I just ran across about the millionth reference to cyanide smelling like bitter almonds, and once again I was struck by the fact that I have no idea what that means. I’ve had almonds plenty of times in my life, but other than “vaguely nutty”, I couldn’t describe a specific smell associated with them. And bitter almonds? Is that some sort of almond variant I’m not familiar with? Why would anyone have bitter almonds around? Or is it regular almond smell, but, you know, bitterer? Can “bitter” even describe a smell? What aspect of life am I missing where everyone else hears “smells like bitter almonds” and goes, “Oh, right. That!” and I’m left absolutely baffled?
Need answer fast - getting poisoned, need antidote.
Sort of. From my experience with cyanide it’s like a harsher ( but not stronger ) version of an almond scent. Apparently it is genetic, though - like soapy-tasting cilantro or not being able to smell the difference post-asparagus pee. Some folks just can’t smell it at all.
Almonds to me have a very distinctive scent, not just “vaguely nutty.” That may be where your perception is getting skewed - you might not have the right genetic make-up to detect the difference.
Crack open a peach or apricot pit, and smell the kernel. Or, indeed, taste it – I’m reliably informed, by this random website I just looked at, that there’s not nearly enough cyanide in it to do you any harm. I’ve also been informed (and I think this may be from Agatha Christie, or possibly Murder She Wrote) that some quite large percentage of the population cannot actually detect the smell of bitter almonds, so a quick nibble is probably the best option.
At any rate, you’ll recognize a certain almondy quality to it, alongside a very obvious bitterness. This is the odour to be on the alert for, in future (assuming you have one).
Yes, this. “Bitter almond” is the original almond flavor. They’re rich in a chemical called benzaldehyde, which gives them that distinctive odor…and is a byproduct of the cyanide kills people in sufficient quantity.
So almond flavor and almond extract, marzipan and amaretto smell like bitter almonds, either because they contain artificial, safe benzaldehyde without the cyanide, or because they have a carefully added small amount of bitter almonds to give them that odor, or because they’re actual bitter almond extract, but you use so little of it that you don’t poison your dinner guests.
Regular eating almonds, called sweet almonds, are a mutant variety that have lost most of the cyanide, so they have little benzaldehyde, and they’ve also lost their bitter almond scent. That’s why almonds don’t taste or smell like “almond”.
Wait. There are people who can’t smell almond extract? Or is that genetic mutation only relevant if the smell is coming from enough benzaldehyde to cause harm? Google-fu isn’t making it clear.
The bitter almond is a cousin to the sweet almond and contains traces of lethal prussic acid in its raw state. Although the toxicity is destroyed by heat, the sale of unrefined bitter almonds is prohibited in the United States. Fifty unprocessed bitter almonds can be lethal to a human. Yet, bitter almonds are successfully processed to make almond extract and almond-flavored liqueurs.
Was this in response to my “mutant” comment? No, the “mutant” is the sweet almond tree - it’s essentially the same tree as the bitter almond tree, but its almonds are very low in cyanide/benzaldehyde, and we eat them as snacking almonds.
Marzipan is mostly ground sweet almonds, with just enough ground bitter almonds or bitter almond extract added to make it taste and smell like bitter almonds.
As far as I know, everyone can smell the difference between sweet almonds and bitter almonds, we just rarely have a handful of bitter almonds to try with. And we’re so used to flavors and extracts not smelling or tasting like their food counterparts that we seldom stop to think: why don’t almonds smell like almond extract? (The weird thing is that this has come up this week on three entirely separate message boards/groups I’m a member of…did Cracked write an article on almonds this week or something?)
And Dr. Pepper to me also has that same “(bitter) almond” flavoring. I confess, I’ve never made the distinction between real almonds I eat and almond flavoring, maraschino cherries, etc. They all taste like “almond” to me, but perhaps that’s because I’ve been conditioned to think of “almond” as these flavors, and not the actual flavor of the nut. That said, the nut does, to me, taste similar to almond flavoring, so I’m a bit lost here.
Which prompted some Googling and finding other cites that mention a genetically linked ability to smell or not smell “bitter almond” - but don’t seem to differentiate between plain bitter almond scent like perfectly safe extract, and “enough to kill you”. Which makes it sound like there are people who can’t smell almond extract, but that doesn’t seem right. I think it’s a matter of me not entering the correct search criteria.
Years ago a woman who frequented a store I worked at wore a perfume that I just hated. And she wore it liberally. You just felt that you could not get a decent breath around it…the stench was…deadly. But I always associated it in my head with bitter almonds…don’t know why, never having smelled bitter almonds, but the first time I caught a whiff, that was my thought…this is what cyanide smells like! One of the other clerks asked her the name of the fragrance, and I am 75% certain she was told it was Poison. Which made sense, but maybe I’m confabulating that. Someday when I’m in one of the fancy stores I’ll try to find that perfume and see if I’m remembering right. But it did smell musty and almondy and not at all attractive.
