That's right. Several Italian sweets and liquors contain apricot kernels and/or bitter almonds as the main flavor. Most have the word "amaretto" somewhere in th

That's right. Several Italian sweets and liquors contain apricot kernels and/or bitter almonds as the main flavor. Most have the word "amaretto" somewhere in their name. (Amaretto is a diminutive of our word for "bitter") As you said, with most of those recipes you'll be sooner killed by the alcohol or sugar than by the cyanide. Moreover, the modern products usually contain benzaldehyde (the actual substance that tastes like bitter almonds, which is non toxic) instead of whole bitter almond or apricot kernel oil, which is heavily regulated due to its unpredictable toxicity.