On Jun 6, 3:59, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 05, 2004 at 06:04:30PM -0600, Kevin Handy wrote:
> > But then there was the Roman "artificial sweetener" (powdered
lead).
>
> Lead Acetate, IIRC... used to sweeten wines. ISTR a scandal or two
in
> the 20th C. in Europe (Austria?) involving lead acetate adulteration
of
> wine by a vinyard.
It wasn't lead acetate, it was ethylene glycol, aka antifreeze. Tiny
amounts of glycol occur naturally in some wines and help to give a
smoother flavour. Someone decided that a little extra would be even
better :-)
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Sun Jun 06 2004 - 06:15:28 BST