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News and Information for Chefs, Cooks and Foodies
 The small fruit has the color of a cranberry, the shape of an almond and tastes like a flavorless gummy. But after chewing the fruit and rubbing the pulp against the tongue, the berry, known by a promising name -- "miracle fruit" or Synsepalum dulcificum -- releases a sweetening potency that alters the taste buds. For about 15 to 30 minutes, everything sour is sweet. Lemons lose their zing and taste like candy. Oranges become sickeningly sweet. Hot sauce that usually burns the tongue tastes like honey barbecue sauce that scorches as it trickles down the throat. Through word of mouth, these miracle fruits have inspired "taste tripping" parties, where foodies and curious eaters pay $10 to $35 to try the berries, which are native to West Africa. More... Labels: Health, Industry, Learn, Odds and Ends  FRESNO, Calif. – Federal food safety officials warned Monday that consumers should stop eating all foods containing pistachios while they figure out the source of a possible salmonella contamination. Still reeling from the national salmonella outbreak in peanuts, the Food and Drug Administration said central California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, was voluntarily recalling a portion of the roasted nuts it has been shipping since last fall. A Setton spokeswoman said that amounts to more than 2 million pounds of nuts. "Our advice to consumers is that they avoid eating pistachio products, and that they hold onto those products," said Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety. "The number of products that are going to be recalled over the coming days will grow, simply because these pistachio nuts have then been repackaged into consumer-level containers." More... Labels: Eat, Health, Odds and Ends  CHICAGO — Doctors are puzzling over what seems to be an increase in the number of children withkidney stones, a condition some blame on kids' love of cheeseburgers, fries and other salty foods. Kidney stones are usually an adult malady, one that is notorious for causing excruciating pain _ pain worse than childbirth. But while the number of affected children isn't huge, kids with kidney stones have been turning up in rising numbers at hospitals around the country. At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the number of children treated for kidney stones since 2005 has climbed from about 10 a year to five patients a week now, said Dr. Pasquale Casale. Johns Hopkins Children Center in Baltimore, a referral center for children with stones, used to treat one or two youngsters a year 15 or so years ago. Now it gets calls about new cases every week, said kidney specialist Dr. Alicia Neu. In a 2007 study in the Journal of Urology, doctors at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center reported a nearly fivefold increase in children brought in with kidney stones between 1994 and 2005. In 2005, 61 youngsters were treated there for stones. More... Labels: Health, Odds and Ends  Wait Four Minutes After Boiling, Doctor Says Drinking freshly boiled tea can increase the risk of cancer of the esophagus, according to a new study conducted in Iran. Researchers studied 300 people with the most common kind of throat cancer and compared them to 571 similar people. But an accompanying editorial says these findings are not cause for alarm and the general advice is to allow foods and beverages to cool a little before swallowing. Researchers found that people who drank tea between 65 and 70 degrees Celsius (149 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit) had twice the risk of throat cancer as those who drank cooler tea. Those who had it hotter than 70 degrees Celsius had eight times the risk. More... Labels: Drink, Health, Lifestyle  By MILT FREUDENHEIM Nina Zagat, the queen of eat-and-tell restaurant guides, is invading a new and even trickier reviewing niche: doctors. The ubiquitous Zagat guides are known for an assortment of mostly leisure-related topics including hotels, spas, golf courses, movies and nightlife. Now the editors are asking people covered by one of the country’s largest commercial insurers to post reviews of their doctors and rate them in categories like trust and communication. As in other Zagat guides, the responses are summarized and presented as scores that, in this case, are edited by the insurance company WellPoint. They can be viewed only by WellPoint customers. The reviews are being introduced online to millions of WellPoint’s Blue Cross plan members across the country. Ms. Zagat said in an interview that unlike the food reviewers, patients are not encouraged to be “pithy and witty” (you will not read how a doctor’s “icy hands” and “crowded waiting room” made the exam “a downer”). Not surprisingly, many doctors, including those in California, Connecticut and North Carolina, where the Zagat-WellPoint venture was first introduced, have given the idea low marks. “It is curious that they would go to a company that had no experience in health care to try to find out how good a doctor is,” said Dr. William Handelman, a kidney specialist in Torrington who is president of the Connecticut State Medical Society. “It certainly is very subjective.” Dr. Angelo S. Carrabba, an obstetrician in Rocky Hill, Conn., complained that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a WellPoint company, was “treating medical care provided by dedicated and caring physicians as if we were preparing a meal.” Dr. Ronald C. Thurston, a psychiatrist in Ventura, Calif., questioned the validity of the Zagat feature, which is also offered by WellPoint’s Blue Cross of California unit. “Patients notoriously ignore their doctor’s advice to eat well and exercise,” he said. “Often they quit taking their pills when they’re feeling better. They usually don’t understand the technologies and skills needed for treatment.” More... Labels: Critics, Health, Industry  Culinary news and information for Chefs, Cooks and Foodies. Labels: Celebrities and Food, Crime, Critics, Drink, Eat, Entertainment, Health, Industry, Kitchen Catastrophes, Learn, Lifestyle, Notable Chefs, Odds and Ends, Uncategorized, Young Culinarians |
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