Vegetable substances, preserved in the state called pickles, by means of the antiseptic power of vinegar, whose sale frequently depends greatly upon a fine lively green colour; and the consumption of which, by sea-faring people in particular, is prodigious, are sometimes intentionally coloured by means of copper. Gerkins, French beans, samphires, the green pods of capsicum, and many other pickled vegetable substances, oftener than is perhaps expected, are met with impregnated with this metal. Numerous fatal consequences are known to have ensued from the use of these stimulants of the palate, to which the fresh and pleasing hue has been imparted according to the deadly formulÆ laid down in some modern cookery books, such as boiling the pickles with half-pence, or suffering them to stand for a considerable period in brazen vessels. Dr. Percival Among many recipes which modern authors of cookery books have given for imparting a green colour to pickles, the following are particularly deserving of censure; and it is to be hoped that they will be suppressed in future editions of the works. "To Pickle Gerkins. "To make greening. Mrs. E. Raffald To detect the presence of copper, it is only necessary to mince the pickles, and to pour liquid ammonia, diluted with an equal bulk of water, over them in a stopped phial: if the pickles contain the minutest quantity of copper, the ammonia assumes a blue colour. FOOTNOTES: |