Our friends were having a discussion at lunch the other day about drinking vegetables. Jane just got a Vita-Mix blender and is making vegetable smoothies in the morning. Lorna said that too much greens such as kale and spinach are not good for the kidneys. We turned to Dick, who is a retired cardiologist, and he said having vegetables with oxalic acid in moderation was fine. So I decided to check this out to make sure my friends don’t end up with kidney stones.
Oxalic acid occurs naturally in plants as well as in our bodies. We cannot eat taro raw because the oxalic acid crystals make our mouth and throat itch. The high amounts of oxalic acid in rhubarb leaves make them poisonous, and that is why you can only find rhubarb stalks and not the leaves.
We eat spinach, kale, sorrel, drink black tea and they all have oxalic acid.
Foods high in oxalate include: spinach, raw or cooked; Swiss chard, red or green, raw or cooked; rhubarb, cooked or raw; beets, cooked, pickled, raw and including leaves; almonds; mixed nuts without peanuts ; sesame seeds, whole of dried, and including tahini paste; miso, chocolate soy milk; buckwheat flour, whole groats, and all bran cereal.
Dick is right; moderation is key. You would have to eat at one time 16 cups of raw spinach or 8 cups cooked to have an effect. Additionally, cooking vegetables breaks down the oxalic acid. So the health benefits of eating spinach, with all the folic acid, potassium, magnesium, vitamin K, carotenes, vitamin C, lutein outweighs the concern about oxalic acid.
Basically, if you have a high incidence of calcium oxalate kidney stones, (calcium oxalate stones are 80 percent of kidney stones occurring in the United States) I would say be aware of foods with high amounts of oxalate acid and avoid them or eat them in moderation. A low oxalate diet is less than 80 milligrams oxalate per day.
So please continue to eat or drink your vegetables. If you don’t have a Vita-Mix or a blender, here is a recipe for Italian Spinach Soup you could quickly prepare for dinner on a cold night and take the chill away.
Italian Spinach Soup
Serves 6
In a Dutch-oven pot, place:
2 tablespoon butter
When heated, add:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
Cook for 5 minutes, until onions are tender
Add:
1 (14.5-ounce) can chicken broth
1 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat.
Add:
2 cups fresh spinach, washed and trimmed
Use a hand blender or place in food processor and process until smooth.
Return to stove and heat through, stirring constantly to prevent sticking to bottom of pot.
Top with:
Fresh spinach leaves
2 cups watercress tops only
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
2 plum tomatoes, seeded, thinly sliced or diced
If you do not have Italian seasoning in your spice rack, make you own with equal parts (one teaspoon each) of dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, basil, sage and rosemary. Keep what you do not use in an airtight container.
SMALL BITES
The synthetic form of oxalic acid removes rust and is the key ingredient in Bar Keepers Friend, a non-abrasive cleaner.
FOODIE BITES
This Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day and many of you are checking out the ads in today’s newspaper to see which market has the best price on corned beef for the special Saturday dinner.
I wrote about corned beef in 2010, and to refresh you on the selection, I am repeating what I wrote. There are two cuts: flats and point cuts. The flats are thicker, are the front to back cuts and great for roasting and the point cuts are the top to bottom cuts, less expensive, tender because of the fat content and great for boiling with your cabbage, potatoes and carrots.
Thank you so much for supporting the culinary students at Hawaii Community College! They have been able to learn real life situations, like fitting customers in a small dining room and telling people they are unable to make reservations because they are sold out (happened to me and I am happy about their popularity!). Please call the cafeteria at 934-2559 and 934-2562 for Bamboo Hale reservations. Our group of friends went to Sweden and Greece through the travel around the globe at the Bamboo Hale and had some of the best meals ever. Great job students and instructors!
The Rotary Club of South Hilo’s Hilo Huli will be held on Sunday, May 6, at Coconut Island.
A new vendor is LaRay’s Taco Plus, who has a foodie’s dream lunch wagon. The insides are total of stainless steel, from the floor to the ceiling and when Laraine Agren is ready, this beautiful wagon will be parked in the industrial area, on Holomua Street.
Please feel free to e-mail me at wilson.audrey@hawaiiantel.net if you have a question. Bon appetit until next week.
