What dish has the most "spring flavor", the answer to me is toon stall eggs.
Toon tofu | Douguo @ Meng Youyou
But one day, my mother suddenly mysteriously told me, what is the difference between you taste today's toon omelette. When I took a bite, I found that it was strange, the toons were soft and collapsed, and there was no characteristic fragrance and umami. My mother said that this is to follow the advice of a TV show, first pass the toon sprouts in hot water, then soak them in cold water, and then chop and fry, which can greatly reduce the nitrate content in them and be more beneficial to health. I mechanically put the special omelette in my mouth and chewed, thinking, "Is this nitrate really so ferocious?" "Is this toon really not edible?
Charming toon flavor
The "spring taste" of toon comes from its special volatiles, including terpenes, sesquiterpenes and other substances, so it is a mixture of caryophyllene, large yak seedling, acacia, syringene, camphor and other odor ingredients. Caryophyllene, in particular, has a blend of citrus, camphor and cloves. It seems that the feeling of eating flowers on the body of toons is not a strange thing.
Fried toon fish | Douguo @ Minruyi
In addition to the special fragrance, toons have a special umami taste, without adding MSG is already extremely fresh, that is because toons contain a lot of glutamate. Glutamic acid can make up 2.6% of the dry matter of toon, and when combined with the nucleotides in eggs, the taste gain effect produced by the combination of the two makes us feel the indescribable taste of spring.
Nitrate shadow
I don't know when nitrate has become the mortal enemy of human beings, and toon buds with super high nitrate content are naturally not exempt, so there is a special method of water immersion treatment.
To clarify whether it is toxic or not, we must first clarify the relationship between nitric acid, nitrite acid and ammonium, which contain nitrogenous compounds.
Nitrates and ammonium salts themselves have very low toxicity (3236 mg/kg for acute half of nitrates versus 3000 mg/kg for sodium chloride), so few people are poisoned by exposure to nitrates.
Toon toon with bean skin | Tea time at Bean Fruit @ Lemon
As for the little brother of nitrates, nitrites are not good stubble, they will dominate the hemoglobin in the human body, making people die of lack of oxygen. More worryingly, they combine with amines to form nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic dangerous substances.
The problem is that nitrates become nitrite in the human body. Generally, nitrates that are eaten enter the bloodstream through the digestive tract, where they are sent to the salivary glands. With the secretion of saliva, nitrate enters the mouth again, where many bacteria reduce nitrate to nitrite, and the trouble turns out to be caused by the human body!
Toon shortbread | Bean Fruit @ Haixia's Kitchen
Most of the nitrates enter the digestive tract and start a new cycle, and some are excreted. At this time, restless nitrite is pondering, if the acidity of the stomach is wrong, they can easily combine with amines and eventually become strong carcinogens. This is the most terrifying and dangerous place for nitrates and nitrites.
Having said that, trace amounts of nitrite are necessary to maintain the microbial environment of the mouth. It is precisely because of the presence of nitrite that those harmful anaerobic bacteria do not stir up trouble. At the same time, many nitrites are further reduced to nitric oxide, which plays an important role in maintaining normal blood pressure. In addition, nitrite does not accumulate in the human body.
Can you eat toon?
After understanding the dangers of nitrite acid, we turn our attention to toon. For plants, nitrates and nitrites are nutrients, but their ultimate destination is amines that synthesize amino acids and proteins. However, the nitrogen in the soil is almost all in the form of nitrate, so toons must absorb a large amount of nitrate, and then reduce and utilize it in the body, nitrite is only an intermediate stage in the reduction process, and there is no harm to plants. In the areas where the growth is vigorous, a large amount of nitrate usually accumulates to ensure the nutrient supply of plants.
Well, the problem arises, we eat these "nutritious" vegetables, we will encounter the problem of nitrate and nitrite exceeding the standard. Using the data, let's see how many dangerous substances are in the toon. In 2006, Nanjing Forestry University investigated the nitrate and nitrite content in toon buds in Nanjing, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi, and found that the nitrite in the 6 samples did not exceed the national limit of 4 mg/kg, which is largely related to the rapid reduction and utilization of nitrite, after all, nitrite is also a passerby in plants.
In fact, according to the maximum intake set by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a 60-kilogram adult can get up to 7.8 milligrams of nitrite, which is equivalent to eating about 2 kilograms of toon. This can be regarded as a luxury poisoning incident, after all, the price of toons is usually as high as 100 yuan per kilogram!
Toon head scrambled eggs | Bean Fruit @ Bulb Sha
Relatively speaking, nitrate in toon buds is something worth paying attention to, in the same study of Nanjing Forestry University, it was found that the nitrate content in toon buds ranges from 500 mg / kg to 3000 mg / kg, so eating 100 grams of toon buds, it is possible to reach the upper limit of nitrate intake (216 mg, weight is 60 kg). But don't worry, we bought two taels (100 grams) of toons is enough to fry a large plate of eggs, if you don't eat alone, it is not so easy to overdose.
Nitrate content in several vegetables Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety
Gourmet tips
Toon soaked in oil
Toons are available for a limited amount of time each year, so if you want to eat more, you should use the trick of soaking toons in oil. Wash the fresh toon, dry it and chop it finely. Heat oil in a pot, add toon, stir-fry slowly over medium heat, if you like spicy, you can put some fine chili noodles. After the fried toons are cooled in a pan, they are sealed in glass bottles and can be eaten until late summer.
Don't eat rotten toon
Pay special attention to the fact that if the toons decay, discard them as soon as possible, because the bacteria will convert the nitrates in them to nitrite. Eating it in this way may cause poisoning. So, don't feel sorry for that little toon bud.
Author: Shi Jun