SC - grain storage & another topic: head lice

[Seton1355 at aol.com]

I got a reply about rice and lentils from my Jewish list.  I am passing this 
letter along becauce I think it has some very good advice about foodstuffs 
storage AND lice...read second half of letter.
Phillipa
PS  Ras, my friend Raya seconds your advice / comments about bugs in grain.


Hi Phillipa,

First of all, if you bought rice or legumes (or flour) and they contain LIVE
bugs - it means it has been stored for a while, since bugs do not "live" in
those ingredients, they lay eggs there and that means that the eggs had time
to mature.
Second - bugs and bug eggs are not bad for your health, rather the contrary,
they are just disgusting and un Kosher.
Third - you probably know you should sort all legumes before using (and
rice) - the reason not only bugs, legumes are picked from low shrubberies
(sp?) and therefore small stones can be picked with them. Another special
reason for US to sort the legumes is before Passover, to see that in legumes
no grain of wheat is included (this is the reason why Ashkenazi Jews do not
eat legumes on Passover). See story at the other letter about this subject.
Method: Put a big sieve on your knees, and sit very close to the kitchen
table. Spread your legumes on the kitchen table and transfer to the sieve by
hand, checking to see stones, small leaves, and any other goodies the
manufacturer saw fit to send to you. Then wash well and proceed as usual.

Our very own cooking guru, Aharoni, says that when storing all legumes, rice
and flour you need to put a few bay leaves in the box/can/jar and yes it
needs to be a tight as possible. And that included flour for cakes - no
flavor will be carried over to the final product. It seems the bugs hate the
smell.
Rina's method (of freezing) is also good however would depend on your
freezer space.

If you forgot to listen to mummy Rina or to daddy Aharoni and do have LIVE
bugs, Odetta Danin says you put the infested ingredient in a wide AND HIGH
bowl (see, Hindi, even old dogs can learn new tricks), and add a fistful of
bay.
leaves. After about an hour, you call to duty your strongest hearted kid and
ask him to remove from the walls of the bowl the bugs that crawled out to
run away from the bay leaves smell which as I said is offensive to them for
some reason. Method: Put a glass of water beside bowl. Wet finger and run
over walls of bowl. Dip in water. Repeat until walls are clean.

On the same subject, while we are being gross, in Israel in the last years
kids have a lot of head lice (and from what I know also in other countries).
As a pharmacist it is my duty to inform you that all the products in the
market are offensive (to the human being this time) and effective only for
the very short term.
HOWEVER the lice dislike the smell of rosemary - therefore the prudent
parent will drop every now and then a few drops of rosemary oil behind the
ears of his/her long haired daughter (with sons the suggestion is to make a
marine-style haircut).

If the lice do appear - do not run to your neighborhood pharmacist to buy
those strong medications and shampoos.
First - shampoo (prefer a shampoo that contains rosemary oil).
Comb wet hair first with regular and then with a fine tooth comb.
Now apply a very generous amount of a conditioner that contains rosemary oil
(the purpose of the conditioner it to loosen the glue that sticks the eggs
to the hair) and again comb with a fine tooth comb.
Repeat frequently, first once a day, then twice a week and then for
prevention at least once a month.

My Grandmother Says Corner: at my grandmother's time - of course no such
things as conditioners were available - so she used to put MAYO on the hair,
again as a lubricant to loosen the glue of the eggs. And also margarine or
oil can be used.
But then you need to shampoo again to remove the margarine from the hair.

All things in this letter have been checked by me personally. What can I
say, I feel now like I am a descendant of the Adams family or a relative of
Freddie Kruger.

Larry, since at my student days I used to be a waitress, and at a five star
hotel, I can only say you don't even know how right you are about commercial
kitchens.

Raya



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