30

#29 - unpasteurized = deadly. Lots of back/forth debates on this, summarized here

I appreciate fresh, but still pasteurized.

31

and the 10 myths in MW's article

Yes, but...
Somehow, we all tend to believe in natural products, as they're created by mother nature and without human intervention. We just can't pinpoint where the industry and science turn good products to worse. We're very concerned about safety as we lose our belief in clean nature.
We also know that somewhere in the whole process our immune defence system gets weakened.

A few months ago, I had a topic about drinking untreated water from mountain streams in Himalaya (where bottled water is expensive and has to be transported to mountain lodges by porters on their backs). My partner and I drank stream water, untreated - we did it as daily routine, and on several treks. We never got sick, never had problems. One of our esteemed members came with a wiki quote about the risk of giardia contamination, and another one chased me between TT branches to question what I said.
We're too much obsessed with safety and don't believe any more that natural and unprocessed products are good for us. We choose to believe more in the industry than in the nature.

Edited by: Fieldgate - while typing, I was thinking about that wondeful queijo fresco (no EU rules), fresh goat cheese, that I used to get from local farmers in Portugese Beira.

32

We're too much obsessed with safety

Thank you fieldgate! I've been trying to say that for years with mixed results. People work so hard to try to avoid discomfort they end up making things worse.

33

Do you think eggs should be stored in the fridge or not ? Most countries, including my recent trip to Spain, keep eggs on the shelf. In the States you will never find eggs on the shelf, always in the fridge.... I have bought eggs all over straight from the shelf and have never had a problem. The only reason I can think of is because there are such huge volumes of eggs that if they don't store them in the fridge they will go bad before they can be sold, or maybe there is another reason that I don't know.

I have asked people over the years, if the eggs were stacked on the shelf would you buy them and they have all been horrified and said no way.

34

I store eggs in the fridge because there is a specially designed place with holes just for eggs.
But, in our food stores (Sweden) eggs are on shelves that are not refrigerated.

35

#30

I think if people want to produce cheese like that,and other people want to buy it,then they should be allowed to do so.

Its been going on for thousands of years.....

If you get sick or die though,its your own fault..no sueing the producer ;-)

36

On the eggs...I buy them from a local shop which sells them fresh (often the same day they are laid)..they are not refrigerated in the shop and not in my home either......

37

In Mexico, with a few exceptions, eggs are stored on a shelf, unrefrigerated. In smaller shops, you can still buy as few or as many eggs as you wish and carry them away in a plastic bag. Once I get them home, I refrigerate them.

By the way, the Mexican more-or-less equivalent of ricotta is queso requesón. Quality varies greatly.

38

In France too the eggs are stored on shelves in stores. I buy mine at the market from a woman who also sells poultry. For the past few years, she has been putting a date stamp on the eggs to show when they were laid.

I do keep them in the fridge at home.

There is still quite a lot of unpasteurized cheese here too. French producers got very upset when the EU wanted to ban unpasteurized cheese, so it didn't happen. Not here, at least.

39

¿What does ricotta have to do with unpasteurized milk or unpasteurized cheese?

40

At least in Sicily,the same small producers who used to make little quantities of local,unpasteurised cheese on small farms also used the whey to make ricotta.Most of these guys have stopped producing it...too many laws on preparation,control,what kind of pot it has to be stored in etc etc.

So as one has disappeared to a great extent,so has the other.

It still exists if you know where to look...but it used to be the case that you could drive along country roads in Sicily and find pots of freshly produced ricotta on sale everywhere....

41

Thank you guys, there is lots for me to try there. I never precooked the pasta sheets, maybe I should just make them al dente as suggested. I am off later in the week, I envisage cooking up a storm here!!
Ricotta is not something I have ever heard of anyone using really before. As a previous poster said, it appears to be something used more frequently in American recipes. Bechamel sauce seems to be as exotic as any pasta recipe I have encountered.
Thanks again!