1. Nutmeg

Four people fell ill, experiencing severe headaches and dizziness after eating an apple cake that was made from a recipe published in the August 2008 issue of the Swedish food magazine, Matmagasinet.

As Matmagasinet’s chief editor Ulla Cocke states, “There was a mistake in a recipe for apple cake. Instead of calling for two pinches of nutmeg it said 20 nutmeg nuts were needed…We publish 1,200 recipes each year, and of course there have been times when they’ve had a bit too much butter or too little flour, but we have never experienced anything like this before.”

The magazine went on to recall all unsold store copies, and sent warning letters to their subscribers about the faulty recipe.

In small amounts, nutmeg is a safe, commonly used ingredient in cooking and baking. However, in large doses, it can cause dizziness, hallucinations, a decrease in body temperature, seizures, and in extreme cases, death.

2. Bitter Almond

According to the folks at Nordic Recipes, nutmeg isn’t the only ingredient that can be toxic in higher doses. Bitter almond, which is also used in small, safe amounts by bakers, contains hydrocyanic acid.

As Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages states…

“Hydrocyanic acid is a dangerous poison (about one twentieth of a gram is considered lethal for an adult), but it is also very volatile and susceptible to hydrolysis at higher temperatures. Therefore, significant amounts of hydrocyanic acid are highly unlikely to accumulate in any dish prepared with bitter almonds. On the other side, incorporation of whole raw bitter almonds is fairly dangerous because, in this case, all of its hydrocyanic acid is formed in one’s stomach. Serious poisoning is quite rare with adults, but children may be killed by just a few bitter almonds.”

3. Ackee

FoodbyCountry.Com counsels caution for cooks planning to work with ackee, Jamaica’s national fruit which was introduced to Jamaica by Captain Bligh. If the fruit is forced open before it’s ripe, it gives out a toxic gas poisonous enough to kill.

Additionally, as the Unichef.Com website warns in its Caribbean Foods Glossary…

“Ackee is poisonous if eaten before it is fully mature and because of its toxicity, it is subject to import restrictions and may be hard to obtain in some countries. Never open an ackee pod; it will open itself when it ceases to be deadly. Ackee is sold canned in West Indian markets.”

1. If You’ve Been Diagnosed With a Particular Medical Conditions or Take Prescription Medication, It’s Important to Be Aware That Certain Foods Might Make Your Health Problem Worse or Might Interfere With the Medication You Take

ABC13.Com has a good article about foods to avoid when you have certain health problems and/or take prescribed medication regularly that you won’t want to miss.

For example, eating too many licorice flavored products can cause problems in those who have heart conditions. For those with hypothyroidism, eating certain dairy products or ingesting caffeine too close to the time you take your medication can interfere with its absorption.

In any case, if you have a chronic health condition, it’s crucial that you ask your doctor if there are any specific foods you should avoid.

2. When Working With a New Ingredient, Make Sure You’re Not Cooking Something Similarly Named Which Actually Isn’t Safe For Human Consumption

As fans of Britain’s Healthy & Organic Living Magazine recently found out, sometimes even experienced chefs can accidentally confuse one term with another.
Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson apparently was a recent victim of this when he advised magazine readers to try sprinkling the poisonous weed henbane into salads, according to The Times of London.

“I was thinking of a wild plant with a similar name - fat hen, not henbane.” he said.

Thompson was born in Stratford Upon Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Oddly enough, henbane was the poison used to kill Hamlet’s father in the play of the same name.

(Photo Credit: Ackee by Clarence Johnson)

Here’s a list of 20 sugary blogs guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth that celebrate the world of cakes, candy, chocolate, ice cream, cup cakes, and other good (if somewhat guilt inducing) eats.

As Don Kardong once said, “Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.”

Here’s our list, in alphabetical order…

Blognut

Ah donuts. As someone who’s spent more than their fair share of time haunting various donut shops up and down the East coast and drinking gallons of coffee, Blognut is definitely my go-to site for all things donut-centric. Boston cream or French crullers, anyone?

Cake Spy

Covering the world of baked goods with articles on such topics as how not to make chocolate chip cookies, exploring the historical difference between cake and gateau, as well as travels to baked good meccas in such places as Philadelphia, Seattle, New York, and the Jersey shore, the Cake Spy blog is also sprinkled with Jessie Oleson’s delightfully whimsical sketches of cupcakes visiting the circus and the Chrysler Building.

Cake Wrecks

Whatever you do, don’t visit this site while you’re at work unless you want to be caught laughing at cakes with hilariously inappropriate designs, unfortunate misspellings, frightful frosting, and much worse.

If you’d like to read more about the joys of Cake Wrecks, we’ve covered it all here.

Candy Addict

As you might suspect, Candy Addict is a very comprehensive blog about candy, with reviews of such nostalgic candies as Boston Baked Beans to newer confections as pomegranate flavored Tootsie Pops, Reeses Hazelnut Creme, Chocolate Creme de Menthe Altoids, and the truly terrifying Chum Bucket Mints.

Candy From Strangers

Currently in Grenada, after three years of saving up for the trip, blog author Malena travels the world sampling sweets and sharing what she’s seen. Part travelogue and part candy review site, this blog offers an interesting look at international candies and the countries that make them.

Cannelle et Vanille

With its sensual photographs and quality writing, Cannelle et Vanille offers a sophisticated exploration of the many delights of baked goods as well as the techniques and ingredients necessary to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Charmaine’s Pastry Blog

Former ophthalmologist turned pastry cook Charmaine shares her passion for all things pastry as well as her adventures in cake decorating here.

Cheesecake Recipes

Since my wife and I are originally from the New York area, it’s no wonder that we’d be more than happy to eat cheesecake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The new Cheesecake Recipes blog could be the first step in finding inspiration towards making that dream happen.

Chocablog

Care to debate the merits of Belgian chocolate over Swiss, compare the offerings of Lindt, Ghirardelli, Godiva, and Isis to those from Cadbury, Nestle, and Hershey? You’re just one click away from the perfect place to do just that.

Cookie Madness

Double trouble potato chip cookies? Peanut butter and chipotle cookies? Ricotta cheese and Wheaties cookies? All this and more can be found on this blog that mainly focuses on the sharing of cookie recipes.

A Daily Scoop

If it’s made of ice cream, the folks at A Daily Scoop review, announce, and discuss it.

Dessert Buzz

If you have a sweet tooth and are planning a trip to NYC you might want to hit this site first so you don’t miss out on any treats when you tour the Big (candied) Apple.

Dessert First

As Ernestine Ulmer said, “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.” Apparently, the creators of this site couldn’t agree more, with their emphasis on the sweetest meal of the day. Don’t miss their post about and recipe for Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream.

How to Eat a Cup Cake

Each week, the readers of How to Eat a Cup Cake vote for which cupcake recipe from the book Cupcake Heaven gets featured and made on the blog. This week’s winner: Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes.

Japanese Ice Cream

From the title of this blog it’s easy to get an idea what the Japanese Ice Cream site is about, but have you ever tried those delicious red bean, green tea, and black sesame flavored ice creams lurking in the coolers of your local Asian food market? If not, you should.

Kitchen Cakes

With recipes for such down-home favorites as peach cobbler, oatmeal raisin bars, and chocolate rum cake, this blog is a comfort food compendium of recipes from the sweeter side of life.

Peanut Butter Boy

While not strictly speaking a sweets-only blog, how could we not list a blog in which every post and recipe features peanut butter in a starring role?

Sugar Plum

Sugar Plum likes it sweet. From Chocolate Macadamia Coconut Pie to Rainier Cherry and Crumb Crostata to such delights as Buttermilk Frozen Custard With Bourbon Roasted Peaches and Brown Sugar Walnuts Emiline’s definitely not afraid to explore the sensual side of working with fresh ingredients.

Sugar Savvy

A true sugar lovers blog, this site is junk food central, full of reviews of new and old favorites from the candy and ice cream aisles.

Sweet and Simple Bakes

If you’re just getting started out with baking, this is the site for you. With monthly baking blog roundups, this site is an excellent way to find the inspiration and motivation one needs to just off one’s cookie sheet and start baking with confidence.

Southern style grits. A five egg omelette. French toast. Chocolate chip pancakes. Three fried egg sandwiches and two cups of coffee.

Not exactly part of a heart-healthy breakfast, but according to this article in Britain’s Times Online, eating this mammoth breakfast is one method multiple gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps uses to replace the many calories he’s depleting while competing in the Olympics.

Phelps, also known as the Baltimore Bullet, swims as much as five hours a day as part of his six day a week training regimen.

As the article says:

“The average man of the same age needs about 2,000 calories a day, but with Phelps due to swim 17 times over nine days of competition in Beijing he is bringing a whole new spin to the phrase breakfast of champions.”

Each one of Phelps’ meals over the course of the competition clocks in at approximately 4,000 calories. That’s roughly equivalent to eating 10 McDonald’s Quarter Pounders three times a day!

I wonder if his Mom makes him wait an hour before going in the pool?

Click here to read more about the foods Phelps fuels himself with for lunch and dinner.

(Photo Credit: Pork Chops, Eggs & Grits at Waffle House - Tallahassee, Florida by Marshall Astor)

Here in the Southern United States, some call iced sweet tea “the wine of the South” because it is drunk by the gallon throughout the year. Since iced tea here is traditionally served sweetened with plenty of sugar (or occasionally honey) by default, it’s called sweet tea down here. (Tea served without sugar is called unsweet tea.) Up North where I grew up, it’s called iced tea.

According to this page on What’s Cooking America, due to its long growing season and semi-tropical climate, South Carolina is the first place in the United States where tea was grown and is the only state to ever have produced tea commercially.

Tea is still cultivated on the Charleston Tea Plantation which is now owned by Bigelow Tea which is also home to the annual First Flush Tea Festival.

Here’s a few iced sweet tea recipes to help you survive the heat as we move closer to August.

• Juanita’s Southern Sweet Tea (plus some classic Southern brewing tips) from What’s Cooking America

• Apple Ginger Mint Iced Tea (plus Apple Ginger Sake-Tea variation) from Steamy Kitchen

• Rhubarb and Mint Iced Tea With Ginger Sugar Rim from Kitchengardeners.org

• Lavender Iced Tea from Tea Spot

• Thai Iced Tea With Star Anise from The Perfect Pantry

• Gluten Free Naturally Sweetened Thai Iced Tea from Elana’s Pantry

• Jamaican Flower Iced Tea from 101 Cookbooks.Com

If you have a food blog and are interested in sharing your blog and meeting others who are passionate about food, you’ll want to join the the Featured Publisher Program at Foodbuzz, a large online community of foodies and food bloggers excited about food, cooking, and the culinary arts.

Since joining Foodbuzz as a Featured Publisher, there’s been a noticeable jump in traffic on this site as well as many new readers!

Best of all, through Foodbuzz we’ve been fortunate enough to communicate with a wide variety of interesting people who are equally passionate about food, as well as to find and contribute reviews of restaurants in our local area and around the world.

Foodbuzz is also an excellent way for food bloggers and foodies to conveniently subscribe to and follow the writing of their favorite bloggers as well as to share and make comments on their favorite posts.

Another great Foodbuzz feature is their collection of thousands of recipes on the site.

How to Join and Learn More:

If you have a food blog and would like to find out more about joining Foodbuzz as a Featured Publisher, all you have to do is click the following link to fill out the short Foodbuzz Referral Form here.

The Foodbuzz Team can then contact you as soon as possible with the details!

(Of course, joining the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program is free!)

Or, simply contact shannon@foodbuzz.com with the following information:

Full name:
Full name of referral: (Just tell them Doug from Hugging the Coast sent you)
Title of your blog:
Your blog’s web address:
Preferred email (or phone number):
Current Advertising program (if any):
Estimated Monthly Page Views (if you know):

See you on Foodbuzz!

Note: This article is also available in the following convenient format(s)…

Do you have strong opinions on food and travel? Why not take one of our growing collection of anonymous food polls on the site (or find out what others have answered)?

You can find the polls here…enjoy!

“Before I’d arrived at this dark, back-alley restaurant in Tokyo, I’d been told that trust was the most crucial element involved when choosing a fugu chef. It was like selecting a heart surgeon or a private pilot. ‘The fugu chef has your life in his hands,’ one of my Japanese friends had said. Which is why my first impulse, upon greeting Mr. Naohisa Hashimoto, is to turn around, in the most diplomatic possible way, of course, and run screaming back to my hotel. Hashimoto is dressed in a white chef’s coat that’s slightly stained around the pockets with fish guts. He has a spiky haircut, like the wires on a brush, and big, prominent ears, which give him a passing resemblance to Don Knotts.

His little restaurant, called Mukoujima Hashimoto, is located on a lonely residential street in the working-class Sumida section of Tokyo (’If we are in New York, this is Queens,’ my interpreter says), a tidy establishment with just three low-slung tables set over tatami matting. The chef lives above his place, like an old-time saloon keeper. Only tonight, there are no sounds of clattering pots coming from upstairs, no comforting pitter-patter of tiny children’s feet. There are no waiters, either; no dishwashers, no friendly neighbors dropping by for a cup of tea. As every food-obsessed traveler knows, the first rule when looking for a decent meal in a strange place is to choose a crowded room. But on this April Friday evening in otherwise bustling Tokyo, this curious little fugu restaurant is as empty as a tomb.”

New York Magazine writer Adam Platt lives to tell the tale of his risky experience eating fugu in Japan, of which Ruth Reichl said, “It’s like eating fluke, only you’re playing Russian roulette”.

You can read more of Adam Platt’s article here.

According to Wikipedia’s article on fugu…

“The poison, a sodium channel blocker, paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. There is currently no antidote, and the standard medical approach is to try to support the respiratory and circulatory system until the effect of the poison wears off. It is alleged that non-lethal quantities of the poison remain in the flesh of the fish and give a special desired tingling sensation on the tongue, which leads to the fingers.”

Most properly prepared fugu is safe. However, for more than 50% of fugu’s few victims, death occurs within the first 24 hours.

Would you fugu?

Dining Under the Sea in The Maldives

Have you ever wondered what it might have been like to dine on the Titanic? What about experiencing fine dining 17th and 18th Century style while the music of Mozart is performed? Would you like to dine in bed, in prison, under the sea, in a crypt, or near the rim of an active volcano?

Then you’ll enjoy visiting the Most Unusual Restaurants Around the World Page.

Frequently updated, this page also lists restaurants in which all foods served are made with garlic, apples, animal reproductive organs, or offer only aphrodisiac foods on their menus.

Bon Appetit!

There is nothing quite like an oyster roast. Standing elbow to elbow with fellow oyster lovers we await the bounty about to be served; oyster knives at the ready, shucking gloves tucked in our belts, bowls of crimson hot sauce scattered across the rough-hewn tables.

A popular coastal tradition, the best oyster roasts are both sacred and informal celebrations of the natural flavors of the sea that ideally take place not far from the waters from which the oysters were taken.

If you’d like to hold your own oyster roast, you’ll have to order several bushels of oysters from your local seafood supplier, but it’s much better to harvest them yourself if you’re lucky to live in an area with an abundance of oysters. There’s a nice article here about the finer points of gathering oysters and running a traditional oyster roast.

If you prefer to grill your oysters instead, Coastal Living has some good tips and recipes here.

According to Charlestonlowcountry.com, oysters are an excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, and D. Four or five medium size oysters supply the recommended daily allowance of iron, copper, iodine, magnesium, calcium, zinc, and manganese. Charlestonlowcountry.com also has some nice in-home recipes here.

After you’ve held your roast, don’t forget to recycle your oyster shells so that they can be used to form new oyster beds for the next generation of oysters. South Carolina residents can recycle their oyster shells at various DNR oyster shell recycling locations. North Carolina also has an excellent oyster shell recycling program.

(Here’s a photo we took of an oyster bed vista in McClellanville, SC.)

Also, below is a taste of a few of the many photos we took at Pethelpers’ 2008 Sucking It Up to Save Lives Oyster Roast at Bowen’s Island in Charleston, SC. The event raised over $13,000 to benefit the new no-kill animal shelter.

While we were at the oyster roast, we were fortunate enough to come across something small and hard in one of our oysters…a pearl!

Alas, unlike Florida’s George and Leslie Brock who were lucky enough to come across a really valuable purple oyster while eating our Apalachicola Selects, our “Pethelper Pearl” is small and rough textured; a rare specimen mainly remarkable for its extremely high sentimental (if not financial) value.

By the way, if you’re curious about how oysters make pearls, click here.

And you thought your food bill was crazy! Find out more about…

The Most Expensive Junk Foods in the World (CNNMoney.Com)
$120 truffle burgers, $1000 gold leaf ice cream sundaes, and more!

The Most Expensive Restaurants in the U.S. (Forbes)
Dinner averages $366 per person at NYC sushi hotspot Masa. Other restaurants on the list include The French Laundry and Charlie Trotter’s.

The World’s Most Expensive Foods (Wacky Archives)
(Believe it or not, if you’ve ever been to a restaurant, there’s a good chance you’ve eating something with at least a tiny bit of at least one of these ingredients during your lifetime.)

Attention hot sauce junkies…

Big congratulations are in order for the members of Charleston’s own Ladies Philoptochos Society, whose local community cookbook, Popular Greek Recipes was recently inducted in the Walter S. McIlhenny Hall of Fame as part of the 18th annual Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards after selling 100,000 copies!

The first edition of the recently updated cookbook was published in 1957.

Invented in 1868 by Edmund McIlhenny, Tabasco is a versatile Louisiana hot sauce that is a popular ingredient in many recipes and drinks. (Click here to see a list of nearly 700 drinks that feature Tabasco sauce from iDrink.Com.)

Three miles from the Gulf Coast, deep in Cajun country, the company home is a 2,500-acre dome of solid rock salt, formed when ancient seabeds evaporated, according to a recent MSNBC article. Annual sales of the spicy condiment are tallied at approximately $250 million.

According to Wikipedia’s Tabasco sauce page:

“Until recently, all of the peppers were grown on Avery Island. While a small portion of the crop is still grown on the island, the bulk of the crop is now grown in Central and South America, where the weather and the availability of more farmland allow a more predictable and larger year-round supply of peppers. This also helps to ensure the supply of peppers should something happen to the crop at a particular location. All of the seeds are still grown on Avery Island.

Following company tradition, the peppers are hand picked by workers. To tell their ripeness, peppers are checked with a little red stick, or ‘le petit bâton rouge’ that each worker carries around. Those peppers not matching the color of the stick are not harvested. Harvested peppers are shipped back to the Island factory. Peppers are ground into mash, and salt and vinegar are added. The mixture is put into old white oak whiskey barrels from distilleries to age for up to three years. The bright red mash is so corrosive that forklifts are reported to last only six years.”

Also, via the Hot Sauce Blog, here’s a good article from the New York Times about the McIlhenny Company’s plan to retool after Hurricane Rita when it was inches away from being lost in the storm.

(Illustration Credit: The illustration above which celebrates the joys of Tabasco and oysters is by New Orleans artist Ron Picou. We have are lucky to have a signed and numbered copy of it hanging in our mobile kitchen.)

Here down South (especially in Charleston), we’re lucky for much of the year to have access to fresh local seafood. However, other parts of the country are not so lucky.

As it says in an article on AirCargoWorld.Com…

“In order to dine upon day-old Copper River salmon in a trendy New York City bistro or freshly farmed shrimp in the comfort of a Manhattan, Kansas, household, air cargo shipping is necessary to ensure quality of fish and shellfish…

According to the National Fisheries Institute, Americans eat 16.5 pounds of seafood annually per capita, 74 percent of which is of the fresh and frozen variety…

Alaska plays a significant role in transporting fresh Alaska seafood, flying more than 26 million pounds of it to the lower 48 states and beyond each year.”

You can read more of the article here.

Spotlight on a good cause…

Help preserve South Carolina’s beautiful Morris Island Lighthouse by purchasing the rare, limited edition print pictured above or by making a donation to Save the Light.

“Save The Light is pleased to offer Jim Booth’s print, “Carolina Legacy”, a homage to the importance of the Morris Island Lighthouse to South Carolina and Charleston, and was created to help support Save The Light’s goal to protect and preserve this irreplaceable historical landmark.

Jim’s painting depicts the Morris Island Lighthouse as it looked in 1896. This venerable tower still stands to remind us of the noble legacy of our treasured maritime history. The sales of this new print will enable Save The Light to begin the Protection and Preservation Project.

The Save The Light Edition of “Carolina Legacy” is signed and numbered with an edition size of only 400 prints.

All sales will be through the Jim Booth Art Gallery. Payments by cash, check, or credit card will be accepted. Please let the gallery sales people know that you are a member of Save The Light when you order. The cost of the print is $200.00 plus $2.00 for protective shrink-wrapping and $10.00 for shipping if necessary. Please call the Jim Booth Gallery at 1-800-696-5772 or access his website, www.jimbooth.com, to purchase your print.

The Save the Light edition of the last print sold out in two weeks, so we urge you to act quickly if you would like to reserve prints.

The sales of the first print Jim Booth released for Save The Light in 1999, “First Light”, raised the funds necessary for us to purchase the lighthouse from a private owner and donate it to the people of South Carolina.

We are very excited to begin the multi-phased project to preserve this, the most beloved symbol of South Carolina’s maritime heritage.”

You can find out more about artist, Jim Booth here. Memberships in Save the Light are available for as low as $25 and entitle you to receive a variety of great lighthouse related memorabilia.

More Related Links:

• Morris Island Lighthouse Webcam
  
• Lighthouse Friends Morris Island Lighthouse Page
• Flickr: Morris Island Photos

• Hog jowls for joy! (from Piggly Wiggly Supermarkets)