Roughage/Fiber, and one way to get it.

This is a portion of my post in the parasite forum...an idea that just occurred to me.

Hope it helps.

Quote:

This morning, I realized that most of our veggies are picked at optimum tenderness, for the stores.

Since we have our first garden, I've noticed that many things are being picked when they are a little more mature. That means that the zucchini under my breakfast soft-poached eggs has more chewiness to its skin...roughage/fiber.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to learn that both parasites AND overweight/bowel problems could be cured by eating more roughage?!

Simply pick your veggies a little more mature than usual, and eat the edible skins. Market gardeners throw away the fruits and vegetables they think the public won't buy.

Change the system, or shop with a home gardener in your neighborhood. They will bend over backwards to please you! The guy with a dollar in his pocket, to spend, is in charge.

If 66 customers of a large grocery store (even if it belongs to a chain), went to the produce manager (one at a time, and quietly) and asked how to get more fiber for their dollars...they'd get it!

Money talks! Store-keepers scratch their heads over what customers will buy. (You should see the machinations that go on about what 'specials' to advertise each week. And the competition between neighboring stores!)

Go to your market and ask for firmer skins on, say, zucchini. Then, stand back, you will create a national change. There is an ocean of market gardeners out there, happy to accommodate your request.

Will the price shoot up? You betcha...at first. But, there are so many gardeners that the price must eventually come down, from competition...NOT among the gardeners, but among the distributors.

It is the distributors who set the prices, you know. And it is hard to change their minds...but it can be done. Simply hold off buying small tender zucchinis, wait for the bigger firmer ones.

Everything in marketing produce is based on volume...the market gets what sells the most. Then, the price goes down with competition and according to perishability.

Produce retailers (and everyone else) hate to see product wilt in the display case!

My firm-skinned breakfast zucchini, right now, is giving me a slightly bitter taste at the back of my tongue. Hooray!

parasites hate bitterness!

I grin.

Fledgling


P.S. If you want to know what really goes on in an industry, the real 'skinny', get yourself a job there.

Help in a farmers' market, volunteer to a local gardener, nursery, or greenouse. Even become a delivery person.

You will not believe your eyes, and you will never forget.

One gal I knew worked in a jam factory one summer. She never ate jam again. She could have then gone to work for a berry-grower, and maybe learned to choose the finest berries for her family. (Berries are full of nice little seeds.)

I don't think she did.

F.