MELAMINE CONTAMINATED FOOD PRODUCTS (09): WORLDWIDE EX CHINA
************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org

In this update:
[1] Melamine in Chinese soybeans fed to organic French poultry
[2] US: revised melamine tolerable daily intake

*****
[1] Melamine in Chinese soybeans fed to organic French poultry

Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008
Source: AFP [machine-trans., abridged, edited]

Chinese soybeans contaminated with melamine withdrawn from the French market

Nearly 300 tonnes of soya meal imported from
China and destined for organic poultry in Western
France have been withdrawn from the market after
the discovery of a melamine rate fifty times
higher than the permitted standard, it was
learned Friday [28 Nov 2008] from of the
importing cooperative.

Christophe Courousse, communications director of
the cooperative Terrena in Ancenis
(Loire-Atlantique), told AFP on Friday: “One of
the 3 imported batches, of 293 tonnes, had a
rate of melamine of 116 mg/kg while the standard
[permitted maximum level?] is of 2.5 mg. All food
products made from these materials have been
removed from the market in early November”.

Soybean meal had been delivered, before the
chemical analysis, mainly to 127 organic farmers
in Pays de Loire through the Bio animal nutrition
(BNA), a subsidiary of Terrena a Mervent
(Vendee), which specializes in the manufacture of
organic food.

“The analysis of pork and laying hens show that
there is no danger to public health. Unlike
dioxin, melamine does not accumulate in the body.
There is no transmission in the food chain “,
AFP was told by Fréderic Andre of the Veterinary
Services Directorate in Vendee.

Soya cake with melamine has been used to
manufacture feed for farmers in 11 departments:
Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne,
Deux-Sevres, Vendee, Calvados, Eure,
Ille-et-Vilaine, Indre -et-Loire, Sarthe and Orne.

The company BNA announced its intention to sue
for fraud, adding melamine to “artificially
inflate the protein levels and increase the
selling price of the product”, said Courousse.

“The organic sector needs 18 000 tons of soybeans
while France produces only 4000 tonnes,” says
Courousse. Imports from China were due to poor
harvest in Brazil, the traditional supplier.

Controls on stored stocks have been carried out
following a warning from the European Union in
late October, recommending vigilance on imports
from China.

Meanwhile, the Ecocert agency, in charge of the
organic certification of imported soybeans, said
that the Chinese exporter had committed a “fraud”
which its control procedures was unable to
detect. [ECOCERT is an organic certification
organization, founded in France in 1991. It is
based in Europe but conducts inspections in over
80 countries, making it one of the largest
organic certification organizations in the world;
see
http://www.ecocert.fr/Contact.html
- Mod.
AS].

“Our certification covers a production method”,
AFP was told Jerome Viel, head of certification
at Ecocert. The body, which has an office in
Beijing, controls “practices” and checks the
“traceability”, but can not “guarantee” against
“frauds” such as the ones [suspected to have
been] committed by the Chinese exporter, he said.

There are many ECOCERT controls on the products
themselves, but they “address mainly pesticides,”
he explained.

Since that case, “we decided to increase the
Ecocert surveillance upon imports of organic soya
cake, whatever their origin,” he said.

According to Terrena, the Chinese supplier in
question is Hongliang, based in Dalian (Northern
China). Its export authorization in France has
been suspended by the Ministry of Agriculture,
said Ecocert.

For their part, European manufacturers of natural
soybean products have to specify in a statement
that the products, intended for human consumption
such as soy milk, soy desserts, Soy steaks etc.,
placed on the market, are not involved in the
melamine contamination problem.

—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Susan Baekeland

******
[2] US: revised melamine tolerable daily intake

Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2008
Source: AP via Yahoo News [edited]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_he_me/infant_formula

FDA sets melamine standard for baby formula

Less than 2 months after federal food regulators
said they were unable to set a safety threshold
for the industrial chemical melamine in baby
formula, they announced a standard that allows
for higher levels than those found in U.S.-made
batches of the product.

Food and Drug Administration officials on Friday
[28 Nov 2008] set a threshold of 1 part per
million [=1.0 mg per kg] of melamine in formula,
provided a related chemical isn’t present. They
insisted the formulas are safe. [An FDA interim
safety/risk assessment on melamine and structural
analogues, published last month, established for
melamine a tolerable daily intake TDI of 0.63 mg
per kg of body weight per day. - Mod. AS].

snipped.................

The agency still will not set a safety level for
melamine if cyanuric acid is also present, he
said.

Both the new safety level and the amount of the
chemical found in U.S.-made infant formula are
far below the amounts of melamine added to infant
formula in China that have been blamed for
killing at least three babies and making
thousands ill.

“The levels were so low ... that they do not
cause a health risk to infants,” Sundlof said.
“Parents using infant formula should continue
using U.S.-manufactured infant formula. Switching
away from one of these infant formulas to
alternate diets or homemade formulas could result
in infants not receiving the complete nutrition
required for proper growth and development.”

Reacting to news of the contaminated formulas,
members of Congress, a national consumer group
and the Illinois attorney general have demanded a
national recall, something the FDA said made no
sense because it had no evidence suggesting that
the formula would be dangerous for babies at the
levels of contamination found.

After saying it made an error in its data, the
FDA on Wednesday [26 Nov 2008] produced these
results: Nestle’s Good Start Supreme Infant
Formula with Iron had 2 positive tests for
melamine on one sample; Mead Johnson’s Infant
Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron had 3
positive tests on one sample for cyanuric acid.

Separately, a 3rd major formula maker, Abbott
Laboratories, told the AP that in-house tests had
detected trace levels of melamine in its infant
formula.

Those three formula makers manufacture more than
90 percent of all infant formula produced in the
United States.

snipped............

The agency said it is continuing research on
animals to see the effects of ingesting both
melamine and cyanuric acid.

[Byline: JOAN LOWY and JUSTIN PRITCHARD]

—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall

[An emergency expert meeting on toxicological
aspects of melamine and cyanuric acid is to be
held 1-4 Dec 2008. The meeting is being convened
by the WHO in collaboration with FAO. The Chinese
authorities have been requested by the WHO to
provide information for the meeting. For
background, see
http://www.who.int/foodsafety/fs_management/melamine_expertcall.pdf
Mod.AS]

[see also:
Melamine - USA (02): traces in infant formula 20081127.3738
Melamine contaminated food products (08): worldwide ex China 20081120.3658
Melamine - USA: alert 20081116.3619
Melamine contamination, animal feed (04): China 20081114.3598
Melamine contaminated food products (07): worldwide ex China 20081114.3587
Melamine contaminated food products (06): worldwide ex China 20081105.3480
Melamine contamination, animal feed (03): China 20081031.3433
Melamine contaminated food products (05): worldwide ex China 20081030.3425
Melamine contaminated food products (04): Worldwide ex China 20081027.3391
Melamine contamination, animal feed (02): China 20081020.3326
Melamine contaminated food products (03): Worldwide ex China 20081020.3324
Melamine contaminated food products (02): Worldwide ex China 20081004.3129
Melamine contaminated food products - Worldwide ex China 20081002.3107
Melamine contamination, animal feed: RFI 20081001.3097
Infant kidney stones - China (04): WHO, international recall 20080919.2951
Infant kidney stones - China (03): melamine 20080917.2915
Infant kidney stones - China (02): Gansu, milk, melamine 20080912.2856
2007

Fish mortality - South Africa: melamine?, RFI 20070612.1919
Contaminated pet food - China: melamine 20070430.1403
Pet food fatalities, pets - USA, Canada, Mexico (03): melamine 20070330.1099]]
........................arn/lm

You may end up beating a Bill Gates product! <<<

Go ahead and blame me.

That you are even attempting this is a blessing, my writing it on papers that fall into the space behind the desk was not a help for me and after that I kinda gave up.

Look at that Melamine post that I just posted. You will cuss.

Not only that our gov ok’s the use of it, but the the crooks ruined the Organic farms in France.

I keep hiding the fact that I consider this melamine, to be a terrorist act, China’s slow method of attacking, it is the communist way of winning.

Some one keeps putting out soap boxes and I keep climbing right on them.........

Hi Everyone

This time we do an experiment trying for warp-free gessoed pages. - A trick that works.

And learn a little about gesso in the bargain:

http://web.mac.com/jwesolek/iWeb/lovethisjournal/Blog/Blog.html

See you there

jessica

Gesso - I haven't thought about that since I dabbled in oil painting years ago! I wonder if artists still gesso their canvases, it used to be required but now I imagine they are pre-gessoed (is that a word?). The stuff you find is just amazing.

China is cutting its own throat by doing this. Unscrupulous factory managers/owners put melamine into their product hoping evade detection, and inspectors look the other way through incompetence or malfeasance. The communist culture of perpetual altruism becomes a chaotic struggle for a tiny share of a shrinking set of resources.

http://www.betterwayhealth.com/drinking-water.html

Drink to Your Health . . . With Water!
Mother Nature’s Healthy “Cocktail”

Some nutritionists insist that 80% of the country is walking around dehydrated. We drink too much coffee, tea, and sodas containing caffeine, which prompts the body to lose water. More troubling is that fact that when we are dehydrated, we don’t know what to drink.

The answer is simple: drink water!

Water is pure liquid refreshment and accounts for a large percentage of what makes each of us “human.” The average 150 lb. adult body contains 40 to 50 quarts of water. Almost 2/3rds of our body weight is “water weight”:

Blood is 83% water

Muscles are 75% water

The brain is 74% water

Bone is 22% water

The Fountain of Youth, Health, and Everything Else that’s Good

Water is necessary for your body to digest and absorb vitamins and nutrients. It also detoxifies the liver and kidneys, and carries away waste from the body. And when it comes to digestion . . . it’s just not happening without water. Fiber alone cannot aid proper digestive function by itself. In fact, without water as its partner, good fiber goes bad, causing constipation and extreme discomfort.

If you’re dehydrated, your blood is literally thicker, and your body has to work much harder to cause it to circulate. As a result, the brain becomes less active, it’s hard to concentrate, your body feels fatigued, and you just “poop out.”

Water - The Miracle Worker

Simple water — when it’s pure and free of contaminants — is truly a “wonder drug.” Without chemicals, additives, or anything unnatural, a steady dose of 8 glasses of water a day (ideally ½ your body weight in ounces of water) will:

Improve Your Energy

Increase Your Mental and Physical Performance

Remove Toxins & Waste Products from your body

Keep Skin Healthy and Glowing

Help You Lose Weight

Reduce Headaches and Dizziness

Allow for proper Digestion

Help to keep you more Alkaline

Drinking Water is Heart-Healthy

The findings of a six-year study of more than 20,000 healthy men and women aged 38-100 in the May 1, 2002 American Journal of Epidemiology found that women who drank more than five glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses. The protective effect of water was even greater in men.

Drinking Water and Weight Loss

Water is a natural appetite suppressant, so developing a good water drinking habit can be a long-term aid in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Doctor F. Batmanghelidj MD, author of “Your Body’s Many Cries For Water” says most times your “hunger” is your body asking for water – not food.

It’s also important to remember that when the body is dehydrated, fat cells get “rubbery” and cannot be easily metabolized. This means that it’s harder to lose when you don’t drink your water.

Who Can Benefit From A Water Regimen? Everyone . . . including YOU!

Water is especially important for pregnant women and nursing mothers. For athletes and work-out fanatics, drinking water reduces cardiovascular stress and improves performance. And, since water reduces body temperature, it makes the whole exercise process safer and more effective.

Water is also an important “healing tool” for people with a history of kidney stones. Since water dissolves calcium in the urine, downing at least 8 glasses daily reduces the risk of stone formation. Drinking water is also valuable in preventing urinary tract infections in both men and for women, flushing impurities out of the system.

Even mild dehydration makes you more susceptible to viruses. For someone like me, with an immune system compromised from my battle with terminal cancer, water is a powerful weapon in my war on colds and other illnesses. I’ve also found that water helps me recover more quickly.

When your body is hydrated, drainage from allergies and colds doesn’t stick and collect in your throat and lungs, and your cough is more “productive”. Even cold sores that appear on the lips are minimized by drinking water because those eruptions tend to favor dry areas on the body.

Tips for Drinking Water

I know how hard it can be to remember to drink enough water every day, but I also know how hard it can be to bounce back from the effects of being even mildly dehydrated. So I’d like to share a few easy tips to help you reach your “water mark” every day:

You are naturally thirsty i.e. “dehydrated” in the morning . . . help your body flush out the toxins it has been processing all night and take advantage of this thirst to get a “leg up” on your daily water requirements by drinking a glass of water first thing.

If you are cold drink warm water instead of dehydrating coffee & tea.

Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to have a drink – you are already dehydrated if you feel thirsty.

Set a timer to remind yourself to establish a habit of drinking water and keep a bottle of water with you at all times.

Compensate for diuretics . . . thieves that steal water from your body. If you drink coffee, tea, or sodas with caffeine, you’ll need to drink a few extra glasses of water to make up for the water that these diuretic beverages “leech” from your system.

My personal choice is ionized alkaline water. The Jupiter water ionizers conveniently produce gallons of alkaline water each day for cooking and drinking. I get all the known benefits of pure water with the added advantages of micro-clustered water.

http://www.teawild.com/Kombucha_Tea_Health_Benefits.html

Health Benefits of Kombucha

If you haven’t heard of it, here it is! Kombucha is called the “miracle cure all tea.” Kombucha tea was also referred to as the Tea of Immorality and the elixir of life.

Kombucha Tea (pronounced kom-BOO-cha) is a handmade Chinese tea that is delicately cultured for 30 days. During this time, essential nutrients form like: Active Enzymes, Amino Acids, Probiotics, Antioxidants, and Polyphenols. *All of these combine to create an elixir that immediately works with the body to restore balance and vitality.

Kombucha Health Benefits

Helps with Digestion
Raises Metabolism
Boosts the Immune System
Controls Appetite
Promotes Weight Control
Supports Liver Function
Good for Skin & Hair
Anti-Aging Properties
Reduces/Stabalizes Blood Pressure
Helps Older People Look and Feel Younger
Cleanses the Body of Toxins
Improves Circulation

My Experience with Kombucha Tea
So I first saw Kombucha Tea at an organic grocery store, and was compelled to try it. With a stomach ache from the food I just ate, and no available green tea, I desperately needed to drink something to settle me down. One bottle of Kombucha later, my stomach ache was gone!

Believe it or not, I thought only green tea could do the trick but this Organic Raw Kombucha stuff proved me wrong. After that inceident I became a firm believer of Kombucha just like my other favorite elixirs. I was reading that it contains Probiotics which is actually “GOOD” bacteria. Yeah, we all know when people talk about “bacteria” it’s usually the bad kind but these help your body instead of harm it.This beneficial bacteria can also be found in foods such as yogurt, cottage cheese, kefir.

How Much Kombucha?

Begin by drinking only a few ounces of kombucha tea a day and see how your body reacts to it. You may experience some side effects such as, small skin rash, gurgling of the stomach, and cold/flu symptoms. These side effects are Not very common. If you experience any of these simply adjust the amount of kombucha and let your body adjust.

To be able to notice a difference from drinking kombucha, you must detoxify your body by building up the amount of kombucha in your body which is about 4 ounces per day. It is recommended to drink your first cup of kombucha in the morning on an empty stomach, followed by kombucha with meals later in the day.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only. The information provided at www.TeaWild.com should not be used for diagnosing or treating any health problem or disease. If you have, or suspect you have a health problem, you should consult your health care provider.

http://westonaprice.org/motherlinda/sauerkraut.html

Health Benefits of Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut—The Miracle Cabbage

By Linda Joyce Forristal, CCP, MTA

With winter upon us, I think it’s a good time to talk about sauerkraut—one of man’s most ingenious ways of enjoying the garden bounty during the months when fresh fruits and vegetables are unavailable. In my mind, the miracle of sauerkraut is that the brine does not have to be inoculated with bacteria for the process to work; the best sauerkraut is made simply with shredded cabbage and salt that is magically inoculated with atmospheric bacteria.

According to Harold McGee, the author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, the ideal salinity for sauerkraut brine is 2.25 percent, with temperatures between 65-70ºF. These conditions produce the best environment for a bacterium called Leuconostioc mesenteroides to grow and produce lactic acid. When the acidity of the brine reaches about 1 percent, another bacterium, Lactobacillus plantarum, takes over to finish the job. The end result is tangy, crunchy bits of cabbage to top off a sandwich or round off a heavy meal.

A new book on sauerkraut, A Passion for Sauerkraut: The Humble Vegetable for Good Health by Sam Hofer, (Hofer Publishers, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, 2001) is full of interesting sauerkraut lore and fascinating recipes, including one for Sauerkraut Chocolate Cake!

In much of Eastern Europe, sauerkraut is made not only from shredded cabbage, but from the whole cabbage head! I have seen huge barrels of cabbage heads being brined into sauerkraut.

In early fall, when the temperatures are in the 65-70ºF degree range, sauerkraut-making might take place on a balcony, but when the weather turns colder, the operation is moved into a basement or cellar. When sauerkraut is on the menu, someone just fishes a head of pickled cabbage out of the barrel and chops it up. In many Eastern European countries, whole fermented cabbage leaves are stuffed with meat, rice and vegetables.

European sauerkraut has many cousins throughout the world. One of my favorites is Korean sauerkraut or kimchee. In the old days, Korean housewives fermented cabbage in the fall and early winter. The kimchee was stored in earthenware crocks buried in the ground just below the freezing level. In addition to cabbage and salt, hot peppers, garlic and ginger were added to the mix which was then covered and allowed to ferment for weeks. In Korea, kimchee is eaten with almost every meal, and before it was readily available in the United States, immigrants would bring it in from overseas. I heard one tale of an old Korean woman bringing kimcheethrough US customs and when a jar broke on the conveyor belt it caused quite a ruckus because no one knew what the pungent, stinky, object could possibly be.

Another one of my favorite kinds of sauerkraut is cortido, or curtido, which is popular throughout Latin America. The basic formula is shredded cabbage and carrot, augmented with hot peppers to taste, salt, and different spices like oregano and cumin. Each of my El Salvadorean friends makes it slightly differently—and differently each time they make it. Curtido is always served with, and sometimes piled on top of, greasy foods like cheese-filled tortillas called pupusas.

Chinese sauerkraut is called hum choy. It is prepared by covering Chinese cabbage leaves with salt and letting them wilt in the sun. The leaves are then placed in earthenware vessels and covered with rice water, the liquid obtained from washing rice grains for cooking. The jars are sealed in such a way as to remove all air bubbles and then placed in a cool part of the house. Fermentation lasts for about four days, during which the leaves become greenish yellow and soft.

Many sources say raw fermented foods are beneficial to the digestive system by increasing the healthy flora in the intestinal tract or creating the type of environment for them to flourish. Sauerkraut and its juice are traditional folk remedies for constipation. Fermentation actually increases nutrient values in the cabbage, especially vitamin C. Fermented foods are also said to facilitate the breakdown and assimilation of proteins. They have a soothing effect on the nervous system.

Before the days of refrigeration, sauerkraut served as the only source of vitamin C during the winter in northern climates. It was used on long ship voyages to prevent scurvy.

During the Civil War, some enlightened doctors fed sauerkraut to prisoners of war, reducing the death rate from smallpox from 90 percent to 5 percent—something we should take note of with the current concerns about the use of smallpox germs as part of biological warfare.

Best of all, sauerkraut makes a synergistic combination with heavy, greasy and cooked foods such as sausage and cooked meat, the kinds of foods that nourish us through the winter. And because it aids digestion, you can eat these foods without feeling tired afterwards just by adding sauerkraut to your plate as a condiment.

About the author

Linda Forristal, CCP, MTA is the author of Ode to Sucanat (1993) and Bulgarian Rhapsody (1998). Visit her website at www.motherlindas.com.

http://www.aimforherbs.com/remakingbeets.html

Health Benefits of Beets

Blood red and looking like a badly shaped tennis ball with a tail, beets are not high on the favorite foods list. They do show up in Aunt Mabel’s family reunion salad (which ranks right up there with fruitcake), but they are not found very often on dinner plates. Let’s face it, beets are a beaten vegetable.

To beat the beaten image, we have put together a little public relations kit.

If Roman Gladiators Ate Beets...

The Facts: Ancient peoples believed that the color of beets was indicative of their power. Folklore mentions that beets were eaten to aid the blood: Greeks used beets to “cool” blood, and Romans used beets to fight fever.

The Foods and Nutrition Encyclopedia notes that wild beets were gathered for their greens, and that beets were cultivated for their roots around the early Christian era. By the sixteenth century, the red beet had traveled widely and was being used as food by the English.

Eat Them Raw

The Facts: One cup of raw beets is high in carbohydrates and low in fat. It contains phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and potassium, as well as fiber, vitamins A and C, niacin, and biotin. Beets contain folic acid, which is recommended for pregnant women because it may lower the risk of spina bifida and other neural tube defects in newborn infants.

Heartbeet City

The Facts: According to John Heinerman, in the Encyclopedia of Healing Juices, beets (and beet juices) are a blood-building herb that detoxifies blood and renews it with minerals and natural sugars.

Dr. H.C.A. Vogel, in The Nature Doctor, States that beet juice contains betaine, which stimulates the function of liver cells and protects the liver and bile ducts. Recent studies point to betaine as contributing to the prevention of coronary and cerebral artery diseases.

Beeting the Big C

The Facts: Early research in Hungary indicated that beet juice and its powdered form slowed the development of tumors. Heinerman reports that Alexander Ferenczi, M.D., observed beets aiding cancer patients and performed studies that indicated that beets may help animals fight cancer.

Come on beet growers, if you’ve got it, flaunt it!

Carrot juice is often used as a “base” juice in juice combinations, as its natural sweetness often masks unpleasant tastes. Many people mix carrot juice with beet juice for liver health.

AIM RediBeets™

*Reprinted with permission from AIM International.All articles and information on this website are for educational purposes only. They are not to be regarded or relied upon as medical advice. The articles and information have not been evaluated by the FDA. AIM products are not intended to cure, treat, heal, mitigate, or prevent a disease or illness. Results may vary per person. Consult your health practitioner if you have health problems.

Mitten Clips

These mittens won't warm chilled hands, but they will generate good cheer when clipped to gift tags. Cut a mitten shape from cardboard, and trace it onto a piece of felt. Cut along the lines, and glue the felt to the cardboard with clear-drying white craft glue. Adorn the felt side of the mitten with bits of felt in complementary colors -- dots made with a hole punch, a monogram, felt trim edged with decorative shears, or a Christmas tree cut out with a decorative craft punch. Glue a standard wooden clothespin to cardboard, then glue a magnet to the back of the clothespin. After the gifts have been opened, use your mittens to display greeting cards on the refrigerator.

You can also look at this seed exchange site:

http://idigmygarden.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=7

I think of seeds as God’s miracle and think that I am taken with them, for the riches they promise, LOL, while still in the packett.

I have planted seeds that were on the shelf for 10 years or more and they grew, not as many as fresh, but enough.

Since, I almost consider myself a ‘collector’ of seeds, you would be amazed at what I get some years out of “I found this beautiful plant/tree with seed pods on it”......that tree, when I grew the seeds, is the ugliest tree you ever saw and only God knows what it is........but it is 10 foot tall now.

I hope to grow a lot of stuff when we are back at the house. We have a huge porch and it gets sun most of the morning. I have to go find USDA planting guidelines for this zone (I think it's Zone 9) and what would grow best for us in containers. I hope to get my son involved too.

Here’s another page in that forum:

http://idigmygarden.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4

Here's a source, it might be mentioned in the 3480-3500 range but since I had it handy, I thought I'd post it:

Baker Street Heirloom Seeds

http://rareseeds.com/

They sponsor the IDigMyGarden forums.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_277880_PRINT-RECIPE-4X6-CARD,00.html

Paradise Macaroons

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown for 12 Days of Cookies 2008

Prep Time:
30 min
Inactive Prep Time:
1 hr 30 min
Cook Time:
25 min

Level:
Intermediate

Serves:
approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 (7 to 8-ounce) packages sweetened shredded coconut
2 ounces sweetened condensed milk
Pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large egg whites at room temperature
5 ounces granulated sugar
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 ounce vegetable shortening
2 ounces finely chopped dry-roasted macadamia nuts
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325
degrees F.

Combine the coconut with the sweetened condensed milk, salt and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl.

FoodNetwork.com
2
Paradise Macaroons

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown for 12 Days of Cookies 2008
Gradually add the sugar and continue to whip the whites until medium peaks form, 6 to 7 minutes.

Gently fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture. Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds onto a parchment-lined half
sheet pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately transfer the parchment with the
macaroons to a cooling rack. Cool completely before topping.

Fill a 4-quart pot with enough water to come 2 inches up the side, set over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Combine the chocolate chips and shortening in a small metal or glass mixing bowl and set over the simmering
pot. Stir occasionally until melted, then remove from the heat.

Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate mixture, sprinkle with the chopped macadamia nuts and place on
parchment paper to set, about 30 minutes.
Copyright 2008 Television Food Network G.P., All Rights Reserved

Gesso - I haven’t thought about that since I dabbled in oil painting years ago! I wonder if artists still gesso their canvases, it used to be required but now I imagine they are pre-gessoed (is that a word?).<<<

LOL, yes many canvases are pre -gessoed.

In thinking about the paper mache bowls, made with flour starch, I had forgotten the need for gesso.

I wonder if gesso is still needed, when Elmers glue is used, as it leaves a plastic like coating ............

I bought a gallon of Elmers, from an office supply place, just before I got so sick and quit crafts....it was cheap, like $10.00 a gallon.

China is cutting its own throat by doing this. Unscrupulous factory managers/owners put melamine into their product hoping evade detection, and inspectors look the other way through incompetence or malfeasance.<<<

I am beginning to feel the need for a tinfoil hat, when it comes to China and the melamine.

They get our money by feeding it to us.

They get our money by selling the meds needed to cure the results of using it.

When you plan on over taking your enemy, you want him weak and I doubt that half of our country is strong, today.

Not in the head, they voted for gore and now obama.

Who knows what the melamine really does to us?

http://westonaprice.org/motherlinda/sauerkraut.html

Health Benefits of Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut—The Miracle Cabbage

By Linda Joyce Forristal, CCP, MTA<<<

I had heard of this one, but am not going to try it out.

Several of your health articles are full of good information.

I heard this morning from a friend, whose husband was being set up for a gall stone operation, and was really sick, when I convinced them to get the Papaya/Peppermint pill, 2 weeks and he feels better and is doing better.

Mary and I used them for the gall bladder problems we had and she died at 85, with gall bladder intact, as is mine.

We found them in the Richards vitamin catalog, about June 1970, 99 cents per bottle of 100 pills, bought a bottle and split it, as we had not heard of them before.

LOL, hundreds of folks now know about them.

These mittens won’t warm chilled hands,<<<

LOL, I use wave clips for book marks, they don’t sell them any more.

The clothes pins I use to seal bags of cereal, chips, cookies or anything else I need a tight close on.

A few years ago, a smaller version of this went around to use on the hair clip we used to make pin curls......but the clothes pin idea I like better, more holding power.

The clothes pins I use to seal bags of cereal, chips, cookies or anything else I need a tight close on.

I'm going to buy more of those, I used to have a bag of 25 or so, but they disappeared over time. Nothing's handier for chips or cereal bags. Clothespins, like toothpicks, used to be made by three companies in Maine, but now they are all made in China. That's one reason I haven't gotten into the dollar store habit, because so much of what they make is Chinese. You have to read a lot of labels! Once in a while you find something from the Philippines or Taiwan, or India. Thanks for posting all the melamine articles, they are important. And I don't think it's paranoid to believe the Chinese want us weak -- it's quite logical.