This is going to sound really crazy...in fact, it IS.
But, this am, I washed my cabbage, made my smoothie, and then found a worm (which is usually no big deal, I am always a huge bug lover, just not in my food) that was clear mostly excpet for the greens it had been consuming - I could see in it. It was pretty gross and I starting thinking about consuming it accidentally and how it looked like many of the parasite kind of worms we have in our stomachs. I feel like I am going to gag on my smoothie. I can't get the idea of that worm out of my mind.

Is that the same kind of worm that our bodies allow to live in us? I really know nothing about parasites altough the thought of them grosses me out....and I know that most if not all of us have them.

I don't know what I would do without this board to bring all of my daily "issues" to....thanks!!

I used to find worms, bugs, etc in my organic produce, mainly lettuce alot. I figured the food was good enough for them to live off of as a good sign. Conventional produce never had any critters. Even had some lettuce once that lasted for a good week with a live bug in it afterwards still chompin' away. Just make sure to clean things well and ofcourse don't think about eating worms. Far as I was told there should be no harm anyhow.

Hmmm. We do the best we can. We examine and rinse what we eat. You CAN stress over this if you want to....but I would wager that the worm was not a 'parasite' that lives in your body....but more likely a leaf-eater that got eaten instead! LOL. I would not give it a second thought....and my opinion is that there was no harm done (to you anyway....heh..heh.)

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Hee hee.

Some smoothies just have to go into the compost pile! I wouldn't be able to eat "worm d-jour" either.

My husband lovingly tried to stir a smoothie using the plastic dowel of the VitaMix WITHOUT the lid to guard it from going in too far. Needless to say it shredded a bit off the bottom of the dowel and it was such a SMALL ammount of plastic but it ground it up into about a zillion pieces. I just couldn't spit em all out - I was too afraid of swallowing them and the texture was ICK!

Into the compost it went!


Me (30), Joseph (24 mo.) Jeremiah (4 mo.)

We are enjoying spring and being outside!!!

If you had eaten it, you would have digested it like anything else. Gross but no harm done.

I am just wondering how you found a worm AFTER making the smoothy?

I always put my greens in a big bowl of water and let them sit for a while. It SEEMS to make the bugs let go. Does anyone else do this?

Then I lift the greens out - because if I dump the water out, the greens will recapture the bugs like a strainer. Then I rinse the greens under running water (I really need to get a salad spinner).

I rinse all my greens with a water spray,spin in a spinner,then put in plastic bags.
I have yet to see a bug or worm.
Brian

I adore Japanese shiso leaf. It's one of my favorite flavors.

I am also a TERRIBLE arachnophobe.

I worked with a nice Japanese man who grew his own shiso. I was ENTHRALLED when he gave me some. The second time he brought me a batch, I took it home and just started eating out of my container... and... there was a spider inside.

I still love shiso, but that really freaked me out. I'm just thrilled I didn't eat it.

The worm wasn't in my smoothie - it was crawling around the sink when I was drinking the smoothie. But, I started thinking crazily - "oh god, there probably was one in my greens, how well did I wash them, did I get all the worms off...." etc. It was just a moment, although, I am not sure I can go back to that cabbage!!! I think it will be fine actually as long as I wash the leaves thoroughly!

I do have a salad spnner, but usually don't spin my greens unless I am going to chop and eat them in a salad. When blending I really see no need.

I think that the grossest part of it was that the worm looked like the worms my cat used to get....EWWW!!! I cringe thinking about it. So, that is why I blundered for a minute! It's all good now though. Thanks for the reassurance!

It finally happened.
I bought some organic spinach,washed it,spun it,and put it in plastic bags in the fridge.
Then today I went to get some for lunch,and out flies a fly,right from the bag.
Eewww!
Its amazing it survived.
Must have clung real good to a leaf!
Brian

Fruit flies (or something that looked identical to them) INFESTING an entire bag of organic romaine lettuce heads sort of soured me for a while, back in the day.

But, really, at least it's good enough to be eaten. Birds always peck the sweetest fruit, I heard. This seems true from observation. :O

Maybe it was the fly's eggs hatching after you put the produce into the bag ? Do worms lay eggs ?

angie1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My husband lovingly tried to stir a smoothie using
> the plastic dowel of the VitaMix WITHOUT the lid
> to guard it from going in too far. Needless to
> say it shredded a bit off the bottom of the dowel
> and it was such a SMALL ammount of plastic but it
> ground it up into about a zillion pieces. I just
> couldn't spit em all out - I was too afraid of
> swallowing them and the texture was ICK!
>
> Into the compost it went!

Angie - When I first got my vitamix, I did this same thing!! I am glad to know I am not alone - I didn't realize that it would be sucked out of my hand and torn into shreds into a matter of milliseconds, nor did I realize that the vitamix had the power to chew through plastic so quickly and efficiently!! I too had to throw away my smoothie, and was devestated that I had a brand new vitamix with a defective tamper. Thank goodnes WY sent me a new one, and I think of him every time I am making my green smoothies!

I once left a bag of red onions in the cupboard that got infested and smelt so disgusting! There were these long larvae things wriggling in the red liquidy onion mess.

Me and boyfriend had to clean it out, relocate the larvae in my garden and scrub everything down.

Whenever I see a red onion, I always think of those larvae, hahaha :-)

Hey can anyone recommend a good salad spinner for washing greens???

Thank you

Patty

I use the Ocko brand with the push plunger on top.
Fantastic!
Brian

veggiefreak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Is that the same kind of worm that our bodies
> allow to live in us?

No. If you ate that big worm your body would break
it down into its components and digest them.

You get the parastic worms from stepping in
a pile of infested feces that work their way
in through the skin of your foot, or from
eating the very tiny larvae present in
undercooked flesh foods (they use ultrasound
to "look" for them at the very expensive Sushi
places).

But, yeah, I had that visible worm thing with
Kale a few times and it did put me off Kale for
a LONG time.

The general consensus is clearly that the worm could cause no harm. I don't blame you for being put off your smoothie though. Just reading this thread has put me off greens for the day =)
Arika