Viewers who have watched "The Biography of Zhen Huan" should remember the bridge section where An Lingrong committed suicide by suffering from almond poisoning, and almond is a snack that many readers and friends and even children love to eat in their daily lives, and it is also one of the standard configurations of daily nuts.
If such a "high-risk" substance is present in the diet of daily consumption, will it pose a threat to health and even life safety? How exactly should almonds be eaten?
Source: The Biography of Zhen Huan
We'll come across a variety of almonds in supermarkets, peeled almonds soaked in brine on the fresh counter, and salt-baked American almonds on dried fruit shelves. As for other products with almonds, there are more, such as almond crisp, almond tea, almond chocolate, etc., and even the beverage shelves are occupied by almond dew. Almonds are so popular these days, and naturally there are more questions about almonds.
Bitter almond Source: Baidu Encyclopedia
Large and small almonds are not of the same family
If you pay attention, you will find that the almonds on the market are large and small, round and flat. Although they are all called almonds, the sources are really diverse. Among them, mountain apricots, Siberian apricots, Northeastern apricots and dried mature seeds of cultivated apricots are all regarded as almonds, and these native plants that produce almonds are classified as armeniaca.
Today, with the exception of a few commercial almonds derived from cultivated sweet almond trees, most of them are harvested from wild almond trees, and their almonds are bitter and sweet. Those bitter are called "northern apricots", while sweet ones are called "southern apricots", and the ingredients of "north and south apricots" in many Cantonese soups are actually almonds.
As for the large American almond, which is now popular on the market, it is not a real almond tree, which is actually the seed of the almond (also known as the almond apricot), which belongs to the subgenus amygdalus in plant classification.
Almond Source: Baidu Encyclopedia
Instead of calling it American big almond, it is better to call It more accurate to call American big peach kernel. The most significant difference between the two plants is that the almond flesh will split in half when ripe, while the familiar apricot pulp will wrap the seed tightly throughout and will not crack.
Sweet almonds bitter almonds
The love of "American almonds" is not newly initiated, humans have long been collecting and eating almonds, and traces of wild almonds have been found in human sites in the Jordan River Basin 12,000 years ago, when people stored them with wild peas, indicating that the collectors went straight to these edible seeds.
Badan apricot, which is also what we often call badan wood Source: Baidu Encyclopedia
However, wild almonds and almonds are not safe foods. The toxicity of bitter almonds comes from hydrocyanic acid released by amygdala glycosides, which can block the respiratory chain of cells and hinder the production of ATP. Every 100 grams of bitter amygdala can be decomposed and released to release 100 to 250 mg of hydrocyanic acid, and 60 mg of hydrocyanic acid can kill people, which is also an important means for apricot trees to protect seeds. Therefore, if you eat untreated almonds, especially bitter almonds, the risk of being recruited is very high. This is also the reason why Zhen Huan passed on An Lingrong to eat a plate of bitter almonds and died of poisoning.
However, just do it with a little processing. Bitter almonds can become safe. It has been reported in the literature that for bitter almonds with a hydrocyanic acid content of 0.1399%, soaked in warm water at 60 °C for 10 minutes, peeled and dried after fishing, and the hydrocyanic acid content dropped to 0.0667%.
So there is a very interesting phenomenon, wild almonds have a strong bitter taste, while most of the almonds cultivated in almond trees are sweet. Researchers believe that this may be because a genetic mutation caused some almond trees to lose the defense weapon of amygdala glycosides, so that the hydrocyanic acid content of sweet almonds fell to about 1/3 of that of bitter almonds. This may be that early farmers accidentally noticed that some almond trees can produce sweet almonds, and constantly cultivate the fruits of improvement. Some scientists believe that the reason why almond trees have been domesticated is because their seeds have great attraction. The cultivation of almonds found in the mausoleum of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (1341-1323 BC) means that the plant may have been a resident of the orchard as early as the Bronze Age of 2000 BC.
In the 18th century, the Albadan apricot was brought into the United States by Spanish colonists. California's humid, cool climate is particularly suitable for the growth of almonds, so almonds have settled in the United States, and today, the California area has become one of the main producing areas of almonds. It is said that at the two presidential inaugural receptions of US President Clinton, almonds were selected as an after-dinner snack. In this way, it is reasonable that almonds are labeled as large American almonds.
Conventional nutrition half a pound eight two
So, did almonds really take the name of almonds, and did we spend more money on something that was less nutritious? Before coming to a conclusion. Let's compare the nutritional content of almonds and almonds.
<col>
Per 100 g
Almond (American large almond)
almond
carbohydrates
21.7 g
23.9 g
fat
49.4 g
45.4 g
protein
21.22 g
22.5 g
moisture content
4.7 g
5.6 g
Vitamin B1
0.211 mg
0.08 mg
Vitamin B2
1.014 mg
0.56 mg
Vitamin E
26.2 mg
18.5 mg
calcium
264 mg
97 mg
iron
3.72 mg
2.2 mg
zinc
3.08 mg
4.3 mg
In addition to the almond protein is slightly higher than the almond kernel, while vitamin B1 and calcium are lower than the almond kernel, the nutritional composition of the two is half a pound eight two.
As for the composition of fats, the popular concept of unsaturated fatty acids is not much different. The unsaturated fat of almonds accounts for 92.5% of total fatty acids, while almonds account for 95%.
Think about it, when we eat almonds at once, we eat two or two (100 grams). If you don't eat these things as rice, such a difference is completely negligible.
Is there a difference in medicinal ingredients?
Like the popular health food now, almonds have been labeled as anti-cancer, anti-aging, immune-enhancing, etc., but these claims still lack experimental evidence. Some of the only experimental evidence is also obtained in pure ingredient experiments, and they are still animal experiments, or ex vitro animal experiments.
In fact, there is indeed an antitussive and asthmatic component in almonds, that is, amygdalin, which produces cyanide after hydrolysis in humans. It is these cyanides that can inhibit the activity of the respiratory center, thus playing a role in suppressing cough and relieving asthma. We occasionally eat bitter almonds, and their bitter taste comes from bitter amygdala.
However, amygdalabides are toxic substances, and they also inhibit the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate, the direct source of energy for all life activities). If people eat too much, they will directly hang up, and what medicinal effect is concerned.
Moreover, both bitter almonds and almonds contain a certain amount of bitter amygdalasides. In the process of breeding and consuming almonds and almonds, an important criterion is to reduce the content of amygdala glycosides. Therefore, from a safety point of view, we still do not want to be harsh on almonds, after all, the sweet almonds (large almonds) that reduce the bitter amygdala glycosides are the most beneficial to health.
Eat it every day or taste it occasionally
At present, the almonds we eat have been selected for a long time, so there are very few toxic ingredients in them. As long as you like their taste, you can let go of them. They are a good source of protein and fat. Of course, a single food source is always bad, and excess fat and protein is not a good thing. Now people's problem is not undernutrition, but overnutrition.
As for choosing almonds, or almonds, it depends on your own taste, no matter which one, the nutritional content is almost the same.
However, it should be reminded that the cultivation history of apricots is very short, and the seeds of plants such as mountain apricots are also mixed into edible almonds, which poses a great risk. If the treatment of amygdalin is incomplete, it is likely to cause poisoning. From this perspective, almonds are a bit more risky than almonds.
However, we will not take almonds or American large almonds as a staple food, just as a small snack. Just as a snake fruit is a big apple, almonds or peaches are not so different.
Don't eat raw mountain almonds!
Generally speaking, the apricot trees growing in the mountains will provide a lot of apricot cores, and do not eat poisoning for a moment of curiosity. The standard practice is to cook the almonds of the mountain almonds in boiling water, then soak them in clean water for 24 hours, change the water and soak them again. This removes most of the cyanide.
In view of the fact that the content of cyanide is related to the type and processing method of almonds, it is recommended that you buy those finished almonds that have been processed!
Source: The Botanist's Pot Slightly Larger Than the Milky Way
Author: Shi Jun
Image source: Network
Copyright belongs to the original author