A couple of days ago (or was it yesterday?), the Food Safety Authority of Ireland issued a warning to parents about the dangers of certain artificial colourants added to some foods and soft drinks - you can read the detail on the FSAI’s website.

While it comes as no surprise to me that these additives are dangerous (even though that’s not the word used by either the Irish or British FSA, for legal reasons it is to be presumed), it never ceases to amaze me how people in general, and parents of young children in particular, never look at the list of ingredients in the stuff they buy for themselves and their children. Surely not to look at the ingredients is serious enough to be considered a dereliction of parental duty! It is in my book!

The additives in question are Tartrazine (E102), Ponceau 4R (E124), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Quinoline Yellow (D104), and Allura Red (E129). At least some of them are members of the so-called Azo Dyes, which I have written about in an earlier post.
This notice coming hot on the heels of the banning of E128 (Red 2G) shows that the Food Safety Authorities in these islands are doing their job. It is now incumbent upon parents to start doing theirs.

The news on Today FM is reporting that the red food dye known as Red 2G has been banned in Ireland - more info here courtesy of The Irish Times.
Also known as E128, this dye is used to impart colour to sausages and burger meat, and is one of the so-called azo dyes which are potentially carcenogenic - though this is disputed by the Food Industry (surprise surprise!).

My Collins Gem Guide to Natural and Artificial Food Additives (Harper Collins 1991, ISBN 0 00 458992 0) says this about Red 2G

A synthetic azo dye and coal tar dye, employed to impart a red colour to jams, meat and meat products, and soft drinks. It will not withstand high temperatures or high acidity. It is not recommended for children with a history of hyperactivity. Red 2G is banned in most European countries, Australia, Japan and North America, although not in the UK.

A much more up-to-date book on the subject on our kitchen bookshelf is The Chemical Maze Shopping Companion by Bill Statham [Summersdale Publishers Ltd 2006, ISBN 1 84024 482 8]. This has the following to say on E128 aka Red 2G: “Synthetic; azo dye; banned in many countries” and states that it is “best avoided“. It lists its potential effects as: “Asthma; gastrointestinal symptoms; hyperactivity; angioedema; chronic hives; aspirin sensitive people may wish to avoid; carcenogenic.”

Personally, I’ve been aware of the danger of azo dye additives in food for decades, but it is difficult to avoid them altogether. As far as I’m concerned, anything that is derived from coal tar or petrolium cannot be good for you. I’m amazed at the amount of chemical shit that Food companies are permitted to put in food and drink products, and even more amazed that most people never check the ingredients of the food and drink products they buy in the supermarkets. They are playing russian roulette with their own health and the health of their children.

On the recommendation of my sister, Leonora, we had lunch at a great little pancake restaurant, The Strawberry Field, on the Killarney-Sneem road this afternoon.
When you get to Moll’s Gap, take a right for Sneem and drive for a couple of miles and you’ll see it on your right. The entrance has a wrought-iron gate thingy of a vaguely Chinese style. It’s well worth a visit.

This year my Lemon Balm (also known as Balm, Sweet Balm, and Bee Balm) is looking particularly beautiful due to the run of sunny weather we’ve enjoyed throughout April. The leaves are normally ragged and full of holes by now, but this year they are pristine in their entirety. This particular specimen, which was planted 7 or 8 years ago, was variegated, but has long since reverted to the original green.
Lemon Balm is one of my very favourite herbs - I love the scent given off by the leaves when you rub or indeed caress them. The leaves make a very pleasant tisane too.
The latin name - Melissa officinalis (L.) - tells us that bees love it, Melissa being a variant of the Greek μελιττα (Melitta) meaning ‘beloved of bees‘, and indeed it was cultivated in cottage gardens for this very reason as well as for its scent. Any plant whose species name contains officinalis or officinale was at one time (and perhaps still is) part of the pharmacopoeia. Mrs Greaves in her A Modern Herbal has this to say about its medicinal action and uses:

It induces a mild perspiration and makes a pleasant and cooling tea for feverish patients in cases of catarrh and influenza. To make the tea, pour 1 pint of boiling water upon 1 oz. of herb, infuse 15 minutes, allow to cool, then strain and drink freely. If sugar and a little lemon-peel or juice be added it makes a refreshing summer drink.

I’ve been meaning to make a batch of melissa wine for several years now, but something always crops up to prevent me. This year is proving equally uncooperative what with the ongoing house renovations and all. If I want to make some wine I’ll have to move fast, before the leaves pass their best, and certainly before the plant comes into flower in July. Given the very fine weather and higher than normal temperatures I wouldn’t be surprised if it flowered earlier this year.

Being partial to a cup of good strong flavoursome coffee, I treat myself to a coffee of the capuccino or expresso variety once or twice a week in Ennis. Up to a few months ago there was only one place that served really good coffee and that was O’Brien’s. With the opening of Hughes and Hughes Bookshop on the bridge and the addition of Costa Coffee downstairs with direct access from the bookshop, there are now two.

Up to recently a “regular” capuccino would have set you back 2.40 euro in O’Brien’s, but that has now jumped to 2.90 something euro. The price of a cappuccino primo (small cappuccino) in Costa Coffee is currently 2.80 euro. This, to my mind, is completely overpriced. How can they justify these ridiculous prices? In particular, how can O’Brien’s justify a rise of nearly 50cents for a cup of coffee? The expresso is similarly overpriced coming in at around 2.35 euro.

Compare that to prices in Lisbon, Portugal - which is a sophisticated European capital city: price for an expresso at a coffee counter anywhere in the city was 50-60 cents - yes, you read right cents. In an upmarket cafe, you won’t pay more than 1 euro for the same thing. That’s less than half the price we are being charged here in Ennis, Co. Clare.

When in Portugal last summer, I went into probably the best-known cafe in the whole of Portugal - A Brasileira in the Chiado district of downtown Lisboa - which boasts the best coffee on the planet. I had a cappuccino and it set me back the princely sum of 1.50 euro. That’s right - almost half the price it is here in Ennis.

This is completely and utterly unacceptable. I’m so fed up with the situation that I’m going to boycott both O’Brien’s and Costa Coffee because they’re ripping me off. I’ll bring it in a flask in future and to hell with them!