🧪 Bad Science 1922

Prune Whip

Raw beaten egg white folded through stewed prunes and chilled, for children and convalescents.

From: Mrs. Fryer's Loose Leaf Cook Book
Published: 1922
Yikes Scale: Yikes

Exactly as printed, 1922

1 pound prunes Sugar to taste Whites of 2 eggs 1 tablespoon pulverized sugar Wash the prunes thoroughly and soak them over night. In the morning cook until tender in the water in which they have soaked; remove the stones; chop fine and sweeten to taste. Beat the eggs; add the powdered sugar, then the prunes. Beat thoroughly and stand on the ice to chill. Serve in individual glasses or paper cases with whipped cream or custard sauce.

Mrs. Fryer's Loose Leaf Cook Book, 1922. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

Nothing in this recipe ever heats the egg. The prunes may still be warm when they go in, which is not the same thing as cooked, and then the whole bowl is chilled and served.

Standing it on ice slows bacterial growth without stopping it, and a sweetened, aerated fruit purée is a comfortable place for anything already present.

Notes from the 21st century

The audience is the problem. Prune whip belongs to nursery and invalid cookery — children, convalescents, the elderly. The groups for whom raw egg carries the most consequence.
Modern fix is pasteurised egg. Pasteurised whites, or an Italian meringue where hot syrup cooks the egg, give the same texture without the gamble.
It was everywhere. Versions of prune whip appear across the period's invalid-cookery chapters. This is a representative one, not an outlier.

Also in this book

Albumenized Water — Raw egg white shaken into cold water, for infants, the elderly and fever patients.
Koumiss — Raw milk fermented with baker's yeast, bottled, corked tight and tied down.
Pickle for Corning Beef — An ounce of pearlash in the corning brine, alongside nearly seven pounds of salt.

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