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☠️ Poison Pantry 1867

Common Ratafia

Ten pounds of bitter almonds infused in ten gallons of spirit, perfumed with ambergris.

From
Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts
Published
1867
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Exactly as printed, 1867

Take of nutmegs, 8 oz., bitter almonds, 10 lbs., Lisbon sugar, 8 lbs., ambergris, 10 grs. Infuse these ingredients three days in 10 galls. of proof spirit and filter it through a flannel bag for use.

The nutmegs and bitter almonds must be bruised, and the ambergris rubbed with the Lisbon sugar in a marble mortar, before they are infused in the spirit.

Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts, 1867. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

Bitter almonds contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the nut is crushed and wetted. The recipe requires them bruised, then steeped for three days. That is an efficient extraction, and it is ten pounds.

Nothing in the method drives the cyanide off. There is no heat, only maceration and a flannel filter, and the filter removes solids.

Notes from the 21st century

  • Bitter almonds are restricted for exactly this reason. They are not sold for eating in the US. Modern almond flavouring is synthetic benzaldehyde or has been processed to remove the hydrogen cyanide.
  • The ambergris is illegal too, now. A sperm whale product. Import and sale are prohibited in the United States under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
  • Ratafia was a whole family of drinks. Any cordial flavoured with kernels or stone fruit. The name survives on the little almond biscuits, which use a great deal less.

Also in this book

  • Bonbons cast in leaden moulds — Boiling sugar syrup, poured into moulds made of lead, and handed to children.
  • Choking remedy — If it will go neither up nor down, put two grains of tartar emetic in the choking person's mouth.
  • Jamaica Rum (factitious) — Four gallons of neutral spirit, one of real rum, and half an ounce of sulphuric acid.

Don't take our word for it. The complete book is online, free and searchable.

Read the original page →

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Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts · 1867