[Sca-cooks] a 'Fat Tuesday' Greek meal ... OOP and LONG

[ranvaig at columbus.rr.com]

>>>Baklava - 32 ounces of fine-chopped walnuts mixed with 8 Tbs of cinnamon and 4 Tbs nutmeg.

>>Ranvig said 'seems like an awful lot of spices'

>did to me too, and the house mate pointed out that out as well, but I looked ... and that was what it said ... so that is what I used.  I half expected it to be cinnamon-hot ... but it wasn't. 
>
> The recipe is an OLD one however .... and amount could be due in part to the reduced potency of stored spices.  I will admit that I used the old stored bulk cinnamon for this one...........


I was more concerned with the amount of Nutmeg.   No one person will eat two whole pans of baklava and nutmeg is considered safe for ordinary culinary uses, but the toxic dose for nutmeg is 4 Tablespoons, and less than one tablespoon can make you ill.  Most Nutmeg poisoning is caused by abuse and accidental poisoning is considered unlikely, but it happens:

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/3-surprising-foods-can-sometimes-be-poisonous-plus-2-tips-stay-safe
>Four people fell ill, experiencing severe headaches and dizziness after eating an apple cake that was made from a recipe published in the August 2008 issue of the Swedish food magazine, Matmagasinet... "There was a mistake in a recipe for apple cake. Instead of calling for two pinches of nutmeg it said 20 nutmeg nuts were neededŠIn small amounts, nutmeg is a safe, commonly used ingredient in cooking and baking. However, in large doses, it can cause dizziness, hallucinations, a decrease in body temperature, seizures, and in extreme cases, death.

Nutmeg poisoning is even period:
http://forums.rusmedserv.com/archive/index.php/t-10149.html
>There are records of nutmeg abuse dating from the 12th century.
>
>The first case of nutmeg poisoning was described in 1576 by Löbel who reported the ingestion of 10-12 nutmegs (approx. 70-84 g) by a pregnant English lady ...

Ranvaig