21–30 of 101 posts
I was surprised the article didn't mention nutmeg, which is widely used despite its toxicity, so I tried to figure out how their LD50 compares (i.e. how much tonka nut you need to eat to have a 50% chance of death, and how nutmeg stacks up). I couldn't find any clear answers for tonka beans and the exact dose of course depends on body weight but the lethal doses for nutmeg were an order of magnitude higher: for nutme…
I am somewhat appalled but not at all surprised to see click bait headlines leaking into the BBC's vernacular.
It could be worse, I seen far more clickbaity articles about this topic >This flavour is so good its illegal >If your food tastes this good it could kill you >This flavour caused a drug raid
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The use of BOLD TEXT is also a bit annoying. I wonder if it has to to with the fact that this is the BBC Future section.
The bold text is for links. Confused me at first, too. Really poor choice.
And like trendia said, BOLD TEXT already has the semantic meaning of shouting. It's very aggressive and in-your-face to read
One of my biggest issues with mislabeling foods. Sell me vanilla at the market price, sell me tonka at the market price, but don't sell my vanilla that is actually tonka at vanilla market prices. Same with scallops and stingray, crab and surimi, calamari and pork, chocolate and flavored vegetable oil.
>“I was talking to a vanilla purveyor recently and he offered me tonka bean paste,” says Raquel. “I was like ‘If I want to use tonka bean, I’ll use tonka bean.’” One of my biggest issues with mislabeling foods. Sell me vanilla at the market price, sell me tonka at the market price, but don't sell my vanilla that is actually tonka at vanilla market prices. Same with scallops and stingray, crab and surimi, calamari and…
I think that's an urban legend
TL;DR with the important stuff bumped (I hate, hate, hate clickbait and burying the lede): Tonka beans, containing the toxic-to-the-liver chemical Coumarin, are banned for use in food in the US but still used in some high-end restaurants and bakeries, leading to occasional FDA raids. The beans impart flavors akin to vanilla, lavender, cherries, and grass, due to their sharing some chemical components. They're probabl…
Can someone who's a better cook than this author tell us their opinion of the taste?
Yes, that part about his cooking experiment was rather ridiculous. It marries very well with vanilla and chocolate. By itself it has a bit of a sweet nutty flavor that is rather complex. To be slighlty flippant, it's kind of the shitake (or msg) of desert, it enhances the rest of the flavors.
Although banning might be excessive, products containing coumarin should be labelled appropriately. If what the article says is true, such as that a teaspoon of cassia cinnamon can put you over the safe limits, then consuming coumarin is dangerous for those with liver problems, recovering from mononucleosis, or when consumed in conjunction with other liver-damaging compounds (i.e. alcohol).