Organic Test Kitchen » Organic Pets

Newman’s Own Organics® New Holistic Formulas for Organic Pet Foods

theo — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:16:30 +0000

As you may know, I am a BIG fan of the Newman’s Own Organic Foods. I love the quality, availability, price and the fact that the money earned helps make the world a better place. Anyway, the previous problems from the Chinese Based Pet Foods may fading from memory. But they shouldn’t be. After-all the family pet really is part of the family. And being as such, they also deserve quality food like everyone else. If you consider just how bad a pet food could be (being fed to many pets that are not too discriminating and production standards that may be a bit laxer than for human food). .. Anyway, Organic Pet food is something to certainly consider. There are many quality suppliers out there. Here’s information on Newman’s to get you started:

Water: The Most Basic of Basic Ingredients

theo — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:55:05 +0000

As with all cooking (and as in relationships for that matter) what ingredients you bring in determines what you get out. Or said another way GIGO – Garbage in / Garbage Out. … As we said before one of the biggest favors a cook can do for himself and his guests is to use the finest ingredients possible. And you know what, they really don’t cost that much more, especially if you consider it from an added cost per meal. .. With all the prep, cooking, clean-up time and effort use the best to get the best and make it all worthwhile.. For crying out loud, even my brother who can’t cook a hot dog can cook a piece of tenderloin and it still tastes great despite his best efforts. So with all this preaching being said we had a look at agua, the one ingredient in just about every form of cooking.

Now one of the greatest mistakes you can make regarding cooking with water is to open the tap. “The safest water supply in the world” blah blah..Yeeeah.. Well it may be the safest compared to the rest of the world but that doesn’t mean it’s the best you can do for cooking. First, have a taste of your own version of the safest water in the world. Probably makes you gag unless you chill it to the point where it numbs your taste buds. … I do a lot of work in industry and have seen what they have to add to the water supply to make it safe. And the #1 noticeable thing of course is chlorine. You can taste it and smell it. .. And then there’s this soup of residuals ranging from sex hormones to antidepressants that’s in most municipal water.. Well aside from making you frisky and happy this has to contribute in some way to the water just tasting horrible. And horrible is not something we want in our cooking. Save the sex hormones and open a bottle of wine instead.

All this being said, I’ve recently switched to Poland Springs Water. What prompted this was a conversation I had with a gentleman who was one of their chief engineers. Since many of the fancy-schmantzy water companies have been know to pull their water from a municipal water supply I asked him what the deal was with Poland Springs. And he assured me that there was a natural aquifer and that the water runs underground down the side of a hill after which it’s captured, filtered and bottled. Look up on their website and I found the analysis looked awesome. Especially for the absence of aluminum which I definitely do not want to be drinking.

But what about taste? I think it tastes fantastic and there’s no comparison against a municipal water. But from here I took it to the next step and compared it against a lower cost spring water bottled in New Hampshire and marketed under a supermarket brand. The results were that the Poland Springs beat this out too. Also, when brewing coffee the Poland Springs version kicked butt vs. the store brand spring water. And as an added endorsement, Ralph the Beta-Fish seems to have much more energy and get’s more PO’d at his reflection since his water has been changed over to Poland Springs. By the way, it’s sad to say that I’m not receiving anything from these guys..not an ad, not even a bottle of water so this is as unbiased as it gets.

Cost. Went to BJ’s Wholesale Club and paid about 88 cents a gallon for Poland Springs. This verses 50 cents for the store brand. How many cups of coffee can you get out of a gallon of water and how much more per cup is it?…You can figure it out but we both know it’s not much at all. So drink up my friends but do it right. And without even trying it I know that a scotch and water will step up with the right water (just imagine adding a drop of chlorine to a 20 year old scotch and water..think about it if you’re a tap water guy or girl).

Some related links are given below. For your own sake share with any friend who dares to serve you a lousy coffee or mixed drink due to cheaping out on the water.

Meet Ralph

theo — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:10:26 +0000

It was my birthday last Sunday which also happens to be my excuse de jour for not posting. But in addition to being an excuse for goofing off, I got some cool new gifts as well. One was this laser paperweight from a dear friend, a super sharp high carbon steel paring knife from another (who felt my pain over not finding one at the Thrift Store) and another was also got Ralph the Fish. I was told I needed a live-in companion and so was given Ralph. And you know what? .. I really love the little guy. Hangs out all day in a one gallon tank. Get’s upset sometimes over nothing (sees his own reflection in the glass). .. sort of like me.

Anyway, Ralph does tie into the Organic Living theme. When I was a teenager I use to breed mating pairs of Siamese Fighting Fish aka Bettas. And it was pretty interesting. They are what is known as a bubble nest builders. .. They basically make spit balls that don’t pop but float to the top of the tank. That’s were the eggs are deposited and the young are born. But .. and this occurred to me as I fed Ralph his first meal of this dried, old looking “Tropical Medley” (which he didn’t seem to appreciate), in order for the Bettas to breed you had to put them on a diet of live tiny shrimp. Any of that old lame dried stuff and they wouldn’t quite feel in the mood if you know what I mean. The fresh live shrimp were certainly organic. The other stuff….doesn’t look too good to me. .. Soooo if there’s no difference between organic and “conventional” food then why the different effect on the fish? .. To me it simply says Organic is Best & Fresh is Best. .. Period … (now I can just see all the amorous wives out there rushing to the organic grocery store to feed old Joe some shrimp and get him off his Lazy Boy).

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