Tripe

Tripe (from French tripe which is from Italian trippa) is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.[1][2]

Contents

Description

Beef tripe

Beef tripe is usually made from only the first three chambers of a cow's stomach: the rumen (blanket/flat/smooth tripe), the reticulum (honeycomb and pocket tripe), and the omasum (book/bible/leaf tripe). Abomasum (reed) tripe is seen much less frequently, owing to its glandular tissue content.

Other animals

Tripe is also produced from any animal.

Unwashed tripe

Unwashed (or "green") tripe includes some of the stomach's last content, giving it an unpleasant odor and causing it to be considered unfit for human consumption. However, this content is desirable to dogs and many other carnivores and is often used in pet food.[3] Though it is called "green" because it has a high chlorophyll content, in reality it is often greyish brown as a result of other undigested compounds.

For human consumption, tripe must be washed and meticulously cleaned. It is ideal to boil it for two or three hours in water with salt (1 tablespoon per litre of water) to soften it and also clean it in the process.

Dishes prepared with tripe

Tripe is eaten in many parts of the world. Tripe dishes include:

Tripas

In Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries, the close cognate "tripas" tends to denote small intestines rather than stomach lining. Dishes of this sort include:

Nutritional value

Green tripe is highly recommended by the advocates of raw food for dogs. In an analysis of a sample of green tripe by a Woodson-Tenant Lab in Atlanta, Georgia, it was discovered that the calcium:phosphorus ratio is 1:1, the overall pH is on the acidic side which is better for digestion, protein is 15.1, fat 11.7 and it contained the essential fatty acids, Linoleic and Linolenic, in their recommended proportions. Also discovered, was the presence of Lactic Acid Bacteria. Lactic Acid Bacteria, also known as Lactobacillus Acidophilus, is a beneficial intestinal bacteria and common ingredient in probiotics.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Troppa Trippa". History of tripe, worldwide tripe recipes. Neri Editore, Firenze. 1998. http://www.epodismo.com/100pelli/100p025i.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-21. 
  2. ^ Driscoll, Michael; Meredith Hamiltion, Marie Coons (May 2003). A Child's Introduction Poetry. 151 West 19th Street New York, NY 10011: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. pp. 12. ISBN 1-57912-282-5. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Childs-Introduction-to-Poetry/Michael-Driscoll/e/9781579122829. 
  3. ^ a http://greentripe.com/
  4. ^ a http://www.ville-caen.fr/Tourisme/tripiereOr/index.asp