North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 09:50 PM 6/28/2006, Donna wrote:
>  I suspect if
> the cider were fermented, the E. coli would be swamped out no longer
> infective.  Just goes to show that the production of alcohol can be
> beneficial.  
I suspect that you're correct, but
I'd have to dig through some papers to be certain that it wouldn't
survive along with the fermenters - the O157/H7 strain is an odd and
somewhat tough bugger.  For most intents & purposes, it's only
commonly found in the GI tract of cattle on feed( a grain-based ration,
as is fed in feedlots, for fattening cattle headed for slaughter; or
perhaps lactating dairy cattle); grass or forage-based diets seem not to
favor persistence of O157/H7 in the bovine intestinal tract.

> ( I was just
> reading in a book on the Little Ice Age that when apple crops failed and
> the peasants had to drink water instead, that they were more prone to
> water borne illnesses.)  Also, a study showed that cinnamon would
> kill or inhibit that bacteria.  
Donna, I'd
remembered you mentioning that in a phone conversation we had - I had a
scouring baby calf a week or so back, and had no commercial
antimicrobials on hand to treat it with - I mixed in a couple of
teaspoons of ground cinnamon  and a teaspoon of turmeric - along
with some KCl(salt substitute) and baking soda, in with the milk I tubed
the calf with, and it was better the next day - but, I'm not saying that
any or all of the aforementioned substances had any effect - the calf
might have been fine with no treatment whatsoever.  Purely
anecdotal; but I'll probably use cinnamon again.



> So it's safe to use
> your drops, 
I made a batch of crabapple jelly last
weekend from drops - my son had been mowing the orchard, and as he passed
too closely to the Kerr crab, the big rear tire on the tractor caused a
couple of heavily-laden branches to 'catapult' most of their crop onto
the ground.

Lucky