eventually. And when it does it is already understood that streptomycin will be used as it has proved to be the only product effective in diminishing the problem. Until then, New Zealand’s answer to importing apples to Australia is to have their apples undergo “chlorine treatment”. That seems a disturbing thought though with the current research on the chemical by product of chlorine, dioxin. As the single most carcinogenic chemical known to science I don’t know if I want more exposure to it than we already have.
Australian Food Safety reports,”...three-quarters of all antibiotics consumed in Australia are administered to animals. They are added to stock feed because they promote the growth of livestock. Good farming practice demands that antibiotics are not fed to livestock for some weeks prior to slaughter.” This is supposed to minimise how much antibiotics are in the steak you are slicing into for supper. (Some Australian apple growers say the same thing in that they won’t give the final stage spraying so that the apples have a chance to clear out the pesticide prior to consumption.)
Most people seem to believe that when they take a drug, it does the job it needs to do then miraculously and harmlessly evaporates into the ethers. This is far from the truth. Some of it stays and accumulates in the body. The rest is passed through and into our sewer system, making it into our water supply. Tests done on tap water confirm that drug residues have been found. Another concern is that more frequently, commercial crops are grown with the help of sewer sludge as a fertiliser.
When an organism is constantly exposed to a drug but not killed by it, a resistance is built up against it.
The above is an excerpt from Thought For Food - Food For Thought
The most heavily used arsenical from the late 1890’s to 1988 was lead arsenate. EPA officially banned all insecticidal uses of lead arsenate in the United States and cancelled its registration on August 1, 1988. That is in the states though and many other countries, like China, still use it today.
The following excerpt comes from an abstract titled;
The History of Lead Arsenate Use in Apple Production: Comparison
of its Impact in Virginia with Other States
“...The heavy use of lead arsenate in apple orchards over many years may have contributed to major environmental problems, specifically the buildup of arsenic and lead in the soil. Because naturally occurring arsenic and lead are quite stable and do not break down in the environment, they accumulate with each use in orchard soils. Depending on soil type, each element, particularly lead, tends to linger in the top 5 - 20 cm of the soil. Leaching of arsenic has occurred below the 20-cm level (Veneman et al., 1983). Given favorable soil conditions (pH, mineralogy, and precipitation), arsenic has been found to leach deeper (Peryea and Creger, 1994; and Warner, 1996a) and possibly contaminate groundwater.”
“... (in) November 2005, under authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), EPA released its biannual list of hazardous substances. The top two substances on the list were arsenic and lead; they’ve held that ranking for the preceding ten years. These two substances are most commonly found at sites on the National Priorities List (NPL).”
The above abstract gives a good history on apple orchards in the states and the environmental impact that lead arsenate and other pesticides have had in those areas and I would recommend reading it.
As the apple industry began its decline in the U.S., China quickly picked up the demand and now supplies apx 2/3 of all apple juice concentrate back to the states. This is an amazing feat as well when you consider that China is a recent player in apple growing and only really producing exportable amounts since the 1990’s.
We also need to look at the fact that the residual effects of lead, arsenic and other pesticides are still prevalent in our own backyards, literally. Many homeowners who live on or near old apple orchards know what a concern this is as they have been fighting legal battles to clean up their properties for years.
According to the Australian Government, the first consignment of “fresh” apples from China arrived in Australia on the 13th of January 2011. Pears have been imported from China since 1999. It should be noted that the pest and disease profiles of apples and pears are similar. And thusly, the protocol used to to treat them are similar.
According to the Australian show Today Tonight “..in the last year 75 million litres of orange juice concentrate has flooded in from Brazil, and 32 million litres of apple juice concentrate has been brought in from China. Only five per cent of it is tested by the Federal Government's Australian Quarantine Inspection Service.”
Non-organic apples have another issue and that is the “edible wax” that they are dipped in. Check this out;
Beeswax, Carnauba wax, Shellac, Lanolin, Oxidized polyethylene wax, Esters of colophonium, Paraffin and others are used as glazing agents or polishing agents. This is a partial list of waxes and synthetic glazes.
Shellac? According to Wikipedia Shellac is a tough all-natural primer, sanding sealant, tannin-blocker, odour-blocker, stain, and high-gloss varnish and is also used on candies and pills as well as a glazing that has a timed enteric release. It is created by using the secretions from the female Lac Bug.
If you are concerned, ask your grocer. Some seem harmless enough, others I would like to avoid. For me, organic takes the worry out of my choices.
Now, putting all of the “treatments” aside there is another issue about drinking apple juice that just doesn’t seem to be addressed enough. That is drinking (or eating) an extracted or fractionated food.
It takes several servings of fruits and/or vegetables to produce a single serving of juice. So it is possible to get your entire day’s requirements of certain nutrients by drinking a few ounces of juice.
But unlike whole fruits and vegetables, juice has no fiber. And one of the ways in which eating more fruits and vegetables improves your health is by increasing your fiber intake! The nutrients in your food work synergistically together as well. The perfect balance of these nutrients are present in whole food. Start separating the food parts and you lose that balance.
With the whole fruit or whole juice, you get all the benefits of the juice, plus all the fiber and any nutrients that would otherwise remain in the pulp.
All juice is high in sugar. Apple juice has 28 g carbohydrates (24 g sugars) per 8 ounces. This results in 130 calories per 8 ounces, which compares to some non-diet soft drinks.
Also, most of the nutritive value in juice dissipates quickly. Fresh juice should be enjoyed immediately for optimal benefit. So many of the juices in your local store was made months ago.
For the best juice you need to start with the freshest, local, seasonal produce. Drink as soon as possible as the antioxidants and other phytonutrients start to break down almost immediately once they are exposed to light and air.
I made a whole juice today by throwing an apple, two oranges, 1/2 lemon and a carrot into the Theromix with 1/2 a tray of ice and water. The girls know this as their Sunshine Drink and enjoy it immensely. I do too!
