DailyDouble Squick: Placenta Cuisine
elizabeth
Cooking Your Placenta
There are several sumptuous recipes around so that you can enjoy
cooking and eating your placenta;
this one is for roasting it:-
Work on the basis that each placenta weighs approximately 1/6 of the
baby's weight. To prepare a placenta, cut the meat away from the
membranes with a sharp knife. Discard the membranes.
Roast Placenta
1-3lb fresh placenta (must be no more than 3 days old)
1 onion
1 green or red pepper (green will add colour)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 tspn bay leaves
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn white pepper
1 clove garlic (roasted and minced)
Method
(Preheat oven to 350 degrees)
Chop the onion and the pepper & crush the saltines into crumbs.
Combine the placenta, onion, pepper, saltines, bay leaves, white and
black pepper, garlic and tomato sauce.
Place in a loaf pan, cover then bake for one and a half hours,
occasionally pouring off excess liquid.
Serve and enjoy!
Dehydrating your placenta!
Instead of cooking your placenta whole, you can dehydrate it and then
add it to meals! The following method is extracted from an article
entitled "Thinking About Eating Your Placenta?" by Susan James, which
appeared in the winter 1996 issue of "The Compleat Mother". It was
discovered posted on a newsgroup noticeboard, so we cannot absolutely
guarantee its authenticity, or that it is an actual verbatim account
of the magazine article.
Method
"Cut off the cord and membranes. Steam the placenta, adding lemon
grass, pepper and ginger to the steaming water. The placenta is
"done" when no blood comes out when you pierce it with a fork. Cut the
placenta into thin slices (like making jerky) and bake in a low-heat
oven (200-250 degrees F), until it is dry and crumbly (several hours).
Crush the placenta into a powder - using a food processor, blender,
mortar and pestle, or by putting it in a bag and grinding it with
rocks. Put the powder into empty gel caps (available at drug and
health food stores) or just add a spoonful to your cereal, blender
drink, etc. The recommended doses vary, some suggest up to 4 capsules
a day, others just one. Perhaps the best advice is to take what makes
you feel good".
If you think this is bad, try looking at the following website which
has a section called Umbilical Cord Care/Placenta Questions!
If anyone has tried eating their placenta - dried or otherwise,
perhaps they could let us know what it was like?!
http://www.geocities.com/virtualbirth/placenta.html
What Can I Do With This Placenta?
WARNING: While some people would just prefer for the hospital staff to
dispose of the placenta, some prefer to do something special with it.
So while this page may not be for everyone, it is of interest to some.
Please refrain from sending me nasty letters about this... if you
don't find this to your liking, please just go to another page. Try to
keep an open mind...
Planting Your Placenta
Many people freeze their placentas until they get a special tree or
bush in honor of the new baby. After digging an appropriately sized
hole, score the sides of the hole so the soil is more amenable to
tender roots. Put the placenta in, and cover it with a half to a full
inch of soil before placing the plant on top of it. Hold the plant
steady while the rest of the hole is filled. Water the plant well
after planting. Newly planted trees and shrubs need to be watered on a
regular basis the first year until they form a good root system. As
the placenta breaks down in the soil, the tree or shrub will reap the
benefits of all the nutrients packed in that placenta. Now, just enjoy
watching your baby and new yard addition grow!
Making Placenta Prints
This may appeal to some of you who enjoy doing artistic endeavors.
Before the birth, pick up a few sheets of nice quality art paper. This
can be watercolor paper, or some of the really unique specialty papers
found in an art supply store. After the birth, take the fresh placenta
and lay it out on the paper. You can make the prints with the blood
that covers it, or wipe it off and put ink or paint on it first. To
get the best prints, make sure there isn't too much or too little
fluid for the print. Many parents have found this to be a fun activity
as well as giving them a very unique, artistic keepsake of their
pregnancy.
Membrane Art
As a student midwife I saw a beautiful "picture" up at a woman's
house. It looked like an image of an angel. It was in fact the caul.
Their last baby had been born with the membranes intact and the mother
asked a friend to put the membranes onto a sheet of paper. Ta Da!! It
really was lovely! ~Andrya, UK
This was shared on the midwife-mirror list:
Traditional Chinese Medicine Placenta Preparation
by Janneli Miller, Midwife
(If anyone knows how to contact Ms. Miller, please let me know. I'd
like to make sure I've given her all the proper credit, as well as
listing a way for people to contact her for more information or to get
placenta preparations.)
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, placenta is considered a
powerful and sacred medicine, full of life force. Raven Lang, a
midwife who studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, advises the use of
placenta during the postpartum course to aid in recovery from
childbirth. After the placenta is prepared it is taken in capsule
form, 2 capsules at a time, with white wine. The wine is said to help
disperse the energy of the placenta throughout the body. Women can
take this dose up to three times a day, and continue until they no
longer feel a need. Remaining placenta can be saved and used
homeopathically for those times when the child undergoes a separation
from the mother. For example, when first learning to walk, or when
weaning, or when going off ory is made from qi and blood, human
placenta used to augment qi and blood will help augment lactation.
I first heard of making placenta into medicine from Raven Lang at a
MANA convention in 1984. I have been making it for all my clients
since. I do it as a routine, and have only had one client not want it.
For all you who are
ROFL right now, let me say that the placenta is prepared into a powder
and encapsulated, so it's not so undesirable. To prepare, it must be
cooked. Cooking in TCM is an integral part of the formation and action
of the medicine. Raw is generally considered cooling, so raw placenta
is cooling, and I wouldn't recommend it as a general rule. Also, none
of the actions of human placenta as I am describing it can be
attributed to the raw placenta. Cooking it is part of making it what
it is. To cook, wash excess blood from the placenta. Place it in a
steamer over water. Place with it fresh ginger slices, half a lemon
and a hot pepper. Steam for 15 minutes, turn, and steam 15 more
minutes until no juice comes out when pricked with a fork. (Steam over
low heat, it has a tendency to boil over and that's a mess.) The
membranes and cord may be cooked with the placenta. It is helpful to
turn the placenta to "Schultz," i.e., wrapped inside the membrane when
you cook it. It will shrink tremendously, and wrapped in the membranes
makes it easy to deal with for the next step. After steaming, slice
the placenta in 1/8" strips, similar to making jerky. Slice
as thin as possible. Place the strips on a cookie sheet (over aluminum
foil if you're squeamish) and place it in an oven on the lowest
possible setting for several hours until completely brittle-dry.
(Again like jerky) Using a food
dehydrator is even better, but will take longer. Powder the strips in
a coffee grinder, and encapsulate. I advise clients to take two
capsules three times a day for two weeks postpartum. It can be kept
indefinitely, but is best kept in a freezer long term (like any meat
to school or daycare.
I have been preparing and giving placenta to women for 10 years. It is
not recommended for everyone, but women who do want to take it have
reported that they do not have trouble with postpartum depression and
seem to heal quickly from any trauma experienced because of birth.
While it is difficult to say that the placenta is responsible, there
are physiological reasons that may be at work. The placenta is full of
natural oxytocins which are responsible for contracting the uterus and
minimizing postpartum bleeding. Also it contains hormones which have
recently been shown to help in the relief of postpartum depression.
Women who use placenta have said it makes them feel nurtured. It takes
about 12-16 hours to prepare the placenta according to the recipe
advocated by Raven Lang. I will prepare your placenta for you for a
donation of $50, or trade of similar value. The preparation is not
difficult but Raven noted that one must keep in mind the powerful and
sacred nature of the organ you are working with at all times. I am
honored to do this work and enjoy preparing the placentas for
homebirth women. If you choose to prepare it yourself, the recipe
follows.
Gently rinse the fresh placenta (it must not have been frozen, the
fresher the better), keeping as much blood as possible. Steam the
placenta for 15 minutes, then turn it over and steam for 15 more
minutes. In the steaming water you must put a jalapeño pepper, some
fresh ginger root and a slice of lime. When the placenta is finished
steaming
slice it into thin strips and place these in a dehydrator or your oven
at its lowest temperature. Dry the strips until they are completely
dry, they should snap. This generally takes about 8 to 10 hours. Your
house will smell like placenta (women like this smell but men
generally find it unpleasant). When the slices are completely dry,
break them up into smaller chunks and then grind them into a fine
powder. Raven noted that any energy you have while
working with the placenta will be absorbed into the medicine, so
please keep yourself centered. This also applies to your mode of
grinding-if you use a blender or electric grinder your placenta will
have "blender energy" (direct quote from Raven!). A mortar and pestle
can be used or a hand grinder. Raven said you can also put the pieces
in a paper bag and pound with a rock. When you have powdered the
placenta keep it in a cool dark place in a glass jar tightly capped.
It will keep indefinitely this way.
Placenta Recipes (Mothering Magazine, September 1983, Vol. 28, pg 76)
Editor's note: I have not heard of anyone who routinely makes a habit
of eating placenta... it would be an 'after-the-birth-only' type
activity. Many animals, including herbivores routinely eat their
placentas, as it replaces vitamins and minerals lost during the labor
process. Many women who have tried it swear they feel better faster,
and they do not suffer from postpartum depression because of the
nutrients the placenta has given them. It has been called a 'harmless'
meat, as no creature is killed to procure it. Placentas should only be
eaten fresh, if this is something that appeals to you.
Each placenta weighs approximately 1/6 of the baby's weight. Cut the
meat away from the membranes with a sharp knife. Discard the
membranes.
Placenta Cocktail:
1/4 cup raw placenta
8oz V-8 juice
2 ice cubes
1/2 cup carrot.
Blend at high speed for 10 seconds
Placenta Lasagne:
Use your favorite Lasagne recipe and substitute this mixture for one
layer of cheese. In 2 tbl. olive oil, quickly saute meat of 3/4
placenta, ground or minced; plus 2 sliced cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp.
oregano, 1/2 diced onion & 2 tbl. tomato paste, or 1 whole tomato.
Placenta Spaghetti:
Cut meat of 3/4 placenta into bite size pieces, then brown quickly in
1 tbl. butter plus 1 tbl. oil. Then add 1 large can tomato puree, 2
cans crushed pear tomatoes, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tbl.
molasses, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbl. rosemary, 1 tsp. ea. of salt, honey,
oregano, basil, and fennel. Simmer 1 1/2 hours.
Placenta Stew:
Meat of 3/4 placenta in bite size chunks, 1 potato (cubed), 1/4 cup
fresh parsley, 2 carrots, 3 ribs celery, 1 zucchini, 1 large tomato, 1
small onion. Dredge meat in 1 tbl. flour mixed with 1 tsp. salt, 1/2
tsp. paprika, pinch of cloves, pinch of pepper, 6-8 crushed coriander
seeds. Saute meat in 2 tbl. oil, then add vegetables (cut up) and 4-5
cups of water. Bring to full boil, then simmer for 1 hour.
Placenta Pizza:
Grind placenta. Saute in 2 tbl. olive oil with 4 garlic cloves, then
add 1/4 tsp. fennel, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 tsp. paprika, 1/4 tsp. salt,
1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/4 tsp. thyme, and 1/4 cup of wine. Allow to stand
for 30 minutes, then use with your favorite home made pizza recipe.
It's a fine placenta sausage topping.
found at: http://rainforest.parentsplace.com/dialog/get/newf4homebirth1/49/3.html
Placenta Roast:
All "food" should be properly cleaned prior to cooking, and all "food"
should be properly cooked prior to eating.
This is a good recipe for placenta, which should NOT go to waste:
INGREDIENTS:
1 to 3 lb. placenta no more than 3 days old
1 large onion
1 large green or red pepper (green will add color to the presentation)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 sleeve of saltine crackers
1 tsp crab or shrimp seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 clove garlic (roasted and minced)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Chop onion and green or red pepper in small cubes. Place in large
bowl. Crush saltines into crumbs and add to onion and pepper cubes.
COMBINE IN LARGE BOWL:
Placenta, seafood seasoning, pepper, garlic, and tomato sauce. Place
into aluminum loaf pan. Cover and bake for 1 and 1/2 hours,
occasionally pouring off excess liquid. Retain liquid for gravy base
if desired.
~posted to the Homebirth email list
mroo philpott-smythe
> circa 8 Nov 2003 22:28:42 -0800, in alt.support.childfree, elizabeth
> (efra...@hotmail.com) said,
>
>>Cooking Your Placenta
> The mere thought of this makes me gag (literally) and kills my
> appetite for a day. I seriously think this is the grossest thing I've
> ever heard of.
Does it remind anyone else of eating menstrual discharge?
No loud woots from those who've earned their red wings, please.
sq
CatWoman
> Does it remind anyone else of eating menstrual discharge?
>
> No loud woots from those who've earned their red wings, please.
Ick. Mroo - keep that up and you may be able to outsell
Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Atkins combined. Bleh.
dg
(ps - you've fixed it - you're not asking for return receipts
any longer)
--
Send real mail to diana at wet ware dot com - remove obvious spaces..
LinuxLibrarian
> Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Atkins combined. Bleh.
>
Speaking of WeightWatchers, a friend and colleague of mine sent this
to me, apropos placenta,
but check out some of the others, too!
http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/jelliedtomatorefresh.html
--LL
janet_a
i can't...
i don't...
words fail me
--j_a
bat_...@hotmail.com
> Cooking Your Placenta
> There are several sumptuous recipes around so that you can enjoy
> cooking and eating your placenta;
> this one is for roasting it:-
>
> Work on the basis that each placenta weighs approximately 1/6 of the
> baby's weight. To prepare a placenta, cut the meat away from the
> membranes with a sharp knife. Discard the membranes.
>
>
> Roast Placenta
> 1-3lb fresh placenta (must be no more than 3 days old)
> 1 onion
> 1 green or red pepper (green will add colour)
> 1 cup tomato sauce
> 1 sleeve saltine crackers
> 1 tspn bay leaves
> 1 tspn black pepper
> 1 tspn white pepper
> 1 clove garlic (roasted and minced)
*snip-gag-o-rama*
Thank you for keeping me on the diet straight and narrow. Suddenly,
these molasses cookies just don't seem so tasty.
What the hell is with the ding dongs that eat this crap? What's next?
Quick and easy dishes for the gangerous toes that have dropped off?
Umbilical cord jerky?
If I opened a fridge and there was a Tupperware with "Roast Placenta"
in it, I don't think I could ever eat at that person's house again.
Woof! Time to bleach the eyeballs and break out the Mylanta.
Nan
Erik Courter
<bat_...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:47137160.03111...@posting.google.com...
If I ever saw shit like this in someone's refrigerator, I'd never TALK to
them again. Earth to truly sick fucks everywhere...cannabalism is bad.
-E
stop the world. I want off.