Peach Kernels?

[helenas]

Maybe somebody remembers, what book mentions using "peach kernels" as a secret ingredient in, i think, amaretto cookies, or maybe it was in something else.

Browsing through my cookbooks, as well as googling, didn't help.

Thank you, Helena

[Mayhaw Man]

Peach Kernals=Peach Pits

Yes?

I have never heard this term. Although I did buy a sack full of dried ones one time and used them to smoke some fish with. Big waste of time, but I was trying dammit.

[Carrot Top]

I could be terribly wrong, but it seems in my memory that peach pits are supposed to be poisonous...or at the very least, capable of producing a toxic substance.

Any horticulturalists or pharacologists out there with a reference book?

[gingerly]

Q: I ate a peach yesterday and the pit was partially opened. For the first time I noticed there were seeds inside and so I bit one to see what it tasted like. It tasted very almondy to me and have a nice soft nut like texture. Are these seeds edible and if so, why can't I find any commercial reference to them? (E-mail reference)

A: Not a good idea! You are fortunate to be alive. All parts of the peach, plum, and cherry are poisonous, with the stone kernels containing the highest concentration of cyanide, at 164 mg/100 grams. While no human deaths have been reported, hogs and cattle have succumbed to eating fallen peaches pit and all. Now you know why they are not for sale on the market.

could you be thinking of apricot kernels?

[Pan]

I think apricot kernels also contain cyanide. By the way, I used to eat those things when I was a child, before I knew they were poisonous, and didn't get sick. But I believe that the cyanide is broken down by cooking the kernels.

[carswell]

Don't know about amaretto cookies but in The Man Who Ate Everything Jeffrey Steingarten suggests using apricot and peach kernels to flavour almond granita. For the procedure, see the last post in the thread Where to find bitter almond extract.

[Wendy DeBord]

This makes me think of apricot kernels. Isn't that the cheaper version of almond paste sold by large baking manufactors?

[gingerly]

this is interesting.

A very large proportion of the so-called ground Almonds sold are prepared from peach kernels, and this is the reason why in good cookery the whole Almonds are used, though the pounding is along and tedious business,

well!and i was always under the impression that while apricot kernels were all right in moderation,peach kernels were a no no!

[ducphat30]

Interesting article by Heston Blumenthal

I thought that this was an interesting article pertaining to the topic. Does anyone know the actual biological make up of the stone fruits? I would guess, as much research as he does, that Heston Blumenthal would not put people at risk, maybe it is just overlooked.??

[Mottmott]

I've made apricot preserves with a recipe that called for cooking it with some apricot kernals. Wonderful flavor to the preserves and I'm still alive. Though I d*** near killed myself getting those apricot kernels out of the pits.

Edited: to add that I'm enjoying this thread and ask if anyone knows where in the US one can get bitter almonds.

Edited July 19, 2004 by Mottmott (log)

[helenas]

Interesting article by Heston Blumenthal

I thought that this was an interesting article pertaining to the topic.  Does anyone know the actual biological make up of the stone fruits?  I would guess, as much research as he does, that Heston Blumenthal would not put people at risk, maybe it is just overlooked.??

ducphat30, you're a genius: of course, this is what i had in mind - so it was not a book after all: but at least i got the amaretti part correctly

Thanks much!

[gingerly]

I've made apricot preserves with a recipe that called for cooking it with some apricot kernals. Wonderful flavor to the preserves and I'm still alive.  Though I d*** near killed myself getting those apricot kernels out of the pits.

Edited: to add that I'm enjoying this thread and ask if anyone knows where in the US one can get bitter almonds.

i seem to recall something similar in an english recipe for jam that called for a few smashed cherry pits.i've been eating apricot kernels in various preparations all my life-so far so good!maybe this whole scare is to discourage the use of the pits in order to prevent any particularly sensitive (or immoderate)people from potential harm.apricot kernels( from the kind of dried apricots you find in persian or middle eastern stores)taste quite like mildly bitter almonds to me.

[donk79]

Like all members of the genus Prunus, peach leaves, flowers, and especially seeds and bark contain cyanogenic glycosides such as "amygdalin" and "prunasin". These compounds yield cyanide when the sugar moeity is cleaved, which is of course toxic or lethal in large doses. However, in plant tissues, cyanide is low enough in concentration to be considered theraputic, particularly for cancer (tumor) treatment, and has been used for this purpose since at least 25 BC. Apricot seeds contain the highest amounts of these cyanogenic compounds, and the cancer drug laetrile is derived from this source (see my blurb on this under apricot).

http://www.uga.edu/fruit/peach.htm