Author Topic: Holiday Menus  (Read 150483 times)

Offline Sason

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #70 on: November 18, 2010, 03:24:38 pm »
That menu sounds yummi!!!

Düva pööp is a förce of natüre

Offline Andrew

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #71 on: November 20, 2010, 01:23:54 am »

Pappardelle pasta with wild mushrooms, butternut squash, pine-nuts and sage



On the subject of pine nuts - I just found out this week, the hard way, about that horrible problem of long lasting bitterness in the mouth which starts a day or two after you eat certain varieties of pine nuts.  Mine started Tuesday, the day after I had some in a rice casserole.  The condition has been non-stop since then and has spoiled the flavor of everything I've eaten.  Apparently, it can last for weeks, although at least no one has identified any actual health hazards from it.  Seemingly, the problem has been all over the Internet the last two years as more and more people experience it in the US and Europe, but I somehow missed out.

They are not really positive which varieties it is, although they are leaning toward a small variety from China, packaged either by itself or added to Chinese blends.  Some sources are claiming these are not even nuts from pinyon pines, like other pine nuts, they are from a variety of Chinese white pine. 

That is the conclusion of the Wikipedia article on pine nuts at least.

The ones I bought were in fact small, no longer than sunflower seeds although rounder and fatter.

But I missed out on the general articles, like this one:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/pine-mouth-pine-nuts-leave-bitter-taste-lingers/story?id=11097222&page=1

I reported the problem back to the store where I got them and to the Food and Drug Administration which I read was investigating the issue.  Unfortunately I know the FDA does not have enough information yet to be able to simply ban pine nuts from specific sources. 

Well, I won't be putting on any extra weight over Thanksgiving at least!




 

Offline Meryl

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #72 on: November 20, 2010, 01:49:41 am »
Poor Andrew!  I hope it goes away soon.  :(

Thanks for letting us know about the pine nuts.  I've never heard of that problem.  Scary!  :P
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #73 on: November 20, 2010, 12:18:11 pm »
Wow, that is weird! Well, it's just walnuts for me in pesto, from now on. I'm not a huge pine-nut fan, anyway.

Though it is tempting to TRY to get pine mouth as a diet aid ...  ::)



Offline Sason

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #74 on: November 20, 2010, 07:00:24 pm »
Poor Andrew! Sounds like a PIA.   >:(

This is total news to me, I've never heard of it before.

I very seldom eat pine nuts, but I actually had some today, what a coincidence!

But they weren't from China, so I hope I'll be ok.

Hope you'll be ok soon, too.

Düva pööp is a förce of natüre

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #75 on: November 20, 2010, 07:27:47 pm »
Wow, that is weird! Well, it's just walnuts for me in pesto, from now on. I'm not a huge pine-nut fan, anyway.

Though it is tempting to TRY to get pine mouth as a diet aid ...  ::)

Heh. I can remember a news report, maybe about ten years ago, about a woman who died from eating pesto; it turned out she was allergic to pine nuts.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #76 on: November 20, 2010, 11:43:19 pm »
I stopped in a store tonight and the clerk was just digging into a dinner of what looked like hummus that had some things sprinkled on top, and it looked like they could have been pine nuts. It was all I could do not to yell "Sssssttttttoopppppp!" in slow motion and lunge across the room to knock  the food out of her hand.

But I didn't want to wreck her dinner unnecessarily. So I shrugged, made my purchase, and left.


Offline Andrew

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #77 on: November 21, 2010, 12:49:15 pm »
Thanks for the sympathy, all !  I am not miserable, it is just an annoyance.  I mostly wanted to sound the alert as we are going into the holidays and menus are being finalized.   And for most people, food flavors are one of the first pleasures of life.  Actually, food is usually discussed in Thanksgiving kitchens and dining rooms, too, so I was hoping the word would get spread even further.  If I had read about it I might have decided to hold off on pine nuts for a year or two till they established definitively what is the source of the ones which have this effect. 

One thing they know is that it is not like an allergy which only affects some people.  I have always eaten them and never had any problem; all the complaints to the FDA are coming from the last couple of years.

It reminds you how hard it is to find out where anything you eat comes from.   I did get a response from the supermarket, that they would investigate the source of the ones I bought right away.   But the problem is, you don't know at the time you buy, which is true even for most products from most health food stores.  For some people, it would even be a selling point that they were buying American pinyon nuts harvested by Native Americans, or Italian or other Mediterranean ones from the Stone Pine, which have been eaten since prehistoric times.   For now, if people can't get that information, the best they can do with the limited information available is to get big ones - and of course, the more expensive ones are more likely to have originated in the US or Europe. 

Offline Sason

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #78 on: November 21, 2010, 02:06:27 pm »
Maybe it's some pesicide they spray on the trees in China? Or on the nuts after harvest.

They aren't exactly known to try to achieve a high level of environmental friendliness.... :-\

Düva pööp is a förce of natüre

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Holiday Menus
« Reply #79 on: November 24, 2010, 11:37:08 am »
The new issue of Cooking Light has a recipe for pine-nut cookies. NooooooooooooOO!!!