Umami €25/kg

Last weekend we were resident in the Tramore Multi-species Care and Rest Home. The lines were quite blurry as to who was an inmate and who running this asylum. The Owner / Matron / CnC was away on a week's respite - absolutely deserved and not half long enough. The resident rescue dog has been in the wars these last couple of years: so many buffets of outrageous fortune. The poor cr'ature deserves a bit of coddling. But not coddle! "2 large onions, cut into slices" makes that streng verboden because dogs are lack the enzymes to process N-propyl disulphide, so that hangs around in the circulation to blat glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in red blood cells resulting in anaemia. Propyl disulphides are what give onions, garlic, shallots their honkin' quality and make yor eyes water when you slice them.

The science is all at NCBI: Some food toxic for pets Interdiscip Toxicol. 2009 Sep; 2(3): 169–176.

This dog vs allium war was completely new to me when Dau.II told me about on the way back to the Home from Tesco. Retail therapy was our small treat for having had an hour's successful driving practice with no strikes or dings. For both of us Retail therapy is more like Retail penance but we were in the car and we'd been tasked to do the messages. On the list was a "packet of stock-cubes that aren't cubes" for the ailing dog, to encourage her to eat and keep up her strength. The irony being that we'd just bought Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot 8's 224G [at back L] which affirms (on the packet-back) "slowly simmered with onion and thyme" - ONION!!

Big red face! I volunteered to trot up the hill to [the nearer emporium] Supervalu to buy Knorr Beef Stock Pot 4's 112g [at front L] which is by contrast "slowly simmered with parsley and carrot". ONION!!

I cannot forebore to drill down into the ToC . . .

• Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot 8's 224G
• Water, salt, BARLEY malt extract, flavourings (MILK), beef fat ((beef fat, antioxidant (extracts of rosemary)) (2.6%), beef stock powder (2.5%), yeast extract, caramel syrup, potassium chloride, maltodextrin, sugar, gelling agents (xanthan gum, locust bean gum), onion juice concentrate†, sunflower oil, beef powder (0.1%), lemon juice powder (lemon juice, maltodextrin), lovage roots†, thyme†. † Sustainably grown
• Knorr Beef Stock Pot 4's 112g
• Water, salt, flavourings, beef fat (beef fat, antioxidant (extracts of rosemary)) (5.2%), yeast extract, beef stock powder (2%), potassium chloride, gelling agents (xanthan gum, locust bean gum), caramel syrup, maltodextrin, sugar, carrots†, lovage root†, sunflower oil, beef powder (0.1%), leek†, parsley†. †Sustainably grown

Woot! Woot! leek† = allium alert. But if beef powder is (0.1%), sustainably grown leek must be less than 1 part in 1,000. And dig the lovage Levisticum officinale root! That's a real minority herb: in the same family (Umbelliferae aka Apiaceae) as celery, carrot and parsley but much more in your face. Celery-with-a-bludgeon!