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Enriched broccoli
April submission for the jugalbandi click event, this is a broccoli floret taken with my home made macro. Carrot slices were intended to complete the salad, is the orange in the background.
While I was really happy with the rich color and contrast I got on my XTi and home made macro, I was not too pleased to find the extra protein source that came free. BTW I am recently a lacto-ovo-veggie some times I am a “social veggie” dont mind sampling the sauce of a meat dish, or pick the meat off a dish. We this broccoli from our local farmers market.
While I am a fear factor fan, I do not fancy these for my protein, I am content with soy, cheese & lentils. The broccoli was rinsed thoroughly after separating the florets, and soaked in warm salt water, and the bugs below are from just one tiny floret which I pushed off the floret using a toothpick, as they were quite stubbornly stuck to the floret. Needless to say that the entire batch of broccoli went to my compost bin. Now whether I want to choose between pesticide laden bug free produce, or “protein enriched broccoli” for future is quite simple. No more broccoli for me, and definitely not from a restaurant. Sorry broccoli growers, this simply grossed me out to the core. So broccoli fans, examine your broccoli when you shop. You might get more than you were expecting !
Update => Today was the usual farmers market day, and the first broccoli I saw looked fine, and had no bugs and needless to say I picked up some. Yes I am very forgiving and like Shankari say’s never say never.
For those of you interested in the details of how I took these pictures, it was using my home made macro. Focus is by moving distance between the subject and the lens, and the camera is set to Tv mode where I can control the shutter speed. The lens has manual aperture setting ring and was set to 11 (quite narrow aperture, almost at minimum setting). I did not mind the really small aperture, as I had the camera on a tripod and was using a cable release. My camera was at ISO 400 and shutter was at 1/5s. I had 2 florescent 5k lamps for lighting up the broccoli. None of these pictures are cropped.
For those of you interested in the details of how I took these pictures, it was using my home made macro. Focus is by moving distance between the subject and the lens, and the camera is set to Tv mode where I can control the shutter speed. The lens has manual aperture setting ring and was set to 11 (quite narrow aperture, almost at minimum setting). I did not mind the really small aperture, as I had the camera on a tripod and was using a cable release. My camera was at ISO 400 and shutter was at 1/5s. I had 2 florescent 5k lamps for lighting up the broccoli. None of these pictures are cropped.
Beautiful.
hey, i’ll take all the protein i can get.
that’s gross.. but I’ve never even looked at the broccoli that carefully for bugs..I will now!
i love broccoli and never looked at it with a macro lens..but then i am a nonveg..hi hi!!