"peanut" news and stories

At Duke University, researchers have been engaged in an experiment that could change the lives of those with severe food allergies. Those allergies trigger approximately 30,000 emergency-room visits each year and are sometimes the result of an exposure to a very tiny amount of allergen. This new study suggests that gradually increasing exposure to even smaller amounts of the allergen can build up a resistance - especially in children - and prevent one mouthful of the wrong food from becoming deadly.

In the study, children were given amounts of defatted peanut flour or an egg powder - very common, but serious, allergens - as small as 1/3,000th of a peanut or about 1/1,000th of an egg (under supervision at the Duke Hospital). Taken in pill form daily, the dosage was increased bi-weekly until the children were consuming the equivalent of 1/10th of an egg or 1 peanut, which became a maintenance dose that they took daily throughout the study, which lasted about 2 years. At that point, 4 of the 7 egg-allergic children could eat two scrambled eggs without any type of reaction (2 more could eat that much before reacting) and many of the peanut-allergic children could eat up to 15 peanuts before starting to experience a reaction.

At this time, researchers strongly recommend that you do not try this type of treatment at home, because it can be dangerous without careful monitoring. To the parents who joined in, however, the success could prove to be a lifesaver for their children and, as a result, researchers are optimistic that there could be a highly effective treatment available to parents and children within five years.

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I first discovered this eminently cravable snack food at a Mexican grocery store/taqueria. Cacahuates Estilo Japonés, or Japanese-style peanuts, usually come in clear blue bags. I've always been fascinated by the imagery on the small packages, which ranges from a geisha to a Mr. Peanut-type character dressed in a baseball uniform.

The nuts themselves are sweet and salty all at once. They're coated with a thin shell, that's got a hint of soy sauce. That flavor may very well be this snack's only link to Japan. Hours of Googling, yielded plenty of places to buy them online, but no definitive answer as to whether they're actually from Japan. I did, however, turn up this really cool video blog. Check out the closeups!

The largest commonly eaten nut is the brazil nut. The 4-5cm nuts grow on one of the largest species of rainforest tree, which reaches about 30–45-m tall and 1–2 m in diameter. The nuts are grown in coconut-like shells that weigh approximately 4.5-lb and contain up to two dozen brazil nuts. The coco de mer, the fruit of a palm tree grown in the Seychelles, is usually considered to be the largest nut in the world. Also grown in a coconut-like shell, the mature fruit can reach up to 65-lbs and contains several seeds, which are also the world's largest.

The rest of the world's largest nuts tend to be of the inedible variety. The world's largest pecan, for example, is located in Brunswick, Missouri and is 7-ft. high. x 12-ft. long, and weighs about 12,000-lbs. The world's largest peanut is in Ashburn, Georgia

Incidentally, the world's largest nutcracker is located in Germany. The device stands about 19 ft high and can crack any nut up to the size of a coconut (which is a drupe, not actually a true nut).

For anyone new to Thai cooking, pad Thai seems like a good dish to start with. There are many variations of the dish and even an inexperienced cook can throw together a simple peanut sauce to toss with some noodles, which provides a great starting point to expand on later. After all, doing some seriously "authentic" cooking is all well and good, but it's nice to know how to make a relatively quick dinner, too. This pad Thai, from What do I know? was described as an "on the fly" recipe, so it seems to fall into that latter category. The recipe is actually quite easy and it sounds delicious. It has sauteed tofu, garlic, broccoli, onions and carrots mixed in with noodles, bean sprouts, cilantro and peanuts. The whole thing is tossed with a very easy peanut sauce before serving and, from start to finish, it probably takes a lot less time than ordering takeout.

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Back-to-school season means that more kids will be packing sandwiches with them on a daily basis and, more often than not, the sandwich of choice is peanut butter and jelly. Between nut allergies and simply growing bored with the same old sandwich, non-peanut butters are growing in popularity - which also means that they are more widely available than ever before. A few years ago, almond butter was relegated to health food stores, and now it appears on the regular shelf with cashew butter, soy butters and sunflower seed butter, which is completely nut-free for those with allergies.

These non-peanut butters can be substituted for peanut butter in more than just sandwiches. They make excellent cookies and work well in what would ordinarily be peanut flavored sauces and dressings. Most of the butters come in crunchy and smooth versions, as well.

Do you use non-peanut butters? If you can't find any at a store near your, you can try making your own cashew butter, but once you have a good source, you can branch out into other recipes. And don't forget to try them on toast or in pb&j!

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