[TheForge] Re: bronze "silverware"

[Mike Spencer]

My mother was a little girl in the Texas Panhandle when Teddy
Roosevelt was president and going to town meant stripping down the
wagon and driving the team down through Pala Duro Canyon.  One of the
rules for coping with an environment half a generation from the frontier
was, "Don't eat the green stuff on silverware. It will poison you."

So here's an experiment: Make a batch of home-made mayonnaise -- whip
eggs & oil, add salt, vinegar and mustard.  Now find an old
silver-plate spoon.  You know, not solid silver but silver-plated with
lots of the silver worn off, exposing the copper-bearing base metal.
Put the spoon in the mayo and leave it there at room temp for a day or
two.  Withdraw the spoon and observe the scabrous cupric green crud
that has formed on the spoon.

Now scrub the spoon to get an idea of how hard the crud is to get off
completely.

DO NOT EAT OR LICK THIS EXPERIMENT!  

On the other hand, I made a beautiful (if I do say so myself) copper
mixing bowl for whipping egg whites.  It is alleged that the (very
few, chemically speaking) copper ions that migrate into the egg whites
stabilize the foam and make it stiffer and more durable. [1] This
appears to be true and hasn't poisoned us in 20 or so years.  Whether
it's true or not, I just like using the bowl but I don't use it for
mayonnaise or tomato sauce.

[think, think..]

Wait, maybe I *should* use it for mayo.  It might make the egg/oil
emulsion stiffen better.  Just have to transfer it to stainless before
adding the vinegar and salt.


FWIW,
- Mike

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_white  or google it yourself.

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^