Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up.
This gorgeous spring weather triggers so many thoughts and emotions. It could make you daydream about weekend beach getaways, lolling around in a hammock, fresh produce - hey, isn't rhubarb in season? A fresh pie sounds just delicious - and wouldn't it be so much prettier if you included a few of those lovely leaves?
Don’t do it, unless you're planning on making this your last meal. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, raw or cooked (they contain a not-good-for-you substance - oxalic acid). The stalk isn’t toxic, although it’s crazy tart if it’s not cooked and somehow sweetened up. Here are a couple of other ingredients to avoid - or at least moderate your consumption of - this season.
Nutmeg
Ever since the Cinnamon Challenge kicked off, I’ve taken the precaution of investigating all the spices in my cabinet. (Not that I’m planning to start my own Spice Challenge; it’s just so I’m prepared if things get crazy at a party.) Nutmeg contains myristicin, a substance that can cause hallucinations, convulsions, vomiting and, in more extreme cases, circulatory collapse. You’d have to eat a lot of nutmeg - at least one whole seed, and generally more - for anything bad to happen. Still, please avoid any kind of spice powder eating competitions.
Cherry Pits
Also in the category of all-natural ingredients that aren’t good for you, particularly in large quantities: cherry pits. Eating them can produce cyanide poisoning; so can peach, plum and apricot pits. Before you swear off all the great summer fruits, note that the pits have to be chewed up to release the toxins - and you’d have to chew a lot of pits before you hit a dangerous level. Still, just spit the pits.
Or, if you’re enterprising, save them. According to Michigan Cherry Pit Recyclers, cherry pits burn hotter than wood pellets and leave almost no ash. Plus, it’s cheap fuel - at least if you’ve been eating a lot of cherries.
Sichuan Peppercorns
Is it just me or are there a ton of Sichuan restaurants opening up around the country? (Special shout out here to the excellent new Mission Chinese Food in Manhattan.) Is there a downside to this? Only if you believe that a signature ingredient in the cooking—Sichuan peppercorns, which provoke a wonderfully tingly mouth-numbing sensation—may be toxic. A ban of the dried berries, which ended in 2005, was only because it was potentially harmful to citrus plants, not people.
Here’s what the terrific website Serious Eats had to say on the subject: "Like some other habit-forming items, Sichuan peppercorns are actually toxic when ingested in large quantities." But Dr. Andrew Weil thinks otherwise: “Their toxicity appears to be minimal.”
Pine Nuts
To me this has all the trappings of a horror story. Out of nowhere, my Food & Wine colleague Kristin Donnelly started experiencing everything she ate and drank as bitter and medicinal. Scary! Eventually, after extensive time spent Googling symptoms, Kristin determined her predicament was caused by pine nuts she’d had in a salad. The phenomenon now has a name: Pine Mouth (the fancier name is Pine Nut Mouth).
Kristin used nuts imported from China; however, USDA scientists tested the DNA of 45 sample pine nuts and couldn’t get a definitive source for Pine Mouth, which means I can’t offer you one either. I just hope it doesn’t stop you from making pesto this season.
More from Food & Wine
Best Burgers in the U.S.
Best Pizza Places in the U.S.
Best Fried Chicken in the U.S.
America's Best Bars
Summer Grilling Ideas
© 2011 American Express Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.
can always do a little–and a little at a time eventually makes a big difference.
Realtree NFL Jersey http://www.thefootballoutfit.com/
I've been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or blog posts in this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this web site. Studying this info So i am satisfied to express that I've a very excellent uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I most indubitably will make certain to do not fail to remember this site and provides it a glance regularly.
hey dude just eat bread... but if you're allergic to gluten... that means eat nothing!
This article is a load of horse...radish.
I love post idea lists like this (Sean Platt also did a great one recently). Your second topic is a great one – I think another idea you can add to it is blogging about a failure you had and what you learned from it.Great work! jordan 6 lakers for sale
Wait? So can I eat these things say... at the office? At the hair salon? Grocery Store? I'm confused. LOL! Just Kidding.
I do not imagine it really includes something to do with a recollection branches or the reader by itself mainly because in the event the Universal series bus is actually plugged in your sticks, reader in addition to device usually do the job equally it will however whether it is unplugged the problem is once more obvious. jual kosmetik di surabaya
My wifehas been cooking with nutmeg and pine nuts the last fewdays...is she trying to kill me?
Aren't most foods dangerous if eaten in large quantities? I mean, if i ate 10 pounds of chocolate, would that not also be dangerous? Just saying...
Is it ok to eat the tootsie rolls in the kitty litter?
After I brush off the kitty litter, of course. I know that's not good for you.
I can't believe the amount of people giving Kate such a hard time about writing this article. Nobody forced you to read it OR spend the time to complain about it! Seems to be a lot of people need to get a life.
Great article Kate, thank you for your contribution.
Good to know these things. LOL.
Pine Mouth may also be a result of using certain kinds of toothpaste. We had very similar symptoms and from our research discovered that the Crest Pro-Health toothpaste we were using was the source of the consistently metallic taste in everything were eating. As soon as we switched to a different toothpaste (Tom's), our normal taste returned within a couple of days.
This is so poorly written and researched. REALLY???? Nutmeg???
This should bump Nutmeg sales to a new all time high. As the kids reading this (well someone will just text or facebook it) will surely be trying it.
This is nothing new to kids it has been around for years...
It has been said for many many years that Nostradamus used to be addicted to nutmeg, and that the hallucinogenic properties may have been responsible for his described trance-like states and "visions".......
This was really the most worthless article ever written. My 10 year old writes better quality material than this. "They can be deadly! Only if you ingest 10 pounds of peppercorn.." Really?? Stupid...
We can only hope the pitiful fool who rote this pathetic article gets fired, with extreme prejudice, and fast. That this piece of worthless trash wound up indexed on google news in the 'spotlight' section is just beyond comprehension. Whatever money you earned to write this article, lady, give it charity right now, the ungoldly ball of karma you've unleashed by wasting so many thousands of people's time needs to be remedied and fast. You are appalling.
Before you trash someone else's writing, perhaps you should learn how to spell.
Concernint pine nuts: they are exremly perishable, store them in a container in the freezer taking out what you need each time. They become rancid very quickly and I imagine that would create the bitter taste the writer experienced. Other nuts which reach the rancid stage will create a bitter taste and it often extends to the cooked product. Italians and (New Mexio residents) have been using pine nuts forever and with proper care should not bring about a problem.
Nope. Pine Mouth is real and has nothing to do with rancidity. The effect lasts much longer than the bad taste of a rancid nut. The varietals of pine nuts usually used in Italy don't seem to cause Pine Mouth.
note its pine nuts FROM CHINA which cause PineMouth– becoz of their nasty fertilizing practices. high in Bad Stuff
This article is true about the pine nuts. I had been eating a bag of raw pine nuts as a snack for over a period of 3 days. I still have metallic/bitter taste in my mouth (going on a week now) and will never eat another pine nut as long as I live! There are other websites that people have addressed on this issue. Glad I didn't have to go to Dr. and spend money on unnecessary tests.