Liver (Food) Information
The liver of mammals, fowl, and fish are commonly eaten as food by humans. Domestic pig, ox, lamb, calf, chicken, and goose livers are widely available from butchers and supermarkets.
Liver can be baked, boiled, broiled, fried, stir-fried, or eaten raw (lebanese cuisine, liver sashimi). In many preparations, pieces of liver are combined with pieces of meat or kidneys, like in mixed grill or meurav Yerushalmi. Liver is often made into spreads. Well-known examples include liver pâté, foie gras, chopped liver, and leverpostej. Liver sausages such as Braunschweiger and liverwurst are also a valued meal. Liver sausages may also be used as spreads.
Animal livers are rich in iron and vitamin A, and cod liver oil is commonly used as a dietary supplement. Traditionally, some fish livers were valued as food, especially the stingray liver. It was used to prepare delicacies, such as poached skate liver on toast in England, as well as the beignets de foie de raie and foie de raie en croute in French cuisine.[1]
Poisoning
Very high doses of vitamin A have the potential to be toxic and can cause hypervitaminosis A, a dangerous disorder. There have been several anecdotal reports and a few scientific studies of vitamin A poisoning due to the consumption of the livers of polar bears, [Pinniped|seal]]s and huskies. The livers of these animals can contain very high levels of vitamin A.[2] The Inuit will not eat the liver of polar bears or seals.[2]
Russian sailor Alexander Konrad, who accompanied explorer Valerian Albanov in a tragic ordeal over the Arctic ice in 1912, wrote about the awful effects of consuming polar bear liver.[3] Also, in 1913, Antarctic explorers on the Far Eastern Party Douglas Mawson and Xavier Mertz were both poisoned, the latter fatally, from eating husky liver, though this has been contested recently.[4]
Vitamin A poisoning is less likely from consuming oil-based vitamin A products and liver than from consuming water-based and solid preparations.[5]
Unrelated to its vitamin content, pufferfish liver (which is consumed in Japanese cuisine as fugu) contains the highest concentration of the neurotoxin tetradotoxin, which characterizes the species. As a result, it is generally not eaten, and its consumption is tightly regulated by Japanese law.
References
- ^ Calvin W. Schwabe Unmentionable Cuisine (English)
- ^ a b Rodahl, K.; T. Moore (1943-07). "The vitamin A content and toxicity of bear and seal liver". Biochemical Journal 37 (2): 166-168. ISSN 0264-6021. PMC 1257872. PMID 16747610. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1257872.
- ^ Valerian Albanov. In the Land of White Death. Appendix; A. Konrad's notes.
- ^ Carrington-Smith, Denise (5–19 December 2005), "Mawson and Mertz: a re-evaluation of their ill-fated mapping journey during the 1911–1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition", The Medical Journal of Australia 183 (11/12): 638–641, PMID 16336159, https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2005/183/11/mawson-and-mertz-re-evaluation-their-ill-fated-mapping-journey-during-1911-1914
- ^ Myhre, Anne M; Monica H Carlsen, Siv K Bøhn, Heidi L Wold, Petter Laake, Rune Blomhoff (2003-12-01). "Water-Miscible, Emulsified, and Solid Forms of Retinol Supplements Are More Toxic Than Oil-Based Preparations". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 (6): 1152-1159. ISSN 1938-3207 0002-9165, 1938-3207. http://www.ajcn.org/content/78/6/1152. Retrieved 2012-04-16.
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Liver as food |
Categories:
|