"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...
The message
from "Christina Websell" contains
these words:


One of the instructions was to peel the parsnips. BTW, carrot skins are
also toxic to insects.

You keep hearing that. Carrot flies can't be insects then. Another long-held
belief dashed :-(

I've discovered over the years that there is a
correlation between eating carrots and ageing. The more carrots you eat,
the older you get.

That's very true.

I haven't tested this against other foods, but I suspect that the
correlation might hold good there too.

It is. Not many people know it though.

Moral: stop eating, and live forever.

What sort of a life would it be without parsnips though? Although I suppose
parsnip wine might do, better get practising.

Mary

Kate Morgan wrote:
My daughter let some of her last years parsnips go to seed and they were
in her opinion very attractive plants. Yesterday she decided she needed
the room and so pulled them up. A passer by told her that in that state
they were very dangerous and could cause health problems, [...]

I noticed several blisters on my hands and wrists about a day after
hacking down my parsnip foliage. The blisters did not itch and
eventually went away. They left pale brown scars, of which I can still
find one or two if I look carefully. That's about three years later. Of
course, it _may_ have been caused by something else.

I don't recall any reaction to any other plant I've handled.

Cheers

Edwin
Bath.
-----

Rusty Hinge 2 wrote:
[]
À propos de rien, when I was four I was at boarding school in Seaford,
[]

Drifting further off topic, hats off to you, mate. I was all set to
correct you
about accents on majuscules in French, but your Seaford education stood
you in good stead.

The Academie Francaise has this to say about it:

Accentuation des majuscules

Quant à l’utilisation des accents sur les majuscules, il est
malheureusement manifeste que l’usage est flottant. On observe dans les
textes manuscrits une tendance certaine à l’omission des accents. Il en
va de même dans les textes dactylographiés, en raison notamment des
possibilités limitées qu’offrent les machines traditionnelles. En
typographie, enfin, certains suppriment tous les accents sur les
capitales sous prétexte de modernisme, en fait pour réduire les frais de
composition.

Il convient cependant d’observer qu’en français, l’accent a pleine
valeur orthographique. Son absence ralentit la lecture, fait hésiter sur
la prononciation, et peut même induire en erreur.

On veille donc, en bonne typographie, à utiliser systématiquement les
capitales accentuées, y compris la préposition À, comme le font bien sûr
tous les dictionnaires, à commencer par le Dictionnaire de l’Académie
française, ou les grammaires, comme le Bon usage de Grevisse, mais aussi
l’Imprimerie nationale, la Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, etc. Quant aux
textes manuscrits ou dactylographiés, il est évident que leurs auteurs,
dans un souci de clarté et de correction, auraient tout intérêt à suivre
également cette règle, en tirant éventuellement parti des ressources
nouvelles que peuvent offrir les traitements de texte modernes.

Il en va de même pour le tréma et la cédille.

Now if only I could figure out how to do it conveniently on this damned
Mac!

-E

In article ,
"Cerumen" writes:
|
| Same here, I almost never peel any root vegetables before cooking and it
| hasn't killed me yet.

Don't try it with cassava :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I am supprised that no one has picked up on the fact that parsnips are
the same family as Hemlock.
Wild parsnips are quite toxic and can cause phototoxic symptoms in
some people and animals
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

In article ,
Dave Hill writes:
|
| I am supprised that no one has picked up on the fact that parsnips are
| the same family as Hemlock.

And tomatoes are as deadly nightshade and thorn apple, beans are as
laburnum (and even more toxic tropical plants), and so on.

| Wild parsnips are quite toxic and can cause phototoxic symptoms in
| some people and animals

So can thousands of widely-grown plants. The symptoms are not "feeling
unwell", in any case.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

snipped all interesting stuff on subject but thank you all for input which I
will pass on to daughter dear and suggest that maybe its not everyone who
suffers a reaction and sadly she was one of them. I remember she did say the
plant did look very like a Giant Hogweed,

thanks again we live and learn

kate

In message
,
Dave Hill writes
I am supprised that no one has picked up on the fact that parsnips are
the same family as Hemlock.

I had assumed that people knew that. Apiaceae includes several crop
plants (parsley, carrot, parsnip, celery/celeriac, coriander, sweet
cicely, fennel, dill) and some of the most toxic plants in the British
flora (hemlock, water dropwort, cowbane)

It's not the only family with a mix of crop and poisonous plants -
Fabaceae and especially Solanaceae have a similar mixture.

Wild parsnips are quite toxic and can cause phototoxic symptoms in
some people and animals
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries


--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

The message
from Stewart Robert Hinsley contains these words:

Wikipedia claims, but does not provide a citation, that *wild* parsnips
cause phytophotodermatis (presumably as per giant hogweed). Google finds
references to this, but also finds that cow parsnip refers to what we
know as hogweeds, which could confuse the matter. However, it seems to
me on a casual perusal that wild parsnip is among the culprits. (Wild
carrot can also cause phytophotodermatis.) The active constituent is the
same as in rue, another notorious cause of skin blistering.

If there's other health issues then you'll have to dig further to find
them. (I seem to recall a report in New Scientist many years ago that
parsnips contain carcinogens, but quite possibly every crop plant
contains compounds that are carcinogenic in sufficient concentration -
Google finds an 1981 report to that effect at
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/News/parsnips.html)

Water dropworts of various flavours look similar to parsnips and smell
similar TAAAW and at least some are very poisonous, but they are only a
related species, not true parsnips.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article
,
Dave Hill writes:
|
| I am supprised that no one has picked up on the fact that parsnips are
| the same family as Hemlock.

And tomatoes are as deadly nightshade and thorn apple, beans are as
laburnum (and even more toxic tropical plants), and so on.

However, tomatoes are much more closely related to black nightshade,
whose berries are edible when ripe, in just the same way as green
tomatoes are slightly poisonous, but on ripening, become free of the
relevant toxin.

Black nightshade berries are quite widely eaten on every continent
except Antarctica, and I concoct a very passable ersatz blueberry pie
filling with them, and some added sugar and tartaric (or ascorbic) acid.

You *CAN* use citric acid, but IME it tastes of lemon.

rant

And it's added to most commercial jams, and ruins their flavour.

/rant

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

The message
from Emery Davis contains these words:

Il en va de même pour le tréma et la cédille.

Now if only I could figure out how to do it conveniently on this damned
Mac!

Avez vous de chose semblable à 'Character Map'? Sinon, copiez et sauvez
ceux-ci:

Ç

and

ç

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

In article ,
Rusty Hinge 2 writes:
|
| However, tomatoes are much more closely related to black nightshade,
| whose berries are edible when ripe, in just the same way as green
| tomatoes are slightly poisonous, but on ripening, become free of the
| relevant toxin.
|
| Black nightshade berries are quite widely eaten on every continent
| except Antarctica, and I concoct a very passable ersatz blueberry pie
| filling with them, and some added sugar and tartaric (or ascorbic) acid.

Er, not quite. At one stage, I got interested, and did some quite
extensive poking around for information - including in scientific
papers.

Black nightshade is, indeed, widely eaten - but also causes quite
a lot of cases of (usually non-fatal) poisoning. Their toxicity or
lack of it may depend on the variety, the growing conditions, the
degree of ripeness, and their preparation. The scientists who tried
to identify what factors were important and the toxins wrote some
ambivalent papers and then seemed to move onto less confusing areas
of research.

| You *CAN* use citric acid, but IME it tastes of lemon.
|
| rant
|
| And it's added to most commercial jams, and ruins their flavour.
|
| /rant

Just think how sickly they would be without it!


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Rusty Hinge 2 writes:
|
| However, tomatoes are much more closely related to black nightshade,
| whose berries are edible when ripe, in just the same way as green
| tomatoes are slightly poisonous, but on ripening, become free of the
| relevant toxin.
|
| Black nightshade berries are quite widely eaten on every continent
| except Antarctica, and I concoct a very passable ersatz blueberry pie
| filling with them, and some added sugar and tartaric (or ascorbic) acid.

Er, not quite. At one stage, I got interested, and did some quite
extensive poking around for information - including in scientific
papers.

I think we've had a similar conversation before...

Black nightshade is, indeed, widely eaten - but also causes quite
a lot of cases of (usually non-fatal) poisoning. Their toxicity or
lack of it may depend on the variety, the growing conditions, the
degree of ripeness, and their preparation. The scientists who tried
to identify what factors were important and the toxins wrote some
ambivalent papers and then seemed to move onto less confusing areas
of research.

I asked Kew, and they had no knowledge of any toxic issues.

I have though, spoken to many people, most of whom haven't any idea that
there *IS* something called 'black nightshade' and all too many of them
think woody nightshade is deadly nightshade.

There is a comprehensive ignorance in the minds of even countryfolk. I
wouldn't mind betting that if you showed a number of them a black
nightshade plant, the majority would say it was deadly nightshade.

| You *CAN* use citric acid, but IME it tastes of lemon.
|
| rant
|
| And it's added to most commercial jams, and ruins their flavour.
|
| /rant

Just think how sickly they would be without it!

There are natural acids in fruit, and the citric acid is added to set
the sugar without too much effort. Some jams (and marmalades) are so
hard that when you mine a lump from the jar and try to spread it on a
slice, the progress of the jam heaps-up a pile of butter before it.

Frank Cooper's Oxford Marmalade is a case in point. I unforget it how it
was when I was a young brat: proper marmalade, which could sneak off the
side of your toast if you were unwary. In order to make the modern block
of stuff usable, I have to heat it almost to boiling-point and add half
of its original volume of fluid. I nominate a cheap malt whisky (such as
Lidl's Glen Orchy), along with some (half a cup) thinly-sliced
crystallised ginger, pre-soaked in aforsaid malt.

OK, fair's fair, I buy it now simply because I can add so much whisky innit.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

In article ,
Rusty Hinge 2 writes:
|
| I think we've had a similar conversation before...

We have.

| I asked Kew, and they had no knowledge of any toxic issues.

That must have been a while back, unless you know someone there, as
their new policy is that they don't talk to amateur botanists.

| I have though, spoken to many people, most of whom haven't any idea that
| there *IS* something called 'black nightshade' and all too many of them
| think woody nightshade is deadly nightshade.
|
| There is a comprehensive ignorance in the minds of even countryfolk. I
| wouldn't mind betting that if you showed a number of them a black
| nightshade plant, the majority would say it was deadly nightshade.

That is why I looked at the scientific papers. What is clear is
that it is quite safe under some conditions, and unsafe under others,
and there is no consensus on what those conditions are!

The main difference between it and common staples is that we tend
to know the conditions under which the latter can be eaten safely.

| There are natural acids in fruit, and the citric acid is added to set
| the sugar without too much effort. Some jams (and marmalades) are so
| hard that when you mine a lump from the jar and try to spread it on a
| slice, the progress of the jam heaps-up a pile of butter before it.

Some of them. There isn't much in strawberry or quince. Seriously
acid and pectin-rich fruits (like japonica) produce a jam like that
with little effort :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...

| You *CAN* use citric acid, but IME it tastes of lemon.
|
| rant
|
| And it's added to most commercial jams, and ruins their flavour.
|
| /rant

Just think how sickly they would be without it!

There are natural acids in fruit, and the citric acid is added to set
the sugar without too much effort.

Um. It's not a matter of 'setting the sugar'! It's said that it extracts the
pectin from the fruit but a lot of fruit has so little pectin that ... well
never mind.

I make ALL our jams and marmalades and have done so decades. I've never,
ever, used citric acid in powder or fruit form, nor bottled or pectin
extracted by me from apples. It's not necessary. Jam doesn't HAVE to be like
a jelly, it just needs to hold itself together well enough to be able to use
a knife to extract it from the jar rather than the spoon. My test used to be
to invert the jar of cold jam for a few seconds, if it didn't fall or ooze
out it was fine.

Some jams (and marmalades) are so
hard that when you mine a lump from the jar and try to spread it on a
slice, the progress of the jam heaps-up a pile of butter before it.

You shouldn't buy it then, make your own. It's easy and far, far better.

I used to make a marmalade with honey, to sell. It was very popular but for
various reasons I stopped selling it. I have boxes full of lovely mature
marmalade which will probably see us out. (Un)fortunately the sugar in it
has crystallised into large, tasty lumps which we love. An 8oz jar lasts us
for many weeks, thus giving time for the crystallisation to continue to the
bottom of the jar.

Licious.

Frank Cooper's Oxford Marmalade is a case in point. I unforget it how it
was when I was a young brat: proper marmalade, which could sneak off the
side of your toast if you were unwary. In order to make the modern block
of stuff usable, I have to heat it almost to boiling-point and add half
of its original volume of fluid. I nominate a cheap malt whisky (such as
Lidl's Glen Orchy), along with some (half a cup) thinly-sliced
crystallised ginger, pre-soaked in aforsaid malt.

OK, fair's fair, I buy it now simply because I can add so much whisky
innit.

You could make your own marmalade with whisky but I'd prefer to use
something better than paint stripper. But there again I use 30yo Armagnac
when I flambé a steak ...

Mary
p.s. so good to see that you use butter instead of something produced by men
in white coats. Why not enhance it with your own produce?