Blended Nectarine Pit. Poison?

germin8

I was blending a smoothie this morning… using pre-cut frozen nectarines that we cut and froze ourselves (months ago). I found it strange to hear the blender make lots of noise. I kept thinking it would go away… but I found out a huge nectarine pit in there… it wasn’t its original shape… but it was close enough. I think small pieces of iy are in the smoothie.

My husband says the inside is the poisonous part and pieces of the outer shell are okay… the smoothie is okay.

Anyone had this happen to them? Did you drink it?

germin8

I found an article that says the kernel is poisonous… so, the outer shell should be okay. Thus, pieces of it in my smoothie are okay.

Wow, I’m glad the BlendTec didn’t blend the nectarine pit!

newbie

I believe it’s the cyanide content that’s the issue with the kernel. However, you can safely consume small amounts, like what is contained in a single nectarine pit. Nectarine, peach, apricot pits and apple/pear seeds also contain vitamin B17, which is believed to help fight cancer. I eat the seeds – in moderation.

springleaf

Personally I would not regularly consume pits known to contain cyanide, if one falls in every now and then don’t worry but compounds containing cyanide can be deadly, see here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanide

Also the B17 cures cancer theory has shown by studies to be ineffective, see here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdalin

When I use citrus juice I use a special citrus juicer to remove the juice then add that to what I’m making, as it is easy to fish out pips from juice rather than smoothies. I konw you lose the pith goodness this way but I would rather lose a little goodness than add in a little badness.

germin8

The kernel is toxic, but not the outer shell – right? The only thing that got in my smoothie seems to be pieces of the outer shell. I should be okay.

Seems like we’re okay drinking the juice…. so I don’t think there was another seed in there that got blended without me knowing.

Thanks.

ungrateful

I did not know that lemon pips are toxic. Darn, I just chop n toss the whole fruit in after peeling off some of the outer skin. Well, I just bought a lemon juicer so I guess I won’t do that anymore.

germin8

Hmmm, I missed that one. I don’t really know how much “toxin” is in lemon piths… but there are several foods that have toxins to some degree. I guess lemon piths just have more.

I learned yesterday, from a professor of Biology, that cyanide is toxic because it competes with oxygen… (and cyanide wins).