Liver Love.... and Hate

We all know how important it is to take care of our liver- and what can happen if we don't. But what about the importance of eating liver? Prior to the last month or so, the only experience I can remember of consuming liver was when I was quite young, at my great Aunt Vi's house. She had liver pate out to munch on (she always has some little snack out- I think it's a Southern hospitality thing) and I, being the ever brave and curious soul, decided to give it a try. Well, it was gross. It had a very strong and, to me, unpleasant flavor and weird, pasty texture.

I have never had a real urge to try liver in any form again, and besides, I thought, the liver is the organ that filters out all the crap and toxins in your body, so why would I want to consume the crap and toxins from another animal, especially if it doesn't even taste good?!

Turns out that assumption is a common one, and completely wrong. According to Chris Kresser, integrative medicine practitioner and author of Your Personal Paleo Code,

"While it is true that one of the liver’s role is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs, chemical agents and poisons), it does not store these toxins. Toxins the body cannot eliminate are likely to accumulate in the body’s fatty tissues and nervous systems. On the other hand, the liver is a is a storage organ for many important nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron). These nutrients provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins."

In the same article he states that "every nutrient—including vitamin C—in beef liver occurs in exceedingly higher levels in beef liver compared to apple and carrots. In general, organ meats are between 10 and 100 times higher in nutrients than corresponding muscle meats." He shows a side-by-side comparison of beef liver next to beef muscle meat and apples and carrots. Although beef liver appears to be the most potent nutritionally, chicken liver is not far behind, as shown by this nutrient comparison.

Ok, so I'm totally convinced now- I should be eating liver. And I have been. However, I don't entirely enjoy it. I've found that the texture and flavor is about how I remembered it, and my taste for it has not really changed. I've tried duck liver, just sauteed with onions- it was tough but edible. I've tried beef liver breaded and sauteed- not great, honestly, but I ate it and I DID feel awesome afterwards- so awesome, in fact, that I was too energized to go to sleep (whoops). Beef liver is quite large, so I made the leftovers into a pate which got mostly thrown out because I didn't consume it fast enough. More recently I made a chicken liver pate with copious amounts of bacon, mushrooms, and a little bone broth, which I've been eating with cucumber and carrots, on salads, and mixed into ground meat. So far so good. I'll share my recipe successes and failures with you in an upcoming post.

Have any of you had success with preparing and eating liver? Do you love it or hate it? If you haven't had it, have I convinced to at least give it a try?