While making a carrageenan-based dessert the other day I decided to go look up the ingredient on Wikipedia (what, don’t you do that?), and was slightly alarmed to find it degrades into possibly carcinogenic compounds under high temperatures and acidity, mainly because this particular recipe called for boiling the carrageenan in a pot while adding malic acid. What I couldn’t find, though, was any kind of source for what exactly counts as a “high” temperature - if it turns out to be 400 degrees, I’ve got nothing to worry about, right? Sadly, I’ve found nothing but hysterical hippie rantings. Does anyone know the answer?
Well, isn’t carageenan simply processed irish moss? And isn’t there a scare about grilled meats being carcinogenic? Can’t you get cancer from almost anything except perhaps distilled water in the wrong amount?
How much credence do you want to put into something you read on the internet? Although there has been some study indicating that degraded carigeenan may cause health issues, keep in mind how we have been jerked around about healthy fats, salt content, food ingredient panics that are essentially bogus [salt, fats like margarine, saccharine] Journalists like to make money, they do this by grabbing studies and OH MY GOD SALT IS EVIL except they don’t bother getting the full information, they just want that ONE SINGLE FACTOID THAT GRABS THE ATTENTION !!!eleventy!111!!one.
if you are oogied by the possibility of something that has been consumed in europe since about 200 AD being evil, good luck eating anything that you pretty much haven’t prepared from scratch. I swear carigeenan is in damn near everything as a texturizer.
OMG!!! Are you saying that distilled water in the right amount will give me cancer?!! :eek:
No but nondistilled water does actually have a percentage chance
Uh hey dude, I’m not the hyperventilating everything-I-touch-must-be-natural type but I’m asking for facts here, not reminders that caution is for pussies and sufficient manliness will ward off all ailments. Sure I cook my food, but I throw out mouldy bread and don’t eat meat that’s been grilled into little charcoal briquettes, you know? How much credence do I put into things I read on the internet? I dunno, not that much, why do you think I’m asking? And at the end of the day, I’m really just curious. Thanks for the condescension though.