venta

Most uncharacteristically, I bought some groceries at M&S at the weekend. Among them a packet of green beans. At least, I thought they were green beans. The packaging informs me they are Boston beans.

To me, Boston beans are baked beans. But fair enough, I'm willing to accept they are an obscure variety of the green things. "Especially chosen for their dark green pods", says the label. I am unclear why a dark green pod is a desirable thing. Also they look perfectly average bean-colour to me. Anyway.

Whilst lobbing some into a pan of water last night, I noticed a further bit of text on the packet. "This product must be cooked," it said. "Do not eat raw."

What?

I frequently eat green beans raw. So do many people, but apparently they are mildly toxic. But even Wikipedia can't help me out with how toxic they are to someone with no ongoing digestive/immune issues. ("may be harmful if consumed in excess", you say. Of course they are, that's what excess means. If you suffer no ill effects, it wasn't excess, it was just a lot.)

Today has not been wasted: I have learned something. I don't imagine I'll stop nibbling on the occasional green bean, though.

Want to get rid of your fingerprints temporarily? Forget the old saw about pineapple juice: try Oust all-purpose descaler.

No, I'm not going on a demo, I'm just a bit blasé about the "Danger, irritant, avoid contact with skin" warnings on common household cleaning products.

Oust does a good job on kettles, too. In the scale department, that is; my kettle doesn't have fingerprints of its own to remove. Here endeth the commercial break.