How do you eat raw, bitter apricot kernals?

[maraw]

Sprouted, ground, or just soaked? I am reading very different approaches to these little bundles of B17 wonder. I would really love some first-hand advise.

Please share! Thanks.

[Stina]

Hi, I've never heard of eating them but my friend used to grind them up and use them on her face and had a glowing complexion.

[lafsalot]

I thought the kernels were poisonous unless roasted :confused:

[maraw]

Apricot Kernals have one of the highest concentrations of hard-to-find B17, an amazing cancer-fighting vitamin. Roasted, I believe, would damage this vitamin.

[juliebove]

I believe they are poison if eaten in excess. I remember years ago, a man at a health food store told my mom to eat a couple of them week to prevent cancer. She just ate them as is. And no, they didn't taste good.

[Revvell]

Actually, it seems it's B-17. I don't see anything about b-12 yet.

http://www.apricot-kernels.com.au/
http://www.frot.co.nz/wheels/apricots.htm
http://www.earthnotions.ca/pages/apricot_kernels.html

[sport]

I used to put 5 a day in my smoothie but now that I am juicing my greens I am not getting any.
I will have to change that and start adding them to my hemp milk in the blender. I had forgotton about them.

[Antari]

My friend who had breast cancer used to take 5 a day.

[maraw]

Revvell - {{Hitting head on desk}}} Thanks for that correction. You are absolutely correct. Maybe that's my hands' way of telling me I seed some B12 too. :o

Antari, how would your friend consume them?

[Diana Cda]

Just something to keep in mind, no matter how good something is purported to be, if it doesn't taste good in its raw, natural state, it's probably not a good idea to eat it.

That's one of the most positive things I took away from Natural Hygiene. Regardless of anything else that may be positive or negative about NH, that makes infinite sense and is not a view that is widely held in the raw/living foods community. At least, I don't see it often. How one knows this is because many foods are recommended that might not be good for us to eat. Chick peas for example, nasty stuff when you eat them plain so hiding the flavour even if raw is no better than what the cooked foodists do. I remember a gardening book that clearly stated not to eat chick peas without steaming or cooking as it contained something toxic, can't remember what the name was that was so long ago, but that cooking/steaming got rid of it. Legumes are tricky because of this type of thing and aren't always good for us. (Thank goodness we can get away with lentils ... !)

So getting back to peach and other pits issue, I believe they contain small amounts of arsenic (going by memory here) and they have capacity to harm a child. I don't know how much nor how regularly they'd have to be eaten, of course, but when I read that years ago, that sent up a red flag. Besides, trying to eat one of those things ourselves gives another clue. If you need to grind it or hammer it, etc., with anything other than your hands and teeth before you can chew it, that would seem to be another indicator. Like the canary birds in the mines, perhaps it might be a good idea to take that as a warning. This can't be compared to eating something like coconut. Though the shell needs to be dealt with mechanically, eating it presents no problem and the taste is good. But pits ... uh uh ...

Again, everyone is going to do what they decide and that's perfectly fine. It's just good to have several points of view to base a judgment on re fact that there might be potential harm.

Besides, how nice would that bitter, nasty stuff be!!!???

:)

[RowanC]

You just pick one or two up a couple of times a day and chew them very well. I have them in a small bowl on the counter.

DO NOT EAT MORE THAN 5 PER DAY - they have cyanide in them.

DO NOT PUT THEM WHERE CHILDREN CAN GET THEM.
Like aspirin, a child could die if they ingest too many.

They are full of laetrile, which destroys the cells which cause cancer.

[Revvell]

Sheesh! No way I have any desire to do this. I don't eat (cancer causing) dead animal carcasses... that's good enough for me.


You just pick one or two up a couple of times a day and chew them very well. I have them in a small bowl on the counter.

DO NOT EAT MORE THAN 5 PER DAY - they have cyanide in them.

DO NOT PUT THEM WHERE CHILDREN CAN GET THEM.
Like aspirin, a child could die if they ingest too many.

They are full of laetrile, which destroys the cells which cause cancer.

[sport]

I actually agree with all of the comments about the fact that maybe we are not meant to eat something that does not taste pleasant but I have a bag of the little buggers and I have no intention of wasting them.
I will not be buying them again.

[Wendee]

If they are that hard to eat, should we really be eating them in the first place?:confused:

Although coconuts have always been hard for me to eat because of the shell, I eat them anyway!:p Oh, well.

Maybe grinding them in the blender?

[RowanC]

They don't taste bad.
I sort of like them.

I mean, some people think tomatoes taste raunchy, or dates.

You don't eat cancer causing things, but you breathe the nasty air and drink the nasty water, and are exposed to toxins all day.

In the end, we each must make our own decisions.

The person ASKED how to consume them....:cool:

[LightLover]

You just pick one or two up a couple of times a day and chew them very well. I have them in a small bowl on the counter.

DO NOT EAT MORE THAN 5 PER DAY - they have cyanide in them.

DO NOT PUT THEM WHERE CHILDREN CAN GET THEM.
Like aspirin, a child could die if they ingest too many.

They are full of laetrile, which destroys the cells which cause cancer.

Chewing..:eek: These things are very tough to chew, I would risk my teeth

LL

[Diana Cda]

If they are that hard to eat, should we really be eating them in the first place?:confused:

Although coconuts have always been hard for me to eat because of the shell, I eat them anyway!:p Oh, well.

Maybe grinding them in the blender?Well, you could do that but remember, if you have to grind them with something other than your teeth, and with your teeth you'd risk breaking them, grinding them down, etc., etc., on top of the fact that they taste awful _AND_ contain something harmful (in the case of apricot and peach pits), it's not a good idea to eat them ...

In the case of coconut shells, they serve many useful purposes. I saw a very neat handbag made from a coconut shell yesterday in a shop with dresses and items imported from exotic locales. The shell had obviously been sawed in half and a zipper had been attached to the two halves so that when you unzipped the whole coconut into its two halves, it revealed a neat inside purse made of material for which the shells made up the 2 ends. A decorative string was attached to the purse through two holes made into each side so it hung from the shoulder. Pretty neat.

Also, when I lived in Mexico as a young woman, I had a Volkswagen bug. One day the upholstery was coming out and I took it in to be fixed and the interior of the seats was stuffed with coconut fibres! Pretty kewl.

So leave hard shells and kernels alone and eat what's good to eat, in my view!

But that's me. As long as people know the pros and cons and can make an informed decision, then it's up to each individual to decide. Personally, I think it's nuts eating something that just seems so _wrong_ to eat. In the case of pits, all these fruit gave us the delicious part to eat as payment for passing along their seeds. Seems awful to rob them of their future progeny! :)

[FirstGarden]

They don't taste bad.
I sort of like them.

I mean, some people think tomatoes taste raunchy, or dates.

You don't eat cancer causing things, but you breathe the nasty air and drink the nasty water, and are exposed to toxins all day.

In the end, we each must make our own decisions.

The person ASKED how to consume them....

We have a huge bowl of pits here because our neighbor has an apricot tree in his huge back lot and lets us pick them every year. His tree is sooooo loaded with apricots and he doesn't eat them. So we try to get them before the birds do. And there's plenty to go around. ;) I have juiced these, made smoothies with these, and used a simple nutcracker for the pits. I also like to collect peach pits, any kind of pit. Nature provides these in foods for good reason, for their therapeutic, medicinal value. (I like the taste of apricot kernels too.) I also like to throw 2-3 in the blender for smoothies.

It's important to understand that life, being full of mixture, will occasionally throw us some curve balls. Bitterness is nature's way of saying to consume in moderation. Apple seeds contain cyanide yet do us no harm. The amounts of poison are so minute that they can't hurt us. You'd have to eat handfuls of that stuff before you get there; and who would ever want to do that? People have eaten apples with their seeds since the beginning of time. I do.

Now the kernels are encased in a hard shell, removing the immediacy of consumption. You have to want them pretty bad. Not to be simplistic (cuz poison ivy is readily available) but generally, I think nature in her wisdom gives us some very basic guidelines, which, coupled with common sense, can help us along quite nicely. This is why we have a history of herbalism going back thousands of years. Ever wonder HOW this was established? How did people keep from dying? Maybe by trying very tiny portions before diving in. And how on earth did they determine what was good for this organ, that condition, and so forth? Amazing history we have here.

I vote for the apricot kernel! Yay!

But with moderation. ;)

"Behold, I have given you every herb bearing SEED, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding SEED; to you it shall be for food." :p
Genesis 1:29
http://altnature.com/images/bloodrootherb.jpg

[maraw]

Just to clarify, it's not the hard outer "pit" part that is eaten. It's the kernel, which is much softer - sort of like an almond, only smaller.

As mentioned previously, there are many cultures that consume these kernels and other foods that we, as Americans, do not. As a result, there is a serious lack of Laetril, or B17, in our diet in this country. There are, of course, as with many foods, benefits and dangers if consumed without moderation. As several here have mentioned, it is up to the individual to make their own choice.

Personally, I have read enough and heard first hand too much evidence to ignore it. If eating 2-3 apricot kernels a day will help my body fight unwanted cancer cells, then by golly I'm all for it. My problem (hense the original purpose of this post) is I don't care for the way they taste. Although I purchased the "bitter" ones, it's not the bitterness that bothers me. They taste just like marzipan, which I have never liked.

So far, I'm just eating them as I do any other seeds or nut, and just following it with a juice chaser. It's working for the most part.

Thanks everyone for your care, concern, advise, and support.

[Suz58]

I don't much like the taste either but like many things I think we can get used to them, take bitter greens for example, they don't taste good at first but after a time we can grow to like them.
I would have thought they could be mixed in with other nut preparations with out altering the taste to much, ie a fudge of dates and almonds.
When I eat a peach or other similar fruits I try and remember to open the kernal and eat the pit before I finish that way I get the sweet taste of the fruit to remove the bitter of the pit.

[kestrel]

Sorry to reopen this thread so late, but I just stumbled upon it and there seems to be some confusion about apricot kernels I might help to clear up.

To the initial question: how to eat raw apricot kernels - this is really a matter of preference. The objective is to have them as close to liquid as possible for best absorption. Many people simply chew them very well, but if you've chewed apricot kernels in quantity, you'd be aware that they can become rather unpleasant. At first, they're really quite pleasant - a classic sort of amaretto flavour, often associated with marzipan. In fact, apricot kernels are often used in marzipan recipes and those that require this classic flavour. The same is true of amaretto liqueurs.

Cooking them will destroy much of their goodies and render them virtually useless therapeutically. That said, there are some very delicious recipes that involve apricot kernels.

Back to the question - there is a school of thought that 'sprouting' seeds of any sort before consumption helps to activate the enzymes within. This hasn't been a recommendation amongst the biggest proponents of the B17 theory. The kernels can also be mashed in a mortar and pestle and mixed into food or juice. Many even spread it on toast. A great way to eat them, as I do, is to grind them into a breakfast smoothie. I have a great deal of experience with apricot kernels and have been involved with literally hundreds of individuals who consume them in large quantities. Never have I encountered a single report of adverse effects as a result of ingesting apricot kernels in sensible quantities (for those treating cancer, this is often upwards of 60 a day). I have approximately 20 per day, though I don't actually count. I simply grab a small handful and pop them in the grinder. There might be 25 on some days and 15 on others. I've eaten in excess of 100 over the course of a single day.

The warnings you'll encounter through the internet are most often misinformed and based on broken telephone syndrome. In fact, the PubMed database lists an abstract of the only reported case of acute cyanide toxicity in the United States in over 25 years. It was a woman who was admitted to hospital. She apparently consumed too many apricot kernels. She was treated with the appropriate meds for such an overdose and responded immediately. There's no mention of how many apricot kernels she ingested, but one has to conclude it was an enormous quantity and far from a sensible amount. There are all sorts of substances people consume on a daily basis that will have similar results when consumed in excessive quantities. There's also no mention of cases prior to this incident, which was approximately 25 years ago. (I'm working from memory here)

To put this into perspective and to illustrate the relative safety of apricot kernels - hundreds of thousands of people in the United States have consumed apricot kernels over this period in varying quantities. No reported deaths. In contrast, there are many thousands of reported deaths resulting from the use of FDA approved pharmaceutical drugs.

Now, with regards to the comments about the ingestion of substances that aren't especially tasty in their natural state - this, of course, has a huge element of subjectivity. Many people love the taste of apricot kernels. I'm not one of them, mind you, but I've certainly encountered them. I'm also aware of the fact that animals in nature choose to eat the kernels of stone fruit. These animals can be your gage. Mother Nature's most wild creatures would never ingest a toxic substance in an habitual way.

Our entire family are consumers of apricot kernels, and this includes the pets - the dog, well - he'll eat anything. The rabbit loves them, as do our daughter's mice. The mice are very healthy and will very quickly consume an entire apricot kernel. Consider the relative size of an apricot kernel to a mouse. It would have to be the equivalent of upwards of 100 apricot kernels to a human. There's a reason mice are used as laboratory test subjects.

Apricot kernels do, indeed, contain a component of cyanide; however, this is not free cyanide. Vitamin B17 (Amygdalin) is a compound comprised of the molecules of a sugar, hydrogen cyanide, and an acetone. Though the intact molecule is, for all practical purposes, completely non-toxic, it can be unlocked by an enzyme called, Beta-glucosidase, to a sugar, free hydrogen cyanide, and benzaldehyde. This is where mother nature gets clever. Beta-glucosidase is found in a very high concentration at the site of cancer and only in relatively small quantities elsewhere. Our bodies manufacture another enzyme, rhodanese, specifically designed to neutralise free hydrogen cyanide, converting it to harmless thiocyanate and allowing it to pass out of the body. Better still, cancerous tissue is deficient in this enzyme, which leaves it susceptible to the destructive properties of hydrogen cyanide in combination with benzaldehyde - the two components work synergistically.

So, yes, the rumours you've heard that apricot kernels contain cyanide is, indeed, true; however, now that you understand how it works, you can explain to other people that this is not free cyanide, as one might imagine in a vial depicting a skull and crossbones. This is a locked, harmless compound that requires a key - keys found under the doormats of cancer cells. With these keys, the B17 compound is unlocked, releasing the cyanide to do its important work at the site. You can also explain that our healthy tissue has, waiting in the wings, the rhodanese enzyme, ready to pounce on any free cyanide that escapes the site, neutralising it and rendering it harmless.

Rhodanese is a natural, evolutionary enzyme produced to deal with dietary cyanide, which is present in hundreds of common foods.

Hope this clears a few things up for some of you. It's difficult to comprehend that the conventional medical system would do their best to make effective alternative therapies difficult to obtain, and bury them to the best of their ability. There are a great many of us who have dedicated many years of our lives to research within the realm of alternative therapies. To us, it's just a fact of life that the pharmaceutical industry will do their best to squash alternative medicine. It's business and a matter of economics. Plain and simple. One person who opts out of conventional cancer treatment costs the industry upwards of $100,000. Multiply this by the increasing number of people developing cancer on a daily basis. This is why vitamin B17 and other effective components of nutritional therapy will never be widely accepted.

[solarliving]

The theory that if something doesn't taste good we shouldn't eat it is quite interesting. If green smoothies didn't exist, I would never consume kale, dandelions, or chard. It's pretty bitter stuff. Apparently Gorillas have been known to open up the shell of apricots and eat the seeds. That's pretty cool. Boy they're smart.

Let's also remember laetrile or B17 is in other things such as flaxseeds, strawberries and wheatgrass.

[kestrel]

Quite right. You should see the sludge my partner consumes each night. A wild concoction involving various supplements in powder and liquid form. Of course, it's incredibly healthy, as is my partner, but the look, taste and smell would have you believe otherwise.

Even something as simple as spirulina - frankly, I think it both tastes and smells quite disgusting, but I do use it daily, regardless, and I feel like a slug if I have to go a few days without it.

Most fruit seeds contain cyanide, as a component of B17, as do most grasses. Many nuts, beans, legumes... it's everywhere - but unless we're eating great quantities of some these food items, the levels within most are insufficient to be of therapeutic benefit. Apricot kernels are a good, high dose of B17. Great to eat a wide and varied diet comprised of nitriloside bearing foods, but it's often not practical or seasonally appropriate. Apricot kernels are a great supplement.

[lily]

I first heard about apricot kernels through a link in a posting on these boards:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4312930190281243507

It makes very interesting viewing though, as others have said, it goes against the Natural Hygiene principle of only eating foods which appeal to us. Having said that, I quite like them and don't seem to come to any harm eating a small handful of them now and then.

lily

[kestrel]

Good on you, Lily. Keep eating those apricot kernels and get as many people on to them as you can. Even the big drug companies have acknowledged that apricot kernels are very effective at, not only preventing the spread of cancer, but preventing it full stop.

[lily]

Thanks, Kestrel. I completely agree with you.

lily

[EZ rider]

I am wondering if in the body's innate wisdom it can take the small amount of cyanide known to be in small amounts in many food sources and use it to KO sick cells in the body ? Is the body smart enough to do that or is it just a big dumb blob ? Also I am wondering if the body could use its small supply of cyanide as a weapon in its defense arsenal to fight viruses invading the body ? Opinions and/or thoughts please ?

[luckitri]

Thanks for the information kestrel! I will be watching your posts! Do we have to buy them on-line or is there a type of store that sells them that one can drive to?

[kestrel]

Hi EZ rider,

The disease-fighting action of apricot kernels is really target-specific. Cancer cells have the right ingredients to activate the cyanide within nitriloside foods - the beta-glucosidase enzyme. B17 has also been found to be an effective treatment for sickle cell anaemia, but it has a totally different action with this disease. It's that friendly enzyme rhodanese that's the key in treating sickle cell anaemia. Remember, from an earlier post, rhodanese neutralizes free cyanide that escapes the site of cancer. It converts the cyanide into thyocyanate, which has also been linked to other deficiency diseases. So, in this case, it's the thyocyanate that's treating the disease.

In addition to their more common application, apricot kernels are also a natural analgesic (pain killer) and they can do this quite effectively. I know of many arthritis sufferers who use them in place of chemical pain-killers. Additionally again, they can be effective at lowering blood pressure. For those who already have low blood pressure, it's important to monitor their effect and adjust quantities accordingly. I've also experienced anti-inflammatory benefits.

Apricot kernels are also high in B vitamins. For me, eating apricot kernels is like getting an old-fashioned shot of vitamin B. As part of a supplement program, you can really notice the difference if you've been taking them regularly and then miss a period.

The fact of the matter is, there are many more vitamins that have yet to be discovered than have already been identified. My intuition tells me that apricot kernels and other sources of nitrilosides are chalked-full of them. Look at the various grasses for instance - enough to sustain many, many species of very large animals. Now humans are consuming grasses for similar benefits. So, the health benefits of these foods is, I suspect, very far reaching.

Luckitri,

The easiest way to find them is probably through Google. There are a number of online sources that should be willing to give you an alternative payment means. They can be difficult to find in health food shops that sell a lot of supplements, as their presence can imply therapeutic use, which is a no no as far as the drug administrations of the western world are concerned. They can be sold provided that they're not marketed as a cure, treatment or preventative of any disease. Many shops are simply afraid to sell them, resulting from rumours they'd be shut down by the FDA. The fact of the matter is - there are other uses for apricot kernels, so their sale is quite legal.

[glutfree]

My friend who had breast cancer used to take 5 a day.

did your friend beat her cancer by doing this and still alive?

[oai]

did your friend beat her cancer by doing this and still alive?

i would like to know, too. it wouldn't hurt to throw in some kernels for my mom & aunt then. :)

[rawviveyourself]

kestrel - thanks for the super information on this topic. i sort of like the taste, my husband used to eat them all the time, and i never bought the hysteria on the internet about the dangers of eating them, but i also never took the time to research the real deal, so i really appreciate your posts.:)

[Ilse W.]

I love the taste of apricot kernels. I guess, just like any nut, you might want to soak them first to get the enzymes going. I also read somewhere that it's best to eat the kernel along with an apricot, because it contains whatever is necessary to deactivate the cyanide. The same holds true for apple seeds eaten with apples, whereas you should not eat them in quantity by themselves. So I usually eat one dried apricot (organic without sulfur) with each kernel. My youngest sister, who had breast cancer and refused chemo after the first two rounds and is alive and well on a vegan diet 4 years later, swears by them. Everything negative anybody hears about B-17 is propaganda put forth by the FDA in support of their favorite groups, the medical industry and the pharma industry.

[raweater]

I thought the kernels were poisonous unless roasted :confused:

That is what government agencies are leading the public to beleive because they know it's one of the most powerful anti cancer compounds known, here's a great documentary that explains B17 in details:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4312930190281243507&ei=t_lKScukG5yyrQKel_DvCw&q=b17

[coreen]

Sheesh! No way I have any desire to do this. I don't eat (cancer causing) dead animal carcasses... that's good enough for me.


They are not cancer causing, they are said to be able to kill the cells that cause cancer thus being able to cure a person who has cancer :). Just wanted to clear that up for you.

Have a wonderful day everyone!