Sunday, March 2, 2008

Organic ranch leaves ingredients to be desired

In preparation of becoming an amateur organic food expert for my Field of Greens blog, I have been trying a little bit of organic everything. And its yielded some interesting taste experiences.

One thing that I absolutely love is the mixed baby lettuce from Trader Joe's, which is where I stock up on moderately priced organics just like most of the eco-friendly public. It tastes delicious except when you add organic ranch.

I am a ranch dressing addict. On everything from carrots to fries to pizza, I feel the need to drench it in ranch dressing in order to fully enjoy it – unless of course, that ranch dressing is organic. I'll pass on that.

For some reason, organic ranch just doesn't taste right to me. It's weird.

I've tried to give organic ranch a shot. But unfortunately, Organics brand ranch dressing from Safeway and Trader Joe's house brand – even the kind that comes in little cups with the baby carrots – just don't do it for me. Or my three roommates.

The bottles of organic ranch go untouched while Hidden Valley's light ranch dressing, or even the kind that has even less nutritional value, goes fast. We have yet to try Hidden Valley's new organic line.

"That's really gross," one of my roommates said after I made her do a sampling of all the organic ranch dressings I could find (and well, afford too). The good ol' Hidden Valley ranch finished miles ahead of the organics as did packets from Burger King and Jack in the Box.

How could they taste so different? I decided to look no further than the label.

The organic version includes organic soybean oil, water, organic fresh buttermilk, organic white vinegar, organic cane sugar, organic egg yolks and sea salt. And there's less than 2-percent of some other stuff including xanthan gum.

The "real" ranch dressings have much more. Among the more than 20 ingredients – some with names that I can only manage to give a good guess – are buttermilk, sugar, salt, sour cream, garlic, onion and distilled vinegar.

So while organics have been very good to me, I have to agree with media arts and political science senior Grace Clark, who I interviewed for Prices steer some healthy eaters away from organics. Here is what she said:

"Though I try to limit how much processed food I eat, I'm still partial to flavor over healthiness," said Clark. She recently bought organic tomato soup at Sunflower Market, a farmer's market, but did not like the taste compared to brands available at regular grocery stores.

"With time I'm sure my taste buds would grow sensitive enough to appreciate the delicate flavors of organic soups," she said. "But I'm not patient or wealthy enough to train them in that respect."

And that's why for now, the organic ranch will sit in the refrigerator, untouched, until someone decides to finally toss it and make room for another bottle of real ranch.

But I'll still take organic vegetables any day. Even with a little dirt.

Until next time, happy eating.

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