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Yet another foodscare :-(

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:22 am

In this article, the line that shocked me was "All 21 types of sea salt tested contained microplastics". I also didn't realise teabags contained plastic products, I thought they were made from plant derivatives.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... rna-codrai

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Badger's Mate » Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:32 pm

We discovered a couple of years ago that there were little white puffs in our garden compost. These were the skeletons of teabags past. At the time it was commonly recommended (for example by RHS & Garden Organic) that teabags should still be composted, the current feeling is that they should be avoided.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Renée » Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:31 pm

Oh dear, Sakkarin,, so it's back to Saxa!!!

:gonzo :gonzo

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby jeral » Mon Apr 16, 2018 12:45 am

Talking of Saxa, I recall that James Martin from his early days when he wore his bandana in his Simply Fish series always specified rock salt whether sea or river/lake fish.

Anyone know why?

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:19 am

Possibly he just likes it?

I remeber when I was a child table salt came in a drum with a little spout, either Saxa or Cerebos. But cooking salt (without ant-caking agent, used for tasks such as pickling red cabbage and salting runnerbeans) came in solid blocks. All rock salt from Cheshire

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Gillthepainter » Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:09 am

Jeral.
I've salt crusted things, and the salt goes into the potato/ meat/ vegetables. Tap tap. Break it open to a pleasantly salted dish.

But table salt I reckon will dry out your food. Toughening it, more for preserving.
The food is more aggressively salted as the water is drawn out.

I'm thinking rock salt is kinder to the delicacies of the fish.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Renée » Mon Apr 16, 2018 11:23 am

From what I've read, James Martin used rock salt to encrust the fish.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:05 pm

Gillthepainter wrote:Jeral.
I've salt crusted things, and the salt goes into the potato/ meat/ vegetables. Tap tap. Break it open to a pleasantly salted dish.

But table salt I reckon will dry out your food. Toughening it, more for preserving.
The food is more aggressively salted as the water is drawn out.

I'm thinking rock salt is kinder to the delicacies of the fish.


Why would table salt dry it out more? I haven't found food very salty after salt crust baking, I keep surplus egg whites in little pots in the freezer for making salt crust and I find any kind of salt works. I've also made the kind that just uses water, but I find the egg white kind easier to handle

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Gillthepainter » Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:05 pm

Well the size of the crystals differs.
Rock salt could draw water out slower than fine table salt.

I find table salt saltier. Might be down to the amount because of the particle size.
And prefer large crystal salts. Especially with fish and foods.

As i don't salt some things, such as vegetables, I do taste it strongly when used.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:22 pm

The reason table salt tastes saltier is as far as I know just because the little crystals dissolve almost instantly in your mouth. But once packed into a crust, I can't see crystal size making much difference, I've not noticed any tendency for much water to be drawn out at all. I would think however that coarse salt is easier ot pack into a crust

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Alexandria » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:30 am

Sakkarin, :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit :vomit

I had read online that there is a Romaine Lettuce "scare" in the Usa .. And all vegetable markets, supermarkets etcetra, shall have to remove this lettuce ..

I am as techi as a peanut, so I could not post the link ..

Seems that these Usa Romaine lettuces are poisonous which does not surprise me considering all the Genetically Modified Food over the blue pond ..

Have a lovely day .. :wave :wave
Last edited by Alexandria on Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Barcelona, soulful & spirited, filled with fine art, amazing architecture, profoundly steeped in culture & history, and it engages all your senses, and food fancies.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby jeral » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:51 am

First, could you Alexandria or Sakkarin please edit your post to correct "Romanian" (from the country) to "romaine" being the type of lettuce affected in the USA.

There have been similar e-coli outbreaks in veg from Europe and many producers suffered (whether responsible or not) which from memory I think they eventually attributed to improperly treated manure fertiliser. I'm surprised you don't remember it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13698760

As far as I know, there is no current outbreak in European countries so we sshould all feel confident in new season veg arriving :)

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Sakkarin » Tue Apr 17, 2018 1:03 pm

I think the misunderstanding is because in Spanish the country is "Rumania", and the lettuce is "Romana".

In the UK the lettuce is "Romaine" and the country/inhabitant are "Romania/Romanian".

It is also known as "Cos" here, which apparently refers to the Greek island.

Greek? Italian (Roman)? Romanian? Who knows!?!

No need to edit anything, we've covered it here.

Incidentally I disagree with the comments in another thread that our normal "flabby" lettuce is inferior to the crispy ones. For some Vietnamese dishes it is chosen in preference specifically because it is more flavourful than the crispy lettuces, and it coincidentally wraps better.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby mark111757 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 2:49 pm

Mum had the famous blue drum, here in the states, of Morton salt in her cupboard. As I recall she used it for everything.

Fast forward 40/45 years, at the store I worked at, chef used Morton's kosher salt crystals. You have better control of how much was in a two finger or three finger pinch. I really think the kosher salt had a better flavour than table salt.

Some people love it, but I never got into romaine lettuce. Iceberg was whstbwe had growing up and I suspect what dad had in his garden. I would love to try baby jem lettuce. Use them as lettuce cups too.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Joanbunting » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:01 pm

I've always wondered just what makes kosher salt different from ...... salt. Can someone enlighten me please?

Mark do you ever remember Diamond Crystal salt in the USA? It always seemed to feature next to Mortons but I know the works closed some years ago.

My regular salt is from the Camargue tastes good but absolutely no use in a cellar or mill.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby jeral » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:11 pm

Yes, all covered re Romaine now :)

Is roundhead still as flavoursome?
It was its main selling point when iceberg was its main competitor. Don't often see it TBH - maybe we'll grow more in the UK after Brexit if indeed we re-start growing things subordinated to imports. (It can also be added to broth soups in torn bits at the end.

Savoy and cavolo nero cabbage (well blanched) make good wraps for dolmas since not as stringy as vine leaves.

Not forgetting valuable Vit K in the "eat your greens" mantra too 8-)
---

Joanbunting, this link might help: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php ... ular-salt/
Gillthepainter referred to crystal size. I've only seen kosher salt advertised as flakes, which thus presumably reduces the crystal size.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Stokey Sue » Tue Apr 17, 2018 4:36 pm

Tbomas Keller explained the kosher salt thing on a TV prog I saw

Kosher salt is really salt for koshering, as part of the preparation of kosher meat it has to be sprinkled with salt - I see 14 lb sacks of Israeli sea salt for koshering going into the kosher butcher's round the corner.

Kosher salt has to be coarse grained and contain no additives so it is very good for cooking, adding no flavour other than salt, but most US table salt is iodised, and so slightly bitter, so fine chefs like Mr Keller won't use it

Adding to the circularity of the lettuce discussion, apparently the lettuce is not named after the island of Kos / Cos but the island is named after the medieval Arabic for lettuce due to its shape :lol:

Best lettuce my Dad ever grew was a heritage variety, sort of russet edged (like Red Gem) looked like Webb's in size and shape but much softer, good flavour, would be great for wraps. Sadly, Sutton's no longer sell it

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby mark111757 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:12 pm

Joan

Have vague recollections of diamond salt...

Website

https://www.diamondcrystalsalt.com

An interesting recipe for preserved lemons

https://www.diamondcrystalsalt.com/reci ... ed-lemons-

Morton salt

https://www.mortonsalt.com/home-categor ... ary-salts/

morton-table-salt-2-340x587.png
morton-table-salt-2-340x587.png (250.25 KiB) Viewed 8229 times

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby Gillthepainter » Tue Apr 17, 2018 5:47 pm

Thanks for the link, Jeral, good find.

It seems to indeed refer to the larger grain size not making the food overly salty.
Unlike the smaller grains.

Joan, I got a big bag of camargue salt.
I liked it.

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Re: Yet another foodscare :-(

Postby mistakened » Wed Apr 18, 2018 4:46 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:
Adding to the circularity of the lettuce discussion, apparently the lettuce is not named after the island of Kos / Cos but the island is named after the medieval Arabic for lettuce due to its shape :lol:

Best lettuce my Dad ever grew was a heritage variety, sort of russet edged (like Red Gem) looked like Webb's in size and shape but much softer, good flavour, would be great for wraps. Sadly, Sutton's no longer sell it


Sorry to butt in but I understood that the word Cos as in lettuce was derived from the medieval French Gros, meaning that it was a big lettuce

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