While generally considered a safe, edible wild mushroom, the morel mushroom can cause an allergic reaction in some individuals. If you have never eaten a morel or suspect that you may have an allergy to morels, keep a close watch for symptoms of a reaction and take special precautions to avoid triggering any severe symptoms. Additionally, only consume mushrooms you can clearly identify; do not eat a mushroom unless you are sure it is edible.

Symptoms

As with any food allergy, the symptoms of morel mushroom allergy range from mild to severe. According to MayoClinic.com, many common symptoms affect the digestive system and include abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Other common symptoms include itching of the mouth, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, hives, wheezing, nasal congestion and dizziness. Someone with a severe allergy may experience a rare, serious condition called anaphylaxis, in which the throat swells and makes breathing difficult. Anaphylaxis often triggers rapid pulse, a drop in blood pressure and severe lightheadedness. An allergic reaction may start almost immediately or may occur several hours after consumption.

Additional Factors

As explained in "Morel Mushrooms: A Guide for Selection and Use," by Julie Cascio and Marci Johnson of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, consuming alcohol increases your risk of having a reaction to morel mushrooms. Most often, alcohol increases your risk of experiencing allergy symptoms directly associated with the digestive system. In rare cases, however, the mixture of alcohol and morels can cause faintness. Your odds of experiencing gastrointestinal upset also increase when you eat old morels. Strictly speaking, this does not occur due to a food allergy, but simply because the mushroom went bad in the same way a vegetable or fruit might spoil and rot.

Prevention

Certain precautions help reduce your risk of experiencing an allergic reaction to morels. In the article "Morels: Pitted Delights," Robert Fogel recommends that, if eating morels for the first time, you should taste a small sample before eating a meal made with the mushrooms. Even if no symptoms occur, use a small amount of morels in your first meal before gradually increasing the amount you include. Ellen Horowitz of "Montana Outdoors" recommends throwing away any morel with an odor or any morel that came from an area sprayed with chemicals.

Treatment

An over-the-counter antihistamine treats most mild reactions. If you experience only a mild reaction, you may not need to visit the doctor. From that point on, however, you must avoid eating morels. A minor reaction can lead to a major reaction later on. If you do plan on consuming morels after having an allergic reaction to them, make sure you have an antihistamine on hand. Your doctor may also recommend having an epinephrine auto-injector in case you have a severe reaction. If you end up having a severe allergic reaction after eating morels, seek emergency medical treatment.

Dan Doodle sausage is historically a sausage that uses pig intestines as a natural casing. Because the sausage has to be cooked thoroughly before you eat it, test the internal temperature of the sausage with a meat thermometer to ensure safe cooking. When the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit, the meat is safe to eat.

Storage

Refrigerate Dan Doodle sausage right away, and store it safely in the refrigerator for three to four weeks. If you want to extend the shelf life of your Dan Doodle sausage, wrap it in freezer-style plastic, seal it in an airtight container and freeze it for up to six months.

Boiled

Pierce the casing of the sausage with a fork in three to four places, then submerge the sausage in a pot of boiling, lightly salted water. Let the sausage boil for 20 to 30 minutes. This cooking method will help reduce the fat content, boiling the fat away as it escapes from the holes in the casing. It is important to remember to pierce the casing, otherwise your sausage may explode in the water when the pressure builds inside the casing.

Skillet

Cut the sausage in half-inch slices. Place a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet, and heat it until it thins enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Place the slices of sausage in an even layer in the pan and cook until the bottom is golden brown. Flip and sear the opposite side as well. Make sure that the slices are heated completely before removing them from the pan.

Cooked with Greens

Cook Dan Doodle sausage with a pot of greens to add rich, smoky flavor to the greens. Pierce the casings with a fork before placing them into the boiling water with the greens. Cook them for 25 to 30 minutes — or until the greens are fully cooked. Slice the sausage after cooking to serve alongside, or dice and toss it with the greens for serving.

Fried

Add a small amount of oil to a skillet, heating it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut 1/4-inch slices of the sausage. Then lay the slices in the oil, and fry them on one side for 5 minutes. Turn the sausage, and fry it on the other side for five additional minutes.

Ham hocks give collard greens, beans and other southern staples a richer flavor. Cut from the narrow end of the ham toward the base of the pig’s leg just above the joint, hocks often go through the same smoking or salting process that hams undergo. Whether smoked, salted or fresh, ham hocks freeze well.

Ham Hocks and Sodium

Hams and ham hocks historically underwent curing processes to extend their shelf lives before refrigeration and freezing. Although they no longer require this processing for safety, smoking and salting meats gives them extra flavor. However, salting also increases sodium content, so adjust for this when you cook with smoked or salted ham hocks. Refrain from salting a dish containing ham hocks until just before serving, and always taste before you add salt. The meat may contain sufficient salt to season the dish by itself.

Dry-Cured Ham Hocks

Salting, a dry curing process, produces heavily salted, long-lasting hams and hocks that you’ll typically see marketed as country-style, Smithfield or Virginia ham hocks. These highly salted meats need soaking before cooking to remove excess salt, but they freeze well. After salting, some hocks also get a richer flavor from smoking. These dried and smoked products freeze well in their original packaging because they lack sufficient water to expand in the freezer.

Wet-Cured and Fresh Ham Hocks

Soaking meats in heavily salted water produces a tender meat. The brining liquid helped preserve meats without refrigeration, but the brining process can present a problem during freezing. As water freezes, it expands, so a package filled with liquid could rupture in the freezer if it lacks sufficient space for expansion. If your ham hocks come packaged in brining liquid, remove them from their original packaging and place them in freezer-safe bags that allow room for them to expand. Fresh ham hocks also contain more moisture than their salted and smoked counterparts, so package them individually as well.

Freezing Ham Hocks and Food Safety

Ham hocks freeze as well as any bone-in meat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture notes that hams and other luncheon meats remain safe indefinitely, but retain their flavor for up to two months in the freezer. Follow this guideline if you expect to eat the hocks themselves. If you’re using ham hocks as a flavoring, you can use them up to six months after freezing because the meat’s texture isn’t vital to its flavor in a finished dish. Wrap each ham hock separately to minimize the meat’s volume and freeze it more quickly. Individual wrapping also lets you defrost one hock at a time, keeping the others safely frozen.

Neuritis, also called neuropathy, is the term used for damage to your nerves. It may be caused by an injury or by a systemwide ailment, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Neuritis may cause a tingling or burning sensation, loss of sensation, weakness, paralysis or a combination of these symptoms. Celery juice is included in some alternative medicine remedies for this condition. Talk to your doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan before trying any remedy for neuritis.

Significance

You must identify the cause of your neuritis to treat it properly. For example, if it’s caused by diabetes or high blood pressure you need to treat the underlying problem. Your doctor may recommend corticosteroids or surgery if your neuritis is caused by an entrapped nerve. She also might prescribe pain medication or antidepressants. Sometimes no treatment is needed and your neuritis will resolve on its own. Celery juice is used in traditional medicine remedies for two underlying causes of neuritis — high blood pressure and diabetes.

Celery Juice and High Blood Pressure

Celery has a theoretical benefit if your neuritis is caused by high blood pressure because it contains substances such as the plant chemicals 3-n-butyl phthalide and apigenin that help lower blood pressure. Apigenin is a vasodilator, meaning it dilates your blood vessels. However, the 3-n-butyl phthalide is believed to be celery’s key blood-pressure lowering ingredient. In addition to dilating your blood vessels it reduces levels of stress hormones in your blood, according to the Reader’s Digest publication, “Eat to Beat Blood Pressure,” by Robyn Webb and Jamy D. Ard. Juicing four stalks of celery supplies a therapeutic dose of these plant chemicals. Consult a doctor before using this traditional medicine remedy and have medical supervision if you do use celery to as a hypertension therapy because more research is needed to determine whether celery juice is effective for this use.

The Diabetes Connection

Neuropathy, or neuritis, is a common complication in diabetes. Celery also is used in traditional Chinese medicine in diet therapy for treating diabetes. Diabetes is characterized in TCM as a condition that has, in part, excess internal heat. Celery is on the list of TCM foods that have a cooling effect on the body, according to an August 2001 scientific review published in “Diabetes Spectrum.” If you use TCM to treat diabetes, be sure to do so under the supervision of a health care professional who monitors your blood glucose levels, recommends review author Maggie B. Covington. That’s because, while TCM may help optimize your body’s ability to function normally, it does not offer a cure for diabetes and more research on effectiveness and safety of TCM diabetes remedies is needed, Covington notes.

Use

Celery juice is often paired other juices in alternative medicine treatments for neuritis. For example, celery, carrot and parsley juice is one recommended combination, according to “Alternative Medicine,” by Larry Trivieri and John W. Anderson. While you can use this treatment at home, you need to do so under the supervision of a qualified alternative medicine professional because the juice therapy is likely to be just one component of your therapy, the authors note. For example, the practitioner might also recommend dietary changes such as increasing your fluid intake, consuming whole foods instead of processed foods, and avoiding stimulating foods like caffeine and refined sugar.

Considerations

Celery juice does not commonly cause side effects, though it can have a diuretic effect. However celery can interact with certain medications. Taking it with certain antibiotics such as doxycycline and some anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen can increase your skin’s sensitivity to sunlight. Using celery with fondaparinux can raise your risk for bleeding and bruising. Using it with leothyroxine can reduce effectiveness of this drug. Celery also is contraindicated if you have a kidney ailment because it may trigger inflammation.