This month's notes: May 2012: Strawberries are here in much of the US. They will be finished in the South in a couple of weeks, so don't miss them! Blueberries will only be a few weeks after them! See this page for hundreds of easy canning and freezing instructions/recipes, canning equipment guide! Also make your own ice cream - see How to make ice cream and ice cream making equipment and manuals. Then see each state's crop availability calendar for more specific dates of upcoming crops. Organic farms are identified in green! See our guide to local fruit and vegetable festivals!. Please tell the farms you found them here - and ask them to update their information!!
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Cyanide, Arsenic, and Other Toxins in Fruit: Apple ASeeds, Peach Pits, Cherry Pits, etc.: Facts, Mythes and Old Wive's Tales. Find Out ther Truth!
With the popularity of juicers and food grinders, some people seem to think that grinding up entire fruit (skin, seeds, pits, stems and all) is somehow healthier than tradition methods. This is not always the case. Some parts of some fruit are not only unpleasant to eat, they can even be dangerous. Here are the facts about toxic parts of fruit.
Cyanide in Apple Seeds, Cherry Pits, Peach Pits and Apricot Pits
Apple and crabapple seeds contain amygdalin, a cyanide and sugar compound that degrades into hydrogen cyanide (HCN) when metabolized. Cyanide itself is a poison that kills by denying blood the ability to carry oxygen and thereby causes its victims to die.Apple seeds also have a tough protective coating seals the amygdalin inside, unless the seeds are crushed, chewed or otherwise ground up.
Whole apple seeds have hard, durable shells that allow them to pass intact through the digestive systems of people and animals.
But don't worry: It would take a bushel's worth of ground up apples seeds to create enough cyanide to poison someone. Grinding apples and pressing them for apple juice or apple cider wouldn't release enough cyanide to be a problem. Neither does cooking apples and straining them to make a sauce. Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D. Assistant Director PG Research Foundation in Darien, Illinois says "About the only way you can actually ruin into a problem with the toxicity of apple seeds is if you save the seeds from about a bushel of apples and eat them all at once."
Still, I don't think I would intentionally group up the seeds and include them in foods.
Cherry, peach, and apricot pits, on the other hand, also contain amygdalin. Peach and apricot have it in potentially harmful amounts. Of course, few people intentionally swallow or chew them.
Picking Tips
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Illustrated Canning, Freezing, Jam Instructions and Recipes
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