Model12Win
Moderator
DISCLAIMER:
I do not recommend nor endorse the consumption of black powder. The following text is for information uses ONLY. I will not be held responsible for injury or death from someone else consuming black powder or any other substance.
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Hello everyone! Well some of you may know that during times of emergency, soldiers and explorers have used black powder (gunpowder) as a seasoning for foods. One famous instance is how Napoleon's forces once had to cook up dead horses and they used gunpowder to season the meat.
Now I've never heard of anyone actually doing this in modern times. So, I decided I would try it.
I've got a couple of pounds of GOEX authentic black powder around, and some freshly hard boiled eggs and they needed some seasoning! First though, I decided to look up the MSDS on GOEX black powder:
http://www.goexpowder.com/images/LoadCharts/SDS Sheets-GOEX Black Powder.pdf
As can be seen, the ingredients in this powder are:
Charcoal
Sulfur
Potassium Nitrate
Graphite
This is the same for any authentic black powder, minus the graphite sometimes. The graphite is simply added in small quantities to powders marked "g" as in "FFg" etc. and is used as a flowing agent. The other three chemicals are all actually used in food, believe it or not.
Charcoal gets on your hot dogs and burgers while grilling, and in fact is used to treat poisonings (see activated charcoal). Charcoal is non toxic. Sulfur is of extremely low toxicity and can be found in many natural foods. Potassium nitrate is widely used as a food preservative, and is largely non toxic unless consumed in huge quantities.
All in all, from my reading, it looks like a person would have to eat a couple pounds of straight GOEX powder in order to experience potentially deadly effect. A few grains sprinkled on horse meat or other food won't hurt you at all. Keep in mind I only speak of REAL black powder, NOT black powder substitutes such as Pyrodex and Hodgdon's 777 are not of the same chemical composition as real black powder and therefore could be very unsafe to consume.
So, in the name of science and my own personal curiosity, I applied a sprinkling of GOEX FFg powder onto a hard boiled egg cut in half lengthwise and took a bite:
The flavor is very interesting. The powder does have a sort of background saltiness to it, but mostly it tasted kind of bitter and astringent. It almost has a "tang" to it. I also tasted a few grains by themselves, and it does taste kind of like how it smells, a bit sulfury but mostly that tangy bitter flavor. The taste is quite similar to the artificial table salt substitutes you can buy in the spice aisle at the grocery store. There is also a rather charred taste in the background as well, no doubt from the charcoal. But it really doesn't taste "salty" in the literal sense, but did add flavor to the egg, and was not repulsive in taste.
While not particularly good, I could see how a soldier or mountain man would have used this to add some kind of flavor to whatever they were eating in lack of proper seasonings.
So there you have it folks. Again, I absolutely DO NOT promote doing this (see disclaimer). I did this to tell you what it was like, so you don't have to eat black powder. This was done purely for educational purposes about a historic subject. Thank you for reading!
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DISCLAIMER:
I do not recommend nor endorse the consumption of black powder. The following text is for information uses ONLY. I will not be held responsible for injury or death from someone else consuming black powder or any other substance.
I do not recommend nor endorse the consumption of black powder. The following text is for information uses ONLY. I will not be held responsible for injury or death from someone else consuming black powder or any other substance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello everyone! Well some of you may know that during times of emergency, soldiers and explorers have used black powder (gunpowder) as a seasoning for foods. One famous instance is how Napoleon's forces once had to cook up dead horses and they used gunpowder to season the meat.
Now I've never heard of anyone actually doing this in modern times. So, I decided I would try it.
I've got a couple of pounds of GOEX authentic black powder around, and some freshly hard boiled eggs and they needed some seasoning! First though, I decided to look up the MSDS on GOEX black powder:
http://www.goexpowder.com/images/LoadCharts/SDS Sheets-GOEX Black Powder.pdf
As can be seen, the ingredients in this powder are:
Charcoal
Sulfur
Potassium Nitrate
Graphite
This is the same for any authentic black powder, minus the graphite sometimes. The graphite is simply added in small quantities to powders marked "g" as in "FFg" etc. and is used as a flowing agent. The other three chemicals are all actually used in food, believe it or not.
Charcoal gets on your hot dogs and burgers while grilling, and in fact is used to treat poisonings (see activated charcoal). Charcoal is non toxic. Sulfur is of extremely low toxicity and can be found in many natural foods. Potassium nitrate is widely used as a food preservative, and is largely non toxic unless consumed in huge quantities.
All in all, from my reading, it looks like a person would have to eat a couple pounds of straight GOEX powder in order to experience potentially deadly effect. A few grains sprinkled on horse meat or other food won't hurt you at all. Keep in mind I only speak of REAL black powder, NOT black powder substitutes such as Pyrodex and Hodgdon's 777 are not of the same chemical composition as real black powder and therefore could be very unsafe to consume.
So, in the name of science and my own personal curiosity, I applied a sprinkling of GOEX FFg powder onto a hard boiled egg cut in half lengthwise and took a bite:
The flavor is very interesting. The powder does have a sort of background saltiness to it, but mostly it tasted kind of bitter and astringent. It almost has a "tang" to it. I also tasted a few grains by themselves, and it does taste kind of like how it smells, a bit sulfury but mostly that tangy bitter flavor. The taste is quite similar to the artificial table salt substitutes you can buy in the spice aisle at the grocery store. There is also a rather charred taste in the background as well, no doubt from the charcoal. But it really doesn't taste "salty" in the literal sense, but did add flavor to the egg, and was not repulsive in taste.
While not particularly good, I could see how a soldier or mountain man would have used this to add some kind of flavor to whatever they were eating in lack of proper seasonings.
So there you have it folks. Again, I absolutely DO NOT promote doing this (see disclaimer). I did this to tell you what it was like, so you don't have to eat black powder. This was done purely for educational purposes about a historic subject. Thank you for reading!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER:
I do not recommend nor endorse the consumption of black powder. The following text is for information uses ONLY. I will not be held responsible for injury or death from someone else consuming black powder or any other substance.