3. TIL that most almonds are really poisonous and "eating even a few dozen in one s...

TIL that most almonds are really poisonous and "eating even a few dozen in one sitting can be fatal" and that how we bred safe ones remains a mystery.

Start Reading here

I think a lot of people are misinterpreting what exactly the "mystery" here is, so I'd like to provide a bit of culinary/agronomic context.

Firstly bitter almonds, which are in fact the a variety of the same species as sweet almonds (Prunus dulcis), have an incredibly long history of use as a spice and aren't poisonous when cooked. I'll now, in the following, flesh out and clarify these two statments but feel Free to jump ahead to the last paragraph from here if you don't need an in-depth explanation.

To begin, bitter almonds are, from a culinary perspective, a spice rather than a nut. they have an incredibly pungent/fragrant taste about them because of the great number of volatiles they contain (almond extract, which is made from bitter almonds rather than sweet almonds and which has supplanted the use of raw bitter almonds themselves in North America will give you an impression of what the scent is like). This made (and makes) bitter almonds much in demand for culinary purposes while at the same time rendering it highly unlikely that any individual would have wanted to eat the "10 to 70" raw nuts it would take to kill an adult - imagine for comparison someone willingly eating the same amount of nutmeg seeds under normal conditions to see my point.

Now, while Bitter Almonds contain a great number of fragrant volatiles but in their raw state are poisonous because they contain amygdalin(poisonous); which, when wet, yields up hydrocyanic acid (extremely poisonous) and benzaldehyde (not toxic and with an intense aroma and flavor - indeed, it's from benzaldehyde that the "almond" smell of almond extract comes, and its absence explain why almond cookies "smell of almonds" but sweet almonds don't ). Heat drives hydrocyanic acid out of the almonds and into the air entirely, leaving the almonds completely safe to eat (while at the same time "perfuming" whatever foodstuff they may be in.

Continue here for the Short version So if bitter almonds have a long history use as a spice and are non-toxic when cooked where exactly does the "mystery" of it's origin come from? As detailed in the article which Wikipedia cites, the mystery of the Sweet Almond is that no one is precisely sure where it originated. Almonds are one of the very first tree crops to ever be cultivated and the genes which render an almond (Prunus dulcis) a "sweet almond" (Prunus dulcis var. dulcis) rather than a bitter almond (Prunus dulcis var. amara) is both dominant - which means that with even basic selection an orchard of mostly "sweet" almonds trees is practically achievable - and entirely absent among the multiple species of extant wild almond; which means that somewhere, some 5,000 odd years ago, some odd band of fellow found a few almond tree which weren't bitter and, instead of foraging their seeds to use as a flavoring, began to purposely cultivate them over the span of years as a tree crop. This tree then spread through the agricultural world. The kicker and "mystery" of it all though is that, because the cultivated almond can't be crossbred with wild varieties (the resultant plants are infertile) there's no real way of knowing what wild stock the cultivated almond is descended from or where the domestication took place.

/r/todayilearned Thread Link - en.wikipedia.org
Previous
Next

Recently removed from /r/todayilearned

TIL Thomas(ine) Hall was declared both a man and a woman in a Virginia court in 1629 and ordered to wear men's clothing with a woman's apron and bonnet. He/She would present as either gender carnally and when working as soldier, lacemaker, field laborer, or maid. Thomasine was physically intersex. TIL that the low cost wine brand "Two Buck Chuck" was created by Fred Franzia, who bought the Charles Shaw name from a bankrupt winery for $27k. Once when asked why his wine was cheaper than water, he replied "They're overcharging for the water. Don't you get it?" TIL that butterflies have 4 wings not 2 (found out on an episode of Benidorm during a pub quiz) TIL Don Quixote, considered one of the first modern novels, is also one of the first stories that uses meta-fiction, as the author plays pretend that his story comes from historical sources and had to search for lost documents and translations to complete it. TIL "Rudy", of Notre Dame football fame, was involved in a pump-and-dump scheme and had a settlement with the SEC for >$380,000. TIL Brazil found incarcerated populations read 9x as much as the general population. They made a new program for prisoners so each written book review took 4 days off a prison sentence. TIL most English speaking countries around the world pronounce “Z” as “zed” but the United States is the only one that does not. Unlike other English speak countries the US pronounces it “zee.” TIL Snoop Dogg was excommunicated by the Rastafari Council after his attempt to rebrand as Rastafarian "Snoop Lion" TIL Some of the reasons people drive aggressively include a sense of anonymity while driving, feeling more empowered driving than in the rest of their lives, and a feeling that other drivers have previously driven aggressively around them. TIL about Nasubi from Japan's (perhaps the entire world's) most controversial TV show ever recorded. Nasubi lived alone in a tiny room for 15 months completely naked and only able to survive based on items he won from sweepstakes. More info in comments. TIL by passing a law requiring pharmacies to be owned by a licensed pharmacist, North Dakota has essentially done away with corporate chain pharmacies. Corporations that own pharmacies must be majority owned by licensed pharmacists. TIL that the Fahrenheit scale was standardized 18 years before Celsius. The world switch due to the British Empire. The United States is actually using the earlier standard. TIL that the famous James Bond theme (first heard in 1962 in Dr. No) was source of a long running dispute between John Barry and Monty Norman. Norman had originally written a song for a musical adaptation of V. S. Naipaul's novel A House for Mr Biswas which was the inspiration. TIL that the parasite H. zschokkei is the only multicellular organism that does not rely on Oxygen for respiration. It relies on a currently undiscovered energy metabolism to sustain itself. TIL, cold or rainy weather cannot make you sick

More Random Comments

Why does Finland teach its students home economics, textiles and woodwork? Unlike in other countries where these subjects are treated as an awkward add-on, in Finland they have become a cornerstone of a child's education. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. [WP] A new drug is developed that gives its users an unparalleled euphoria never before known to mankind. However, the drug has a peculiarity: it will kill the user within a week of dosing, except if the user is either younger than twelve or older than eighty. Libertarian Redditor gets stuck in DC facing temporary homelessness while protesting big government. Another user points out the irony. Honk right back. DLC wish list for Sm4sh Monsanto is One Of The Reason For The Conflict In Ukraine Bear druids NEED to be buffed Tifu by letting my dog in and locking myself out of the house in a snow storm