selenium/kidneys!!!

[Guest guest]

hello all,

haven't had time to follow posts much lately, but i wanted to share a

great discovery. ever since reading BT120YD about two years ago, one

of the things that's indelibly etched in my mind in association with

CRON is Walford's elegant suggestion to eat a brazil nut every day

for selenium, which i've followed pretty regularly. however, i just

discovered the best source of selenium i've encounterd yet: kidneys!

when i looked it up i couldn't believe it! now that it's deer

season, i'm starting to go to my local butcher and get freebies from

the rejected parts, and i got a kidney yesterday (and a heart and

some tongues!) it was my first time eating kidney from any animal,

but it turned out to be quite pleasant, with a flavor that's slightly

strange at first, but, lacking any strong or disagreeable qualities,

gives the feeling that it would become a relished item after a little

of bit of adaptation, and a wonderful soft texture, a bit like thick,

firm jello. i ate a few thin slices, sashimi-style, to get a feel

for it plain and fresh, and chopped the rest into chunks and tossed

it with some raw sauerkraut and onions for a delicious salad. aside

from my favorable gustatory impressions, i wanted to alert everyone

to the amazing nutritional profile of kidney. deplorably, the usda

data doesn't include deer (despite it being a quintessential american

food), but since it is a ruminant like cow and lamb, i'm relying on

the data for those. it's absolutely packed with B-vitamins like

liver (not as much as liver, but still way more than most foods); it

has about the same amount of folate as lentils, and a good bit more

than my beloved kale. it doesn't have the worrisomely high levels of

retinol that liver has, rather being useful and moderate, and there's

a good level of vit D, an especially crucial and scarce nutrient.

the concentration of D is about the same as eggs, although the D/A

ratio is not as favorable as eggs. it also has useful amounts of

iron (but not too much), zinc, potassium, vit C, lycopene, etc, in

addition to all the antioxidants and other nutrients that must be

present in good supply but aren't in the usda data. the total

nutritional profile is incredible. it's a truly wondrous food, ideal

for CRON! supplies permitting, i could see having it twice a week.

this is a major ON breakthrough for me! also, it should be possible

to get it free by asking hunters to save it for you. you can also get

the mythically prized fat that surrounds the kidney, pretty

incredible stuff, and probably an excellent cooking fat since it's

highly saturated. by the way, the raw deer heart was some of the

most tender and succulent meat i've ever had! highly recommded!

(and a nutritional heavyweight in its own right, especially for co-

Q10...)

mike parker