RawPracticalist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do not see a link but at $40 a lb I would pass.
> I can get all those missing nutrients from my
> barley grass and sprouts.
> For fun I can eat some organic black grapes until
> cherries and blueberries are in season


Sorry, I posted before I remembered to link the site. I edited the post so now the link is there.

At Raw food world, I paid about $16/lb for the dried PITTED ones on sale, still retail, and at Essential living foods, I paid roughly the same when they were on sale and before they raised the price, which they did when they changed the labeling. Also I have a wholesale account with ELF (because I have a pharmacy for my customers), but since the pitted ones are in such demand, they give retail customers priority. Eating like 5 olives with a salad every so often stretches a whole bag out for a month. To save money, I bought the ones with pits before, still raw and dehydrated. I just have to rehydrate in tomato juice or salad dressing overnight in the refrigerator. I am bummed out at the price hike at ELF and that they have discontinued a lot of stuff. I will share any better prices from other companies I find at the expo next month.

I find the at-cost specials Matt gives at Raw Food WOrld pretty fair.

There have to be cheaper suppliers that do not affliate themselves with "raw" "guru" types.

I remember when goji berries were a big deal. I can get them at my Asian store for $1.99/lb.

Arugula wrote:
I remember when goji berries were a big deal. I can get them at my Asian store for $1.99/lb.

Tai:
I would pass on those qoji berries, unless they are organic. Unfortunately, they often put sulfites on inexpensive dried Chinese whole herbs, especially the ones that bugs love to eat. I have to pay extra to get unsulfured and even more for organic whole herbs. Whenever you see exquisite berries in a non-vacuum sealed non-extra strength bag sitting on a store shelf for a long time, figure out if there was a preservative used. Whenever I leave my qoji berries in a plastic bag (and not in a sealed mason jar), the bugs will find them. The bugs never touch sulfited herbs, as far as I have ever witnessed.

p.s. I highly recommend growing a qoji vine, if circumstances allow. The young leaves looked delectable and I have eaten them and discovered that yes, they are a food. One day I want to harvest a little root bark from my vine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2015 12:04AM by Tai.

From the Peruvian olive seller's site ...

"Over time, the salt water pulls bitter elements out of the olive flesh while naturally present probiotics digest some of the sugars and fibers in the olives."

One of the problems is that a lot of the polyphenols are lost in the olive curing process - leached out with the water. Another problem is that the ripe olives have already lost a lot of the polyphenols which are much more abundant in the green unripe olives. Then there is the problem, IMO, of leaving oil out to sun dry for an extended period of time. It only takes a few weeks for even oil pressed from green olives to degrade. Decent olive oil is kept in dark colored glass bottles to protect it from even indoor light.

Good stone ground olive oil, on the other hand, has more polyphenols preserved. That is why it irritates the back of your throat when you taste test it.

Panchito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> banana who Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Bull. I believe that about the ones in the can
> but
> > NOT in the jar that are CURED with vinegar and
> sea
> > salt. Not in the same league.
>
> glass jars don't mean anything. Brine (sea salt,
> etc) does not mean much either because using
> caustic soda requires also brine (salt, vinegar,
> etc.) as last step for the flavor. If the bottle
> does not say that they did a non lye method, then
> most probably they did because of the economics,
> consistency, quality, etc. that lye offers (at the
> expense of maybe health). The consumer does not
> know the difference. Non lye olives are very hard
> to find at the supermarket and when you do, they
> are expensive.

I am sorry but I disagree. I think David Wolfe was the first one who said that those canned black olives use lye. I always loved them but when I was able to get some from kalamatas from Trader Joe's it states that they are tree-ripened and then brined. I have seen fresh olives in the store and a man told me that the brine gets rid of the bitterness. The difference between the canned ones and the ones in the jar is night and day. Whether they are raw is a different story. And they are not that expensive, either. Trader Joe's used to have salt-cured olives that reminded me of the raw Peruvian ones that were sun-dried. Very meaty but quite salty due to the process. I really love these kalamata olives in the jar...

"I have seen fresh olives in the store and a man told me that the brine gets rid of the bitterness."

Yep, the phytonutrients get flushed away with the brine. Therein lies the problem.

There does not seem to be a reasonably priced and healthy solution to the olive problem.

Do we to eat olives?

I am fine without them

SueZ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "I have seen fresh olives in the store and a man
> told me that the brine gets rid of the
> bitterness."
>
> Yep, the phytonutrients get flushed away with the
> brine. Therein lies the problem.


This is not correct. In the castelvetrano thread
you can see there are 6x as many phytochemicals
per calorie of olive compared to a calorie of olive
oil.

You lose more of the good stuff when you remove
essentially all of the food part except the fat.

arugula Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SueZ Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > "I have seen fresh olives in the store and a
> man
> > told me that the brine gets rid of the
> > bitterness."
> >
> > Yep, the phytonutrients get flushed away with
> the
> > brine. Therein lies the problem.
>
>
> This is not correct. In the castelvetrano thread
> you can see there are 6x as many phytochemicals
> per calorie of olive compared to a calorie of
> olive
> oil.
>
> You lose more of the good stuff when you remove
> essentially all of the food part except the fat.


OK. I saw this (which you wrote) in that thread so I am very surprised you've already forgotten that the taste tells the tale ...

"A good way to estimate the phenolic content is bitterness--

bitter=more phenolics."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2015 09:11PM by SueZ.

you can cure potatoes in boiling water

Panchito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> you can cure potatoes in boiling water

Raw vegans are already cured of potatoes.

SueZ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Raw vegans are already cured of potatoes.

but are they cured of 'cured olives?

Panchito Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SueZ Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Raw vegans are already cured of potatoes.
>
> but are they cured of 'cured olives?

Oooh yes this one is.

Tai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Arugula wrote:
> I remember when goji berries were a big deal. I
> can get them at my Asian store for $1.99/lb.
>
> Tai:
> I would pass on those qoji berries, unless they
> are organic. Unfortunately, they often put
> sulfites on inexpensive dried Chinese whole herbs,
> especially the ones that bugs love to eat. I have
> to pay extra to get unsulfured and even more for
> organic whole herbs. Whenever you see exquisite
> berries in a non-vacuum sealed non-extra strength
> bag sitting on a store shelf for a long time,
> figure out if there was a preservative used.
> Whenever I leave my qoji berries in a plastic bag
> (and not in a sealed mason jar), the bugs will
> find them. The bugs never touch sulfited herbs,
> as far as I have ever witnessed.
>
> p.s. I highly recommend growing a qoji vine, if
> circumstances allow. The young leaves looked
> delectable and I have eaten them and discovered
> that yes, they are a food. One day I want to
> harvest a little root bark from my vine.

Tai, is growing goji indoors possible with just lighting from south facing windows in the North? How large do they get? I saw a video once where David Wolf was picking goji berries in the desert from what looked like bushes. I didn't know they were vines.

SueZ
Tai, is growing goji indoors possible with just lighting from south facing windows in the North? How large do they get? I saw a video once where David Wolf was picking goji berries in the desert from what looked like bushes. I didn't know they were vines.

Tai:
I do not know. I grew mine in a big pot for a couple years before I planted it. While it was in the pot, it did not grow much. Maybe you can take it indoors during the snow. Not sure. But a small vine will not produce many berries...maybe 10 or so! Sorry, I am in California. I don't have experience with the snow. Yes, it is a vine. Don't know about David Wolfe's video. My vine likes some shade.

Those are WILD goji berries growing in the Arizona desert as it should be...

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