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>My contribution to this was introducing potassium permanganate as an extra layer to fight fungus. It is still known as "achaar powder" in the village. Did peo
by Metacelsus 3y ago
>My contribution to this was introducing potassium permanganate as an extra layer to fight fungus. It is still known as "achaar powder" in the village.
Did people end up eating potassium permanganate? I think that would be pretty toxic.
- dilawar 3y agoI hope not. It was meant to be sprinkled on the top after oil and salt has been added. Besides’ we didn’t know that it was toxic. I read about it in my chemistry book and it is available in a medical store. I am more worried about people keeping insecticides in husked and unhusked rice. Trace amounts of insecticides is very common in grains here. I hope this improves soon since epigenetic changes due to insecticides are very significant. Update: I looked at wiki after one more comment pointed out toxic nature of kmno4. It wasn’t purple in colour but white. I am definitely recalling the name wrong.
- quadrifoliate 3y agoYou might be thinking of potassium metabisulphite? [1] Sounds like it's a white powder, which fits your description. Also, I grew up in India, and am pretty sure that at school, I read about this being introduced to complement traditional preservatives. ---------------------------------------- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_metabisulfite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_metabisulfite
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ssivark 3y agoLove the story about the interplay between textbook chemistry and traditional food practices :-)
- lcedp 3y ago> Did people end up eating potassium permanganate? I think that would be pretty toxic. It is definitely toxic and dangerous. Yet, we used a very light solution of it (I'm thinking <0.1%, a very light shade of purple) to cause vomit reflex.