荒原記事

ONIONS (3-Dec-2009)

Very Important ....especially
for those who love to cook and eat ONIONS!!!!!!

非常重要. . . .特別是喜歡烹調及吃洋蔥的人！
！
！

ONIONS 洋蔥

In 1919 when the flu killed
40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to
see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their
family had contracted it and many died.

1919 年， 當流感造成了四千萬人死亡時，
有一位醫生到各地農場去探視， 看是否可以幫助人們戰勝流
感。很多農民和他們家庭感染了流感，很多人因此而死亡。

The doctor came upon this one
farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor
asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that
she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home,
(probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and
asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the
microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu
virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore,
keeping the family healthy.

這位醫生來到一家人家。出乎預料， 這家的每一個人都非常健
康。醫生詢問這家的做法與其他人家有何不同， 這家的妻子說她在家裡的每一個房間（ 那時大概也就是兩間吧） 裡放置了一顆沒有剝皮的洋
蔥。醫生無法置信， 因此就問是否可以要一顆洋蔥以便放在顯微鏡下觀察觀察。她給了他一顆。醫生觀察時真的在洋蔥上發現了流感病菌。顯然， 洋蔥吸收了病菌， 因此讓這家人保持健康。

Now, I heard this story from
my hairdresser in NZ. She said that several years ago many of her
employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her
customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in
her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work... (
And no, she is not in the onion business.)

如今， 我從亞利桑那州我的朋友那裡
聽到類似的故事。她說幾年前她的很多僱員感染流感， 她的很多顧客也是如此。次年，
她在她的理髮店裡放了幾個果盤， 裡面放了一些洋蔥。令她吃驚
的是， 她的員工沒有一個生病的。看來洋蔥真的起作用⋯ （ 真的， 她並不做洋蔥的生意。）

The moral of the story is,
buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at
a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on
top somewhere. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we
never got the flu.

故事的核心是， 買一些洋蔥吧， 把它們擺放在你的家裡的果
盤裡。如果你是坐辦公室的， 在你的辦公室裡， 或者辦公桌下面， 或者在櫃子頂部放置幾顆洋蔥吧。

試試看效果怎麼樣。我們去年做了， 沒有人得流感。

If this helps you and your
loved ones from getting sick, all the better. If you do get the flu, it
just might be a mild case.

如果這樣做可以幫助你和你所愛的人不感冒， 那就太好了。如果你仍然得
了感冒， 也許會是比較輕微的症狀。

Whatever, what have you to
lose? Just a few bucks on onions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

不管結果如何， 你又會有什麼損失呢？ 除了幾顆洋蔥之外！

Now there is a P. S. to this
for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material
to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting
experience about onions :

下面是後續。我把這個送給我在奧爾良的朋友， 她經常給我一些健康方面的
建議。她回復說了關於洋蔥的最有趣的實驗：

Thanks for the reminder. I
don't know about the farmers story...but, I do know that I contacted
pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill...I came across an article
that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then
place the forked end into an empty jar...placing the jar next to the
sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning
from the germs... sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was
a mess and I began to feel better.

感謝她的提示。我不知道那個農民的故事， 但是我知道我得了肺炎。無
需說， 我病的不輕。我讀到一篇文章， 建議把洋蔥的兩頭切掉， 插在叉子上， 然後把叉子 放在花瓶裡， 晚上放在病人身旁。據說， 洋蔥會因為病菌而在次日清晨變黑。果然， 事情跟說的完全一樣。洋蔥看
起來糟透了， 但我卻開始好起來。

A nother thing I read in the
article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many
from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial,
antiseptic properties.

那篇文章還談到放在屋子裡的洋蔥和大蒜在多年前的黑死病中
救了很多人的命。

But here is the other
important side to remember.

但有另一個非常重要因素是我們需要注的。

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE
POISONOUS

餘下來的洋蔥是有毒的

I have used an onion which
has been left in the fridge, and sometimes I don't use a whole one at
one time, so save the other half for later.

我曾經使用雪櫃中餘下來的洋蔥， 有時我不會使用整個洋蔥， 餘下來的會留為下次使用。

Now with this info, I have
changed my mind.....will buy smaller onions in the future.

如今有了這些資訊， 我會改變策略. . . . . .日後買些較細小的洋蔥。

I had the wonderful privilege
of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of mayonnaise. Mullins is
huge, and is owned by 11 brothers and sisters in the Mullins family. My
friend, Jeanne, is the CEO.

有幸地我參觀Mullins Food Products 工廠，沙拉油的生產商。Mullins 工廠很大，由Mullins 家族的11 位兄弟姊
妹共同擁有。我的朋友Jeanne 是那兒的行政總裁。

Questions about food
poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.

食物中毒時有所聞， 所以和各位分享一些從藥劑師
所學到的知識。

The guy who gave us our tour
is named Ed. He's one of the brothers. Ed is a chemistry expert and is
involved in developing most of the sauce formula.. He's even developed
sauce formula for McDonald's.

為我們作嚮導的是Ed。他是家族的其中一位成員。Ed 是一位
化學專家， 大部份沙拉油的調配程式都是由他專門研發出來的。他甚至為麥當勞研發沙拉油配方。

Keep in mind that Ed is a
food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone asked if we really needed
to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise
will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said that all
commercially- made Mayo is completely safe.

記住Ed 是一位
食品化學能手。參觀期間， 某人詢問我們是否需要擔心沙拉油。人們經常擔心沙拉油會變壞。Ed 的答案令人感到意外。Ed 說所有在
市場上售賣的沙拉油是完全安全的。

"It doesn't even have to be
refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really
necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point
that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked
about the quaint essential picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting
on the table and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets
sick.

『沙拉油甚至無需冷藏。將它冷藏亦無妨但非必要。（注意： 在外國較乾燥低溫的環境下
可能無需冷藏）』他解釋， 沙拉油的酸鹼度是設定至細菌無法生存的狀態。然後他講述有些人在野餐時， 吃了放在桌上的馬鈴薯沙拉
後感到不適便歸因於沙拉油。

Ed says that when food
poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when
the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the
potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not
homemade Mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the onions,
and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.

Ed 說， 當收到食物中毒的報告後， 調查員首先會詢問'中毒者'最後一次吃洋蔥是什麼時間和那些洋蔥是從那裡來的（ 在馬鈴薯沙拉中？ ） Ed 說問題並非出自處於室外的沙拉油變壞所引致（ 除非是家中自製的）。可能是
洋蔥所為， 如果不是洋蔥， 那就是馬鈴薯。

He explained, onions are a
huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions. You should never
plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion. He says it's not even safe if
you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator.

他解釋，洋蔥非常吸引細菌，特別是未經烹調的生洋蔥。切勿
儲存切開了的洋蔥。即使放在密實袋中擺放在雪櫃內亦不安全。

It's already contaminated
enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger
to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put in your hotdogs
at the baseball park!)

洋蔥在切開一點點時經已被污染， 可能對您有害（ 需要加倍注意帶往棒球場放
在熱狗包內的洋蔥！ ）

Ed says if you take the
leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if
you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking
for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad,
will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise
will even begin to break down.

Ed 說如果將餘下來的洋蔥完全烹熟可能還可以， 但如果將餘下來的洋蔥切開放
在三明治中， 你便自尋煩惱。洋蔥和馬鈴薯沙拉中浸濕了的馬鈴薯， 都非常吸引

細菌， 細菌的繁殖速度較快， 即使市場上買來的任何沙拉
油都會開始變壞。

So, how's that for news? Take
it for what you will. I (the author) am going to be very careful about
my onions from now on. For some reason, I see a lot of credibility
coming from a chemist and a company that produces millions of pounds of
mayonnaise every year.'

那麼， 有何高見？ 就我個人所知， 從今以後， 我（ 本文作者） 將會非常慎重處理我的洋
蔥。對於來自每年生產無數沙拉油公司的化學專家所提供的寶貴資料， 我覺得非常實惠。

Also, dogs should never eat
onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions .....

同時， 切勿給狗隻吃洋蔥。它們的胃
部不能消化洋蔥. . . . . .

Please remember it is
dangerous to cut onions and try to use it to cook the next day, it
becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and creates Toxic
bacteria which may cause Adverse Stomach infections because of excess
Bile secretions and even Food poisoning.

緊記， 切開了的洋蔥留為日後使用是
非常危險的， 即使一晚它便變得毒性非常高， 產生有毒細菌可能會引致膽汁分泌過多導致腸胃炎甚至食物中毒。

Please pass it on to all you
love and care.

請轉寄給所有你敬愛及關懷人。

＊ 翻譯以英文為準。