[TheForge] bronze "silverware"

[Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer]

Good story, thanks Mike.
OK, i won't eat the green stuff!

Mike Spencer wrote:
> 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.
>