There has recently been extensive coverage in the news about the lack of extra nutrition in organically grown foods.
It is important for people to realize that, while organic foods have definite benefits over mainstream produce, higher amounts of vitamins and minerals is not always one of them.
Organic means that harmful chemicals have not been added. That alone is quite important and makes choosing these products worthwhile. However, it does not mean that anything especially healthy has been added, such as extra vitamins or minerals.
The nutrition in a plant is greatly determined by the quality of the soil. Soil cannot be good quality if repeated harvests of crops are taken from the same field year after year without something being added back into the earth. In regards to the soil, agriculture almost always takes more than it gives. This is true whether the farm involved is organic or conventional.
While some farming operations are able to give back to the earth on a regular basis by adding manure or seaweed compost, this is not done on a broad scale. As a result, many people have various nutritional deficiencies with minerals being especially common.
What Can We Do?
It is not uncommon for people in the herb community to make a quart of herbal tea in the evening, let it steep overnight, and sip it throughout the following day. I think of this type of tea as a “liquid salad” as it is more nutritional than medicinal.
The ratio is one ounce of dried herb to 32 ounces of hot water. If this is too large a quantity to begin with, try 16 ounces of water and a half ounce of dried herb.
Many herbs are high in minerals. These herbs are often used on a daily basis: nettle leaf, raspberry leaf, oatstraw, alfalfa, burdock root and red clover.
Sesame Salt
Another approach for increasing minerals in our diet is the use of sesame salt. Known as “goma-shio” in Japanese macrobiotic cooking, it is delicious, easy to make and high in many minerals, especially calcium.
To make: add one cup of unhulled, raw sesame seeds and a half teaspoon sea salt to a wok or cast iron fry pan. Place on med heat and stir continually. After a few minutes, the seeds will give off a nutty aroma and begin to pop, like miniature popcorn.
Take it off the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes. When cool, pour seeds and salt into a blender. Start on low and slowly turn up the speed. Only blend for 10-15 seconds. If this mixture is blended too long, it quickly becomes sesame butter. You want the seed/salt mixture to still be separate particles, about the consistency of cornmeal.
Refrigerated, this stays fresh for several weeks. I guarantee it won’t last that long. It goes great with many dishes including stir fry and the hearty soups of winter.
An advantage of eating sesame this way is that goma-shio is easier to digest than the whole, small seed.
Wild Greens
My favorite topic! Wildcrafted food is often higher in nutrition because the soil has not been depleted through repeated cultivation and harvests. In many ways, our hunter-gatherer ancestors were better nourished than we are today.
The nutritional analyses I have from the USDA show that goosefoot, amaranth leaves, dandelion leaves and mustard greens have extremely high amounts of a variety of vitamins and minerals. The amounts are much higher than in broccoli or spinach.
These greens grow abundantly in many areas of the world, including in our region of Flagstaff, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon and the Verde Valley.. They can be eaten raw in salads, cooked in a quick stir fry or even added to pesto.
I encourage you to give at least one of these approaches a try. Here’s to better health!