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[Akura]

Question about drink safety: I picked up 1-liter bottle of Canada Dry-brand tonic water at the grocery store just now, but after looking some information on its key ingredient, quinine, should I even drink it?

[Kagus]

Question about drink safety: I picked up 1-liter bottle of Canada Dry-brand tonic water at the grocery store just now, but after looking some information on its key ingredient, quinine, should I even drink it?

"The dosage makes the poison", or so the saying goes (approximately). Does Canada Dry still use actual quinine? Most tonics just use an artificial flavoring (for that INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS quinine flavor...) these days.

It's possible for individuals to be allergic to quinine, but unless you're specifically at-risk or allergic, you'd need to consume a fairly large amount in order to suffer the negative side effects in any great capacity, and tonics will generally use comparatively small amounts (since they're no longer being used in a medical capacity).


Drinking a liter of tonic water isn't a big deal. From a quick skimming, a not-uncommon (medical, generally safe) dosing of quinine for Malaria treatment is 648mg per day for 7 days. In the US, FDA regulates tonic water to within roughly 83mg per liter. So, yeah.

Aaaand ninja'd.

[Akura]

Cool, thanks. The reason I ask is because I'm seeing a number of reviews of people using this particular brand medically, particularly for leg cramps despite FDA warnings against using quinine for that.

And yes, Canada Dry does use quinine, according to the ingredient label.

PRE-EDIT: Not too bad, lemony, and bit of a bitter kick as an aftertaste.

[Cruxador]

(for that INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS quinine flavor...)

If you're not taking it for medicinal purposes, you'll usually be buying quinine tonic to mix with gin, which results in a flavor quite different from either ingredient.

Cool, thanks. The reason I ask is because I'm seeing a number of reviews of people using this particular brand medically, particularly for leg cramps despite FDA warnings against using quinine for that.

While the FDA is important, you should always be sure to take their warnings for what they are and no more. Of the FDA says quinine isn't the best for something then it's almost certainly not the best from a purely medical perspective (the FDA is subject to lobbying for big pharma, but it's relatively un-corrupt as federal agencies go) but it might be nearly as good as the best for your specific case, and much cheaper as well, making it actually the best solution for you from a practical perspective.

As with most stuff of this nature, those using it medically are mostly getting benefits out of a placebo effect.

That or they drink a lot of tonic water.

In this specific case, you're probably right, but the effectiveness of traditional medicines is often underestimated by laymen and even some professionals.

[Kagus]

You'd also need to drink a liter to get roughly one tenth the daily prescribed dose of quinine when issued for medical purposes. And quinine is slightly toxic and can cause medical issues in large doses, as was encountered a fair bit back when it was the only effective treatment for malaria (and hilariously enough, those side effects led to a doofus inventing homeopathy!).

It's also important to remember that even though some things may be used by professionals in a professional setting, they may not be recommended for the general public to attempt on their own. This is because people are by and large not educated enough to know how to properly treat themselves with medical tools, and may end up doing dumb and dangerous things such as drinking ten liters of tonic water.

[Trekkin]

(for that INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS quinine flavor...)

If you're not taking it for medicinal purposes, you'll usually be buying quinine tonic to mix with gin, which results in a flavor quite different from either ingredient.

Or because it fluoresces blue under UV light, in which case you'll be wanting it straight for the best glow.

[Arx]

Steeping two leaves of mint with the teabag has improved my tea experience significantly of late. Highly recommend.

[Kagus]

Steeping two leaves of mint with the teabag has improved my tea experience significantly of late. Highly recommend.

Crest: For that mint-tea freshness!

[Trekkin]

I finally got around to making tollatsch yesterday, and while everything else worked well, the schweineblut had partly coagulated while thawing and the texture was closer and lumpier than I'd have liked as a result of the requisite blending. Is there a better way to thaw ~300 mL of pig blood than immersion in warm water, or do people just strain it?

[Telgin]

Steeping two leaves of mint with the teabag has improved my tea experience significantly of late. Highly recommend.

Crest: For that mint-tea freshness!

I baked a cake for Christmas that included wintergreen extract.  It was very good, and gave an amazingly refreshing feel to my mouth.

[Mephisto]

If you want to try baking something a bit weirder, here's what I did for Christmas. Eggnog is probably on the way out so you'd have to jump on it quick or make your own. Ended up pretty amazing despite us not making the icing and subbing the eggnog for custard nog.

Made it once without and once with the rum extract, which proved challenging to get ahold of. Its addition didn't really change the flavor.

[Telgin]

That does look very good.  We tried baking an eggnog flavored cake a couple of years ago, but it didn't really have enough flavor for some reason.  I've got no idea what recipe we used either.

[Arx]

I made some stuffed peppers today. I was kinda underwhelmed, sadly. I made a beef and mushroom filling, which I was worried would be too mild and was exactly that. Next time I might try curry or something zany like that. Tomato would be good, but my mom hates the stuff so I try not to inflict it on her.

[nenjin]

Made Butter Chicken the other day.

Pretty damn good!

Didn't have all the spices recommended but I had 90% of them or so.

The recipe didn't specify how much water, so after I blended the sauce and ran it through a strainer it came out a lllliiiittttttttttllllllleeee bit thicc. But was still delicious. This seems to be a common problem I've had making Indian dishes, the sauces always come out way thicker than I expect, because there's so much dense, blended goodness in them. But now I know that the key to many Indian dishes and their sauces is to really finely puree them and strain them, so they come out with that magical velvety smoothness. I've done a less thorough job in the past making stuff like this and yeah....the difference is real.

That said, I need to start researching Garam Masala. I've used a bag of stuff I got from the store and everything comes out tasting....kind of similar because of it. But there's so many different ways to do Garam Masala that I don't honestly know what it *should* taste like.

I finally got around to making tollatsch yesterday, and while everything else worked well, the schweineblut had partly coagulated while thawing and the texture was closer and lumpier than I'd have liked as a result of the requisite blending. Is there a better way to thaw ~300 mL of pig blood than immersion in warm water, or do people just strain it?

Maybe puree it in a blender then strain it? Would at least break up the lumps.

[hector13]

I made egg mayonnaise (or egg salad, as my American wife insists it is called) and put it on a baguette.

I made enough to have one for tomorrow too, and thus don’t have to wait for eggs to boil and bread to bake (sort bought shove-it-in-the-oven-for-10-minutes bake) before constructing the sandwich and then eating it.