Cooking Your Placenta

Hmmm forced cannibalism...is that not how BSE (Mad Cow) starts?? 😛

Cats and dogs upon giving birth eat the placenta (as do many other carnivorous animals in the wild). I've been told by my friend's mother that has been breeding both Siamese cats and Dobermans for over 15 years that it stimulates contractions of the uterus, whereas humans acheive this through breastfeeding. The only instance in which I myself have heard about humans eating placenta is in the case of vegetarians; apparantly, to hardcore veggie-heads it's okay to eat placenta as it is the only form of meat that doesn't involve killing some other animal.

I don't know. If I (god forbid) ever had a kid, I think I'd be sickened to eat the placenta, but to each his own, I suppose.

I'm sure I've heard that this restores the balance of hormones to your body and helps prevent post-natal depression, but I didn't get how crazy that sounded til I started to type it. Meh.

Well, about.com mentions it, as does this australian site, so make of that what you will....

Years ago, I had a friend who was the epitomy of the "Earth Mother" type. She had her baby at home with a midwife and was all natural etc. I went to visit her a couple of days after the baby was born and she actually offered me her homemade "Placenta Pate" that she still had left in her fridge! Needless to say, I passed. (I don't think she even liked it too much judging from how much was leftover.) :ahhh:

Oh yeah, I forgot. She was a vegetarian, but like the above comment states, it was OK to eat her own placenta because it didn't involve killing an animal. That is absolutely true!

Actually, dogs and cats eat the placenta because their wild ancestors did. The mom would be unable to hunt for a bit, and so she would need a quick meal, as well as cleaning up so that the remains would not attract other predators. As in humans, nursing stimulates uterine contractions. It's not absolutely necessary for a dog or cat to eat the placentas.

One of my pathology teachers in vet school actually preserved her placenta and brought it out so we could compare it to the other examples (cow, pig, dog, etc.) No one wanted to touch it, however.

I recalled reading something in an anthropology journal many years ago about tribes in Africa that practice ritualistic placenta consumption. After a woman of the tribe gave birth, she and the other women of the tribe would cook and eat the placenta. They believed that doing so would increase their chance to conceive, from what I recall. Here is a link that makes brief reference to this, but give different reasons:

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:LOcfJIBTDj0J:www.jkeates.freeserve.co.uk/Placenta.pdf+africa+tribe+"eat+the+placenta"&hl=en

I'm going to get some lunch now.

the placentapiece of any placenta meal should be carefully arranged amongst placentamats. These can be purchased for 50 placents each from http://www.placentralplace.cmon truly

This is just disturbing. I rather eat bugs then a placenta. But that's just me.

I wonder if this counts as cannabalism?

Okay, seriously SICK OUT! Not in a million years! I would take the soylent green first! Then the placenta!

yeah but if you eat soylent green then theres a good chance you will eat a placenta anyway, not to mention other body parts which you might not find plesant to gobble on...

i think this has a huge appeal in the hippy district, i mean what usually happens to placentas? surely you could pay women for their placentas after birth and then have a whole range of meat products for vegatarians

Years and years ago, HBO on one of their series the ran about weird things people do showed a woman who took the placenta from her grandchild's birth, cooked it, and served it to friends. I'm pretty sure this was in England.

About 20 years ago when we had our first child we subscribed to "Mothering" magazine. It had some interesting stuff but as the months wore on it carried more and more bizzare alternative articles. We knew it was time to pull the plug on the subscription when they ran an article on eating your placenta. It appears to be real, people do it but no thanks!
As I remember one of the original Saturday Nite Live! skits that was never aired due to contoversial content was an ad for "Placenta Helper"!

Didn't we have a post like this, but people were washing hair with the placenta.

i saw this on on i think Real Sex on HBO a couple years back. the couple made a pate and then had their friends over to share. even the vegitarian tried it.

Wish I had Joe Rogan's email address...

Years ago, when stories about this first began to appear out of California (where else?) Saturday Night Live did a hilarious bit about it starring Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner. The thrust of it that there was a product on the market called Placenta Helper (a take-off on Hamburger Helper, a soy product) that you could use to serve up larger portions of placenta.

RED DAVE

when i was born (at home, midwives, no drugs etc.) the placenta was buried under a linden tree in our yard, in the hopes that it would decompose and provide nourishment. who knows whether it did, all i know is it is a shining example of my 'hippei' upbringing.

I happen to know that at Elaine's on Franklin, (a hipster restaraunt in Chapel Hill, NC), the head chef lovingly prepared sauteed placenta and served it to favored employee and the mother of his new born child. Bon apetit!

A few years ago a British TV chef - Hugh Fearnley-whittingstall - cooked a freshly-delivered placenta on TV. He said that the final dish, sauteed with red wine, onions etc was very like liver. And though I'm a fan of liver my family - as my wife says - is now complete...

Late on this, but yeah, it happens. Here's a thread from Mothering magazine's message boards (no surprise there):
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=225844&highlight=placenta+eat

Haven't heard of vegetarians eating it because it doesn't involve killing, but there's much talk of it helping avoid postpartum depression. Of the 150+ women who voted on the poll, 45 have or would eat their placenta.

Interestingly enough, many of them are eating it raw.

According to that poll...

Would/did you eat your placenta?
Yes - 45 - 29.61%
No - 102 - 67.11%
Other - 7 - 4.61%

What the fuck does 'other' entail?

Either you'd eat it or you'd puke just thinking aboot it, there's not really any middle ground on eating massive pieces of vaginal discharge caused by birth.

Or is there? 😕

Vaginal discharge is an awful was to describe the placenta but then you are male so that explains alot - you sound like a typical pig of a man, it is the tree of life so to speak. It's very nutritious for the mother to digest after the demands of pregnancy, not only can it help with PND (not always) but it also helps contract the uterus and provides mum with a boost of nutrients. Many cultures view it in different ways, from Lotus Births where you leave the cord unclamped and placenta attached to your baby until it dries to Chinese Medicine which highly reveres the consumption of dried placenta, to traditions where you bury the placenta to return a part of you to the earth. I myself in a few months will have mine dried and put in capsule form to take for the first few weeks after pregnancy.

It's not an uncommon thing to do, it's benefits should not be overlooked. If you couldn't do it then don't...no one is forcing you to. And anyways, you'd be shocked what goes into alot of processed foods in supermarkets.

Rod:

Would/did you eat your placenta?
Yes - 45 - 29.61%
No - 102 - 67.11%
Other - 7 - 4.61%

What the fuck does 'other' entail?

Perhaps they said they'd eat someone else's placenta?

"you'd be shocked what goes into alot of processed foods in supermarkets"

Too right! Last week I saw placenta for sale in my local Tescos for christsake!

No wait... that was 'polenta'.

Hey aussie, you're a sick bitch. It is the same thing as canniblism. I guess Jeff Dahmer was justified?? There are other ways of getting nutrients than being eating yourself.
"It's not uncommon?" Fuck yeah it is uncommon. If it wasn't uncommon we would not be having this discussion. By the way, the last time I looked at processed foods in the supermarket I don't remember seeing HUMAN on the list.

Dave, you're a dumbass.
Do some research before you open up your mouth.
Not only is placenta eaten by mothers in many cultures worldwide but placenta has been used in all kinds of health and beauty products for the last 75 years.
You may even have inadvertantly eaten some placenta yourself.
Ever get shampoo in your mouth while doing your hair in the shower?
Several shampoos, including the one in my shower, contain placental enzymes.

John, there are not HUMAN placental enzymes in shampoo. Historically, there have been cultures that have eaten human flesh. Does that make it right?? I guess it is ok to do what others do. The Nazis killed over ten million people, therefore is it ok for others to do the same??? I suggest you get your head out of your ass and think before you comment.

Dave

Oh, well, mention of nazis, conversation thread over.

Godwin's law and all that.

Oh yeah, can't mention them. If you don't talk about it, mabey history will change, huh. Would Mussolini be under Godwin's law? I guess I should have used him. I love how every analogy now has a "law".

Interesting thread.
I just got finished eating some placenta.

My wife gave birth five days ago, and the nurse kept the placenta in the room after the birth. She showed us the different parts of it, and how it was situated in the womb. This was about twenty minutes post-partum.

I had read about how some people eat placenta. After the nurse left the room, I tasted and swallowed a very small piece. It was about one or two grams. Compared to meat, it was the best. In texture and taste it was like filet mignon, and liver, kind of a combination of the two.

I didn't take long to put the placenta in a
"Patient Belongings" bag, and put it in our car. The weather was cold, so I was sure it would not spoil.

While I was gone, the nurse mentioned to my wife that the placenta was missing, and there are rules concerning how it should be disposed. She was not eager to enforce any rules concerning the matter. Her attitude was "Well, it's yours" She thought we should be able to do with it what we want.

I made a mental note to remember it was in the car. I didn't want to forget about it, and discover it again in the spring.

My wife has no interest in eating the placenta. With the new baby, things were so busy for the past five days, this was the first day I was able to deal with the placenta issue.

I took it out of the refridgerator, and weighed it. It was just over 600 grams. It had a lot of blood in it, so I spent a long time rinsing it under running water, and squeezing blood out of it.

I have photos, if anybody is interested.

Removing the connective tissue on the fetal side of the placenta was not easy. It lost about 100 grams of fluid from rinsing blotting and squeezing.

I cut it into six sections, freezing four of them. One section that I froze has the umbilical cord, some of the amniotic sac, and a portion of the placenta out to the edge.

I fried a 70 gram piece with onions and butter. The piece was about 5mm thick when I put it in the pan. I had pressed it to this thickness. It pulled together from the heat to become about 10 mm thick. The taste was more bland than when it was minutes old. It still tasted like a meat/liver combination, but the flavor was less intense. Maybe that's because most of the blood was squeezed out of it. The texture was a little spongy, like mushrooms. I added some Bragg(soy) sauce.

I don't think eating a human placenta is any more gross than eating a hamburger or steak(I do eat meat). There are all sorts of gross things that go on during meat processing, much worse than what I did with that placenta.

Koch

Xenos, I believe that Godwin's law refers to the overuse of the analogy.

GROSS. :sick:

eww...

im sorry but i think its nasty

Here is a slide show of what we did with our placenta.

Warning, may be too graphic for some

&slideshow=true&interval=3

seriously disgusting!! so sick its just sick. go live a in jungle if u want to live like a animal whoever eat that shit. that is sick what's next your gonna eat your own shit and say that its a new form of healthy dieting and that your urine is new way to promote hair growth, get real freaks.

hey disgusted, people actualliy drink their own urine. not sure why but its disgusting. you cant pay me enough to do it

cooking you own placenta is nasty, i know many people do it and im sorry if i offend any of you who do but....ewww

i mean come on!

(From KaRi, TPSradio.org This in response to Fox 11 News story about Tom Cruise eating Katie's Placentia. This is aired along with the Kevin Underwood story, the guy who killed a 10 year old preparing to consume her - SEXUAL PREDATORS, see SATASORT.org ! Note: My security code for posting this is "complete")

The Amazing Placenta
From Robin Elise Weiss, LCCE,
Your Guide to Pregnancy / Birth.

While we all marvel at the miracle of fetal development and the wonders of birth, we very often fail to look at the miraculous organ the placenta.

This organ grows from the time of conception to eventually take over the production of hormones needed to sustain the pregnancy at around 12 weeks gestation (from your last menstrual period). It supplies your growing baby with a means of obtaining nutrients for development as well as a method of waste disposal. This is the only disposable organ ever made.

Other cultures (see about.com, need to save space! KaRi)

For example, in some cultures it is commonplace to leave the baby attached to the placenta (see about.com)

Some families will take the placentas and bury them in the ground to celebrate the new life given to them. This dedication of the placenta back to the earth or in honor of the child is becoming more frequent.

What about placenta art? Yes, you can make art out of it. (see about.com for more, KaRi)

Then comes the practice of placentophagia, eating the placenta, is also practiced in some parts of the world. There are even meal like recipes for cooking placentas, including placenta stew, placenta lasagna, power drinks with blended placenta and others. Though some mothers have been reported to eat placenta raw.

There are many reasons listed for eating the placenta, including it helping stem postpartum depression and it supposedly helps to contract the uterus after the birth. We know that many animals eat their own placenta, including as a means to hide the scent from predators.

In our modern world this may seem barbaric and some have even said that this could spread HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis. While this is very true if people other than the mother consume the placenta, normally it is only the mother partaking of the placenta.

In Chinese Medicine, the placenta is known as a great life force and is highly respected in terms of its medicinal value. However, in this field it is not cook, but rather usually dried. To dry a placenta you would simply dehydrate it in the oven, then using a mortar and pestle grind it up. From there you can mix it with food or ingest it within capsules. I have actually known one mother who did this drying technique. It is my only personal experience with placentophagia.

No matter what you choose to do with your placenta, remember to value the life it has helped you nuture and bring forth. It is, after all, the Tree of Life.

In Response to Dave's comment (9/29/05) that John should get his head out of his ass for claiming that some shampoos contain HUMAN placenta, Dave is obviously the dumbass here. Human placenta is commonly used in many cosmetic products including shampoos. Ever heard of Google Dave? (Dumbass)

Oh good lord almighty this is completely disgusting! At the age of 35 one would think they had heard it all but this tops the "Wow Thats Completely Disgusting!" list! I can barely hold down my dinner as I write this. The only reason any creature ever would do this would be to throw off predators from finding the young. Why dont we start using scabs to replace bacon-bits for salad if this is the mindset on this subject! This is hippy? Sounds like fetish to me. Lanolin is about as close to placenta as I would get.

"The Jungle"
- Upton Sinclair
READ IT! We have all eaten meat with something "extra" in it.

Do i have to read it?? really? Cant you just get to the point man? Meat with something extra, yeah and peanut butter has something extra in it too.

Never mind, I know this book, The Jungle is about life in a turn of the century meat packing plant. Alot has changed in 100 years and the advent of the USDA. Evolve! This eating of a dead human organ fished from the after birth still baffles me. And to say it gives vegi's a chance to have meat protein is even dumber. Go grab a whey protien shake and a multi vitamin you cave dwelling throwbacks!

Even Tom Cruise wouldn't eat it!

If he had it would have been a disaster! Katie is certainly edible, from the outside in! Now she's about as cute as a bugs ear! And I hate Tom for that!

I cant quite stomach the idea of eating my placents. I envy the people who can. I want to I just dont have the guts. Congradulations to all of you who are brave enough to do what is right. I myself will stick to dried placenta capsuls.....

In America there is a legal limit as to how many roach legs and other insect parts are allowed into food that is distributed across the country. Personally, I'm more concerned with the artificial chemicals being used to clean or even preserve foods than I would be a perfectly naturally developed organ; even if it is indeed human. I'm not saying add it to the menu at your local pub, but at the same time you should discount it just because you would not eat it because it disgusts you.

should not discount it*