apples and pears...

[stagemanager2]

So, dh told me that apple seeds have some sort of poison in them... and that got me thinking...

Stan really likes eating apples and pears whole... the same thing happened with this morning banana, he wouldn't eat it cut up and would throw it on the floor, so I tried giving him the whole thing and suddenly he was eating it happily.  The same thing is happening with apples and pears.... I can core the apples but I don't quite know how to core a pear unless I want to make the fruit a gooy mess...

Are pear seeds poisonous???

[aisling]

  Apparently!? 

http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/ce/king/PoisPlant/Tox-COM.htm

Looking into it more now that my curiosity is peaked...

[aisling]

Upon further investigation....

Apple seeds contain prunasin a chemical that forms cyanide. You would probably vomit before you could poison yourself eating the huge number of seeds required to become ill. So many apples and pears are consumed every day and we never hear of anyone getting sick let alone dying. It is probably best to worry about something else.

"Apple seeds from a single apple that are swallowed whole or chewed and eaten in such small quantities are harmless. A single case of fatal cyanide poisoning has been documented in an adult who chewed and swallowed a cup of apple seeds.
Children will be affected by a smaller amount of apple seeds than adults. According to Shirley Corriher's book, CookWise, 15 apricot kernels, which also contain cyanide, can kill a child. Of course, it is best not to consume any apple seeds or apricot kernels. If you are juicing apples or cooking apples to make apple butter, it would be prudent to remove the seed pocket first.
Other bad seeds
Apple seeds – black seeds inside core pocket
Apricot kernels – the kernel inside the pit is poisonous
Cherries – the stone
Nectarine pits – kernel inside the pit
Peach pits – kernel inside the pit
Plums – the kernel inside the pit

Source(s):
http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/greenline/…[/b]

PS. When I read the subject line I thought you were using cockney slang for the stairs LOL! 

[stagemanager2]

oh my..... must be careful about that!

[stagemanager2]

ps... cockney slang?  Awesome! I'll have to use it when I'm introduced as a foreigner! too funny, and love it!

[♥ MaryAnn ♥]

I would love to see a post about that one!  Cockney slang: apples and Pears--Up the stairs . . .  hahaha, it would be great

[Mashi]

I used to have a book on rhyming cockney slang, given to me by my coworkers when i started working in london! i gave it away when we moved to germany but still remember lots of them!

anyway, back to the topic - it this the same with pear seeds? 

[aisling]

If you look at the fist link I posted in my first post it rates pears at the same level of toxicity as apples.  It has a whole list of all fruits/plants toxicity and rates it with a system with 1 being the highest. Apples and pears both got a 1.

While we are on it: ;-)
http://www.londonslang.com/
http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cockney-rhyming-slang.html

[Mashi]

there is a cash machine that they put in east london that gives cockney slang as one of the language options!!!

[stagemanager2]

it's just as toxic, but it looks like you have to 1)chew them 2) have more then half a cup of them.....  So, just remember they aren't like pumpkin seeds!

[bovi]

what I do for pears, is that I am right there and turning around the pear as he chews on. we never get close to the seeds. if he is upset that I take away the pear he gets a brand new one and again I dont let him get close to the seeds.

---for I dont know what reason me myself I have been eating the apples with seeds, I also chew them before swallowing. you know what I stop doing this for good!

[stagemanager2]

apparently the one known apple seed death was a middle aged man who swallowed and chewed a cup of apple seeds.... ya, I'm not gonna do that again!

[aisling]

What would possess someone to swallow a whole cup of seeds!?  Suicide attempt perhaps?

[stagemanager2]

I assume he thought they were like poppy seeds or seeds that are good for you.... nope!

[huntersmummyinoz]

gosh i better start watching hunter more closely with a pear. apples are no prob but he'll often eat the entire pear, core and all, oops!!

[koe2moe]

I was also wondering if this is a new Game thread LOL... 

but good info.  Thanks!

[♥ MaryAnn ♥]

If anyone cares . . . this is how I cut up my pears for mt son:

I cut the pear down the middle, top to bottom.  Then I peel the skin off each side with a potato peeler (I find it's less messy when I have it cut in half already).  Then I take each of the peeled halves and cut them in half again (top to bottom). Then I take a knife and cut out the seedy middle area of each of the four sections.  I eat the sections like that, or cut them even smaller for my son.

Hope that helped someone!