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Stonefruit pits contain cyanide. (Including almonds.) I made apricot preserves one time and the recipe called for slivered pits to add a bit of flavor. Research
by jonah 2y ago
Stonefruit pits contain cyanide. (Including almonds.) I made apricot preserves one time and the recipe called for slivered pits to add a bit of flavor. Research it, it appears that you'd need to eat several hands full to poison yourself. And since it doesn't bioaccumulate, eating tiny bits is probably okay. (YMMV/not a doctor/don't rely on this/etc.)
- stronglikedan 2y agoI think apple seeds are the most common (non-stone-fruit anyway) example of this.
- inciampati 2y agoI recently had a friend-of-a-friend's apple seed liquor. It smelled of almonds...
- stvltvs 2y ago"The dose makes the poison" but I'm not in a hurry to make myself a test case for no good reason. Tastier preserves might be a good enough reason.
- supernewton 2y agoYour body actually produces a small amount of cyanide endogenously, if it makes you feel any better. It has some role in cell signalling.
- nick238 2y agoCody's Lab on YouTube drank 17 mg of cyanide for a video, but not surprisingly it's now private. Quotes include: * It tastes like baking soda * I've got a tremor [in my arm] and my breathing is slightly more rapid Cyanide fortunately can't accumulate, so it's far less spooky than heavy metals (lead, chromium, mercury), perfluoroalkanes (PFAS), or some other strange organic molecules that might cause cancer.
- cactacea 2y agoI have no idea how that guy is still alive after all the things he has gone out of his way to expose himself to.
- BoatyPrint 2y agoHe has danced very close the edge with his experiments. However, he appears to be very knowledgeable with what he does.
- skyyler 2y agoThe mercury mouthwash video was really something.
- nartho 2y agoThis is not the case, however, for bitter almonds.
- riffraff 2y agoeven with bitter almonds a grown up needs to eat quite a bit, many old recipes ask for a few bitter almonds in a preparation. A child could die with 5-6 whole bitter almonds, but they are really, really bitter so it's not that easy to accidentally do that.
- AStonesThrow 2y agoMy grandmother introduced us to a world of old-school delicacies, including Jordan almonds, candy-coated in a thick hard shell, and in pastel colors. On more than one occasion, I ate a box or two of those, so many that I had painful bellyaches and worse. It may not have been cyanide, but it was an instructive childhood lesson in "too much of a good thing". It's scary to think how much knowledge of poisons was in our home with my father's profession, and mother's hobby of murder mysteries. When the 1982 adulteration scandal hit the news, I honestly had mixed feelings about the message it sent to consumers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders
- euroderf 2y agoIt's interesting to think that we didn't use to have those peel-away inner caps on all sorts of products.
- kens 2y agoDoes anyone else still worry about cyanide when finding a grape with a puncture? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Chilean_grape_scare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Chilean_grape_scare
- progmetaldev 2y agoLike you, I more than once ate a large amount of Jordan almonds, both times after grabbing bags left on tables after a wedding. I'm 45, but the Tylenol tampering was still alive and well in my conscious even as a teenager, and to this day. I still check the safety seal and will bring anything back to the store if it's more than a few dollars, if the seal looks broken.
- carlob 2y agoBitter almonds contain amygdalin which is cyanogenic. You can't make a number of preparations without them (some types of marzipan or almond pastries and Disaronno come to mind).
- criddell 2y agoI was surprised to find Amazon promoting customer reviews suggesting bitter apricot seeds can heal cancer. https://www.amazon.com/Apricot-California-Pesticide-Herbicide-Free-Resealable/dp/B07J66WVXY https://www.amazon.com/Apricot-California-Pesticide-Herbicid... The AI-generated summary of reviews ends with: > The seeds are also mentioned as having cancer-healing properties. Click on the "Health benefits" link to get many more suggestions of their cancer curing properties. One person was consuming them every hour and started to have difficulty breathing. IMHO, Amazon probably shouldn't be helping to spread this kind of misinformation.
- felipemesquita 2y agoIn NileRed’s video “Does cyanide actually smell like almonds?”[0] he purchases some bitter almonds to measure the amount of cyanide in them. He is also worried about the baseless health benefits claims. [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYagO-nup6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYagO-nup6c
- progmetaldev 2y agoI love that channel. Especially turning (I believe) nitrile gloves into hot sauce. Some of the chemistry he performs, I would never think of even existing. It's like people that say margarine is one molecule away from plastic, without understanding that all of chemistry works like that.
- sitkack 2y agoWait, can we just recycle plastic into margarine? Bubble wrap marmalade?
- userbinator 2y agoNaturally occuring polymers like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatty_acid are indeed very similar to synthetic ones, in that they both contain long hydrocarbon chains of varying length.
- carabiner 2y agoSeems like eating this whole bag could kill you? https://www.apricotpower.com/item/852-Turkish-Organic-Bitter-Raw-Apricot-Seeds-32-oz?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwvr--BhB5EiwAd5YbXuhUF2GReYy8iByONzcIbPsxterHRpnb3fuh_eRHpCgUINE_q8cvChoCfYsQAvD_BwE https://www.apricotpower.com/item/852-Turkish-Organic-Bitter...
- jonah 2y agoYikes!