Comment

Comment by Dallas (on hiatus) on April 14, 2013 at 8:56am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalic_acid#Content_in_food_items

Comment by Dallas (on hiatus) on April 14, 2013 at 8:55am

@ Chris: I don't think she would have added chalk. She may have just been teasing you when she said that. Likely it was cornstarch or arrow root powder which she added for some reason or another. 

I don't think spinach uses the calcium in your body. From what I recall, it prevents the absorption of calcium because it contains oxalic acid, though I'm not seeing a reference of that on the oxalic acid wiki page. 

However, it does state: 

Calcium oxalate is the most common component of kidney stones. Early investigators isolated oxalic acid from wood-sorrel(Oxalis). Its presence makes it dangerous to eat unripe carambola or monstera fruits. Members of the spinach family are high in oxalates, as is sorrel.^[11] Rhubarb leaves contain about 0.5% oxalic acid and jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) contains calcium oxalate crystals. Bacteria produce oxalates from oxidation of carbohydrates.^[4]

In humans, oxalic acid has an oral LD_Lo (lowest published lethal dose) of 600 mg/kg.^[15]

The toxicity of oxalic acid is due to kidney failure, which arises because it causes precipitation of solid calcium oxalate, the main component of kidney stones. Oxalic acid can also cause joint pain due to the formation of similar precipitates in the joints. Ingestion of ethylene glycol results in oxalic acid as a metabolite which can also cause acute kidney failure.

Comment by Chris Breman on April 14, 2013 at 1:58am

Chalk - I'm not very sure what she used, Joan, it's so long ago that I saw my mother in the kitchen. But the idea was that some vegs (rhubarb and spinach) use the calcium from your body when your eat them, so you add some calcium to prevent osteoporosis.

I like the burial ideas, but I'm going in for short term recycling. Many people here are waiting for new organs and many die when on the waiting list.   

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 13, 2013 at 11:38pm

Neil deGrasse Tyson stops a religious troll (w/captions)

Dominic and Daniel, I like your ideas of a "green burial in a forest or meadow, no embalming, no casket, just shroud.  The trees and grasses will have minerals from my body."  

I hard a tough time finding this old video, but it makes such good sense to me. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 13, 2013 at 11:33pm

Daniel, you do not talk enough about your bees and figs and rhubarb and garden. Your garden stories delight me. Thanks for the recipe. I haven't seen my rhubarb yet, but it is in the back of the garden. I shall go look tomorrow. It is so easy to freeze. I spread out slices of rhubarb on wax paper or parchment paper on a baking sheet and fast freeze them. Then I fill glass jars with frozen slices, put them back into the freezer. Glass jars take more room than plastic bags, however I am staying away from plastic as much as possible. 

I agree with Dallas, rhubarb sauce is wonderful with yogurt. I love Greek yogurt with honey, however, it is a little too sweet for my blood sugar. 

Spud, perhaps you can try some early varieties of strawberries. There are varieties that come out that early. And like you, I love a stalk of rhubarb to eat in the garden. 

If you gently simmer balsamic vinegar until it is a syrup and pour it over the strawberries and/or rhubarb, that is ambrosia. 

Chris, you said "chalk"; like black board chalk? I sometimes use a little flour or corn starch, but only if I cook it ... it acts as a thickener. What does chalk do? 

Dominic and Daniel, I like your ideas of a "green burial in a forest or meadow, no embalming, no casket, just shroud.  The trees and grasses will have minerals from my body."  

Grandmothers come to mind for me as well. Oh the pies they could bake! Crusts as light and tender as I have ever eaten.  

I think this is the brightest spring I can ever remember; the colors just dazzle.

Well, dear friends, I hope you all have a smashing weekend, get a little fresh air, but not too much garden work. Sore muscles and aching backs do not bring any kind of joy to life. So, easy does it. 

I don't mean to bore you with this video, but I just feel so good when I watch it, so here goes:

We are the Universe (Lawrence Krauss, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan)

Comment by Dallas (on hiatus) on April 13, 2013 at 11:19pm

Sounds lovely, Joan. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 13, 2013 at 10:57pm

Oh! My garden explodes with colors. I tried to go out and do a bit of trimming, but the cold drove me in to a hot cup of coffee and tasty crumpet. Forsythia along the east fence has such a lemony color, I can almost taste it. The Star Magnolia peaked; blossoms continue to hold on. The bergenia, all children of a mother plant, bloom in the border where the skunk lives. A splendid time of year. Last year's dead flowers look like tired soldiers that want to go to their rest, and I have not the energy to lay them on the compost; maybe next month. Green everywhere, barely a spot in the garden that hasn't turned green, some of them little spring crocus, yellows, purples, blues and a blue flower called "Bright Eyes". Helleborus, all over the garden bloom white this year; I find no pinks or wine colors. The leaves begin their growth, and soon the blossoms will disappear into the leaves. Their pretty faces will turn downwards and by autumn, will have mature seeds ready to be scattered into a few bare spots.

Three more nights of below freezing forecasted, the ground will begin heating up quickly after these night frosts. 

Comment by Chris Breman on April 13, 2013 at 7:34am

I remember that my mother simmered rhubarb with some sugar, spices and a little water, she also put chalk in it. It was eaten as a dessert. After the rhubarb season she had a whole row of pots with preserved rhubarb.

Comment by Idaho Spud on April 13, 2013 at 6:52am

Thanks for the Rhubarb Crisp recipe and taste test Sentient.  

I remember Rhubarb fondly because my Grandmother had impressively huge plants and I usually munched on a stalk when we visiter her.

I used to grow it, but the only thing I knew to do with it involved strawberries, and the two weren't ready at the same time.

Comment by Dallas (on hiatus) on April 12, 2013 at 11:28pm

At a restaurant I worked at we simmered it in sugar and made rhubarb shortcake instead of strawberry shortcake. 

You could also spoon it over yogurt, I suppose. 

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 23
• 24
• 25
• 26
• 27
• …
• 136
• Next ›
• Page