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bastawhiz 59 minutes ago [-]
> Alex rightly points out that apple seeds do contain cyanide. Turns out, it’s not a huge risk for normal apple consumption.
You don't have to eat them. There's no benefit to eating them. They don't taste good. They provide a negligible amount of nutrition, if any, and harm you very mildly. The stem of an apple is edible, but for what? A gram of extra fiber after you manage to gnaw through it?
You can eat banana peels, but you probably wouldn't want to. It's a terrible texture and flavor. They decompose well, so there's no meaningful environmental benefit. Yes, they have nutrients. You can eat a second piece of fruit instead.
And this is not universally good advice. The seeds, leaves, and stem of the pawpaw is filled with toxins—enough that folks have died from it.
I don't think the author is trying to make a point, but rather to show that we do things because we were told them. But it's important to also realize that the cultural reasons are sometimes backed up with hard-earned lessons or to save us from having to learn for ourselves that watermelon rind isn't pleasant to eat without preparing it in other ways.
wdrw 39 minutes ago [-]
As a person who always eats the whole apple, stem and all (have done so for years), I'll object to your "apple seeds do not taste good" statement - tastes differ, to me they are delicious, certainly on par with other "normally edible" seeds like sunflower seeds! Of course I wouldn't eat them in any great quantity because of the poison issue.
PeterStuer 50 minutes ago [-]
Most of the insecticide sprays are on the skin. You can eat the seeds, maybe don't bite them as they taste nasty. Eating the core is not the most pleasant part, and the top and bottom might be be most difficult to rinse the sprays from.
17 minutes ago [-]
edent 28 minutes ago [-]
Banana peels are delicious if cooked correctly. You can make a surprisingly tasty "facon" with them.
RALaBarge 53 minutes ago [-]
I ate Kiwis for years before someone told me most people DO NOT eat the skins. I looked at my bag of kiwis, and the even the damn monkey mascot was holding a spoon...mocking me...
egeozcan 30 minutes ago [-]
Also eating skins turns kiwis from a fruit you have to spend time to preprocess (halve + grab spoon) to an immediate snack.
This may sound insignificant to many but for the extremely lazy like me, this is the difference between going to waste and being consumed for many fruits.
boothby 14 minutes ago [-]
I enjoy the tickly sensation of a fuzzy kiwi but immensely dislike the crunch of croutons. People are weird.
nkrisc 41 minutes ago [-]
Don’t worry, my kids eat the skin too. I guess we forgot to tell them not to and they didn’t find it unpleasant. I tried a bite for my own edification and I did not find it pleasant.
That said, I usually eat peanuts with the shell and all. Though don’t eat too many that way, the shells are definitely not getting digested, so chew well. Also there is probably a higher chance of dirt or other stuff you don’t want to eat being on the shell, but I don’t usually eat peanuts anyway so never been a problem for me.
Modified3019 33 minutes ago [-]
When I wash kiwis I rub the hairs off, and then cut them into thick slices, leaving the skin on. Trying to skin or eat them with a spoon is just a pain, and I don’t find the skin unpleasant.
I’ve seen a lot of people also just wash/rub the hairs off and bite straight into them, though I find this can make a mess if they are too soft.
Hardy kiwis are also eaten whole, like a berry.
motionlessveloc 23 hours ago [-]
Grapes are commonly peeled in Japan, and people will look at you strangely if you eat them skin on. However, Japanese grapes are huge and have a thick, astringent skin that peels off easily.
Likewise, when Japanese people go overseas and start peeling grapes, people look at them strangely. Eventually they figure out that Western grapes are small, hard to peel and the skins are thin and nearly tasteless, so they adopt our barbarian habits too.
Updated to add: Japanese grapes like Kyoho are actually hybrid cultivars of Western grapes (Vitis vinifera) and Concord grapes (Vitis labrusca), which is why they're so different.
cantalopes 24 minutes ago [-]
That's crazy, theres tons of taste in grape skin
sho_hn 23 hours ago [-]
I've had this conversation and the way I explained it is that our grapes are closer to the boba in bubble tea. It's not quite right (they don't pop quite as much) and boba isn't Japanese, but it gets the point across.
bbg2401 18 hours ago [-]
Whose grapes are you likening to boba? I’m struggling with the comparison - even a loose one.
Is there a grape variety I’m entirely ignorant of?
sho_hn 17 hours ago [-]
Like my parent said, the grapes in East Asia are thick-skinned, and people either peel them or suck out their flesh. The ones sold in Europe are very thin-skinned, and peeling is largely impractical. I'm relating the latter to boba.
ButlerianJihad 5 hours ago [-]
I live near a Korean pan-Asian convenience store, and I've been enjoy the variety of beverages and ramen available there. Oceania today exports foods with significant influence by Italian cuisine, in particular.
There are some fruit drinks which contain whole fruit, like green grapes. It's sort of on the spectrum if you imagine canned grapes, which come in a "light syrup" but the beverage is a thinned-out version of that, not tart or sugary like American grape juice.
But you pour the can out, and a couple of fresh grapes come out as well. I suppose they are peeled. I was a little disappointed when the pear juice didn't include sliced pears. But there are many more fruits to try!
asdfqwertzxcv 54 minutes ago [-]
Yes I love those grape drinks! Very similar to thinned out canned fruit cocktail syrup/fruits.
Tade0 23 hours ago [-]
My dad would peel the skin of every fruit, including grapes, which is how I learned to do it.
embedding-shape 23 hours ago [-]
Are you/your dad Japanese? I feel like we're missing most of the context here.
NoImmatureAdHom 22 hours ago [-]
Fun fact: a lot of people think artificial grape flavoring doesn't taste like grapes. And that the "Welch's concord grape jam" variety of jams is artificially flavored.
I almost always eat citrus skins after eat the citrus. With Pomelos its like second breakfast.
mint5 22 minutes ago [-]
Cherimoya skins regularly consumed cause Parkinson’s like symptoms.
Some fruit skins are okay, others are not.
And some are only okay if home grown or organic bc the skin is otherwise loaded with pesticide residues
RyJones 53 minutes ago [-]
I eat the whole orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime.
I like the bitter to offset the sweetness.
PeterStuer 46 minutes ago [-]
Umless specifically indicated as untreated, citrus peel in soaked in very nasty antifungal waxes. In the EU they are specifucally warned about not fit for consumption.
hn_throwaway_99 44 minutes ago [-]
At least now I know psychopaths walk among us.
niemandhier 23 hours ago [-]
If you eat enough kiwis with skin, tarantula abdomens start to look like something tasty.
I read that online, I trained myself to eat whole Kiwis and lo and behold: It is true!
Our brains are so wonderfully strange!
nkrisc 39 minutes ago [-]
People in the Amazon do eat tarantulas. They do roast them over an open flame first though to burn off the hairs as they can be harmful and irritating.
That was interesting other than the golden orb weaver, all the other spider species noted as edible are tarantula.
I assume because of their size relative to other species?
sho_hn 23 hours ago [-]
When I realized you can just eat kiwi with the skin on (if it's a very hairy one, brush them off under running water) and in no time it actually tastes better (adds some lovely contrast), it became my favorite zero-ennui fruit. It almost feels like a cheat code for something so tasty and large to require so little effort!
Now, I never thought that kiwi skins are not edible of course, but I just assumed they're somehow unpleasant because everyone seems to peel or spoon them.
PeterStuer 44 minutes ago [-]
You can shave the hairy ones.
kelipso 22 hours ago [-]
Haha literally ate kiwi with skin on for the first time today. It’s a lot nicer, you just rinse it and eat it!
jdkoeck 22 hours ago [-]
My favorite thing is leaving the skin and slicing them. Each slice has the perfect amount of skin and pulp, it’s crunchy, it’s heaven!
honr 17 hours ago [-]
I have never had a problem with kiwi skins (except when the kiwi is unripe; a natural mat with acids and possibly oxalate. NOPE).
But are you claiming you eat the whole fruit, or you throw out the tiny thorn?
sho_hn 17 hours ago [-]
I usually throw out the tiny thorn.
NoImmatureAdHom 22 hours ago [-]
I like that you can take a bite directly through a kiwi
downrightmike 21 hours ago [-]
Big grape.
NoImmatureAdHom 20 hours ago [-]
A gooseberry, in fact.
kwarcode 22 hours ago [-]
[dead]
rsktaker 33 minutes ago [-]
Golden kiwis + skin = my favorite fruit-experience OAT
dempedempe 50 minutes ago [-]
I've eaten the peel on a pineapple before. Not so bad actually.
I thought eating the skins on kiwis was normal
cush 23 hours ago [-]
People throw away so much strawberry in an effort to cut the leaves off. Just eat the leaves. Next time you go to eat a strawberry, try eating the leaves too - they're very mild in flavor, and you waste no strawberry!
PeterStuer 43 minutes ago [-]
You pince of the leaves. Where do you imagine the waste?
modeless 23 hours ago [-]
In at least some varieties of strawberries, the top of the berry has the least flavor and sweetness, and the bottom has the most, so I don't feel like I'm losing much.
embedding-shape 23 hours ago [-]
Most mass-produced strawberries people eat today are basically white on the inside and relatively flavorless to the real thing anyway, I don't think most people miss out if they eat or not the top of the berry.
PeterStuer 43 minutes ago [-]
Only in America.
pragmatic 20 hours ago [-]
Yes, that’s where the pesticide are. Can’t get enough pesticides.
cush 6 hours ago [-]
Yeah you’re going to want to start by washing your produce
Tade0 23 hours ago [-]
I started chewing the leaves. There's a hint of strawberry in them.
busymom0 23 hours ago [-]
I just hold it by the leaves in my fingers and take a huge bite of the entire berry with my teeth ending right before the leaves.
sho_hn 23 hours ago [-]
I just rip the leaves off, which is very easy with the variety we eat here. I never would have thought to cut them off. Are your two strawberries different?
embedding-shape 23 hours ago [-]
Same, sometimes this lead to me eating a bit of the leaves, sometimes I leave a bit of strawberry, but no one died yet, so I continue :)
23 hours ago [-]
downrightmike 21 hours ago [-]
White part under them tastes like nothing
cush 6 hours ago [-]
Yeah I don’t buy strawberries if they have a white top
bobbiechen 23 hours ago [-]
I do like to save watermelon rinds and cook them into soup.
Anyone have a use for banana peels?
SamBam 45 minutes ago [-]
I tried following an authentic Southern pickled watermelon rind recipe, and they were so sickly sweet I couldn't stomach them.
I should try again sometime with a regular cucumber pickle recipe, just replacing cucumbers with watermelon rinds, but I don't think my family wants to humor me again.
asdfqwertzxcv 51 minutes ago [-]
I like turning the rind into pickles. Very good!
For banana skins, you can turn them into a vegan bacon. Many recipes online that are all pretty much the same result. I like them too.
Banana peel oleo saccharum... you can add it to drinks and cocktails for a punch of banana.
downrightmike 21 hours ago [-]
Throw them in with the banana in the blender
dbacar 23 hours ago [-]
Looking at the pesticide scores, one should not eat any fruit/vegetable without peeling if it has any.
r0m4n0 41 minutes ago [-]
Surprised this comment is so low, was searching for it. Many fruits that you commonly peel can even contain both waxes and pesticides to keep insects out. You aren’t even able to wash it effectively.
Things like cantaloupes, oranges, etc are famous for harboring bad bacteria and pesticides. Does not seem worth the risk to me…
I used to watch people collect dandelions and weeds in NYC parks to make into tea and consume in other ways. I’m sure there are some benefits but I’m also sure they don’t outweigh the risks from pollutants.
bossyTeacher 22 hours ago [-]
That is why you wash your food before eating it same as you do with legumes and rice (that likely also have had pesticide on them).
sho_hn 22 hours ago [-]
In South Korea (where I used to live for a while) it's quite common to wash fruit with soapy water at home before eating them.
loco5niner 22 hours ago [-]
But peanuts and white rice, the most common ones have already been 'peeled'
brnt 22 hours ago [-]
Unfortunately a lot leaks in. Grapeskins are particularly porous for instance. So are most of the dirty dozen iirc.
Skins are healthy, but only if organic and/or clean fifteen.
I am reminded of the saying in my family: Anything is edible if you're willing to eat it.
My late father-in-law ate entire apples-- core and all. I've tried but I can't stomach the texture or how much more the fibrous parts of the core get stuck in my teeth. It doesn't disgust me, I just don't prefer it.
Not to miss an opportunity to talk about apples:
I started eating three apples / day for lunch last year. I hadn't realized how dirty apples are. I assumed the washing they get in processing gets them pretty clean. It does not. I wet them and clean the stem and flower areas with a paper towel. I'm shocked at how dirty the towel ends up.
I'm a sweet apple kind of guy. Envy apples are the bomb. I used to like Honeycrisp but the rumors of their being bred into shitty tastelessness are true. They're terrible. Shockingly, sometimes Red Delicious, which I'd previously relegated to the "buy as a last resort" list, are actually pretty good now. Fuji, Gala, and Cosmic Crisp are all decent specimens.
My wife likes Pink Lady but I think they're just a little too tart. She can also put away the Granny Smiths which I find to be horrifyingly sour. Ick!
Anybody have feelings about other apple varieties a person like me might be into?
hysan 22 hours ago [-]
I don’t know much about apple variety names, but if you love apples and plan to visit Aomori prefecture in Japan during apple season, I highly recommend stopping by a market or grocery. I used to live in northern Akita and there was a farmer from Aomori that would come by with freshly picked apples to sell at one of the supermarkets. They had many varieties and they all tasted amazingly sweet and unique. I have yet to find an apple anywhere close to those since moving back to the states. The most recent new variety that I tried that I liked was Kiku. It’s like a sweeter version of a Fuji apple with a very similar texture. Based on your preferences, I think this would a fun one to try.
motionlessveloc 23 hours ago [-]
All mushrooms are edible, but some mushrooms are edible only once.
EvanAnderson 23 hours ago [-]
Point taken.
I don't eat mushrooms-- can't stand the texture. I heard a podcast episode re: death cap mushrooms and it was chilling. A guy in the podcast talked about tasting a death cap then spitting it out and rinsing his mouth. He said they had a good taste.
Absolutely horrifying.
ta988 22 hours ago [-]
This is what everyone poisoned with them say. And really often why they don't make the link between those and their illness.
monkpit 23 hours ago [-]
There are old mushroom hunters
and there are bold mushroom hunters
but there are no old bold mushroom hunters.
IncreasePosts 22 hours ago [-]
All mushrooms are edible only once, unless you're into coprophagia
zikduruqe 22 hours ago [-]
> ate entire apples-- core and all
If you eat it from the North Pole to the South Pole, there is no core.
The core is only there if you eat around the equator.
Give it a try.
altairprime 23 hours ago [-]
Soluna is like eating crispy wine and is currently at the top of my list. Prior to finding that, Lady Alice improves on Pink Lady, and it was my rockstar favorite. Envy is my go-to year-round when I can’t find rarer varietals; I’ve eaten hundreds of them. Cosmic Crisp is a fine last resort when Honeycrisp is too bright. Consider also trying Rubinette, Arkansas Black, Zestar. My notes say Wild Twist is a former Lady Alice but I definitely rank it just below L.A.
On the flipside: Kanzi “disappointment with every bite”, Ambrosia “pie apple because the raw texture sucks”, Autumn Glory DNF, Kissabel “lost its joy and turned grassy, DNF” Sugarbee “kinda one note, chewy, technically better than Red Delicious” Sweetango “knockoff Honeycrisp”, Evercrisp “painfully crisp, annoying to eat, fades to zero, looks like it was factory-polished, DNF”, Dazzle “all the flavourlessness of a Red Delicious with a nice crisp”, Ginger Gold “ten seconds of wonder and then mushes into disgusting texture and flavorlessness”
EvanAnderson 22 hours ago [-]
Thanks for the commentary. I'll check out some of those.
xnx 23 hours ago [-]
The core basically disappears if you cut an apple in disks (or each from the bottom).
EvanAnderson 23 hours ago [-]
I still cut out the core when I slice an apple. I don't know the anatomical terminology well, but the "plastic-ey" texture of, I believe, the endocarp is what I don't like. It reminds me a bit of the plastic-ey tooth-clogging bits of popcorn.
busymom0 23 hours ago [-]
Aren't the seeds of the apple supposed to contain cyanide? Article points this out too and risk doesn't seem worth it. I used to eat the whole apple long time ago until someone pointed that out and from my googling, it was correct. Now I try to eat all of the apple except the seeds and stem.
I like putting my apples in the fridge. Love me a cold and crisp gala apple. On very rare occasion, the gala I get are mushy. But otherwise, they are my favorite.
doctor_blood 22 hours ago [-]
You would need to eat the seeds of SEVERAL HUNDRED apples in one sitting, and you would need to grind them up finely beforehand to get full amygdalin absorption.
We're talking about almost a cup, or 100+ grams of apple seed here.
Your body continually neutralizes cyanide with the enzyme rhodanese, so there's also no danger of cyanide accumulation from eating a few apples a day.
EvanAnderson 22 hours ago [-]
I don't know if my father-in-law spit out the seeds or not. I'd heard the cyanide thing as a kid and always avoided eating them.
fitsumbelay 22 minutes ago [-]
good post. much appreciated
martythemaniak 56 minutes ago [-]
Well, they're all editable, only question is if you like it and if the fruit skinn itself is good. I eat most kiwis with the skin on because it's a nice tart/acidic contrast to soft sweet insides, but some kiwis have extremely thick and acidic. Most pear cores are soft and sweet, but very few apple cores, nor worth it.
lsch1033 22 hours ago [-]
Well certainly not for every fruit... especially after you learn that durian is an edible fruit
intrasight 23 hours ago [-]
I eat the apple skin (of most apples) but I do not eat the core.
busymom0 23 hours ago [-]
On a related note, a friend of mine removed both the skin and even the center core (the seeds part) of cucumbers. I think all that's left is about 30% of the cucumber.
I found that truly bizarre. Her reasoning was that it was too watery (???)
russdill 1 hours ago [-]
It's very common to use a peeler to peel the skin, then keep peeling until you get to the seeds and just use those peeled strips.
22 hours ago [-]
NoImmatureAdHom 22 hours ago [-]
You can eat whole boiled eggs too. Shell and all.
tiahura 23 hours ago [-]
Mango skin, leaves, and sap contain compounds related to urushiol, the allergen in poison ivy.
embedding-shape 22 hours ago [-]
Huh, that's neat, so get used to eating mango skin, and eventually you can eat poison ivy? Kind of handy, thanks!
kaycebasques 22 hours ago [-]
I started eating mango skin a few months ago. When it's thin and bland, it's not bad. Gives a nice crunch to the eating experience. But often it's way too thick and sometimes strongly bitter.
You don't have to eat them. There's no benefit to eating them. They don't taste good. They provide a negligible amount of nutrition, if any, and harm you very mildly. The stem of an apple is edible, but for what? A gram of extra fiber after you manage to gnaw through it?
You can eat banana peels, but you probably wouldn't want to. It's a terrible texture and flavor. They decompose well, so there's no meaningful environmental benefit. Yes, they have nutrients. You can eat a second piece of fruit instead.
And this is not universally good advice. The seeds, leaves, and stem of the pawpaw is filled with toxins—enough that folks have died from it.
I don't think the author is trying to make a point, but rather to show that we do things because we were told them. But it's important to also realize that the cultural reasons are sometimes backed up with hard-earned lessons or to save us from having to learn for ourselves that watermelon rind isn't pleasant to eat without preparing it in other ways.
This may sound insignificant to many but for the extremely lazy like me, this is the difference between going to waste and being consumed for many fruits.
That said, I usually eat peanuts with the shell and all. Though don’t eat too many that way, the shells are definitely not getting digested, so chew well. Also there is probably a higher chance of dirt or other stuff you don’t want to eat being on the shell, but I don’t usually eat peanuts anyway so never been a problem for me.
I’ve seen a lot of people also just wash/rub the hairs off and bite straight into them, though I find this can make a mess if they are too soft.
Hardy kiwis are also eaten whole, like a berry.
Likewise, when Japanese people go overseas and start peeling grapes, people look at them strangely. Eventually they figure out that Western grapes are small, hard to peel and the skins are thin and nearly tasteless, so they adopt our barbarian habits too.
Updated to add: Japanese grapes like Kyoho are actually hybrid cultivars of Western grapes (Vitis vinifera) and Concord grapes (Vitis labrusca), which is why they're so different.
Is there a grape variety I’m entirely ignorant of?
There are some fruit drinks which contain whole fruit, like green grapes. It's sort of on the spectrum if you imagine canned grapes, which come in a "light syrup" but the beverage is a thinned-out version of that, not tart or sugary like American grape juice.
But you pour the can out, and a couple of fresh grapes come out as well. I suppose they are peeled. I was a little disappointed when the pear juice didn't include sliced pears. But there are many more fruits to try!
Nope, that's just what some grapes taste like. There's a Korean variety, and Concord at least. Wiki says it's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis_labrusca
Some fruit skins are okay, others are not.
And some are only okay if home grown or organic bc the skin is otherwise loaded with pesticide residues
I like the bitter to offset the sweetness.
I read that online, I trained myself to eat whole Kiwis and lo and behold: It is true!
Our brains are so wonderfully strange!
I assume because of their size relative to other species?
Now, I never thought that kiwi skins are not edible of course, but I just assumed they're somehow unpleasant because everyone seems to peel or spoon them.
But are you claiming you eat the whole fruit, or you throw out the tiny thorn?
I thought eating the skins on kiwis was normal
Anyone have a use for banana peels?
I should try again sometime with a regular cucumber pickle recipe, just replacing cucumbers with watermelon rinds, but I don't think my family wants to humor me again.
For banana skins, you can turn them into a vegan bacon. Many recipes online that are all pretty much the same result. I like them too.
We throw away a butt-ton of watermelon rind in the summer. I never thought to see if they could be used for something.
Things like cantaloupes, oranges, etc are famous for harboring bad bacteria and pesticides. Does not seem worth the risk to me…
I used to watch people collect dandelions and weeds in NYC parks to make into tea and consume in other ways. I’m sure there are some benefits but I’m also sure they don’t outweigh the risks from pollutants.
Skins are healthy, but only if organic and/or clean fifteen.
Also, don’t feed them to dogs especially small dogs.
Highly unlikely to be a problem but people die from water poisoning so…
My late father-in-law ate entire apples-- core and all. I've tried but I can't stomach the texture or how much more the fibrous parts of the core get stuck in my teeth. It doesn't disgust me, I just don't prefer it.
Not to miss an opportunity to talk about apples:
I started eating three apples / day for lunch last year. I hadn't realized how dirty apples are. I assumed the washing they get in processing gets them pretty clean. It does not. I wet them and clean the stem and flower areas with a paper towel. I'm shocked at how dirty the towel ends up.
I'm a sweet apple kind of guy. Envy apples are the bomb. I used to like Honeycrisp but the rumors of their being bred into shitty tastelessness are true. They're terrible. Shockingly, sometimes Red Delicious, which I'd previously relegated to the "buy as a last resort" list, are actually pretty good now. Fuji, Gala, and Cosmic Crisp are all decent specimens.
My wife likes Pink Lady but I think they're just a little too tart. She can also put away the Granny Smiths which I find to be horrifyingly sour. Ick!
Anybody have feelings about other apple varieties a person like me might be into?
I don't eat mushrooms-- can't stand the texture. I heard a podcast episode re: death cap mushrooms and it was chilling. A guy in the podcast talked about tasting a death cap then spitting it out and rinsing his mouth. He said they had a good taste.
Absolutely horrifying.
and there are bold mushroom hunters
but there are no old bold mushroom hunters.
If you eat it from the North Pole to the South Pole, there is no core.
The core is only there if you eat around the equator.
Give it a try.
On the flipside: Kanzi “disappointment with every bite”, Ambrosia “pie apple because the raw texture sucks”, Autumn Glory DNF, Kissabel “lost its joy and turned grassy, DNF” Sugarbee “kinda one note, chewy, technically better than Red Delicious” Sweetango “knockoff Honeycrisp”, Evercrisp “painfully crisp, annoying to eat, fades to zero, looks like it was factory-polished, DNF”, Dazzle “all the flavourlessness of a Red Delicious with a nice crisp”, Ginger Gold “ten seconds of wonder and then mushes into disgusting texture and flavorlessness”
I like putting my apples in the fridge. Love me a cold and crisp gala apple. On very rare occasion, the gala I get are mushy. But otherwise, they are my favorite.
We're talking about almost a cup, or 100+ grams of apple seed here.
Your body continually neutralizes cyanide with the enzyme rhodanese, so there's also no danger of cyanide accumulation from eating a few apples a day.
I found that truly bizarre. Her reasoning was that it was too watery (???)