By now we've learned the drill: organic is best. However, not everyone has the budget required to switch totally to organic foods. Thankfully Dr. Andrew Weill has put together a list of 11 fruits and vegetables that are OK to buy in their conventionally grown form. In alphabetical order, the list is as follows: Asparagus, Avocados, Bananas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Corn, Kiwi, Mangos, Onions, Pineapples and Peas.

I'm guessing that most of these items are on the list because they have fairly burly skins or peels that protect them from absorbing too much in the way of pesticides. I'm a little stunned that broccoli is on the list as I would have thought that its many little flowers would happily soak up problematic chemicals.

But, on the flip side, you might be wondering exactly what produce is best to buy organic? The Environmental Working Group has created a guide that can be printed out in handy wallet guide form. Check out our gallery of these 12 foods that really are the best organic investment.

Gallery: Produce Best Bought Organic

So there it is. Consider yourself slightly better informed about buying organic than you were five minutes ago.

Del Monte's brand new Fruit Chillers line is sure to be a hit with both kids (and adults) this summer, even though it is a little on the cold side right now in most parts of the country. The Chillers are individual sorbet cups, but there are a couple of things that set them apart from the average individually portioned kids dessert. The first, and most important, thing is that they are made with real fruit purees, rather than concentrated juices that have artificial colorings and flavors added to them. In fact, there are no artificial flavors in them at all and they contain 100% of the recommended daily value of vitamin C (150% in the mango flavor) and 3/4 serving of fruit, based on the nutrition pyramid. The other interesting thing about these is that they are not found in the frozen foods section of the grocery store. They are packed sealed and unfrozen, so you can simply pop them in the freezer before you are ready to eat them. The Chillers are fat free and contain about 190 calories per 4.5-ounce serving.

Over the course of the last year, schools have come under fire for putting unhealthy options in on-campus vending machines, prompting some states to ban junk food and others to try and work out healthy snack plans with the food companies. As a result, many schools have been left without snack and soda vending machines. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you can bet that at least some of the kids are disappointed.

To try and take up some of the slack that the departure of unhealthier fare left, the Dole fruit company has taken its own initiative to start a program "that will put vending machines selling healthy food products into schools." Dole's machines will stock fruit, fruit bowls, salads, sandwich wraps and milk. The salads and sandwiches will be prepared fresh at a nearby (or possibly on-campus, if available) cafeteria.

The machines will be launched in 15 schools in four states - Mesa, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Shawnee Mission, Kansas; Corpus Christie, Texas and Conroe, Texas - in February, but the company has high hopes and is already working on plans for expansion.

Fruity Pebbles, Fruit Rollups and fruity candies are just a handful of the myriad products aimed at kids that promote their fruitiness. Not only are fruit flavors appealing, but the use of the word implies that that flavoring is natural, or at least that it has been derived from fruits. Of course, this is not necessarily the case and the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments proved it by doing a study entitled "Where's the Fruit?"

The study looked at 37 different products, all product aimed at children, where images of fruit and/or fruit ingredients were pictured on the packaging and found that half of them contained no fruit of any kind. Another 16% contained only "minimal amounts of fruit despite prominent fruit promotions on the packaging." For example, Yoplait's Strawberry Splash Go-Gurt Yogurt contained no actual fruit, nor did Berry Berry Kix.

Using a picture of fruit on a box isn't exactly false advertising, but it is misleading and the study certainly illustrates how important it is to read the ingredients and nutritional information on packaging when shopping for food if you really want to know what you're getting.

You can always buy a batch that is already made, but making mendiants is a simple process. Start by assembling a selection of toppings, such as cacao nibs, nuts (pistachios, walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts), dried fruits (cranberries, raisins, cherries, candied orange peel) and anything else that pairs well with chocolate, like small chunks of butter cookies or fleur de sel , as recommended by Clotilde. Melt some good quality chocolate and drop spoonfuls of it onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper to make circles. Place a small assortment of toppings on each disc and set aside to harden. Peel off when ready to serve.

Researchers at the USDA have developed an edible coating that will actually kill bacteria on fresh produce. It is intended to be an alternative to conventional or chemical produce washes that will keep the food just as fresh, if not fresher, and reduce the risk of food-borne illness that is associated with fresh produce. The coating is made of apple puree and oregano oil. The oregano oil is a natural antibacterial agent and did a better job at eliminating bacteria than other oils, while the apple puree helps the coating adhere to the fruit/vegetable and takes the edge off the oregano flavor. So far, it has only been tested on E. Coli, where the oregano has been shown to kill at least half of all present bacteria in under 3 minutes. The are planning on developing wrappers in other flavors, as well as targeting different bacteria in the future, including salmonella and listeria.

The products could be commercially available in as little as two years, but they are now being tested by some selected companies and stores.

The name "nutritional bioactive" is given to the unique components of fruits and vegetables that have particular health effects and study of these bioactives has been primarily directed at temperate, highly common fruits and vegetables (broccoli, etc). The researchers at Queensland have focused on tropical fruits, which is what led to their current findings.

Although cranberries have long been a favorite part of the holiday meal, it seems like craisins have finally come into their own. The sweet, dried cranberries are popular year round, although 80% of sales are still around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Craisins, made by Ocean Spray, are probably the single biggest brand of dried cranberries and account for most of the sales. Their sales have doubled in just the past two years, prompting Ocean Spray to plan the opening of a new factory for processing them. The berries are first dried and, unlike some other brands of dried cranberries, they have the juice removed and it is later injected back into them, creating a slightly sweeter final product that helped the catch on with fans of sweeter raisins and other dried fruits. Craisins go well in salads, baked good and with main dishes, in sauces or on their own, and company executives say that the sales are split evenly between retail consumers and manufacturers of cereals, baked goods and other products. They also attribute their continued popularity to the fact that consumers are constantly seeking out snacks that are at least as portable, but healthier than some of their less good-for-you favorites.

Cranberries are an under-appreciated fruit, but not because people don't enjoy them. In fact, over 90% of all the cranberries harvested each year are used for juice and juice blends, most of which are enjoyed year-round. But fresh cranberries might only be tossed into sauces, quick breads and cakes around the fall holidays, as the very tart flavor and a general lack of familiarity with the fruit stops people from experimenting with them. Cranberry Cooking for All Seasons is a book that can help with this by providing 125 different recipes for the berry, from Pumpkin Cranberry Bread and Cranberry Applesauce to dishes like Couscous with Dried Cranberries, Pinenuts and Fresh Mint, Tangerine Yams with Cranberries and Sauteed Chicken in Cranberry Balsamic Vinegar Sauce.

In addition to the recipes, the book provides the reader with a comprehensive look at everything you could have wanted to know about cranberries, from their history and the culture associated with the, to information about the growers and where around the world the berries end up.

While in Britain they may have a hard time giving up potato chips as a favorite snack, not everyone is eating so unhealthily. In Canada, a recent study determined that the number one snack is fresh fruit and noted that it was chosen over other snacks about 20% of the time. The next most popular snack foods, in order of popularity, were chocolate, yogurt and cookies, each of which were chosen roughly 7% of the time. Potato chips were consumed at just 6% of snacking opportunities.

The survey also noted that more than two-thirds of all healthy snacks were eaten during the day, with more indulgent treats - chocolate, potato chips, ice cream - appearing in the evenings.

Fruit has been the most popular snack for some time now, but there is a definite trend towards healthy eating, marked by the presence of yogurt in the number 3 spot this year. "In 2005, 21 per cent of individuals ate yogurt in an average week compared to 15 per cent of individuals surveyed in 2001." Increasingly, consumers are opting for the "guilt-free" snacks, and since their interest is increasing, so is the quality of the products from the manufacturer's side, continuing the trend

I noticed a lot of comments about the name of the potential Ben & Jerry's flavor "Apricotabra." Whether or not the flavor - vanilla with apricot preserves - sounded appealing, most people didn't seem to like the name. I, too, found it awkward to think about, let alone to say aloud. The reason is that they word is a play on "abracadabra" that does not work for all English speakers because there are two entirely different ways to pronounce the name of the small stone fruit: ah-pricot and ape-ricot (I'd put the significantly more accurate phonetic transcription for any linguists out there, but my IPA fonts would probably not be visible on your screens via the Slashfood interface anyway).

If you take the ape-ricot pronunciation, they play on words that is supposed to be there just doesn't quite work. Doubtless, this would not be a selling point for Ben & Jerry's, who probably want people to be able to speak the names of their flavors aloud without stumbling over poor constructions. It may taste great, but no one will ever know if they're disinclined to buy it in the first place.

Almost everyone loves fruit, but because fruits are so good when they are fresh and ripe, they aren't always used to their full potential. Fruits can be as wonderful when they are part of a dish or a sauce as they are plain, and Fruit: Recipes for Lunch, Brunch, Desserts And More has many different recipes to inspire you and get more fruit into your diet. The book goes far beyond cobbler and smoothies, though it does have fairly traditional recipes for desserts, preserves and some classic breakfast favorites, like Blackberry Buttermilk Pancakes. Main dishes seem very do-able, even for less experienced cooks, and use fruits as accents for pork, duck, lamb and other meat dishes. There are recipes for soups, salads and appetizers, as well.