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Don't Cook That

Beer of Sulphuric Acid

A summer drink of diluted acid and orange syrup, which the book calls entirely harmless.

From
The 20th Century Home Cook Book
Published
1906
Yikes Scale
Call poison control

Exactly as printed, 1906

Take of dilute sulphuric acid and concentrated infusion of orange-peel, each twelve drachms; syrup of orange-peel, five fluid ounces. This quantity is added to two imperial gallons of water. A large wineglassful is taken for a draught, mixed with more or less water according to taste. This beer is entirely harmless, even if taken in considerable quantities, and is refreshing in hot weather.


The 20th Century Home Cook Book, 1906. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

Your teeth first. A drink this acidic strips enamel with regular use, and enamel does not grow back. Your stomach lining is next in line.

Then there is the part where you have to buy the acid. The 1906 reader had a bottle from the chemist, labelled to a standard. You would be pouring in something formulated to dissolve a car battery, with no idea how much.

Notes from the 21st century

  • It was a real product. “Dilute sulphuric acid” meant a pharmacy preparation of roughly 10% acid, sold for compounding medicines. Not a flavouring.
  • Nothing on a modern shelf matches it. Anything sold under that name today is battery acid or drain cleaner: far stronger, and carrying things never meant to be swallowed.
  • “Entirely harmless” was wrong in 1906 too. Acid drinks were already suspected of ruining teeth and irritating the gut. The confidence is a period mood, not evidence.

Also in this book

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