what would you not eat raw?

topic posted Tue, May 6, 2008 - 9:22 PM by  aunt bea ne...
tell robot and flower. sey 'yummy' r&f. (hey! i said 'what'; not 'who')
posted by:
aunt  bea needs to get back to exercisin
Kansas
  • Re: what would you not eat raw?

    Wed, May 7, 2008 - 4:53 AM
    rrrraahhhh..raw chicken yummy yummy...my maid, um mummy bev, thinks thats disgusting, what does she know? but she does pop the top of my fancy feast nice...now she says to tell you raw spinach...loves it, specially with bacon and hardboiled eggs and a drizzle of dressing, but after a few bites, the roof of her mouth starts to get all furry and sticky and weird...anyone else have this problem???
  • Re: what would you not eat raw?

    Wed, May 7, 2008 - 6:06 AM
    Chicken and pork, and, now, cashews.
    • Re: what would you not eat raw?

      Wed, May 7, 2008 - 8:03 AM
      I eats raw chicken almost every day and love it! Thistle feeds me a raw diet so most everything I eats is raw...'cept for most veggies which she cooks in a stew. Carrots are good raw, and so is cabbage, but I agree with Joi ....raw broccoli is yucky...I will only eats it if it is slathered in yogurt or cooked in stew.
  • Re: what would you not eat raw?

    Wed, May 7, 2008 - 9:31 AM
    dung.
    welcome!
    • Re: what would you not eat raw?

      Wed, May 7, 2008 - 12:15 PM
      Welcome-I will not eat chicken or pork raw

      Here is the deal on cashews:
      Unless you happen to work in a cashew plant or pick cashew apples, it’s unlikely you’ll encounter completely raw cashews. The so-called raw cashews sold in natural food stores are not exactly raw, but instead are steamed. It is the case that the double shell surrounding the raw cashew, which is technically a seed and not a nut, contains urushiol, a resin that can create significant skin rashes, and can be toxic when ingested.

      Urushiol is the same chemical found in poison ivy, and it is present on the leaves of the cashew tree as well as in the raw cashew shell. Processing raw cashews can be a laborious and nightmarish ordeal, and people who work in cashew processing plants tend to exhibit greater allergies to cashew shells over time. There is a high incidence of skin rashes among people who either harvest or process raw cashews. Greater sensitivity to urushiol can lead to extreme allergic reaction when raw cashews are ingested, and anyone allergic to poison ivy could potentially have a fatal reaction to eating true raw cashews.

      This is why we don’t eat strictly raw cashews. Even the “unroasted’ varieties are steamed to release urushiol from the nut and make it safe to eat. Certainly, those raw cashews sold as raw have been processed to remove urushiol, so there is no danger in consuming them. As nuts and seeds go, safely prepared cashews actually cause very few allergies, especially when compared to nuts like walnuts or legumes like peanuts.

      The cashew tree is a New World food, and it’s certainly a testament to the ingenuity of New World races that we even eat “raw” cashews. At some time, pre-dating written history, the people of Brazil figured out that the fruit surrounding the cashew “nut” could be eaten, but the shell could not. Also, early Brazilians were able to understand that the nut could be used when steamed or cooked. This may have been a trial and error process, with many people getting ill from error testing, but it ultimately brought us to the enjoyment of one of the most popular nuts, now grown in many places throughout the world.

      Though cashew nut oil from the shells is not safe to consume, it does have uses. It may be distilled and used to line brakes to provide friction, or may make up one of the resins in epoxy finishes and coatings. Touching these extractions from raw cashews may create rashes, but this is less common, since the oils and resins made from them undergo extensive processing.
      • Re: what would you not eat raw?

        Wed, May 7, 2008 - 3:21 PM
        Ah, CoCo - beautiful *and* smart as a whip! :o) I *love* cashews . . .

        Never eat raw? Bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns. See, I read the question this morning, and it's taken me all day to come up with breakfast - sheesh! Come to think of it, I haven't really HAD breakfast yet! Crap!!! Welcome! ;o)
      • Re: what would you not eat raw?

        Wed, May 7, 2008 - 8:49 PM
        That's a great explanation of what's going on with cashews, thanks for sharing your knowledge about it, CoCo.

        But now I have more questions about cashews. Is it humane for us to be buying and consuming cashews when we know what it is putting the cashew workers through? That they are exposed to the urushiol, and the demand for cashews around the world is keeping them in a job which puts them at risk? They'd probably say they are happy to have the work, but still.

        The second question, you know there are people now-a-days who say they will eat only raw food. Would they eat "raw" cashews? And if they find out now that raw cashews are not actually a raw food, is it going to shake up their self image? Hopefully they'll not become alarmed and will just quit eating "raw" cashews once they've learned they are not indeed raw, without beating themselves up over it. :-)

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