General Discussion / Sun drying might destroy vomit-inducing toxins in hopniss, jicama, sunchokes
« on: September 21, 2015, 01:20:54 am »Native Americans ate hopniss, some kind of lily root tubers, and other root vegetables without getting sick, but when they gave them to the white people, the white people weren't able to prepare them properly, and got sick. (Same with corn, which has to be soaked in water and ashes, called nixtamal, although corn did not cause vomiting, but rather, malnutrition from anti-nutrients.)
Sun drying is the universal primitive food preservation method, for people who don't have refrigerators.
I tried eating a jicama. I cooked it for what I thought was a long time, but when I put a tiny bite of it into my mouth, I had strange, tickly, twinge-like sensations in my mouth, and I know from experience that this means the food will make me vomit. I did swallow one bite, and later on, had huge, strange twinges in my abdomen, which felt like electrical shocks.
It is not inulin fiber. I did not get gas. Inulin would not give me twinges in my mouth. It is rotenone, a natural insecticide in the roots to protect them from being eaten. Rotenone causes vomiting and affects the nervous system, which explains why my twinges felt 'electrical' in nature.
Rotenone is destroyed by sunlight.
Sunlight was universally used to preserve foods.
I still have the leftover uneaten jicama in the fridge. I am going to take it out and sun dry it and see if I still get the twinges.
The twinges in my abdomen were extremely intense even from one tiny bite of jicama. If I had eaten any more I would have been vomiting uncontrollably. It felt like it was making my whole intestine move around.
I know I'm talking about cooking, in a raw forum, but this applies to eating it raw, too. Even animals will dry their foods to preserve them. I forget which kind of rodent it is, but there was some rodent that dries out a bunch of grass to store it for the winter. They're eating it raw after it's been dried. If someone wants to eat raw hopniss or any other foraged root, but finds that it's too toxic and it causes vomiting, sun drying is the perfect solution. It isn't cooking, it's something primitive stone age people can do, and even animals can do it, so it doesn't violate the principles / guidelines that paleo dieters are following.