Is It Black Pepper or Toxic Foam in Martha Stewart Pepper Mill?

Who Knew I was grinding away toxic materials with my black pepper using the Martha Stewart Collection 7.5' Walnut Acrylic Salt and Pepper Shaker purchased from Macy's.

This is a very upsetting day for me and my family. I was making a coconut curry sauce this afternoon when I took out the Martha Stewart Pepper Grinder, which I've had for two years now and used regularly. After I was done cooking I noticed some strange looking, 3 mm black particle in the sauce. I took it out, and rubbed it in my hand. It didn't look like anything "food related" that I had added. Then I thought, well, the only black thing I added was the pepper.  I took the pepper grinder and took it apart. I was shocked! There was a black foam (probably toxic material) and adhesive in the grooves/lining of the grinder! The black foam material was disintegrating and ending up in my food! It looks like my family has consumed half of this black foam material and adhesive without even knowing. It's mind-blowing to think about what ends up in our food without our knowledge.

 

In today's society, we cannot prevent toxic materials from entering our bodies, but this one is just upsetting. I'm sure Martha Stewart or many people have no idea that this product was defective. But shouldn't there be someone controlling this? If you put your name on it, shouldn't you be responsible? Materials that are used for cooking, especially ones that end up in our mouths, should be subject to better control. This product is made in China and who knows what cheap materials they use. Does Martha Stewart knows that? I don't think so. Most of you who have this product may have not even noticed since it looks so much like a black pepper. I bet if you opened one you may find it disintegrated. It's no wonder why so many people get cancer and other health problems. I feel like a victim here. I'm very health-conscious for my family, especially now that I have a baby, and I think someone needs to take action on this sort of thing. Major product recall and health risk!







































The product received great reviews on Macys.com but do they really know what they were actually grinding with their pepper. Major product recall!

http://www1.macys.com/shop/product/martha-stewart-collection-75-walnut-acrylic-salt-and-pepper-mill?ID=258477&CategoryID=31839#fn=sp%3D1%26spc%3D7%26kws%3Dpepper%20grinder%26slotId%3D2

Georgian Orthodox Easter and Paska Recipe

I am going to share some of my Georgian Orthodox Easter traditions. It is very different than Easter in the US. We do not have bunnies or kids hunting for eggs in the bushes. Preparation normally starts on Friday night. We color the eggs and make Paska, which is an Eastern European Easter bread.

Mom usually boils the eggs and dyes them red using red onion skins. Sometimes she places cilantro leafs, or other plants that have interesting designs, against the egg and then wraps the egg tightly in a fine net (usually pantyhose). The resulting egg is imprinted with the pattern of the leaves. Next, she makes Paska. The recipe is at the end of this post. 

It's a Georgian tradition that after the Easter mass we come home and start the game of breaking the eggs. Each person gets an egg and then we alternate hitting eggs the tip-to- tip and bottom-to-bottom. The first person with the unbroken egg is declared the winner! One year, my neighbor got a wooden egg that resembled a real egg and broke all of our eggs (obviously). We quickly realized his ploy!

P.S. If you like decorate your Easter table then, two weeks prior, you can sprinkle wheat seeds on a cotton ball in a container. The cotton ball should be moist with water. What grows in two weeks is called Jejili (grass), which is used as a table decoration. See the image below. 

Paska Bread Ingredients

• 2 tsp yeast
• 500 ml of milk
• Around 500 g of flour
• 200 g of sugar
• 5 eggs
• 250 g of (melted) butter
• 2/3 cup of resins
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preparations

Pre-Ferment: Add yeast to 1/2 cup of warm milk. Next, add flour so that the consistency is like light a pancake batter. Wait for the mixture to rise. Keep it in a warm room.

Dough:In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar very well. Next, use the wooden spoon to add the melted butter, salt, cardamom, nutmeg and the pre-ferment. Next, add more flour untill you reach the pancake butter consistency. Wait for it rise for the second time. Next add rasins and let it rise third time. Several options are available for forming the loaves. If you have tin can forms, pour the dough into forms wrapped in parchment paper. You can also form the dough into a braided loaf or however else you please. Here, we assume you are using forms. Make sure that you fill the forms halfway. Put the filled forms in a warm place and let the dough rise again. After the dough rises in the forms, bake them in the oven at 355F for 35 minutes and then lower the temperature to 320F for 25 minutes. Happy Easter!