chromedome

I expect this article attempted to capture clicks in the wake of a recent recall of children's fruit puree, which did indeed cause serious harms and which eventually proved to be due to tainted cinnamon used in their manufacture. We've commented on it on other threads. https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/01/chromium-found-in-lead-tainted-fruit-pouches-may-explain-contamination/ While the FDA doesn't (as you say) allow lead to be sprinkled onto your dinner, there's little it can do about what a middleman in South America buys from a spice vendor in South Asia, or how it's handled as it passes through the supply chain. That being said, it's reportedly more of an issue in places like India, where spices are used with a heavy hand and are often adulterated (turmeric in particular).

Cool stuff. I'll be interested to see how/whether the batches ferment differently, and what you think of the outcome. I've always just used 2%, and like it fine, but learning from others has 0% food cost and 0% labor cost (for me) so I'm all for it.

Terrines are fun. That's an attractive dish, and an appealing first post (welcome aboard, btw!). What are the grainy bits in the mushroom sauce?

Mix it with creme de cacao for a Reese's lover? That's about all I've got.

That's the fun of having members on opposite sides of the planet, we get to envy (and/or revel in) our opposite numbers' fresh produce during out own winters. It makes a break from seed catalogues... (says the guy who was poring over his own catalogues 90 minutes past bedtime, until that "hot cinders in my eyes" feeling began to register)

I'm not sure if we have anybody currently in Saskatchewan, but there's been a recall of eggs (including Sobeys "Compliments" brand) for salmonella. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-brands-eggs-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

Wow, that never would have occurred to me. Here in Canada a 240v outlet is standard for ranges, and hard-wired is limited only to wall ovens and cooktops, which are relatively uncommon (at least in the 6 provinces where I've lived). When I bought us an upgraded (used) range last year, I just unplugged the old one and plugged in the new one. It took me about 5 minutes, and it wouldn't have been that long if the builders hadn't been complete idiots about the kitchen layout.

A cool idea researchers in Florida came up with (obviously, lots of work needed for this to scale, etc, but still interesting): https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/flowers-grown-floating-on-polluted-waterways-can-help-clean-up-nutrient-runoff/

They're quite mild, so they're a good entry point for the liver-averse. I hated it in childhood, love it in adulthood, but even now I dislike liver done in the old-school fried-to-leather fashion.

The word for clove in most languages is derived from the word for "nail," or so I've been told. Oxford agrees insofar as English and its derivation from older French, at any rate, but perhaps Liuzhou will weigh in once his day starts.

My interpretations of those were, in that order: Color and taste: "Once they get past the idea that it's purple, it actually tastes pretty good." Benefits/climate change: He wasn't talking about the tomato here. But if the tomato opens the door to other transgenic products, they could work on things that require less irrigation or fertilizing, for example (there's been some research on giving other plants the kind of nitrogen-fixing capability that legumes have. Or crops that can be grown more intensively, so they require less deforestation for agricultural land. Lots of possibilities. Sustainability: see above. If it requires fewer inputs but can still be produced intensively, that's a long step back toward balancing Big Ag's ledger. Health and nutrition: Tweaking plants to be more nutritious, as opposed to being "Roundup Ready" or what have you. I've seen research charting a long, slow decline in the nutritive content of most produce over the past 70-odd years (don't have it bookmarked, but could probably Google it up if you're interested). It would be nice to reverse that. I started off GMO-skeptical a couple of decades ago, but have come around to the view that it's like any other form of "processing." It's not innately good or bad, it's a question of how it's deployed and to what ends. If it winds up giving us more nutritious food at less environmental cost (and yes, I do recognize exactly how much heavy lifting "if" is doing in that sentence) then I'm all for it.

Just gonna leave this here... https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/02/06/1228868005/purple-tomato-gmo-gardeners

I haven't had my hands on that one personally, but had taken note of it because of its very cool pull-out display. I have a really cheap Starfrit, which is fine for my usage on the whole, but irritating when I want to use it with a larger bowl. The pull-out display on the OXO would eliminate that issue.

This one currently affects Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, but of course these can sometimes expand. The product is Rojo's 6-Layer Black Bean Dip, and like the corn salad just up-thread it's being recalled for Listeria (and is related to a US recall). https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/rojo-s-brand-black-bean-6-layer-dip-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

At the restaurant where I worked my way through school, we served a "seafood medley" of sorts (it had a better name on the menu, but it's been 20 years and I don't remember it). This dish consisted of a lobster tail removed from the shell, which was then stuffed with lemon-scented arborio rice. The stuffed shell was topped with shrimp and scallops, the tail was cut into medallions and arranged around the shell, and it was served with a creamy sauce based on shrimp broth. All of this, to be clear, was explicitly spelled out on the menu. We had a customer one night explain that she loved seafood but had a shellfish allergy, and was it possible to get the seafood medley without shellfish? "Why of course," we grumbled in the kitchen. "Here's your $35 scoop of rice." (The server explained that no, that wasn't a possibility with this dish, and she eventually ordered something else.)

Here's a much bigger one: "Mexican street corn" salads, sold under the President's Choice and Taylor Farms names, are being recalled for possible listeria. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/president-s-choice-brand-and-taylor-farms-brand-mexican-style-street-corn-salad-kits?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

Okay, Ontario peeps, this is a small one but who knows, right? The summer sausages from Bauman's Country Meat Shop in Dobbinton are being recalled for listeria. Dunno if any of you live close enough that this would be a threat, but better safe than sorry. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/bauman-s-country-meat-shop-brand-summer-sausages-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23