Practical Everyday Chemistry

[Grey Boy]

Has anyone seen this book? It was reissued in September.

This article was in the Boston Sunday Globe yesterday (28 November).

I'm curious as to what the absinthe recipe is,

and Zyklon B of course, such a practical everyday item that is.

 

I've copied the article below, the Globe likes to archive stuff after a couple of days and make you pay for them.

 

Secret formulas

By Joshua Glenn, Globe Staff | November 28, 2004

ONCE UPON A time in America, one of the country's bestselling books was "Practical Everyday Chemistry" (1934). Compiled by one Harry Bennett, editor of a trade publication titled The Chemical Formulary, the popular handbook provided recipes for home-brewing your own toothpaste, aspirin, weed killer, ink, disinfectant, lipstick, glue, and shoe polish, not to mention athlete's foot powder, feminine hygiene products, medicinal opium, and absinthe. Among the ingredients were trade-name substances like Dowicide B, Kellogg Kuo, Pariflux, Plastogen, Sono-Jell, even Zyklon B -- all of which were readily available through the mail from Dow Chemical Co., Monsanto Chemical Wks., and other outfits whose reputations would later suffer, their names becoming synonymous with Agent Orange, napalm, and other deadly concoctions.

Now, just in time for Christmas, "Practical Everyday Chemistry" has been reissued by the outr publisher Feral House under a snazzier title: "Two Thousand Formulas, Recipes & Trade Secrets." (Need artificial snow coating? Bennett's instructions call for melting together rosin, linseed oil, Rezinel No. 2, and white lead.)

"I've always been fascinated by Depression-era books of chemistry for the masses -- how they remove the mystery from grocery stores, drug stores, and hardware stores. It's really good to know what's behind the Wizard of Oz curtain of brand names," explains Feral House editor Adam Parfrey, who admits to trying his hand at making his own soapless shampoo and absinthe. "Consuming has become too easy, too cheap," he adds, in an e-mail from his office in Los Angeles. "The time has come, what with Restoration Hardware and ReadyMade magazine, to . . . once again put the power of information in the hands of consumers."

Edited November 29, 2004 by Grey Boy

[Grey Boy]

Here's a link to the book.

[MrGreenGenes]

Probably a vodka soak recipe - they're extemely simple.

[Grey Boy]

I picked up the book from the mega bookstore at lunch.

All the absinthe recipes are oil mixes in 95% alcohol.

There were no instructions to dilute to a lower percentage for Swiss or Turine absinthes.

The so called recipes are:

Absinthe Essence a la Turine

English Absinthe

Absinthe, fine

Swiss Absinthe #1 & #2

Lemon Absinthe

Edited November 29, 2004 by Grey Boy

[Jack B]

Nah, it was probably distilled. I recall viewing an Absinthe recipe from a chemistry book. I think it was posted over at Fee Verte. Although the recipe wasn't very good, it was somewhat based on historical references.

[Gwydion Stone]

so called recipes are:

Ansinthe Essence a la Turine

English Absinthe

Absinthe, fine

Swiss Absinthe #1 & #2

Lemon Absinthe

As if a Brit could ever make decent absinthe. Shyuh, right!

 

"Oi, gubnah. Troi me loit-ist cuncawkshun. It guys bwilliant wiv bangas an' mash!"

[Jack B]

I'm going to tell your wife you said that! <_<

[Grey Boy]

Jack will love this,

English Absinthe:

Oil Anise 8 gm.

Oil Wormwood 8 gm.

Liqueur Body 11.5 liters (essentially a simple syrup mixed with alcohol & water)

Color: Green

There's a green coloring recipe that uses

"leaves of grass, nettles, spinach, or other green herb"

Yum.

[Jack B]

Looks like it might be good with some curry chips.

[MrGreenGenes]

Interesting that despite a local absinthe scene (at least according to eabsinthe.com) and the lack of anti-absinthe laws, not a single commercial absinthe is made in the UK.

[Skeeter]

"Oi, gubnah. Troi me loit-ist cuncawkshun. It guys bwilliant wiv bangas an' mash!"

 

Were we not just talking about how the British clearly enunciate their syllables? :Luscious Oily Lesbians:

[hartsmar]

Interesting that despite a local absinthe scene (at least according to eabsinthe.com) and the lack of anti-absinthe laws, not a single commercial absinthe is made in the UK.

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A couple of crapsinthes are made outside the UK, but for UK companies. Such as Trenet "Premium"...

[Absomphe]

Interesting that despite a local absinthe scene (at least according to eabsinthe.com) and the lack of anti-absinthe laws, not a single commercial absinthe is made in the UK.

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A couple of crapsinthes are made outside the UK, but for UK companies. Such as Trenet "Premium"...

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What's it's nickname, the King of Oxymorons?