When Blood is Blue

Royals and other people of privilege were said to have "blue blood." Where did this terminology come from? Some say that when they were pinched, their skin turned blueish. Or that, with their pale complexions, their veins looked blue. 

But for us ordinary folk, healthy blood is red. No matter what the skin color is, our blood is red because it is iron-based. All human blood contains hemoglobin, an iron-based substance that binds to oxygen and carries that life-giving gas from the lungs to all the cells of our bodies. 

Sometimes, very rarely, there is less hemoglobin in the blood when the condition of methaemoglobinaemia occurs. This can be genetic or acquired (by ingesting a toxin). The "blue people of Kentucky" suffered from this condition. They appeared blue, especially when angry, cold, or stressed. "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" is a fictional story of one of the blue people, by Kim Michele Richardson. It chronicles the story of a woman named Cussy Mary, who was named after the French village of Cussy where her grandfather was born. He was modeled on Martin Fugate, a French immigrant who inadvertently married a woman who also carried the recessive gene for methaemoglobinaemia. Four of their seven children had blue-tinged skin. 

The condition can be ameliorated with a tablet or injection. And sometimes it goes away on its own. But having a blue appearance can have its drawbacks, as the book tells in the story of Cussy and her family. She was a courageous woman, riding over the rugged mountainous countryside on her donkey, bringing books to the isolated people.  

We owe much to another blue-blooded creature, the horseshoe crab. It has a copper-based circulatory system, rather than iron. A remarkable property in its blood causes clotting in the presence of bacterial toxins. Because of this, anything that has to be sterile is usually tested in horseshoe crab blood before it is used on humans. Vaccines, implants, needles, prostheses. . . we must thank the horseshoe crab for the use of these life-saving technologies. 

The animal doesn't need to be killed to harvest its blood. It can be returned to the ocean to resume living its life. But studies have shown that the crabs lay fewer eggs after being bled and are less active. If the animals are harvested roughly, that can also cause stress. In some states, crabs are not required to be rehomed. They are used for bait or simply discarded. Since they are essentially a small amount of flesh surrounded by a hard shell, they aren't often eaten. But, considering how valuable they are to humans, they deserve a better life. Fortunately a synthetic version of horseshoe crab blood has been developed. Now, if the medical industry would only adopt it more. 

Read more about blue blood here:
https://theconversation.com/why-you-really-wouldnt-want-to-have-blue-blood-180360

and more about the bleeding of horseshoe crabs here:
https://www.npr.org/2023/06/10/1180761446/coastal-biomedical-labs-are-bleeding-more-horseshoe-crabs-with-little-accountabi

Caution! There is a photo of horseshoe crabs being bled in this story that may be upsetting. 

 

Photo of horseshoe crab courtesy of PBS. 

 

 

Comfort Food for Winter Nights

 The special days of winter stretch out like a string of lustrous black pearls: the winter solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Yule, New Year, Lunar New Year.... To balance out any indulging in holiday sugarplums, I try to have a comforting and nutritious soup always on hand. Sometimes this comes together like an old-fashioned potager. Leftover vegetables are sauteed in the bottom of a large pot, bits of meat or protein are added, then lots of broth and flavorings. 

This soup from Nico's Tiny Kitchen follows the potager formula, combining three of my favorite ingredients: potatoes, beans, and leeks. All of these keep well through the winter. I was surprised at how juicy and fragrant the leeks were since they had been in my fridge's produce drawer for two months (I bought them at the last farmer's market of the season in early October). I added garlic to the leeks and, with the garnish of chives, this could actually be called a three-onion soup. Or, more poetically, it could be titled Three Lilies Soup, since all the alliums are members of the Lily family. 

The procedure to wash leeks begins with slicing them lengthwise and fanning out the leaves, then swishing them in water to remove all traces of sand. The tender white and light green parts are used and the tough greens are put in the compost. 

Leeks have many antioxidents, minerals, and vitamins. They are beneficial for heart and circulatory system health. The fiber in leeks makes them low in calories. They are so nutritious that they're often recommended for a pregnancy diet. Perhaps that's why Rapunzel's mother craved the leeks from her neighbor's garden, leading to the child's imprisionment in a tower, according to a Grimm brothers' tale. But the word Rapunzel actually refers to other types of alliums. 

 

Leeks and garlic, chopped and ready for sautéing.

 

Marvelous Milkweed

It's not a weed, but milkweeds (Asclepias) are blooming now, often with bright pink blooms that attract pollinators like butterflies, moths and hummingbirds. They are also nutritious when the parts are harvested at the right time, but if harvested too late, nausea can occur. Milkweed seeds contain cardenolides and the ground-up seeds are sometimes used as a pesticide that kills harmful nematodes and armyworms. 

The little parachutes that milkweed uses to carry the seeds far and wide are useful too. During World War II children gathered milkweed pods for the military to use to make life jackets, since floss from the Javanese kapok tree was unavailable. While the floss repels water, it also absorbs oil, so it is now used in oil-spill clean-up kits instead of chemicals. We're seeing insulated winter garments, comforters and pillows made with the floss. The seeds have beneficial qualities when pressed for their oil, rich in antioxidants, fatty acids, and Vitamin E. 

Ode to a McDonald's Hamburger

 I was at loose ends between appointments one day and decided to have a fast-food hamburger. I couldn't find a Wendy's nearby (it's the only fast food place I've been to in years) so I stopped in at a McDonald's and went up to the counter. The young lady standing there seemed slightly alarmed and led me over to a kiosk, which is where you're supposed to place your order. She walked me through the choices and suggested I order a water with my hamburger. The kiosk took my credit card and shortly a paper sack and plastic cup appeared on the counter. 

The dining area was sparkling clean, quiet, and nearly empty. I enjoyed my hamburger--the pickle is my favorite part. I always wished it could be bigger. The bun is my least favorite, but this bun seemed to be smaller and less doughy than hamburgers of yore. 

The meat had a certain taste, a certain umami. I wondered if maybe it had been cooked in a sauce. It wasn't salty or sweet or greasy or oily. It was a full taste, although it didn't have a strong scent. I was pretty impressed. Leaving the place, I drove to my next appointment and marveled at the richness of the light streaming in my car windows. I heard clearly the bird song and the swoosh of the leaves overhead. There was a certain smell in the air. The smell followed me around and lingered for several days. 

What was in this hamburger anyway? Using the McDonald's web site, I found that the burger provides about one-third of the typical adult's protein needs and only 12 percent of carbs and 16 percent of fats. Reading the fine print, I learned that half of the fat was saturated and, wait, what's this? There was also half a gram of trans fat. Hadn't that been banned from food several years ago? 

More Googling showed that, while adding trans fats during processing was banned, a certain amount of trans fats are naturally made in the stomachs of ruminants. They show up in meat, butter and milk and have not proven to be harmful like the partially hydrogenated oils that have been banned. But still, to my sensitive system, the trans fat had a powerful effect. It seemed to awaken a hunger that had lain dormant and spurred intense cravings that haunted me for a couple of weeks. That one hamburger threatened to upend an eating cycle that I had flowed for more than two years. I'll not darken the door of McDonald's again for a long time if I can help it. 

The Lifelong Impacts of Eating Disorders

What is one of the deadliest mental illnesses, especially to young people whose bodies are still developing? Many people would be surprised to learn that eating disorders can have lifelong impacts and high rates of morbidity and mortality. According to JAMA Psychiatry, "individuals with eating disorders have significantly elevated mortality rates, with the highest rates occurring in those with anorexia nervosa." More can be learned about the main types of eating disorders and their impacts here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1107207

States are stepping up to fight the rise in eating disorders that is yet another effect of the pandemic. In Colorado, legislation has been introduced to establish a statewide office of disordered eating prevention and to limit the availability of diet pills and better oversee medical practices related to weight reduction.   

In Minnesota, state schools have been offering free breakfasts and lunches to students who qualify for them. But now, to reduce the stigma, the free meals are available to all students regardless of whether their families can afford to feed them or not. Is this going too far? I don't think so. It's clear that to be corralled into a group of needy people is traumatic for students who are already suffering. But there's another reason for my view: children of all strata of society suffer from food insecurity leading to disordered eating. It looks different on either end of the spectrum, typically. Families who are economically challenged substitute filling carbs, over-processed, cheap foods for nutritious whole fruits, vegetables, and proteins. But children in affluent families are often left to their own devices without knowledgeable guidance in choosing healthy foods. They are preyed on by deceptive advertising and harmful diet schemes and drugs. 

Consider the beautiful actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn. She was born to an aristocratic family and lived on an estate. But this child of privilege and wealth suffered from so much food insecurity and malnutrition that she had a weak constitution during early adulthood and had to give up her dreams of becoming a ballerina. When she was nine years old, World War II broke out, causing her family's fortunes to collapse. The family was reduced to Hepburn, her mother, and a half-sibling when the Germans restricted food supplies to the Netherlands where they lived, and she remembered making flour out of tulip bulbs. 

After the War, Hepburn suffered from anemia, jaundice and other maladies. Her experiences and the upheavals she witnessed affected her her whole life long. Described by The New York Times as "a young lady of extraordinary range of sensitive and moving expressions within such a frail and slender frame," she used her experiences to become not only a highly accomplished actress but also a compassionate and inspiring humanitarian. 

Sadly, Hepburn didn't always recognize the beauty that the world did. In a 1959 interview, she said, "I hated myself at certain periods. I was too fat, or maybe too tall, or maybe just plain too ugly... you can say my definiteness stems from underlying feelings of insecurity and inferiority." These self-images are also a hallmark of eating disorders. Alongside model Twiggy, she is credited with making extreme slimness fashionable in the 1960s, leading to a new wave of illness and malnutrition among women. The most famous victim was Karen Carpenter, who tragically died at the age of 32 from anorexia nervosa. Her story is recounted in The Guardian.

Super-slender models and actors have faded from the spotlight but there are still plenty of young people at risk. Many who were isolated during the pandemic and were scarred by exposure to harmful views on social media are still working through the impacts. First-time attendance at the Denver-based Eating Disorder Foundation’s family support groups has spiked more than one thousand percent. A Harvard analysis suggests that nearly 10 percent of people will develop an eating disorder in their lifetime. If it doesn't strike us, it will affect someone we know, someone we love. It's something worth thinking about, because Everybody Eats. 

More about Colorado's actions to prevent eating disorders here.

The Fruits and Flowers of Winter

The Fruits and Flowers of Winter

Around now, winter is wearing out its welcome. We long for the languid days of summer and the fresh breezes of spring. We may even flock to the florist's to cheer ourselves with flowers imported from tropical climes. 

But wait! Before you do that, explore some local sources of fragrant blooms, aromatic spices, and citrusy scents. 

Preserved Citrus

Dried or pickled oranges and lemons preserve the taste of summer as well as its nutrition. They are full of Vitamin C which is just what you need to ward off winter chills and sniffles. 

Preserved lemons are fun to cook with. Stuff a chicken, squash, or pumpkin with a preserved lemon for a bright but mellow taste. Preserving is easy: just fill a sterile jar with small whole lemons, lemon quarters, or strips of lemon peel and pour over a mixture of hot, salty lemon juice brine. Some people add bay leaves, star anise, or cloves, but this is entirely optional. Seal the jars and let mellow and cure for up to 60 days, shaking occasionally. With preserved lemons, you eat the peel, which becomes soft and chewy as it brines. Wash off excess salt before using your preserved lemons. 

I love the posts of David Lebovitz, who lives, dines, and writes from France. They're now growing citrus in-country! He celebrates that with a divine recipe for Grapefruit-Vermouth Jam Marmalade. It's grapefruit season in California, Arizona and Florida, so enjoy without guilt! Photo by learntopreserve.

Flower Power

Remember those hibiscus blossoms you gathered last summer? They're just waiting for you right now to make a fragrant tea. This works for the blossoms of chickweed, borage, viola, and many other plants. The chive blossoms, popped into rice vinegar, transform it into a rosy nectar. 

Here's a fun use for dried, pressed flowers: tea cookies! What better way to evoke summer than these sweet morsels.

Very Very Berry

Because of climate change, farmers are sending berry crops to market earlier and later in the season. But in Japan, things have gone too far, with farmers using fuel-burning greenhouses to produce strawberries for the Christmas holidays. They are starting to rethink this as data appear that show even transporting fruit from more tropical places beats growing local outside of the natural season. Learn more in this New York Times article. 

It won't be long until fresh berries start showing up in markets. If you'd like to try a traditional Indigenous recipe, here's one for Sweet Berry Wild Rice from Elena Terry (Ho-Chunk). It features Native ingredients like squash, maple syrup and wild rice in addition to blueberries, strawberries and cranberries, which can be fresh, dried or frozen. 

If you have chokecherries dried or in your freezer, take a tip from Wild Food Girl: "chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) lose their astringency when dried—astringency being that mouth-puckering sensation, sometimes confused with bitterness, that feels like the water is being sucked out of your mouth. After reading some accounts of indigenous peoples reconstituting dried chokecherries and enjoying them like fresh fruit, I soaked some in water. A few hours was not enough; it took 12 to 18 hours to get a desirable result. But at that point, the flesh comes off the stone very easily, making them an enjoyable snack.”

Fruits That Last

Some fruits are still abundant in winter. Apples and pears keep well--I'm making bulgogi sauce with ripe pears. The pear pulp is a tendering agent when marinating the beef for Korean bulgogi. Yum! 

I scored some excellent tomatillos at the grocery store. Many people don't understand the staying power of these wonderful fruits, the love child of a tomato and a citrus. I'm planning to make a fresh salsa with the tomatillos, cilantro, jalapeno chilies, and assorted spices. Olé!

 

 

 

 

The Legume With Many Names

 Chickpea: The Legume With Many Names

The chickpea has almost as many names as it has uses. It's often called a garbanzo bean, which comes from the Spanish word garvance. Before that, the word may have Arabic or Greek origins. This valuable, underappreciated plant is easy to grow in many climates and offers food with great nutritional value (protein, fiber, vitamins, amino acids) that keeps well.

So, what's not to like? Well, chickpeas can be a bit bland, especially in their canned, processed incarnation. That's why, when I chose to include chickpeas in my New Year's feast, I started with dried chickpeas instead of canned or frozen ones. After reconstituting by soaking in water and then roasting with aromatic herbs and spices, they make a mouth-watering, flavorful snack or addition to a salad or entree. They are especially good as a stand-in for meat in a vegan or vegetarian bowl with their abundance of protein and other nutrients. Be sure to make extra!

The above pictured Curried Chickpea Bowl is a delight that features fall and winter veggies: carrots, kale, and red cabbage. Grate carrots into a hot pan with a little oil or butter simmering in it. When the carrots are softened and aromatic, add rice and water, bring to a boil, lower heat and cover. While rice is cooking, quick pickle some shredded red cabbage in a brine of 1/2 lime juice and 1/2 water with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar added. Microwave for 1 minute and set aside. 

You can also make a dressing to drizzle over the top of all the ingredients with sour cream or yogurt, lime juice, and curry powder. Thin with water to a drizzling consistency. The last step is to sauté the chopped kale in olive oil. Assemble the bowl by fluffing the rice and adding to one quadrant. Place the kale, cabbage, and roasted chickpeas in the other quadrants and drizzle with the dressing. Find the recipe here. 

The chickpeas I'm using for this feast come from Pfz Farms in Eastern Colorado. Although most chickpeas are grown in India and surrounding countries they are also grown in Canada, Russia, and the U.S. They belong to the nitrogen-fixing family of legumes that improves the soil they are grown in, a win-win situation!