The Top Nine Herbs for Major Childhood Illnesses

We have vaccinated children for several major diseases, listed below, in this country for the past 60-ish years.  I recognize that smallpox is something no longer included in the line-up, but it’s something that is still researched in biolabs.  An “outbreak” would not surprise me.  Lack of an “outbreak” definitely would.  Remember those smallpox vials found in a freezer at a research facility in Philadelphia a few years back?  And remember that the lab that had them was not one of the only two biological weapons research facilities in the U.S. authorized to research smallpox? I don’t like the direction this country is taking, the trajectory we are on.  It’s disquieting.

I don’t like all the measles cases developing, either.  Outbreaks have occurred all over the country.  And while most people recover from measles without issue, there’s a lot not to like about this particular disease.  Basically, it wipes out the immunity memory of the body.  The patient become worse than a newborn babe, who if it was nursing at least had some of the immunity his mother passes through her milk.  And it seems there is a perfect storm brewing for these former childhood diseases to return en masse.

Whether it’s due to lack of trust from COVID, or in Big Pharma, or avoidance of any of the components of those vaccines, or perhaps as we’ve gotten a little glimpse of—vaccine failure, the percentages of vaccinated children are falling.  The risk of outbreaks of these diseases is escalating while the numbers of physicians who have actually seen and treated cases of these diseases and access to medical care is diminishing. 

These are the diseases I’m primarily concerned with:

Diphtheria

Measles

Mumps

Polio

Rubella

Smallpox

Tetanus

Whooping cough

 

I thought it would be good to take a look at which herbs are best for treating these diseases.  Note that there are other herbs that treat them as well, but these are the ones that treat several of these childhood diseases, and not just one.  Japanese honeysuckle, echinacea, and licorice each manage four different diseases.  Grow them at home if you can.

Japanese honeysuckle treats measles, mumps, polio, and rubella.

Echinacea is a top herb for diphtheria, haemophilus influenzae, measles, and mumps.

Licorice helps with haemophilus influenzae, measles, polio, and smallpox.

Gumweed, isatis, and juniper are potent antivirals growing wild all over the US.

Gumweed handles measles, smallpox, and whooping cough.

Isatis manages measles, mumps, and rubella.

Juniper, found in cities, commercial and residential landscaping, and forests, treats measles, smallpox, and tetanus.

Several herbs are used for whooping cough, while only a few cover diphtheria.  Both whooping cough and diphtheria are historical killers, so if I had young children, I’d add in these three herbs, all of which treat both diseases:

Mullein

New Jersey tea 

Usnea

 

Without young children or potentially unvaccinated people to be concerned with, the only disease here I’d store herbs for would be smallpox.  Yes, whooping cough can be a concern with seniors, but there are a lot of herbs that manage it, so with a well-stocked herbal cabinet, it’s not one I’d worry about.

Just Say No to Norovirus

Norovirus is a lovely little pathogen that makes the rounds every year.  It is extremely contagious, so much so that it frequently closes schools.  Formerly known as the Norwalk virus as it was named when identified in the early 1970s, it causes about 20% of acute gastroenteritis ("stomach flu") cases.  Norovirus is the leading cause of food-borne illness in the world and ranks fourth in deaths due to food poisoning.  This includes over 50,000 deaths of children each year, mostly in developing countries.  Like the common cold, norovirus comes in several genotypes that evolve over time so they can make you sick again.  Because nausea and vomiting weren't fun enough the first time.
This virus will sicken about 20 million people in the US this year, and 600-800 will die, primarily young children and the elderly. Fortunately, there is a lot we can do to protect ourselves.

The virus is passed in stool and vomit.  So if you get it, it's possible that you got someone else's bodily grossness into you somewhere along the way, probably by eating or drinking it.  Primary person-to-person transmission of the virus happens that way.  Probably because they didn't wash their hands after using the toilet.  Perhaps because you didn't wash yours after touching whatever they touched and before touching your face or mouth.  Or because you didn't wash yours well enough.

Secondary person-to-person transmission occurs by sharing food, drinks, or utensils.  If those were the only ways norovirus spread, thorough handwashing and not sharing food or drink would protect us.  However, water can also be contaminated with norovirus, and thus contaminate everything it contacts--ice, eggs, fruits, and salads.  Infected food handlers can pass it on to cooked foods.  And, unfortunately, norovirus also survives pretty well on doorknobs, stairway railings, and other surfaces for days to weeks.  That's why schools get closed down and disinfected during outbreaks.  There are also some recent studies indicating that norovirus may aerosolize during vomiting so that it can be passed by droplets in the air.  If that makes you feel any better.

Norovirus in the northern hemisphere is most common from November to April, with the peak season being December through February. Symptoms of a norovirus infection include nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps.  Diarrhea is less frequent.  There may be a low-grade fever.  Unlike a lot of other illnesses, the moment you contract norovirus, long before exhibiting symptoms, you are contagious to others. While the symptoms usually pass in one to two days, the patient is still contagious for at least three days and perhaps up to two weeks afterward.  But in American society, if you're feeling better, you had better be at work and school.  And spread the joy of this highly infectious virus further. 

Careful handwashing is the best way to prevent contracting a norovirus infection.  Hand sanitizers are of little efficacy because norovirus is a non-enveloped virus.  It's a tough little bugger.  You really need soap and water and vigorous, meticulous scrubbing for your hands and bleach and hot water for surfaces.

And now, because this is a food-borne illness, let's bring it back to food safety.  Once a person has caught norovirus, before the symptoms appear, that person is shedding norovirus and infecting people and contaminating food.  It's not a problem if the food is thoroughly cooked, like in canning.  But what if Grandma was exposed to norovirus on Monday morning, and then prepared some food for the freezer, to be eaten later?  Grandma gets sick Tuesday evening.  Everything Grandma touched, all that food, is contaminated.  Even if it's not eaten for months, because freezing temperatures don't affect norovirus.  It has to be cooked to be killed.

There are no vaccines for norovirus.  As far as natural remedies go, pomegranate juice may hasten recovery.   Blackberry root decoction is another good choice.

Links to related posts:
Food Poisoning Overview
Medicinal Uses of Blackberry
Hand Sanitizers
Proper Hand Washing Protocol 

For further reading:
https://www.medicinenet.com/norovirus_infection/article.htm
https://eportal.mountsinai.ca/Microbiology/faq/norwalkfaq.shtml#six
https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/trends-outbreaks/burden-US.html
https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/norwalk/fact_sheet.htm
https://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/foodborne-diseases/infographics_global_en.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3168661/

Rennet: What It Is and Why You Want It

Essential to producing nearly every kind of cheese, rennet enzymes (generally just referred to as rennet) were traditionally obtained from the stomach linings of young ruminants like calves and lambs.  The enzymes in rennet aid in the young animals’ digestion of their mother’s milk.  When we add rennet (be it animal-, microbial-, plant-, or fermentation-based) to milk, it coagulates the milk, forming the curds and whey in the process of making cheese. 

Animal-based rennet is the most frequently used option in cheese-making and yields the most consistent results.  And it is what we’ll be discussing today.

You read that correctly.  Yes, even when things fall apart, you can make cheese if you so desire.  It isn’t rocket science.  So that is why you want rennet.

Now, you have two basic choices for rennet:  liquid rennet or rennet tablets. 

Liquid rennet is generally preferred by cheese makers as being more reliable and yielding consistent results.  It is easier to measure accurate.  Unfortunately, like most liquids, it has a shorter shelf-life than its solid counterpart.  And for most people, it is only available online.

Rennet tablets, on the other hand, have a much longer shelf-life, but are less reliable.  They are also less expensive and can often be found in the baking aisle of the grocery store somewhere around the Jell-O and almost always on the top shelf.  The trade name is Junket, but as the Junket company also manufactures a few other dessert items, make sure the box you pick up is rennet.  Take a look at the Junket rennet images on Amazon before going to the store so you know exactly what you are looking for.

One teaspoon of liquid rennet, approximately 20 drops, is equal to one rennet tablet.  Both of these are commonly used to turn five gallons of milk into cheese.  Keep in mind, however, that you will not be getting five gallons of cheese.  Recipes vary but yields will be closer to 1-2 gallons of cheese, depending on the recipe.  Once the milk solids are coagulated into curds, a few gallons of whey will remain.  Don’t throw it away!  It is quite desirable for making bread and smoothies or fortifying soups. 

Once you’ve got your rennet, what will you be able to make with it?

• “American” Mozzarella
• Baker’s Cheese (which is similar to ricotta or cottage cheese)
• Cottage Cheese
• Farmer’s Cheese
• “Feta” Cheese
• Neufchatel Cheese
• Queso Fresco
• Rennet Cheese

Most of these cheeses require whole milk or low-fat, but not all.  Some of them can be made with nonfat powdered milk.

Whether it’s possible to make good cheese using powdered whole milk or adding shelf-stable whipping cream to powdered nonfat milk will be the subject of future articles this winter.  But if you can't wait--and I don't blame you--visit the Junket Desserts page (address below) for recipes.

Links to related posts:

Homemade Neufchatel Cheese 

Homemade Queso Fresco 

Don’t Waste the Whey  

References:

https://junketdesserts.com/recipes

 

Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

Like the Copycat Crunch Bars from last week, this candy also uses chocolate, peanut butter, and Rice Krispies and comes together rather quickly.  It also looks nicer.  And I am sharing the original batch size measurements, as well as those for a small batch. 

Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls (original batch)

1 cup creamy peanut butter*

¼ cup soft butter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

2 cups Rice Krispies

10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon coconut oil

 

Rice Krispie Peanut Butter Balls (small batch)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter*

2 tablespoons (scant) soft butter

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup powdered sugar

2/3 cup Rice Krispies

3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 teaspoon coconut oil

 

*Original recipe said not to use natural peanut butter because the result would be too sticky.  Well, that is all I had, so I opted to reduce the amount to ¾ cup, or 3 tablespoons for the small batch.  It worked just fine.)

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla until smooth.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar and mix well.  Stir in the Rice Krispies. 

Shape dough into 1” balls and place in a bowl.  Refrigerate 10-15 minutes. 

In a small, microwave-safe bowl or in a double boiler, melt the chocolate and coconut oil.  Stir well.  Remove balls from the refrigerator and dip them individually in the chocolate.  Coat evenly.  Place dipped candy on the prepared cookie sheet.  Return all candies to the refrigerator to harden.

Family reviews:  Becky said they were too sweet.  I thought they were quite tasty.  Cowboy suggested reducing the sugar and adding more peanut butter to make it more like a protein ball.  Ellie’s ravenous most of the time right now, so she enjoyed hers very much.

 

Zucchini Quiche—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

As previously mentioned, I spent two weeks with Ellie and her family following the birth of her baby to let Ellie rest and keep the house running.  I remembered that keeping up with a toddler was difficult and knew that running the house at the same time would challenge me.  But I just didn’t realize how much more exhausting it is at 60 than it was at 40.  I’m really hoping that it’s just my shoes and that a new pair will boost my energy levels.  But I’m not holding my breath. 

Despite being pregnant, Ellie decided to plant a massive garden this summer.  I got the blessing of harvesting all the squash, mostly winter squash. I must have made thirty trips from the garden to the kitchen.  Because she lives in the middle of nowhere, the closest grocery store is two hours away.  So I did the grocery shopping when she called to tell me she was in labor before I drove out to their home. 

I got as much food as the coolers would hold, which isn’t much when you’re feeding a ranching family. However, after a week the fresh food pickings were getting slim.  But I still had a lot of zucchini to work with.  And both Ellie and Cowboy are particular about having a lot of protein.  So Zucchini Quiche seemed like a good fit.  I can’t help but feel that we’ll all be growing a lot of squash in the coming difficulties, and we’ll be looking for different ways to use it.  Myself, I prefer a lot of meat and veggies in my quiche because I don’t care for eggs all that much.  But I also think those extra meats and veggies may become luxuries that will be spared for other dishes.  So a simple zucchini quiche seems like a good idea.

Zucchini Quiche

2 cups zucchini, thinly sliced

1 cup onion, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

3 tablespoons olive oil or bacon grease

1 ½ teaspoons salt

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 10” pie crust

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large skillet, sauté the vegetables in olive oil or bacon grease.  Season with salt.  Spread this mixture on the pie crust.  Combine the remaining ingredients and pour carefully into the pie shell.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until set.  Serve hot or cold.   

Family reviews:  Ellie, Cowboy, and I agreed that this was a good, simple recipe. 

Links to related posts:

Pie Crust 

“Do You Have Any Tattoos?”

Actually, it’s none of my business.  However, I believe it’s a question to ask patients and one that perhaps should be noted on personal medical records.  And that’s because scientists are just beginning to understand how tattoos affect the immune system.  And here I thought the greatest risk was hepatitis from dirty needles.

Introducing tattoo ink into the skin triggers the immune system to respond.  The white blood cells that travel the body removing the trash like bacteria and viruses can’t remove most tattoo ink particles because they are too large, and that’s why tattoos are permanent.  Unfortunately, just because the ink particles can’t be removed, it doesn’t mean that the immune system simply forgets about them.  While white blood cells can’t remove the ink, the ink itself can migrate through the lymphatic system and settle in the lymph nodes.  The body’s system tasked with taking out the trash is itself being trashed.  Not a good idea.  Because the ink can’t be removed, the immune system is constantly on alert in what becomes a lifelong battle.  And that sets the body up for other issues, particularly in those with already weakened immune systems. 

Some of the tattoo ink pigments currently used were designed for car paint, printer toner, and plastics—not for injecting human skin.  As a young mother, I never purchased or allowed my children to use crayons made in China.  I saw too many reports of lead and other heavy metals in them.  And yet, many of these tattoo inks contain traces of heavy metals which already have a reputation for damaging internal organs and increasing the risk of cancer.  In addition, the heavy metals in these tattoo inks can not only trigger sensitivities and immune responses soon after they’re injected, but also up to decades later.  Black inks often contain carcinogenic compounds.  Red, orange, and yellow inks are implicated in allergic reactions and chronic inflammation.  Red ink occasionally triggers persistent itching, swelling, and small inflammatory nodules called granulomas that form when the immune system isolates foreign material that it can’t remove. 

Researchers note that cumulative exposure is a primary concern—the larger the tattooed surface, the greater the health impact.  Sun exposure, laser removal, ageing, and changes in the immune system can all influence the impact a tattoo has on the body. 

As noted, researchers are just beginning to study how tattoos affect the body’s immune system.  There isn’t a lot of data to draw on, and there are certainly no treatments to mitigate the effects of tattoos that I’m aware of.  As the number of tattooed people in this country continues to rise, I thought it was a topic to become familiar with.

References:

https://www.sciencealert.com/were-only-just-beginning-to-understand-how-tattoos-affect-the-immune-system

https://theconversation.com/tattoos-toxins-and-the-immune-system-what-you-need-to-know-before-you-get-inked-271503

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2510392122

https://www.dkfz.de/en/clinical-epidemiology-of-early-cancer-detection/tattoo-ink

Minutes Matter

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need any of this information.  Well-trained physicians and nurses would be standing by, supplies at the ready, for every accident or illness.  Unfortunately, that isn’t the case currently.  Perhaps the situation will improve in the future.  Until then, we must do the best we can with the resources we have.  We won’t have any control over some conditions and illnesses, but with others we can absolutely make a world of difference.

Spending most of this year neck-deep in the second edition of Bring Your Own Bandages has reminded me daily what I don’t remember.  At least I know which topics have been researched and where to quickly find answers.  My readers may not be so fortunate.  We can all look at the sheer volume of information and become overwhelmed.  How will I care for my family in a true crisis?

And then I got to thinking about how often does a true emergency, act-now-or-someone-will-die, situation occur?  What do we need to know right now, before the crisis hits?  Believe it or not, there are actually very few such situations.  Here’s where minutes matter and where you can make a difference:

·       Heart attack

·       Stroke

·       Anaphylaxis

·       Tension pneumothorax

·       Massive bleeding

·       Choking

First aid training including Stop the Bleed, the Heimlich maneuver, and administering an EpiPen can all be performed by a layman.  Indeed, they should be.  Waiting for licensed personnel to arrive would likely kill the patient.  And the treatment and results should be the same whether circumstances are austere or not.  The same can’t be said for a heart attack or stroke.  Professional hospital care offers those patients the best chances for full recovery.  But there is a lot we can do, if we are prepared and act quickly.  Tension pneumothorax is the only condition on the list that we’re less familiar with.  Read up on it and make sure you have the supplies. 

Then there are several conditions you must be able to identify and treat promptly because death can come quickly, just not as quickly as the problems listed above.

• Hyperthermia
• Hypothermia
• Dehydration
• Cholera
• Pneumonic plague
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• Meningitis
• Peritonsillar abscess
• Tylenol overdose
• Cellulitis
• Appendicitis

Read up on these topics first and review them frequently.  Be ready to act.  You must be able to find information on these topics and treat patients promptly. 

Top Ten Herbs for Common Respiratory Illnesses

I don’t like “Top Ten” (or whatever number) lists for anything.  I think they often indicate a writer’s lack of skill in doing the research to come up with a more informative article or pure laziness.  Sounds harsh, doesn’t it?  And here I am, writing another one on the heels of last week’s post.  In my defense, I am still taking care of my daughter and her family, which now includes a beautiful baby boy. I knew I wouldn’t have much time for writing and research, and even if I did, I wasn’t hauling all those books down here.

 As noted in last week’s article on the Top Ten Herbs for Seniors, I don’t care for lists of top ten herbs for anything.  We’re unique people with unique needs and unique resources available to us.  At the same time, asking general questions sometimes yields surprising answers. 

I chose to focus on the following respiratory infections:

• Upper respiratory infections
• Acute bacterial sinusitis
• Common cold
• Croup
• Influenza
• Whooping cough (pertussis)
• Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
• Strep throat
• Tonsillitis
• Lower respiratory infections
• Acute bronchitis
• Pneumonia
• Tuberculosis (TB)

I then wanted to know which of the 120+ herbs I’ve profiled on the blog are the best overall for treating these specific infections, so I spent a few hours compiling the data into a table and then narrowing down the most useful.

The top two, which each cover seven of the eleven illnesses listed above:

• Echinacea.  Long touted as an excellent herb for respiratory infections, it was no surprise seeing it top the list.  Echinacea helps with the common cold, influenza, RSV, strep, tonsillitis, pneumonia, and TB. The fresh juice is the absolute best way to use this herb, with the alcohol-stabilized juice a distant second.  Capsules of dried herb provide very little benefit.  (Side note.  I freeze-dried a load of echinacea this past summer as a means of circumventing the fresh juice requirement.  Those with freeze-dryers know that the water that drains after each load is perfectly clear, because that is all that is removed in the freeze-drying process.  However, with the echinacea load I ran, the water was quite milky.  The loads I ran before and after the echinacea were perfectly normal, and the freeze-dryer broke down a couple of days later, so I didn’t get to run another load to test.  But I now suspect that freeze-drying echinacea isn’t a solution for the fresh juice problem.  If anyone has a different experience, I’d love to hear from you.)
• Sagebrush.  I definitely did not see this one coming.   Sagebrush preparations help with the common cold, influenza, sinusitis, strep, acute bronchitis, pneumonia, and TB.

The next four herbs each address six of the eleven respiratory infections:

• Garlic helps with the common cold, croup, influenza, tonsillitis, acute bronchitis, and pneumonia. 
• Japanese barberry helps with the common cold, sinusitis, strep, acute bronchitis, pneumonia, and TB.
• Japanese honeysuckle covers the common cold, influenza, RSV, strep, tonsillitis, and pneumonia.
• Oregano benefits the common cold, croup, influenza, tonsillitis, acute bronchitis, and pneumonia.  As remarkably few herbs benefit croup, this is a good one to include if you have small children.

These herbs each help with five of the eleven respiratory infections.

• Elder is good for the common cold, RSV, strep, acute bronchitis, and pneumonia.  (I was surprised that it wasn’t higher on the list.)
• Lomatium helps with the common cold, influenza, acute bronchitis, pneumonia, and TB.  The Washoe Indians credited lomatium with saving their people from the 1918-1920 influenza epidemic.
• Mullein covers the common cold, influenza, tonsillitis, acute bronchitis, and TB.
• Rosemary benefits the common cold, influenza, sinusitis, acute bronchitis, and pneumonia. 

Storing Medical Supplies for Maximum Shelf Life and Efficiency

After you've been gathering medical supplies for a while, you come to realize that you need to store them properly and keep them organized so that you can find them when they're needed, and keep them out of the way when they aren't.

Like foods, all these medicines and supplies should be stored in a cool, dry, dark place.  But it doesn't mean they should be refrigerated or frozen unless otherwise indicated for individual substances.

Liquid medicines don't have a long shelf life.  That's why they are mixed from powders in the pharmacy just before they are sold to consumers.  Hydrogen peroxide has a fairly short shelf life.  Rubbing alcohol and Betadine, on the other hand, last indefinitely. 

Tablets and capsules store well; however, capsules must absolutely be protected from humidity or they'll just melt together into an unusable mess.

Any medications with the potential for abuse must be well-hidden.  All medications should be kept out of the reach of children. 

Plastic and latex products should be kept cool, dry, and dark to avoid melting and deteriorating.  The same goes for vinyl and nitrile gloves. 

Fragile items, such as glass thermometers and syringes, should be carefully wrapped to protect from breakage.  The same goes for wind-up watches.

The foregoing doesn't present much of a challenge.  It's the actual storage that becomes an issue for many.  After a while, you eventually have a lot of different items to store!  Because we prepare for a years-long grid-down situation for our large family, we have a lot of supplies.  It would be nice to be able to store everything in just a few totes.  However, in my experience using totes for camping supplies, they just don't keep out the dirt and bugs.  And there's no way I want to risk spoiling the medical items.

So I've opted to use six-gallon buckets.  Most of them have been fitted with red gamma lids for easy identification and access.  And while the six-gallon buckets are no longer favored in this family for food (because six gallons of wheat, beans, or rice is just too much for me to wrangle), they are perfect for medical supplies, most of which are pretty light-weight.  The buckets keep everything perfectly free from dirt, bugs, mice, and moisture.

Before going into the buckets, most items get re-packaged in Ziploc bags to keep them extra clean and get rid of the boxes.  It also helps to keep like items together for finding them more easily and rotating better.  Some buckets hold the truly-TEOTWAWKI-type items like sterile gloves, gowns, and towels, lidocaine powder, ether, and the glass thermometers and syringes.  This keeps these items out of our way until they're needed, which is hopefully never.  Other buckets are dedicated to just gloves, masks, or gauze.  Some hold vitamins, supplements, or OTC pain relievers.  And yes, we do have a lot of buckets.  We firmly believe in living a pain-free, happy existence as long as possible.

The buckets are stored in the basement where it is cool and dark and separately from the food so that they don't get mixed in and lost.  They are clearly labeled on the side with the exact contents to facilitate locating the unique and rarely used items.  While I would absolutely love full-size medical chests and cabinets, these aren't very portable or water-proof.  Buckets, on the other hand, are easily transported and keep all the supplies perfectly clean.  And they're cheap, leaving more money to spend on supplies.

25 august 2020

Is It Just Me, or Is That Can Bulging?

Sometimes we just aren't sure whether a can is starting to bulge.  We found a bulging can of stewed tomatoes a few days ago, and now every can of stewed tomatoes is under suspicion.  Perhaps one can in the case bulged, so there may be more.  "When in doubt, throw it out" works well enough when there is plenty of money and food to go around.  However, in challenging times, like it or not, people start to take risks.

If you think your can has a suspicious bulge, here's how to test it:

1. Clean the lid
2. Put a few drops of water on the lid in the spot to be punctured
3. Puncture the lid through the water
4. If the water is sucked into the can, the food is good
5. If the escaping gas bubbles through the water or the water is forced away from the puncture, the food is bad[1]

If the food is contaminated, it should be carefully discarded so that people and animals do not come into contact with it.   Even microscopic amounts of toxin absorbed through the eyes or skin can cause illness.[2]

Four steps to take to reduce the risks of bulging cans and spoiled food:

1. Rotate your canned goods.  Develop a rotation system that works for your family and your situation.
2. Become aware of what the dates stamped on cans really mean.  Keep in mind that just because an arbitrary date is reached or passed, it does not mean the food has gone bad.  Also, remember that canned meats and dairy last longer than vegetables which last longer than fruits.  
3. If you have foods that you know are at risk of spoiling soon, say some tomatoes or pineapple, dehydrate them.
4. Avoid metal cans altogether when possible.  Tomatoes and pineapple are especially acidic and eat through the lining in cans pretty quickly.  That's why people say they go bad quickly.  However, home-canned tomatoes and pineapple have a much longer shelf life because they are in glass.  

Other measures to take to reduce the risk of rust from the outside in are particularly important in humid areas.

1. Remove labels
2. Dip the ends or the entire can in paraffin or oil.  Paraffin is cleaner and doesn't attract dirt.
3. Do not store canned goods in cardboard boxes. 

Links to related posts:
Botulism
Best-By Dates:  What Those Numbers Really Mean
Tomatoes--Home Canned Tomato Sauce
Canning Pineapple
Dehydrating Pineapple
Storing Canned Goods for the Long Term in Humid Areas 

References:
[1]Larry Bush, et al., “Botulism,” MSD Manual: Consumer Version, https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/infections/bacterial-infections-anaerobic-bacteria/botulism (accessed 1 May 2020).
[2]Ibid. 

 

6 august 2020

Copycat Crunch Bars—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

I’m so blessed to be here in the middle of nowhere with Ellie and Cowboy and their new baby boy.  He’s absolutely beautiful, and at 18 days late he only weighed 7 lbs 12 oz, nowhere near as big as his 9 lb older sister was at 10 days late.  We really feared for the worst this time, but for nought.  Not only was he substantially lighter than his sister, he also came in at a whopping 23”, just like his aunt.  This boy is gonna be tall. 

While I spend my days tending to his mother and sister and making dinner, I can still write a little in the evenings.  But I’m limited in what I have to work with.  No way was I hauling all the herbal and conventional medicine texts with me.  It looks like I’ll be testing a lot of recipes over the next two weeks.

Which brings us to the Copycat Nestle Crunch Bars.  Provided are the recipe with quantities as originally written, as well as my scaled down version.  While I’m happy to share chocolate with my family, when we need chocolate, we need only a little at a time, not a big batch of candy.  And the neighbors?  Well, if they wanted chocolate, they would have stored it.  No way I’m letting them know we have any to spare.

Copycat Crunch Bars (original batch size)

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 cup Rice Krispies

Directions:  Line an 8x8” pan with parchment paper.

Over a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter together.  (Alternatively, melt in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave at 20-second intervals.)  When the chocolate mixture is melted and smooth, stir in the Rice Krispies.  Spread into the prepared pan.  Refrigerate or freeze 15-30 minutes.  Cut into bars. 

 

Copycat Crunch Bars (smalll batch size)

½ cup chocolate chips

2 tablespoons (scant) peanut butter

1/3 cup Rice Krispies

Directions:  Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Over a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter together.  (Alternatively, melt in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave at 20-second intervals.)  When the chocolate mixture is melted and smooth, stir in the Rice Krispies.  Spread into the prepared pan.  Refrigerate or freeze30 minutes.    

Family reviews:  I didn’t care for them much.  Crunch bars have never been my thing.  I mean, they taste just fine, but they don’t get me twitterpated.  Ellie, Cowboy, and Blueberry Girl like them quite a bit.  They are very quick and easy to make. 

Spiced Squash Muffins—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

Last week, at about eight o’clock in the morning, I read the text that I’d been anticipating for two weeks:  Ellie was finally in labor, and I was encouraged to start driving down to their ranch “at [my] earliest convenience.”  They still live a couple of hours from the nearest grocery store, so I also had their grocery shopping to do before hitting the road.

About halfway there, I called to check if there was anything else needed before I passed the last grocery store.  Blueberry Girl merely informed me that I’d missed the birth, and she wasn’t even going to tell me whether I had a new grandson or granddaughter. 

Fortunately, all went perfectly well (except the part about being 18 days late), only a tiny bit of tearing, and no need for stitches, unlike the 21 she got last time.  All the fears her family shared about a home birth were completely ungrounded. 

When I arrived, her door was shut and she was resting.  So I turned to unloading the car and eating one of Blueberry Girl’s latest recipe trials, a muffin.  It reminded me of something, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  BG suggested that it tasted like a cake donut.  She was absolutely right!  Except, perhaps, it was a little light on sugar.  But just a little, and most of us recognize that we need to cut back on sugar, so it was all good. 

 

Spiced Squash Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

¾ cup mashed, cooked butternut squash

¾ cup light corn syrup

¼ cup butter, melted

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

STREUSEL TOPPING:

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 teaspoons cold butter

 

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Grease a muffin tin or line it with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients.  Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fill muffin cups two-thirds to three-fourths full.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.  Cut in the butter until crumbly.  Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan to a cooling rack.  Serve warm.  Yield: about 1 dozen. 

Family reviews:  These are quite tasty.  The ingredients are basic food storage items, and—get this—they really don’t taste like butternut squash.  That was kinda surprising.