“Toxic Strawberries”: A Guest-Post Response

[NOTE: The following post was submitted, at my invitation, in response to Get Your Neurotoxin Off My Strawberry, which I posted on this site last week. I am presenting it as I received it, unedited and unabridged. As such, it does not necessarily reflect an endorsement by, or opinion of, me or the Proximal Kitchen […]

Get Your Neurotoxin Off My Strawberry

I apologize in advance for what promises to be an angry post, but everyone has a line, and I draw mine at toxic strawberries.

In case you haven't heard, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) recently decided that the soil in which some 90% of the nation's strawberries are grown may now be treated with the known carcinogen and neurotoxin methyl iodide, or MeI. How bad is this stuff? Well, for starters, use when they want to create cancerous cells in the lab... Read More >>

Tomatoes Are Berries, Strawberries Are Not

Armed with strawberries of such high sugar content, I wanted something with a bit of bite to provide ballast to the dish: Green Zebra heirlooom tomatoes, with higher acidity and more tartness than most of their heirloom cousins, would balance the flavor profile and a splash of color at the same time. Now, strawberries and tomatoes may or may not sound odd to you - they are both fruits, after all - but the what makes the match particularly interesting is that the tomato is a berry, while the strawberry is not...