Organic vs non-organic

 Gardeners might be surprised to find there appear to be little, if any, nutritional or taste benefits to growing organically, according to Which?

In a trial of three popular garden food crops – potatoes, calabrese (broccoli) and tomatoes – Which? Gardening found that non-organically grown garden vegetables were tastier and more nutritious than organically grown crops.

Surprising results
The non-organic calabrese was found to have significantly higher levels of antioxidants than the organically-grown samples.  The non-organic potatoes contained more Vitamin C than the organic crop.

A panel of expert tasters found that the non-organically grown tomatoes had a stronger tomato flavour and were slightly sweeter than the organic samples. Sixty nine per cent of the public who took part in a blind taste test at the Totally Tomato Show at West Dean Gardens last September agreed.

The Which? Gardening verdict
At first glance, the Which? Gardening team was surprised to find that the results of this small-scale trial seem to point at non-organically grown garden veg being tastier and more nutritious than homegrown crops. Were the results down to the two regimes used, or were other, more complex interactions at play?

Ceri Thomas, Which? Gardening editor, says: 'The surprising results of this small-scale trial call into question a lot of preconceptions about the taste and nutritional value of organic vegetables. However, this trial didn’t look at other benefits of going organic, such as the impact on the environment. Whatever methods you use, any gardener will tell you that homegrown fruit and veg beat supermarket fare hands down.'

Full results of the trial can be found in the March issue of Which? Gardening.

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