Avoiding Death by Garden

\”Are YOU Ready?\”

Have any of you read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma?  Parts of it have been drifting through my head this week as I plant seeds, for food that I may sell at market. Knowing that my family will eat the garden output is usually plenty of stress, but somehow knowing that I may sell that produce at market adds a little extra something to the thread of worry.

Will I kill someone with a beet? No, probably not, but could I mishandle my lettuce crop and give someone E. Coli? Much more possible, especially as I start to have larger harvests that I will have to store for at least some period of time before selling at market.

Part of the omnivore’s dilemma is about that risk we take as omnivores, by eating a wide array of foods, we’re constantly having to dodge the foods that will hurt or kill us.

Spoiled food, this one is easy, just don’t eat food that looks closer to dead than alive. Not selling spoiled food sounds like a no brainer, but apparently it’s enough of a problem that the Iowa State Extension puts out a pamphlet explaining to growers why/how to properly handle produce.

Food that grows on poisonous plants. This is one I run into as a gardener. Rhubarb is an example, the leaves are poisonous (oxalic acid) and should be discarded. Potatoes are another, they are members of the deadly nighshade group of plants and their green parts are high in Solanine.  The toxin levels are much lower in the tubers. However, exposure to light, physical damage, and age increase the Solanine content within the tuber. So I can remember that as I harvest and store and strive to lessen those as much as possible.

Food that must be processed in a special way. The classic here of course is cassava root, which is chocked full of cyanide that must be soaked and boiled away. Even Red Kidney beans, eaten raw contain a poison I can’t pronounce, phytohaemagglutinin, and can induce vomiting and diarrhea type symptoms within half a day. I found an interesting factoid while finding that last poison name.

However, lower cooking temperatures may have the paradoxical effect of potentiating the toxic effect of phytohaemagglutinin. Beans cooked at 176 °F are reported to be up five times as toxic as raw beans. Outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with the use of slow cookers, the low cooking temperatures of which may be unable to degrade the toxin.

My first thought went to solar cookers, as most of those will only cook at 150F or so. I will want to insure any beans get well above the 212 mark to destroy that phyto poison. This information might get put on any packaging if I ever start growing and selling dry beans.

Anyway, there are my random thoughts for today, You’re Welcome. Now, go and garden, but do it safely!

- Calamity Jane