Re: Untasty Food

--- In conlang@y..., Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@D...> wrote:

> AFAIK, urine is usually sterile, so I wouldn't be surprised if some
> cultures use it for food preparation. I think that it used to be
> collected and processed to get saltpeter, some places in Europe.
    I don't know about saltpeter, but the Romans used it to make
"fuller's earth," a substance used in try cleaning. It was a powder that
was left when urine was allowed to dry in the sun... presumably
effective at cleaning because the urea had broken down into ammonia.
Perhaps this is one reason that Cicero was particularly embarassed by
his father's profession ;)
     I think fresh urine is supposed to be sterile unless the source has
a health problem. Compare the story in Herodotus about urine being used
to cure the pharaoh's blindness. But, get this, it had to be the urine
from a woman who had been faithful to her husband. Naturally this was
extremely hard to find ;)


JDM

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