Okay. So I know lots of people think this is gross so if you are one of those people, don't read on. Also, since I have been a vegetarian for 35 years and have never prepared fresh meat I'm sorry if this preparation appears amateurish.
All mammals (even the herbivores) eat their placentas. Since the placenta contains high levels of prostaglandin, it stimulates involution (an inward curvature or penetration, or, a shrinking or return to a former size) of the uterus, in effect cleaning the uterus out. The placenta also contains small amounts of oxytocin which eases birth stress and causes the smooth muscles around the mammary cells to contract and eject milk
It's also claimed that eating the placenta prevents postpartum depression and other pregnancy complications.
So here's what we got from the hospital. It was frozen in a
plastic tub wrapped inside a biohazard bag and we had to
sign a release form to bring it home.
Here it is thawed out. You can still see the umbilical cord
and some chunks of clotted blood.
These got removed along with the amniotic sac membrane
so that just the placenta was left.
Here it is. It was quite dense and had a muscle like quality.
I buried the left over body parts under the orange tree in
our backyard.
Next I steamed the placenta over a broth of ginger,
lemongrass and pepper. It quickly turned brown and
actually smelled pretty good.
The placenta is "done" when there is no more blood,
even when you spike it with a fork.
It took about 20 minutes to get to this stage.
To the chopping board.
I sliced it as thinly as possible. Supposedly it should
look like "jerky" at this point.
Then I layed it on a baking try covered in foil. I tasted
a bit here and it wasn't bad.
I baked it on a low heat (250 F) for about three hours
until it was brittle. It snapped when you bent it. The nice
smell had gone at this point and it smelled a bit like liver
but really not a bad smell.
Next I ground it into a fine powder using a
cheap coffee grinder.
I ground it as finely as possible.
Using an encapsulator I borrowed from an acupuncturist friend (thanks
Qingmei!) I was able to make about 44 pills from all the powder.
You could probably make the pills just as easily by just scooping the
powder into the capsules. Voila! The pills all ready to be consumed
by spousal unit! Recommended dosage is 2-4 a day.
There's more information here.
