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Happy New Year. Some friends of ours just came back from a trip to Mexico and they brought us a bottle of vanilla concentrate. I’ve never used ‘concentrate’ before so decided to Google it. Some people are saying to not use it for it could cause liver damage if there’s a certain ingredient in it. Can you help clarify some of this for me and if’s it’s okay to use does one use it as normal vanilla in recipes?
--Belinda
Vanilla extract is a liquid food flavoring made from the seed pods of the vanilla plant. There are numerous varieties of the vanilla plant that are used for making vanilla flavoring and extract. In fact, the first records of vanilla are from when the Spanish arrived in the Gulf of Mexico, around the area that is now known as Veracruz.
While there may be some perfectly good and safe vanilla made in Mexico, unfortunately there are others that are not safe and shouldn't be used. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration one ingredient that is used in making so-called vanilla flavoring is the bean of the Tonka plant (Dipteryx odorata, also known as Coumarouna odorata). The tonka bean is sometimes described as double vanilla or vanilla on steroids, due to its strong flavor. Unfortunately, tonka also contains a substance called Coumarin, which has blood thinning properties and has been shown to cause liver damage. Because of this, foods and foodstuffs containing tonka bean or its extract are banned in the United States and several other countries.
The FDA says "Be wary about buying products labeled "Vainilla" or "Extracto de Vainilla" in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Look for "vanilla bean" in the ingredient list on the label. If it has "tonka bean" or if there is no ingredient list or a vague one, do not purchase this product."
My best advice is to thank your friends for thinking of you and go back to using your favorite store-bought vanilla. It is not worth the risk to your health, or that of your loved onces, to use any ingredient that you are not confident is safe.
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered, nor can we guarantee we will answer questions immediately
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward
Tales from an Old Salt
Salt, whether of the table salt variety or harvested by vestal virgins under a full moon in October contains almost no iodine, unless it is added. According to M. G. Venkatesh Mannar, Executive Director The Micronutrient Initiative Ottawa, Canada, and John T. Dunn, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A.1:
Mother liquor is the liquid part of a solution that is left over after crystallization. In other words, when salt is made by evaporation of sea water, the small quantity of iodine that was in the water stays there and does not precipitate out in significant amounts when salt crystals drop out of solution.
The main dietary sources of iodine are seafood, sea vegetation, such as kelp, and until recently dairy products. With recent changes to sanitary practices at dairy operations, the amount of iodine found in dairy products is decreasing in some parts of the world2. It is also found in foods supplemented with iodine and in vegetables grown in iodine rich locations, typically close to the ocean.
Iodine is added to table salt not to make up for it not being found in salt deposits, but because in some places there is not enough iodine from local dietary sources to prevent the occurrence of goiters, an enlargement of the thyroid gland visible as a swelling of the front of the neck, and cretinism in infants from a deficiency of iodine in the mother's diet during pregnancy. The Great Lakes, Midwest, and inner mountain areas of the United States were once called the "goiter belt" because a high number of goiter cases occurred there3. Usually this is caused by iodine-poor soil.
The dietary requirement for iodine is about 150 micrograms (μg) daily for adults, less for children and more for expecting mothers4. Iodine is added to table salt, in the form of potassium iodide (KI) or potassium iodate (KIO3), in most, if not all, developed countries. In some coutries it may be added to flour also.
As for the rest of the 79 or so minerals, supposedly found in sea salt, the question isn't really what is there, but rather a) can you really taste a difference, and b) are any of those minerals essential for human health and otherwise absent from normal diets. If you are a frequent reader of KitchenSavvy, you have likely heard me riff on before about claims that you can taste the difference. If you have a really good sense of taste and a really mild food, then maybe. For most cooks in most recipes, I would hazard a guess that in a controlled, blind tasting of something like stew, you probably would never know what kind of salt was used.
So, this is the problem I have. Star chefs spout off recipes calling for sea salt, or flaky kosher salt, or salt harvested from the dark side of the moon. Readers and viewers happily follow the advice, paying exorbitant prices to buy specialty salts and the salt companies laugh all the way to the bank. Meanwhile, there is a very real risk to health, due to iodine deficiency, that is completely neglected. Combine that with a food fad like the 100 Mile Diet and you have a recipe for disaster!
For most foods, plain old boring table salt is all you need. As a garnish, or maybe in a few special cases, fancy salt may add something, but most of the time, it is just money down the drain.
Oh, and by the way, much of the time the colors in specialty salts are either impurities such as clay that are found in the water where the salt is harvested and have no nutritional value, or coloring agents, such as finely ground charcoal, that are added at the processor to make the salt look exotic.
_________
Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered, nor can we guarantee we will answer questions immediately
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward
Posted by Dave on Jan 29, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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