Cruise: I'll eat placenta

TOM Cruise has claimed he will eat the PLACENTA after fiancée Katie Holmes has their baby.The actor, 43 — who wants her to give birth in silence according to his Scientology cult rules — said: “I’m gonna eat the placenta, too. “I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I’m going to eat the cord and the placenta right there.” But when a GQ magazine interviewer said it would be a big meal, Cruise replied: “OK, maybe I won’t.”


Most women will probably be aware of the age-old rumour that some mothers reputedly enjoy tucking into a nourishing meal of placenta after giving birth. Indeed it is commonplace for some cultures and, of course, many of our friends in the animal kingdom have always enjoyed it. However, to your average discerning human being it still doesn't seem that appealing a prospect. In the Western world it is accepted, although unproven, that eating placenta will reduce the risk of post-natal depression. This is because the organ is rich in minerals and vitamins, particularly B6, which can help to fight depression.

The criticism that a UK television show came in for a few years agao after showing the cooking and eating of a human placenta cannot have escaped the notice of many. The Broadcasting Standards Commission said that the programme has reportedly "breached convention" after an episode screened in February 1998, which showed a mother preparing and eating placenta pate to celebrate her daughter's birth. Incidentally, for those of you wishing to know how the "offending" placenta was cooked, it was fried with shallots and garlic, flambéed, pureed and served on focaccia bread. In fact it must have been pretty tasty as the father of the child was reported to have had seventeen helpings, though apparently, other guests on the programme were less enthusiastic!

The practice of eating placentas was also fashionable in the 1970s among so-called "earth mothers", but its popularity has since declined, with few mothers wanting to take their placentas home from hospital with them! Those people who agree with the practice of eating placentas argue that it is a perfectly normal thing to do, whilst those against are asking if a placenta belongs to the mother or the baby? If to the latter, this would imply cannibalism as pointed out by some of the nine viewers who complained about the television programme. However, during pregnancy the placenta is part of the mother, existing for the specific purpose of nourishing the baby until birth, after which it is expelled, ceasing to be part of the her.

Cooking Your Placenta!

There are several sumptuous recipes around so that you can enjoy cooking and eating your placenta;
this one is for roasting it:-

Work on the basis that each placenta weighs approximately 1/6 of the baby's weight. To prepare a placenta, cut the meat away from the membranes with a sharp knife. Discard the membranes.

Roast Placenta
1-3lb fresh placenta (must be no more than 3 days old)
1 onion
1 green or red pepper (green will add colour)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 tspn bay leaves
1 tspn black pepper
1 tspn white pepper
1 clove garlic (roasted and minced)


Method

(Preheat oven to 350 degrees)
Chop the onion and the pepper & crush the saltines into crumbs.
Combine the placenta, onion, pepper, saltines, bay leaves, white and black pepper, garlic and tomato sauce.
Place in a loaf pan, cover then bake for one and a half hours, occasionally pouring off excess liquid.
Serve and enjoy!

Dehydrating your placenta!

Instead of cooking your placenta whole, you can dehydrate it and then add it to meals! The following method is extracted from an article entitled "Thinking About Eating Your Placenta?" by Susan James, which appeared in the winter 1996 issue of "The Compleat Mother". It was discovered posted on a newsgroup noticeboard, so we cannot absolutely guarantee its authenticity, or that it is an actual verbatim account of the magazine article.

Method

"Cut off the cord and membranes. Steam the placenta, adding lemon grass, pepper and ginger to the steaming water. The placenta is "done" when no blood comes out when you pierce it with a fork. Cut the placenta into thin slices (like making jerky) and bake in a low-heat oven (200-250 degrees F), until it is dry and crumbly (several hours). Crush the placenta into a powder - using a food processor, blender, mortar and pestle, or by putting it in a bag and grinding it with rocks. Put the powder into empty gel caps (available at drug and health food stores) or just add a spoonful to your cereal, blender drink, etc. The recommended doses vary, some suggest up to 4 capsules a day, others just one. Perhaps the best advice is to take what makes you feel good".
If you think this is bad, try looking at the following website which has a section called Umbilical Cord Care/Placenta Questions!

If anyone has tried eating their placenta - dried or otherwise, perhaps they could let us know what it was like?!