21-09-2005, 12:30 PM
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The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Malcolm writes:
| As every cook since Mrs Beeton, and probably for years before her, has
| been recommending the adding of kernels to plum jam, it can't be that
| toxic!
Her predecessors, and probably her (I should have to check), also
recommended making pickles in untinned copper vessels to produce
a bright green colour.
Possibly - but then she didn't write her recipes, and probably tried
very few of them. Thet were mainly sent in by readers of the magazine
which bore her name (published by Mr. Beeton).
Many of the published recipes are pure spoof, and I hope the wags who
sent them in are being roasted down under [1] for all the gallons of
wasted cream, butter, eggs, etc..
Many of them also recommended sweetening
fermentable preserves with sugar of lead (lead acetate), which
has the advantage that it doesn't ferment.
Yes, it was the practice to sweeten fortified wines with sugar of lead.
Some suggest that this was the cause of George III's recurring
'madness', as he consumed large quantities of the stuff.
Cooked plum kernels can't be all that toxic, but uncooked ones
may well be fairly lethal in quantity. As someone pointed out,
cyanide has the property that sub-lethal doses are completely
harmless once the immediate symptoms have passed.
However, I'll pass on trying it out.
[1] You can read 'down under' how you will - there's not much difference.
Allegedly.
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