The Big Debate – Organic Spice vs Regular Spice! Which One’s Better?
People these days think that organic farming is all a FAD, however, organic farming was considered a conventional farming method back in the day. When it comes to choosing organic food, we usually buy organically grown rice, wheat, pulses, sugar, etc., but tend to forget about the spices. We probably don’t think about them as we use them in moderation. Here’s why you should ditch the regular spice and add organic spice in your food.
Why replace conventional spices?
-
Soil’s health:
Did you know the health of the soil plays a major role in retaining the nutritional content of cultivated spices? Most brands produce spices in large quantities using conventional farming methods. To boost yield, they use various chemicals and toxins, which affect the health of the soil and the spice.
-
Harmful Additives:
Harmful chemicals like sodium aluminosilicate, sodium ferrocyanide, calcium silicate and silicon dioxide are often added to powdered spices to avoid the formation of lumps. The worst part about using these chemicals is that manufacturers do not have to mention these chemicals on their packaging, due to which people are unaware of the fact that they are consuming these chemicals.
-
Excessive use of pesticides:
One major reason for you to switch to organically grown spices is that no biochemicals or artificial pesticides are used during cultivation. All the spices are grown using manure and bio fertilizers, thus ensuring you consume pure spice and nothing else.
-
Use of harmful fillers:
To meet the demands in the market, producers generally add unwanted fillers to the spices to enhance the flavours. One of the most common fillers is glutamic acid, an α-amino acid that is considered non-essential for the human body.
-
Harmful sterilization methods:
Non-organic spices use two sterilization methods – fumigation and irradiation before being packed and shelved. Fumigation is a process where chemicals are used to kill bacteria and other microbes, and while it is successful in doing that, it is also extremely toxic to humans. However, organic farms use safe sterilization methods such as steaming, where they use nothing but plain water.