I’m going to be writing a lot about wheat over the coming weeks. To kick that off I want to let you know that all of the pita at Clover is being made with organic wheat and has been for the past few weeks.

I learned a few months ago that conventional wheat is loaded with glyphosate aka roundup the super potent herbicide from Monsanto. It’s nasty stuff. And the use on wheat is recent and relatively heavy. It’s being used as a desiccant pre-harvest to help save labor. There is very recent scientific research suggesting that Glyphosphate might knock out the flora and fauna in your gut and might be linked to autoimmune issues, inflammation, IBS, allergic reactions, and a lot more. We’ll know more in 10 years. In the meantime my family and I have cut conventional wheat out of our diet entirely. 100%. We don’t eat any conventional wheat anymore. I’ve moved Clover to 100% organic wheat. Previously we had ~20% local fresh milled wheat and 80% conventional King Arthur Flour. Now we’re using ~20% local fresh milled wheat and 80% organic La Milanaise flour. It’s a bit more expensive. Expect to see about a $0.25 increase in sandwich prices.

Since day 1 we’ve been choosing to buy organic where we think it makes sense. For example, we’ve only ever served organic carrots. The conventional ones are bitter and don’t taste great. Our chickpeas are organic. Yup. The hummus. The falafel, all organic chickpeas. Our oats are organic. Oatmeal, overnight oats, granola. Our tofu. And lots more. As much as 40% of the food we buy is certified organic. Perhaps another 20-30% is near organic or uses IPM/ low spray, etc.

In most cases we’re making the decision for flavor (carrots). Sometimes the best choice for taste isn’t certified organic. An example is Sidehill farm yogurt. We know the producers and know that the only reason they are not organic is that the hay they buy to supplement their cows feed in the winter is sourced from local farmers. Organic would require they go over the border to NY and they would rather buy in Western, Ma. Their own farm. Their own cows. The best tasting yogurt. But not certified organic.

But this choice is different. We’re going organic for the wheat for health. No other reason. But I feel it’s important. I hope this choice benefits us all.