# Is it safe to juice whole apples, including seeds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374 "2011-05-27T00:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![petermichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b782af/32.png) [@petermichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petermichael)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/41 "2013-09-21T22:35:38Z")
Yeah, well unfortunately this was a top Google result. (Worry about the issue, not the sell by date) ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/42 "2013-09-21T23:38:45Z")
> [@petermichael](#): > > (Worry about the issue, not the sell by date) What issue? A cursory examination of the posts reveals most posters already pointed out the safety of juicing whole apples, including the final post before you revived this dead thread. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/43 "2013-09-21T23:54:37Z")
I ate too many seeds and am now a zombie contributing to one. Seriously, cyanide does not accumulate in the body and is quickly metabolized. I believe there are processes in the body that produce cyanide in small quantities and the body has efficient mechanisms to get rid of it. As I said in the original, I eat the whole apple although I try to avoid crunching the seeds, which are then eliminated undigested. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/44 "2013-09-22T02:51:05Z")
Apple seeds, don’t actually contain cyanide. What they, and many other seeds contain, is something called [amygdalin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdalin), which, when metabolized, produces cyanide. Ever hear of “laetrile”, an alleged cancer cure from many years ago? It’s based on amygdalin; and though its safety and effectiveness as a cancer treatment has been thoroughly disproven, there remains a solid community of crackpots who continue to advocate its use for this purpose. Many years ago, there was a very prolific and aggressive spammer who promoted a variety of amygdalin- and laetrile-based cancer remedies. A significant feud arose between him and myself. I got him kicked off of one ISP after another, after another, and he once successfully got me temporarily kicked off of AOL by “joe-jobbing”me—sending out a massive spam run crafted to look like I was responsible for it. I also reported him repeatedly to the FDA, the FTC, and other appropriate government agencies, in connection with his phony cancer treatments. [This was the result of that.](http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2004/ucm108314.htm) I never heard anything from or of him again, after he got out of prison. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/45 "2013-09-23T22:19:31Z")
> [@classyladyhp](#): > > It’s not safe to juice the seeds. You should remove them or risk cyanide poisoning if you drink the juice with seeds in large quantities. Ridiculous. , ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/46 "2013-09-25T20:32:49Z")
Amygdalin isn’t very soluble in water (i.e. the main component of apple juice) at cold or ambient temperatures, so juicing or pressing pulped apples including their seeds is quite safe. To reiterate comments above - were this not so, people would be dropping like flies, because the seeds are not removed from the apple pulp when pressing juice commercially (or indeed on most smaller scales either). As it happens, I built myself a [cider press](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/st/content/cider_press) last week and tested it on the weekend - the pulp in the fourth and third images from the bottom on that page is just shredded whole apples (skin, flesh, seeds and stalks) - the pressing process itself inherently filters out the solids, including the seeds. People have been pressing apples this way for centuries, without dying. ---
**Author:** ![Hotwaffles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hotwaffles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hotwaffles)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/47 "2017-12-06T16:19:59Z")
I eat apple seeds as a snack. I’m building up a resistance. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374/48 "2017-12-06T17:22:45Z")
> [@Hotwaffles](#): > > I eat apple seeds as a snack. I’m building up a resistance. Smart. You never know when you will have to go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-safe-to-juice-whole-apples-including-seeds/583374.md?page=2)