No. NO! Seriously, it is not safe. Red kidney beans contain a potent toxin called phytohaemagglutinin which can cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Fortunately, this toxin is deactivated by the heat of boiling. So boiled kidney beans, and this includes canned beans, are perfectly safe. But slow cooking uses lower temperatures than boiling, which is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The actual temperature reached in a slow cooker varies by model and the setting used, but it is always below boiling−this is the very definition of slow cooking! Thus, the toxin in kidney beans will not be deactivated, at least not fully, by slow cooking.
You can safely cook kidney beans in a slow cooker if you soak them overnight and then boil them for 10 minutes before putting in the slow cooker, but it hardly seems worth the trouble! And as I already mentioned, canned kidney beans are perfectly safe.
By the way, other beans (for example cannelini and turtle beans) also contain phytohaemagglutinin but in much lower concentrations than red kidney beans. I have not seen any warnings about cooking those in a slow cooker.
Drinking hot lemon water–that’s right, hot water with lemon juice added–according to various “influencers” has a plethora of health benefits. Really? Well, no, not really! Crikey, the things some people will believe! Yet another myth to be busted−and I’m just the one to do it!
These supposed health benefits include better hydration, burning more calories, lowering toxin levels, boosting immune function, better digestion, reduced bloating, smoother skin, and (last but not least) more energy and focus. Sorry folks, it just ain’t so.
Well, hydration, OK, we all know that staying properly hydrated is good. But you’ll get the same effect from drinking tea or just plain water. And lemons contain vitamin C and citric acid, two important nutrients, but unless you have a serious dietary deficiency, the amounts in a bit of lemon juice are not going to make any difference.
If you enjoy hot lemon water, have at it. It certainly can do no harm, but don’t expect miracle health benefits.
Well, the name certainly sounds like it came from Switzerland! But no, the name comes from the process used to tenderize the steak by pounding or rolling it, which is called swissing. The meat – a tough cut, typically round or chuck steak–is then floured and pan fried followed by simmering in a tomato/onion sauce until tender.
Eating seafood regularly can reduce your risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia. Scientists think that’s mostly because fish, and in particular fatty fish, contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids that promote brain and cardiovascular health. But what if you don’t like fish, or find it a bit pricey? Lots of people turn to omega-3 supplements, aka fish oil, which are inexpensive and readily available. Good idea, right?
Not so fast! Numerous studies have shown that getting your omega-3 fatty acid intake from a supplement does not have the same health benefits as getting them from real food, which generally means seafood. In fact, some studies have shown that omega-3 supplements have precisely zero cardiovascular or cognitive benefits. This seems counter-intuitive, so what gives? The details are not all worked out yet, but some possible reasons for this discrepancy are:
Nutritional supplements are not regulated in the US, so there is no guarantee that those fish oil capsules you bought actually contain what the label says they do.
The additional nutrients you get when eating fish may interact synergistically with the omega-3 fatty acids to provide health benefits. These additional nutrients are of course lacking when you take supplements.
The omega-3 fatty acids in supplements have been processed and seems to be absorbed by your body less efficiently that those directly from seafood.
What about vegetarians/vegans and those allergic to seafood? Fortunately, there are good plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids, for example flax seed (and flax seed oil), chia seeds, walnuts, and soybeans.
Technically speaking, these two words have different meanings. Healthy means to be in a state of good health, as in the Olympic athletes are all healthy. In contrast, healthful refers to something that is good for your health, for example kale and tofu are healthful foods.
But languages change, and with respect to English the meaning of the word healthy is rapidly changing and, more often than not, healthy is used to mean healthy. Traditionalists and grammar Nannies may not like this, but there is no going back.
It’s unfortunately true that rice contains more inorganic arsenic, which is highly toxic, than other grains. This is simply in the nature of rice, to concentrate whatever little bits of arsenic are present in the soil and water. It is a tiny, tiny amount, perhaps 50-100 ppb (parts per billion), and presents no known health risk. But the arsenic is in the rice, not on the surface, so rinsing will do little or no good.
It is still a good idea to rinse rice before cooking in most situations to remove excess surface starch, which would make the cooked rice gummy.
Should you worry about arsenic in rice? Generally, no because the amount of arsenic in rice is very low and not considered to be a health risk. But if you are a fretter, you can minimize your arsenic exposure from rice:
Be aware that brown rice has on average 50% more arsenic than white rice.
Cook rice like you cook pasta, in lots of water (6 parts water to 1 part rice). Drain when tender and return to the empty pan and cover for 5-10 minutes. This removes as much as half the arsenic.
Focus on basmati rice, white or brown, which tends to have less arsenic than other varieties.
If you eat a lot of rice and are a bit worried, consider adding other grains to your diet to replace some of the rice. For example, quinoa, barley, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, polenta, bulgur, and farro.
Well, sorta but not really! To be precise, Clementines are a type of Mandarin orange. In other words, all Clementines are Mandarins but not all Mandarins are Clementines. Does it matter? There are some differences between the two:
Mandarins are slightly larger and often have a lot of seeds (pips), whereas Clementines have a few or no seeds.
Mandarins are very aromatic and sometimes have a bit of tartness, whereas Clementines are less aromatic and sweeter.
Clementines have a thicker skin and are easier to peel.
Mandarin oranges have been cultivated in China and elsewhere for thousands of years. Clementines are the result of a natural hybridization (a cross between two species) between a sweet orange (Citrus × sinensis) and a Mediterranean willowleaf mandarin (Citrus × deliciosa). This was discovered in the late 19th century in Misserghin, Algeria by Brother Clément Rodier, a French missionary monk who worked at an orphanage in the region. In 1892, he noticed an uncultivated citrus tree near the orphanage garden. His interest piqued, Brother Clément made grafts from this tree, thus cultivating the first Clementines. The fruit is, of course, named after him. Note that Clementines are often marketed as “Cuties” or “Sweeties.”
As a point of interest, tangerines are also a type of Mandarin orange. According to the Citrus Variety Collection of the University of California, there are 167 different hybrids and varieties of Mandarins.
My Mom used to tell me this to encourage me to eat my spinach…which I hated! But dear old Mom was wrong. Spinach indeed contains a lot of iron, but almost all of the iron is in a form that your body cannot use, and it just passes right through you. Popeye was a fraud it seems!
Dietary iron comes in two forms. Heme iron, which is found only in animal products—meat, poultry, and seafood. Then there is non-heme iron which is found in many plants. Your body readily absorbs heme iron and can use it for making red blood cells and other needs. Non-heme iron, in contrast, is very poorly absorbed so the body cannot use it. To make things worse, spinach contains a lot of oxalic acid, which further inhibits iron absorption. So sorry Mom, I am not going to eat the spinach!
Because heme iron is found only in animal flesh, vegetarians/vegans often suffer from iron deficiency anemia. With careful diet planning and/or supplements this can be avoided.
Many cooks like to sauté mushrooms, usually in a bit of butter or oil, until they are a bit brown. This improves the flavor and texture. And most people add the salt (if they are using it) right at the start of cooking. Turns out that this is not a good idea! Adding salt at the end of gives better results.
Here’s why. Adding salt at the start can draw liquid out of the ‘shrooms, and this liquid will inhibit browning. So, add that NaCl right at the end of cooking. You’ll thank me!
Many people hard-cook eggs by putting them in already-boiling water. The temperature shock, it is claimed, causes the shell to expand quickly and crack, with stringy egg white leaking out. But while this seems to make sense, it is not true.
First of all, an expanding shell in not likely to crack–a shrinking shell is. In this case, an egg might crack when it is done cooking and is transferred from the boiling water to the cold. Of course, by this time, cracks do not matter.
iI one saw Julia Child, on her show, demonstrate this. She took a bunch of raw eggs from an ice water bath directly into boiling water, and not one of them cracked. Pretty convincing!
So, why do some eggs crack? It seems to be two things. Some eggs already have invisible cracks in them from rough handling during production and shipping. These will indeed open up in hot water and release egg white. Also, rapidly boiling water will bounce the eggs around and cause new cracks. Thus, if you must boil eggs, use gently simmering water.
But the best way to cook “hard-boiled” eggs is, in my and many other cooks’ opinions, steaming. Please refer to this post.
