>Martha:
>Kirt, you should be getting a cassia commission, if you're not already!

Hardly! I have sent out seven packages of cassia to seven different folks
from my own stash and at my own cost. I bought $100 worth from Pangaia
almost as soon as I found out they had it. They were in a precarious
position (illegal) mailing the pods to the mainland, so I felt an
ambivilance in recommending people buy from them--but now that they are
jarring it there is no longer such an ambivilance. Also, now (blush) I can
refer people to Pangaia when they ask about getting some (instead of
mailing some more of my own). They should do well selling cassia, since
there is hardly anything available that even comes close to it for rawists.

Perhaps it is time for some cautions regarding cassia:

1] I think it has a similar potential for abuse that one finds with fasting
and colonic purging type stuff. That fasting is used to "make up" for
dietary "disgressions" is a poor use of fasting and usually leads to
trouble. In other words, the idea that "Hey I can eat this pizza (or this
tofu, or this all-raw gluacamole) no problem because then I can just eat a
lot of cassia tomorrow and be 'all cleaned up.'" Everyone is responsible
for their own behavior, but I think that people who have a tendency to use
fast/purges in such a way should avoid cassia--they will likely end up
playing the same game with cassia.

2] Again: using cassia without being all-raw has the potential for severe
reactions. I know a women in Minneapolis who tried to continue using cassia
as she slipped off of an all-raw diet. Even though she was eating pretty
good really, she found herself on the toilet all the time, and with very
powerful and unpleasant cramping. Remember: it is considered poisonous by
many traditional peoples. I read in a Thai paper once about the mass
"poisoning" of a group of school-children who playfully all ate some cassia
they found on the ground. None of them died or anything, but half were in
the hospital with severe cramps/diarrehea for a day or two.

Nevertheless, there may be a useful place for cassia in the diets of
high-raw eaters in conjunction with fasting. But the potential for misuse
is high. Respect that Roy (and nearly every other person, including myself,
who has ever used cassia in conjunction with beginning an all-raw diet) is
very respectful of the power of cassia, and worried about "overdoing it".

I would recommend that people save cassia for the time when they are _sure_
they are ready to go all-raw for a time. Whipping your metabolism into a
detox frenzy by going on and off raw regimes takes a great toll on the body
I'd imagine, and cassia will perhaps just make that toll worse.

>I wonder how they would do in San Diego?  Does Greentree (?)
>Nursery sell them (that big place off the road between Penasquitos &
>Del Mar (is it Carmel Valley Rd?))
>But I suppose, if they're a tropical tree, they would probably need too
>much water to be susainable there....   :-(

Nah. Like durian, cassia is "ultratropical" and cringes when the low temp
falls below 50F. 40F is usually enough to kill it, or wound it seriously ;)

Cheers,
Kirt