Pesticides in veg & fruit

I especially like the food blog www.chocolateandzucchini.com and in October's newsletter she directs us to an article on chemicals in vegetables on http://thestonesoup.com . It talks about clean and dirty food. I usually think that if you can eat any veg then it must be okay but the pesticides measured in conventional veg by the environmental working group warrants notice. She suggests;

"if you can’t afford to buy organic produce all the time, you can minimise your exposure to pesticides without spending a fortune. Just avoid conventionally farmed produce from the ‘dirty dozen’ list and instead choose conventional produce from the ‘clean’ list".

The Clean 15

(lowest in pesticides)
Onion
Sweet corn (frozen)
Avocado
Pineapple
Cabbage
Sweet Peas
Asparagus
Mango
Aubergine
Kiwifruit
Cantaloupe melon
Sweet Potato
Grapefruit
Watermelon
Mushroom

The Dirty Dozen Plus

(buy these organic)
Apple
Celery
Peppers
Peach
Strawberry
Nectarine
Grape
Spinach
Lettuce
Cucumber
Blueberry
Potato
+ green beans
+ kale

source: Environmental Working Group (EWG) www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/

Broccoli is not on the list but she includes a lovely recipe for roasting brocolli, split down the middle accompanied by feta mixed with yogurt. Drizzle a little wine vinegar on the broccoli.