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They made sweet drinks by using lead vessels to store wine/vinegar with acetic acid in it. That created lead acetate; sweet and toxic. I'm sure it started acci
by JackRabbitSlim 7y ago
They made sweet drinks by using lead vessels to store wine/vinegar with acetic acid in it. That created lead acetate; sweet and toxic.
I'm sure it started accidentally but was continued because it magically turned shitty sour wine into sweet wine.
A side note; we still actively use artificial sweeteners from petrochemical sources.
- Scoundreller 7y agoDunno if lead acetate is/was sweet, or the lead just scavenged the acetic acid that was making the wine bad.
- unwind 7y agoWikipedia[1] says: Lead(II) acetate (Pb(CH3COO)2), also known as lead acetate, lead diacetate, plumbous acetate, sugar of lead, lead sugar, salt of Saturn, or Goulard's powder, is a white crystalline chemical compound with a sweet taste. So clearly (?) it would add a sweet taste, regardless of how much of the acid was chemically consumed. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_acetate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_acetate