Friday - 01/22/2021 — I’m enjoying the fact that Daily Harvest places the ingredients of their meals right there in big letters on each (recyclable) container. There have been a few, though, that have stumped me. Like Sacha Inchi.
You can do a search the way I did and find lots about it, but my question is, how do people even think of using such foods to begin with?
Can you imagine some chef somewhere saying, “I need an exotic ingredient full of plenty of omega 3 oils and complete protein. Let me see … Maybe I could use some Plukenetia volubilis.” And then the food supplier says, “Of course, Madam Chef! I’ll trundle down to Peru and pick up some for you. Of course, you’ll have to roast the seeds first to negate the toxic properties of them.”
Don’t you wonder who first decided that you could get rid of the toxicity by roasting the seeds? Don’t you wonder how many people died before they figured that out? I can just imagine the unfortunate person who first looked at the pretty white berries on mistletoe (or the blue/black ones on poison ivy) and said, “Hmmm. Maybe I could roast them to render them harmless.”
There’s a lot to be said for scientific experimentation, but when it can kill you … well, all I can say is, I’m glad somebody found out how to make the Sacha Inchi seeds safe. Otherwise, this smoothie of mine would be my very last.
