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"Don't take candy from strangers" is not about a fear of poison in candy. It is about trying to protect children from being lured into cars with dangerous pedophiles. Pedophiles use candy and puppies and other irresistible treats to coax children into their possession.
Oh, the dangerous pedophiles. Stats say that MOST of them are family members or close friends to them, not some strangers that lure kids into the cars. Perhaps it's better to teach kids not to go with strangers, not blame the food...
It depends. I don't get a lot of home cooked gifts, and that's probably for the best. I work with a woman who makes her own jams and jellies, and I've enjoyed them in the past, but recently she gave me a jar of peach butter, and the seal was bad. I tossed it. I have a friend who makes assorted holiday cookies every year, and always sends a tray over. The cookies are fine, we just don't eat a lot of sweets, so after a couple of days the rest get thrown out. The woman who makes homemade Baileys? Yes please!
I appreciate the gestures, and would never want anyone to think they weren't enjoyed. Some are, some aren't.
One of my favorite Freecycle recipients often gifts me home-canned treats such as preserves and tomatoes when he does a porch pickup.
It's a rare food gift that doesn't eventually get eaten in this house. I grew up in a small town where homemade food gifts were not unusual (often given in a dish with an address label or a piece of masking tape attached to the bottom of the dish for returning purposes), so I'm used to the practice. It's just what people do for one another during the holidays, when someone's recovering from surgery or childbirth, and after a death.
When I was home on a weekly basis last summer after my mother had had surgery, we were both glad of the food that friends and neighbors brought to the house. It helps that nearly everyone in her circle is a fairly good to excellent home cook and love to share the bounty of their gardens. Returning the dishes also gave me a chance to visit with old neighbors who are pretty much family to my own people sans blood.
You don't need a pressure canner to safely preserve high acid foods - fruit, pickled foods, tomatoes. You really don't want to use a pressure canner for fruit and pickled foods, anyway.
One of my friends uses a water bath to can tuna. I don't think she is too particular about how the fish is handled before she cans it.
But, no one in her family has died yet of food poisoning. Still, I can't bring myself to eat any of her home canned tuna.
Oh, the dangerous pedophiles. Stats say that MOST of them are family members or close friends to them, not some strangers that lure kids into the cars. Perhaps it's better to teach kids not to go with strangers, not blame the food...
We were always told not to talk to strangers. Just about the same thing as not accepting candy from strangers. And I remember one funny instance when my friend and I took it VERY seriously, lol.
Anyway, if someone gave me a freshly baked homemade loaf of bread I'd love it. I'd love banana bread too or cookies. A German woman used to give us homemade stollen at Christmas. I've given people homemade jams and jellies.
A gift of food is one of the nicest gifts there is. Anyone can go to the store and buy something, but to give something you have gone to the trouble of making yourself, is beautiful.
I can't imagine anyone being that silly that they automatically throw food away.
Last edited by in_newengland; 11-13-2019 at 06:30 PM..
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elnina
Well, is Halloween banned because of that? Kids don't eat candy given by strangers on Halloween?
I'm a Boomer. Back in the 1950s we were told not to take candy from strangers. The reason for the warning was because perverts use candy to lure children to kidnap them. I hope that that solves your confusion.
There was a time when picnicer would offer to sharr with strangers at the next picnic table, but the level of paranoia is so high, an offer like that would result now in the police being called.
Decades ago, I was often offered a morsel by people in my train compartment, in Europe, Middle east, South America, and I assumed it was considered rude to eat in front of someone who had no food..
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