Kimchi for bird flu?

[undergroundpanther]

Can Kimchi help the Bird flu?
It might...
Long time ago a Friend of my sisters came back from Vietnam. My sister and I had the flu we had just had it like 2 days and it was kicking our asses..He mixed up this Vietnamese soup for us.I have no clue what it was but it was very spicy..with cellophane noodles in it.. We ate it up it made my nose run like crazy,I soon got tired after eating, like it was a bowl of tranquilizers and I went to sleep,At night I got very sweaty and had a fever,my joints ached and I was in a kind of trippy state,from the fever I guess.I was miserable..but just before dawn it broke,I fell asleep until noon.When I woke up I found my sister and I had our flu cured.Now what we had was normal flu..but..just in case here is a recipe for kimche below is an article that says this dish MAY hep cure bird flu.
After my experience with that Vietnamese soup,I think it just might be a good idea to have some of this stuff on hand.

Here is a Kimche recipe below that is an article extolling the possible benifiets of eating kimche for help fighting the bird flu.

NAPA CABBAGE KIMCHI
Baechu Mock Kimchi

Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from restaurateur Jenny Kwak's book, Dok Suni: Recipes from My Mother's Korean Kitchen. Kwak also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page.

To read more about Kwak and Korean cuisine, click here.

4 pounds napa cabbage
3/4 cup coarse salt

Seasonings:
1 teaspoon finely minced gingerroot
1 cup red pepper powder
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons garlic juice
1 cup onion juice
4 ounces scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
3 tablespoons coarse salt
1. Coarsely chop the cabbage into 1-inch pieces. Place in a container. Dissolve 3/4 cup of salt in 2 cups of water and pour over the cabbage. Use your hand to mix it in evenly. Cover and let it pickle for 3 hours. Toss and turn over and pickle it for 3 more hours. Strain the cabbage and discard the salt water.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine all the seasonings and mix. Add the scallion last. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Distribute the seasoning on the cabbage and blend in using your hands.

3. Tightly pack the cabbage in a gallon-size jar. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and press down to get rid of air pockets. Store at 70 degrees for 24 hours to ferment. Chill before serving.


Restaurateur Jenny Kwak shares her tips with Epicurious:
• Napa cabbage, also known as Korean or Chinese cabbage, is available at Asian markets.
• Korean red pepper powder is available online at www.kgrocer.com . Cayenne pepper does not make a good substitution - its flavor is too mild.
• To make garlic or onion juice, roughly chop and blend with just enough water to make a smooth mix. Strain out any solid bits.
• After pickling the cabbage in salt water, drain it well - leave it in a colander for 20 minutes and press to remove all liquid.
• Once the kimchi has fermented, it will last 10 days in the refrigerator before it becomes overripe and loses its crunchiness. Kimchi past its prime is perfect for dishes like bibim gooksu.



Serves 5 to 6
From Dok Suni: Recipes from My Mother's Korean Kitchen
Copyright © 1998 by the author
by Jenny Kwak and Liz Fried
Reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Press, LLC

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Korean scientists say kimchi could cure bird flu

Tue Mar 15,12:28 PM ET

SEOUL (AFP) - An extract of South Korea (news - web sites)'s famed spicy fermented cabbage dish known as kimchi could cure bird flu and other chicken diseases, scientists said.


Researchers at Seoul National University said chickens infected with the deadly bird flu virus began recovering a week after they were fed with fermented bacilli extracted from kimchi.

The experiment has yet to be scientifically proven but professor Kang Sa-Ouk said kimchi did appear to have a curative effect.

Kimchi, made by fermenting cabbage with radishes, red peppers, garlic and ginger, is a symbol of national cuisine.

"Our research showed the chickens fed with a cultured fluid of fermented bacilli extracted from kimchi were recovering rapidly from bird flu and other diseases," Kang said.

"Only four of the 26 chickens used for our experiment died within four days," he said.

Park said his team needs more research to see whether the extract is an effective remedy against bird flu. "We will speed up a chemical study into its constituents," he said.

Since late 2003 millions of birds and 69 humans in Asia have been infected with bird flu. A total of 33 people have died in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and one in Cambodia.

Kimchi consumption rose sharply two years ago when some Asian countries were hit by SARS. It was reputed to prevent the respiratory disease although there was no scientific proof.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/2005...

[KitchenWitch]

1. I think spicy foods help to break up congestion

not sure if it is a bona fide cure, but relieving the symptoms is something.

[Must_B_Free]

2. The spice actually cures it

the flu can't stand spice, so it leaves.

its wonderfully healthy, and tasty too.

[Jandar]

3. 1 Cup red pepper powder?

I don't know what the Scoville rating is for this, but if it makes cayenne look mild - the words "effing HOT" come to mind. This from someone that likes Scotch Bonnet salsa.

As to its curative value, let's just hope there is an effective vaccine available, the horrors of 1918 hardly get a footnote so long after the fact.

[Hand]

4. Oh, kimchi is all about "Effing HOT"...

Allegedly South Korean soldiers always had a big kimchi feast before going into battle. It was said to put them in a fighting mood.:grr: Or perhaps it turned their breath and/or other emissions into WMDs.

:evilgrin:

[BigMcLargehuge]

5. Hot chopped red peppers cure everything I think

and Kimchi, good Kimchi doubly so.

[giant_robot]

6. I like to eat Tom Yum soup when I'm congested

It's really convenient, too. I just bought some Tom Yum paste from the Vietnamese grocery. All you have to do is boil water, add Tom Yum paste, shitake mushrooms, green onion, maybe some shrimp or calimari, and it's soup! The hot pepper and citrus really clears your sinuses.