C. A. Sanger on fri 19 jan 01
I believe I read in a really old reference text that glycerin was
derived from the plant licorice comes from. However, these days a lot of
stuff that used to come from natural sources is somehow alchemically
produced from petroleum.
As for marshmallows, they were a Victorian era craze. It came from
a plant called "marsh mallow." Excessive demand lead to concocting the
present corn syrup simulation we call marshmallow. I saw this on a TV
show explaining how favorite junk food is made, like the beloved
Twinkie.
C. A. Sanger
ShardRock Clay Studio
Kansas, USA
www.ikansas.com/~chuck/
Louis Katz on fri 19 jan 01
I went to an estate sale for the man who invented the first marshmallow making
machine. He was a sort of Edison of Bikes Candies. He also made chocolate bars for
the Viet Nam war and to go to the moon. I bought 2 pounds of Stannous Chloride, a
small bit of silver nitrate, some soluble cobalt compunds and misc. junk.. A glass
blower got there first and bought several pounds of silver nitrate for a few
bucks.
The animal source of glycerine makes finding Kosher marshmallows a real challenge.
I worked at a Jewish summer camp teaching ceramics for 8 summers and one year
there were no marshmallows.
By the way to get back to the subject teaching Ceramics at summer camps is a great
way for ceramic students to stay involved during the summer and make some money.
Louis
"C. A. Sanger" wrote:
> I believe I read in a really old reference text that glycerin was
> derived from the plant licorice comes from. However, these days a lot of
> stuff that used to come from natural sources is somehow alchemically
> produced from petroleum.
> As for marshmallows, they were a Victorian era craze. It came from
> a plant called "marsh mallow." Excessive demand lead to concocting the
> present corn syrup simulation we call marshmallow. I saw this on a TV
> show explaining how favorite junk food is made, like the beloved
> Twinkie.
>
> C. A. Sanger
> ShardRock Clay Studio
> Kansas, USA
> www.ikansas.com/~chuck/
>
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