Obscure mineral plays an important role

My teenage daughter is often nauseated, so I’m always searching for ways to minimize her discomfort. Ginger is the most obvious edible antidote.

But what else is there? A recent online search led me to a mineral called  manganese. Deficiencies of it can lead to constant nausea, high blood-sugar levels, dizziness, hearing loss,weak bones and reproductive problems.

On the plus side, adding manganese to your diet can apparently help you control: allergies, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, premenstrual syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and, finally,  schizophrenia.

That’s a pretty serious list for a mineral that most people have never even heard of. There is actually a Manganese Health Research Program funded by the U.S. Army Military Operational Medicine Research Program. But a main goal of that program is to find out what happens when workers are exposed to too much manganese, especially in industrial work sites.

Those of us who are not exposed to environmental manganese in large quantities actually need to ingest it into our bodies, at least according to a 1998 study done at the University of Texas. Manganese was found essential for a healthy body and the study recommended getting somewhere between 2.5 and 8.8 mg of it a day.

Tea has loads of manganese, more than almost any other food source, so if you have a daily “cuppa,†you’re probably in good shape.

For the rest of us, the holiday season is actually a pretty good time to catch up on manganese consumption. It is abundant in nuts (plenty of those around during the holiday season), figs (what better time than Christmas for a festive figgy pudding?), cinnamon and cloves (yum, hot mulled cider) and peppermint (the leaves, not the candy sticks — although a few drops of peppermint oil in cocoa or chocolate chip cookies will give you some traces of manganese).

Manganese can also be found in dark leafies such as mustard greens, spinach, chard and kale; maple syrup and oats (try some oatmeal, maple syrup, bananas and pecans for breakfast); and cucumbers.

I am especially keen to mention cukes here because there isn’t normally much to say about them in a healthy eating column. They are full of vitamin C, and they have fiber and lots of water to help keep you from dehydrating over the holidays. Nice but nothing really to write home about.

But — they do make a good bed for holiday canapes in place of less healthful breads and chips.

Try cutting an English cucumber (long and slender with a thin skin and small seeds) into 1/4-inch thick rounds and top the rounds with something healthy such as a modified tzatziki (yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper, finely chopped garlic); or some hummus (garnish with a tiny sprig of chive).

You can also top cucumber rounds with a curried chicken salad (or turkey curry, after Thanksgiving).

Lightly pickled shallots with a feather of dill can work, too.

This recipe for pickled shallots is adapted from one found at the very amusing Web site davidlebovitz.com, where the chef/author explains that he adapted this recipe from ones he found online by Ms. Glaze and Simply Recipes and in Mark Bittman’s New York Times column, The Minimalist.

              Pickled shallot canapes

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

Pinch of coarse salt

1 bay leaf

2 black peppercorns

1 whole clove

4 shallots, peeled and sliced thin

1 English cucumber, rinsed and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rings

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon rice vinegar

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 bunch fresh dill

In a small, non-reactive saucepan, heat the vinegar, sugar, salt and seasonings until boiling.

Add the shallot slices and lower heat, then simmer gently for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Transfer the shallots and the liquid into a jar then refrigerate until ready to use. (They can be made up to a week ahead of time.)

The canapes should be made just before serving. Slice your cucumber (remember, you don’t want to use an American cuke with a thick skin and large seeds; you want the long thin English versions available at most supermarkets, or the smaller Armenian cucumbers you can sometimes find at specialty stores such as Guido’s in Great Barrington).

Combine the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar and salt and pepper. Dollop a half teaspoon or so onto a cucumber  slice, then gently lay one or two strands of shallot on top. Garnish with a feather of dill.