108 On cert am fraudulent 



" Such is the statement I wish to cominujiicate ; and if you 

 will allow it a place in your Literary Chronicle, it may perhaps 

 tend to put the unwary on their guard against the practice of 

 preparing this sauce by boiling it in a copper, which certainly 

 may contaminate the liquor, and render it poisonous." 



Poisonous Custard. — The leaves of the cherry laurel, prunus 

 lauro-cerasus, a poisonous plant, have a nutty flavour, resembling 

 that of the kernels of peach-stones, or of bitter almonds, which 

 to most palates is grateful. These leaves have for many years 

 been in use among cooks, to communicate an almond or kernel- 

 like flavour to custards, puddings, creams, llanc-viaiige, and other 

 delicacies of the table. 



It has been asserted, that the laurel poison in custards and 

 other articles of cookery, is, on account of its being used in very 

 small quantities, quite harmless. To refute this assertion, nume- 

 rous instances might be cited; and among them, a recent one, 

 in which four children suffered most severely from partaking of 

 custard flavoured with the leaves of this poisonous plant. 



*' Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Rich- 

 mond, having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves 

 of the cherry laurel, as is frequently practised by cooks, four of 

 the poor innocents were taken severely ill in consequence. Two 

 of them, a girl six years of age, and a boy of five years old, fell 

 into a profound sleep, out of which they could not be roused. 



" Notwithstanding the various niedical exertions used, the boy 

 remained in a stupor ten hours; and the girl nine hours: the 

 other two, one of whom was six years old, a girl, and a girl of 

 seven years, complained of severe pains in the epigastric region. 

 They all recovered, after three days' illness. I am anxious to 

 communicate to you this fact, that it may contribute to put the 

 imwary on their guard, against the deleterious effects of flavouring 

 culinary dishes with that baneful herb, the cherry laurel. 

 " I am, &c. 



*' Thomas Lipiard*," 



What person of sense or prudence, then, would trust to the 

 discretion of an ignorant cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingre- 

 dient in his puddings and creams ? Who but a maniac would 

 choose to season his victuals with poison ? 



The water distilled from cherry laurel leaves is frequently mixed 

 with brandy and other spirituous liquors, to impart to them the 

 flavour of the cordial called noyau. 



This fluid, though long in frequent use as a flavouring sub- 

 fitance, was not known to be poisonous until the year 1 72S ; when 



* Literajy Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348.— 1819. 



the 



