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Backyard Cyanide
There’s a bushy tree in my backyard with these dark red fruit — the kind that makes some primal instinct scream at you across millennia, but you can’t tell if it wants you to eat them or not. I used a plant app to identify it (like a true horticultural expert): it’s Prunus laurocerasus, or cherry laurel.
Fast forward from 54 AD to 1819 — you’ll find the same plant that sent unfortunate ancient Romans to their convulsive deaths is now inside custards and puddings at afternoon tea. When carelessly prepared, these custards could be dangerous, causing five kids (human this time) at an English boarding school to fall severely ill for three days[2] Medical Jurisprudence. Travel to the Black Sea region of Turkey, and you’ll find cherry laurel fruit (or karayemis) in many different forms — fresh, dried, roasted, pickled, salted, in jams or cakes, and more.
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