This week's dose of organic headlines, updates, resources, goodies, and recipes courtesy of Doug Snodgrass...

The White House website, which under the Obama administration has shown borderline-compulsive tendencies toward the au courant, has released a new video documenting the on-site organic garden.

Since ground-breaking and initial tilling in March, we've been documenting the progress of the first garden on White House grounds since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden during World War II. This new garden was planted with the help of local elementary school children and has yielded a constant supply fresh produce for the First Family and White House events. Hear and see the story of the garden first-hand from First Lady Michelle Obama and White House chef Sam Kass.

And in the interest of being, ahem, fair and balanced, The Daily Show presents the crazy-ass perspective on the garden.

Remember that fundamentally and curiously flawed study commissioned by England's Food Standards Agency comparing the benefits of organics to conventionals? The French Agency for Food Safety has done the due-diligence absent from the British study, and the results have been published in the peer reviewed scientific journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development. The major points of the French study:

1. Organic plant products contain more dry matter (more nutrient dense)

2. Have higher levels of minerals

3. Contain more anti-oxidants such as phenols and salicylic acid (known to protect against cancers, heart disease and many other health problems)

4. Organic animal products contain more polyunsaturated fatty acids (protect against heart disease)

5. Carbohydrate, protein and vitamin levels are insufficiently documented

6. 94–100% of organic foods do not contain any pesticide residues

7. Organic vegetables contain far less nitrates, about 50% less (high nitrate levels are linked to a range of health problems including diabetes and Alzheimer’s)

8. Organic cereals contain similar levels of mycotoxins as conventional ones

The full report can be read here (pdf).

In this article, we've covered the White House, the British government, the French government and the crazy-assed, so what's the obvious missing element here?

You guessed it. Beer.

The staff at Wicked Cool World of Organics would like to congratulate the makers of Samuel Smith's Organic Cider for winning the coveted Chicago Tribune beer of the month award. We beg our celebrated brew-meisters to use their new powers for good, not evil.

What it is: And now for something completely different. This month's beer is a cider, from Tadcaster, England. Hard cider is beer's frothy kissing cousin and is made with apples, of course. Ciders had their heyday in Colonial times and faded from popularity when immigrants, particularly German and Czech, brought their passion and brewing acumen for newfangled pilsner lager beers in the mid- to late 1800s. They are finally becoming more popular now with several domestic and imported brands readily available. The English ciders, sometimes called "scrumpy" ciders, are generally more dry, nuanced and yeasty than their sweeter, fruit-driven American counterparts. Samuel Smith's Organic Cider follows suit with a nice combination of earthiness and complex harvest fruit flavors. It is the perfect accompaniment for all sorts of autumnal dishes, from roasted fall vegetables to braised pork. It's also great as a marinade ingredient for pork, chicken and even fish dishes.

What's in the bottle: Golden amber color. Round dried apple and  pear, caramel and nougat aromas. A round, rich entry leads to a dry-yet-fruity medium-full body of rich three-dimensional apple, pear skin and star fruitlike flavors. Finishes with a long, tangy, mouthwatering fade. A superb quenching style with lots of rich apple character and excellent balance.

Related Reading:

Wicked Cool White House Organic Garden 
Wicked Cool World of Organics -Is a PR War Brewing?

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