Rainier Cherries
Just a quick question for you: Have you eaten any Rainier Cherries in the past week or so?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainier_cherry
I ask because I had the most amazing stomach ache on Tuesday morning, lasting well into Wednesday. It was bad enough to send me home from work early on Tuesday. MY WIFE also came down with a bad stomach ache, hers starting on Wednesday.
We deduced that they were probably caused by these cherries. They appear to be the only food we had in common during that time period. I, being a gluttonous freak, ate about a half-pound of them on Monday evening. MY WIFE had a small handful on Tuesday. My ache was much the worse.
Upon talking to my sister-in-law last night, we found out that she, too, had eaten some of these cherries. She had also had a bad stomach ache a few hours after ingestion. She lives in a different community from ours and bought hers at a different store, so it wouldn't have just been our bag of cherries.
So, any other people with problems from these fruits, either recently or in the past? I've eaten them before in my life with no adverse effect, so I'm assuming no allergy. I did not rinse the fruit before eating, so I thought that might have been a cause - pesticide residue - but MY WIFE did rinse hers, as did my sister-in-law.
(MY WIFE, in caps. Just a literary device I use on my blog. Sorry, but too late to break the habit now.)
- Suldog's blog |
- Login or register to post comments |
| 
| 
Sounds like the pits!
Sorry to hear you and YER WIFE were in such misery, Suldog!
I got a huge pile of cherries at Costco recently, and they were so fantastic that I sucked them down like I was a kid in my grandmother's tree. They don't seem to have inspired your distress. My son Fruitbat, aka Cap'n Utz-up, ate them like a starved bird and didn't have any issues either.
Having actually picked cherries in the Northwest, I can give you this much of a clue: eating underripe Ranier cherries can cause you some serious intestinal distress(most cherries that make it to this coast are seriously underripe because they don't travel well otherwise). Underripe Raniers are difficult to spot because they are varigated in color and so damn sweet to begin with, but they will still contain some unconverted carbohydrates that your tummy won't like.
Aside from that, some producers, shippers and stores spray them with stuff for various reasons, and they should always be washed. You might be sensitive to sulfates.
hey me too!
I also picked cherries in Yakima and the Snoqualmie foothills. Yes, it's hard to tell when they're ripe, and underripe fruit = ow.
I sure pesticides are an issue too. This is one of many reasons why organic produce is your friend.
Pesticidy
I've gotten stomach aches from cherries too, and I assume it's from the pesticides.
http://agr.wa.gov/Pestfert/Publications/docs/CropSheets/Cherries05012002.pdf
Cherries get tons of pesticides (and fungicides, herbicides, etc.) in the field, and then sometimes they get an extra blast in the container right before shipping. Rainier cherries are softer than Bings, and so the time from Washington State to market in New England has to be faster, giving the pesticides less time to dissipate.
Azinphosmethyl, which is an organophosphate that causes cholinesterase depletion (thereby screwing up your nervous system), might be the worst.
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC33348
You can wash them extra well, but they do absorb pesticides through the skin, which you can't wash off. If they're making you sick regularly, you really shouldn't eat them at all. If you're getting a stomachache from the pesticides on the cherries, the other things they're doing to you might be even worse.
Thank You
Thanks, both of you, for the detailed and helpful replies!
I had considered the possibility that the cherries were not ripe, but it seemed absurd considering how pretty they were and how good they tasted. Perhaps that was the reason.
(I think I noted on my own blog, but not here, that the effect wasn't diarrhea. One might think, considering my ordeal involved eating a half-pound of fruit, that was the case. Nope. Just the opposite, as a matter of fact. Bloated and blocked. Same for the other folks mentioned.)
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Pesticides in Produce Report
US Grown Cherries are one of the "dirty dozen" - the top 12 types of produce with the most and least pesticide residues after "typical" washing.
From the Environmental Working Group http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG_pesticide.pdf
rainer cherries
I purchased cherries on July 7th 2007. After washing them "several" times - I put about 12-15 cherries in a bowl and ate them. Hours after eating them, I became extremely ill. It all started as horrible stomach cramps. A few hours later, my stomach cramps turned into diarrhea. I called the store where I purchased the cherries the very next morning after the sickness began - 24 hours after eating the cherries(when the diarrhea started) and reported being sick. They supposingly filled out a form and said no one else reported being ill. The diarrhea lasted almost three days and I had a little blood in the stool. I read ecoli should only last about 5-7 days in an adult so I decided to ride it out in hopes of improving. I could not believe how sick I was. I could hardly make it from my bed to the bathroom and back. A few days later, I started having a bladder issue. I felt like I needed to urinate but could only go a small drop. The 7th day, the bladder problem worsen and the pain became intense. There was no burning like a regular bladder infection. The pain was actually in my bladder and in my right kidney. I also was having pain in my intestine area. I had really bad back pain also. At this time, I knew I was in trouble. It was the weekend so I found a walkin clinic that was open and decided to go there. I had to all but crawl into my pickup truck to drive there. I went to the doctor and I explained that I thought I had food poisoning and possibly from the cherries. The doctor was not real helpful (to busy)and only spent about 8 mintues with me. The nurse ran an urine test and it showed a lot of bacteria so he put me on antibiotics and said I would be better in a couple days. The medicine helped a little but I was still having issues and terrible pain in my bladder,right kidney and in my intestines. I called my regular MD and made an appointment. They did another urine test and it showed there was still some infection. My Doctor said she thought I had infection in my kidney too so she put me on the second round of antibiotics. Three days into the second round of antibiotics I started running a fever, I had dry heaves, and I had terrible chills. The next morning I could hardly get myself out of bed I was so incredibly sick. I was home alone during this whole illness and I did not want to call my older children to help me because I was afraid I might be contagious and they might get sick. I would not jeopardize their health nor their families (and my grandchildren). My husband was out of state at the time so I toughed it out by myself and prayed this would soon pass. I could not believe this was happening to me - I felt like I was going to die. After suffering two days of chills, fever, being sick on my stomach, and still horrible pain in my bladder/kidney & intestines, I crawled back into my MD's office. She got me in right away and said I was "now" suffering antibiotic colitis (caused from the medicine). She even had me go to the hospital for a ct scan which showed swelling in my intestines/inflammation. In all my 49 years of life, I cannot "ever" recall being this sick. It took almost a full month for me to recover. After I started improving from the antibiotic colitis I called the health department. I wanted to find a lab that would test the cherries for me - not have the store where I purchased them test them. I wanted to find a lab on my own to have them tested. The health department could not "suggest" a lab - apparently they are not "allowed" to do that. After days of searching for a lab, I became really frustrated for no one would test them. I emailed KIRO News and they emailed me back and told me where I could get the product tested. I have had the cherries in my freezer this whole time. Now that I am finally feeling better, I will ship the cherries for testing. I don't know if they caused all this or not - but for my "own piece of mind" I want to test them if nothing more than to rule them out. I was not sick at all until I ate them! I won't be eating cherries again. I love them and wait every year for them to come into season. After all this sickness - I don't think I will be looking forward to next years cherry season.
It goes to show that one has to be careful where they get fruits
Costco's food, including their fresh fruits, are excellent, for example. No problems here. While pesticides can be a cause of stomach distress or whatever, I also think that sometimes that the fruits are handled by people who don't take the time to wash their hands when necessary. Ecoli is yet another cause of stomach distress, too. Not too, too long ago, spinach was pulled off of the shelves in many of the Whole Foods Stores due to an ecoli outbreak, for example.
THANKS MIKI
Ecoli is yet another cause of stomach distress, too.
REALLY?!?!?
What The Hell?
What is it with the rampant snark around this place? Somebody tries to be helpful and another person gets all "Duh!" on him/her? Grow up.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
:=)
You're so much more than welcome, sweet-ass. :=)
Please note:
The above posted response was directed towards the creep who posted as "McGee" when replying to my post, and I sure as shit didn't post that snark that I'm responding to. So....don't let that bigoted liar fool ya. She's not foolin' me--not by a longshot!
What was that about Costco Fruit?
Pestispiders?
boston.com/news/...black_widow_spider_in_grapes/
Ewww!!
How did that happen??
cherry
did you purchase the cherries at on sale discounted price at $1.99 per lb in Easton, ma...
i was told delicious, big juicy---but
My friend had similar reaction to those cherries --horrific intestinal flatulance...and some cramping!
what's going on.?
Stop & Shop, Watertown
I purchased mine at Stop & Shop on Watertown Street, Watertown/Newton line.
Thanks, Debbie, for the detailed account. Luckily, while I was pretty sick, not as bad as you seem to have been.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
ugh. i just ate about 15-20
ugh. i just ate about 15-20 cherries last night and woke up at 4 in the morning with an unbearable stomach ache. it felt like someone had punched me in the abdomen. anyways, i'm glad to see that it isn't just me. is it possible that everyone here is just allergic to cherries??
Sick from Rainiers? That teeters on blasphamy....
This was my first year trying these cherries and I must say I have not gotten ill. I have purchased them from Safeway, Costco, and even the roadside in Issaquah, and Bellevue, WA. From the roadside alone I have eaten probably 5-6 lbs over the course of a few weeks.
Other than a few over-ripe ones in the bunch, they were beyond Yummy...
I would say it might be pesticides. I would find out which farm they were picked from and see if they used any strange fertilizers, or sprayed with any pesticides. I read that 30% of rainiers are eaten by birds. Does anyone know if any pesticides also repel birds?