The fact is, had one been living in the early 19th Century, one might occasionally encounter a counterfeit cup of tea. Food adulterations to include added poisonings and suspect substitutions were a common problem in Europe at the time.
Here are a few facts from:
A Treastise on Adulrations of Food and Culinary Poisons, Exhibiting The Fruadulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spirituous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionary, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and Other Articles Employe in Domestic Economy and Mehods of Detecting Them by Fredrick Accum, Operative Chemist, Lecturer on Practical Chemistry, Mineralogy, and on Chemistry applied to the Arts and Manufactures; Member of the Royal Irish Academy; Fellow of the Linneaen Society; Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and of the Royal Society of Arts of Berlin, &c, &c.
London: Printed by J. Mallet, 59, Wardour Street, Soho.
Sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternaoster Row.
1820
————————————————
The late detections that have been made respecting the illicit establishments for the manufacture of imitation tea leaves, arrested, not long ago, the attention of the public; and the parties by whom these manufactories were conducted, together with the numerous vender of factitious tea, did not escape the hand of justice. In proof of this statement, it is only necessary to consult the London newspapers (the Times and the Courier) from March to July 1818; which show to what extent this nefarious traffic has been carried on; and they report also the prosecutions and convictions of numerous individuals who have been guilty of the fraud. The following are some of those prosecutions and convictions.
Hatton Garden * (Courier, June 22, 1818)—On Saturday an information came to be heard at this office, before Thomas Leach, Esq. the sitting magistrate, against a man of the name of Edmund Rhodes, charged with having, on the 12th of August last, dyed fabricated, and manufacture, divers large quantities, viz, one hundred weight of sloe leaves, one hundred weight of ash leaves, one hundred weight of elder leaves, and one hundred weight of the leaves of a certain other tree, in imitation of tea, contrary to the statue of the 17th of Geo. III.* (Also, 2 Geo. I, c.30, §5; and 4 Geo. II, c. 14, §11.) whereby the said Edmund Rhodes had, for every pound of such leaves so manufactured, forfeited the sum of 5l. making the total of the penalties amount to 2,000l. The second count in the information charged the said Rhodes with having in his possessions the above quantity of sloe, ash, elder, and other leaves, under the like penalty of 2,000l. The third count charged him with having, on the said 12th of August last, in his possession, divers quantities, exceeding six pounds weight of each respective kind of leaves; viz. fifty pounds weight of green sloe leaves, fifty pounds weight of green leaves of ash, fifty pounds of weight of green leaves of elder, and fifty pound weight of the green leaves of a certain other tree; not having proved that such leaves were gathered with the consent of the owners of the trees and shrubs from which they were taken, and that such leaves were gathered for some other use, and not for the purpose of manufacturing the same in imitation of teas; whereby he had forfeited for each pound weight, the sum of 5£. Amounting in the whole to 1,000£.; and, in default of payment, in each case, subjected himself to be committed to the house of correction for not more that twelve months, nor less than six months.
Mr. Denton, who appeared for the defendant, who was absent, said that he was a very poor man, with a family of five children, and was only the servant of the real manufacturer, and an ignorant man from the country, put into the premises to carry on the business, without knowing what the leaves were intended for. By direction of Mr. Mayo, who conducted the prosecution, several barrels and bags, filled with the imitation tea, were then brought into the office, and a sample from each handed round. To the eye they seemed a good imitation of tea.
The defendant was convicted in the penalty of £500 on the second count.
The Attorney-General against Palmer*. (The Times, May 18, 1818)—This was an action by the Attorney-General against the defendant, Palmer, charging him with having in this possession a quantity of sloe-leaves and white-thorn leaves, fabricated into an imitation of tea.
Mr. Dauncey stated the case to the jury, and observed that the defendant, Mr. Palmer, was a grocer. It would appear that a regular manufactory was established in Goldstone-street. The parties by whom the manufactory was conducted, was a person of the name of Proctor, and another person named J. Malins. They engaged others to furnish them with leaves, which, after undergoing a certain process, were sold to and drank by the public as tea. The leaves in order to be converted into an article resembling black tea, were first boiled, then baked upon an iron plate; and when dry, rubbed with the hand, in order to produce that curl which the genuine tea had. This was the most wholesome part of the operation; for the colour, which was yet to b given to it was produced by logwood. The green tea was manufactured in a manner more destructive to the constitution of those by whom it was drank. The leaves, being pressed and dried, were laid upon sheets of copper, where they received their colour from an article known by the name of Dutch pink. The article used in producing the appearance of the fine green bloom, observable on the China tea, was however, decidedly a dead poison! He alluded to the verdigrise, which was added to the Dutch pink in order to complete the operation. This was the case which he had to bring before the jury; and hence it would appear, that, at the moment they were supposing they were drinking a pleasant and nutritious beverage, they were, in fact, in all probability, drinking the produce of the hedges round the metropolis, prepared for the purposes of deception in the most noxious manner. He trusted he should be enabled to trace to the possession of the defendant eighty pounds weight of the commodity he had been describing.
Thomas Jones deposed, that he knew Proctor, and was employed by him at the latter end of April, 1817, to gather black and white thorn leaves. Sloe leaves were the black thorn. Witness also knows John Malins, the son of William Malins, a coffee roaster; he did not at first know the purpose for which the leaves were gathered, but afterwords learnt they were to make imitation tea. Witness did not gather more than one hundred and a half weight of these leaves; but he employed another person, of the name of John Bagster, to gather them. He had two-pence per pound for them. They were first boiled, and the water squeezed from them in a press. They were afterwards placed over a slow fire upon sheets of copper to dry; while on the copper they were rubbed with the hand to curl them. At the time of boiling there was a little verdigris put into the water (this applied to green tea only.) After the leaves were dried, they were sifted, to separate the thorns and stalks. After they were sifted, more verdigris and some Dutch pink were added. The verdigris gave the leaves that green bloom observable on genuine tea.
The black tea went through a similar course as the green, except the application of Dutch pink: a little verdigris was put in the boiling, and to this was added a small quantity of logwood to dye it, and thus the manufacture was complete. The drying operation took place on sheets of iron. Witness knew the defendant, Edward Palmer; he took some of the mixture he had been describing to his shop. The first time he took some was in May 1817. In the course of that month, or beginning of June, he took four or five seven-pound parcels; when he took it there, it was taken up to the top of the house. Witness afterwards carried some to Russell-street, which was taken to the top of the house, about one hundred weight and three quarters; from this quantity he carried fifty-three pounds weight to the house of the defendant’s porter, by the desire of Mr. Malins; it was in paper parcels of seven pounds each.
John Bagster proved that he had been employed by Malins and Proctor, to gather sloe and whitethorn leaves: they were taken to Jones’s house, and from thence to Malin’s coffee roasting premises; witness received two-pence per pound from them; he saw the manufacturing going on, but did not know much about it: witness saw the leaves on sheets of copper, Goldstone-street. The was the case for the Crown.—Verdict for the Crown, £840.
The Attorney-General against John Prentice*.—(The Time, May 18, 1818. Ibid) This was an information similar to the last, in which the defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.
The Attorney-General against Lawson Holmes.—In this case the defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown.
The Attorney-General against John Orkney.—Thomas Jones proved that the defendant was grocer, and in the months of May last he carried to his shop seven pounds of imitation tea, by the order of John Malins for which he received the money, viz. 15s. 9d. or 2s. 3d. per pound. The jury found a verdict for the Crown —Penalties £70.
The Attorney-General against James Gray*.—(The Times, May 18, 1818. +Ibid. ++Ibid. §Ibid. II Ibid. The defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown. —Penalties £120.
The Attorney-General against H.Gilbert, and Powel+.—These defendants submitted to a verdict. Penalties £140.
Attorney-General against William Clark.++. —This defendant also submitted to a verdict. Penalties £140.
The Attorney-General against George David Bellis§. —This defendant submitted to a verdict for the Crown
The Attorney-General against John Horner II. —The defendant in this case was a grocer; it was proved by Jones that he received twenty pound of imitation tea.—Verdict for the Crown.—Penalties £210.
The Attorney-General against William Dowling*. —This was a grocer. Jones proved that he delivered seven pounds of imitation tea to Mr. Dowling’s house, and received the money for it, namely 15s. 9d. Penalties £70.
Method of Detecting the Adulterations of Tea
The adulteration of tea may be evinced by comparing the botanical characters of the leaves of the two respective trees, and by submitting them to the action of a few chemical tests.
The shape of the tea-leaf is slender and narrow, as shown in this sketch, the edges are deeply serrated, and the end or extremity is acutely pointed. The texture of the leaf is very delicate, its surface smooth and glossy, and its colour is a lively pale green.
The sloe- leaf ( and also the white-thorn leaf), as shewn in this sketch, is more rounded, and the leaf is obtusely pointed. The serratures or jags on the edges are not
so deep, the surface of the leaf is more uneven, the texture not so delicate, and colour is a dark olive green.
These characters of course can be observed only are the dried leaves have been suffered to macerate in water for about twenty-four hours.
The leaves of some sorts of tea may differ in size, but the shape is the same in all of them; because all the different kinds of tea imported from China, are the produce of one species of plant, and the difference between the green and souchong, or black tea, depends chiefly upon the climate, soil, culture, age, and mode of drying the leaves.
Spurious black tea*(The examination of twenty-seven samples of imitation tea of different qualities, from the most costly, to the most common, which it fell to my lot to undertake, induces me to point out the marks of sophistications here detailed, as the most simple and expeditious.) slightly moistened, when rubbed on a sheet of white paper, immediately produces a blueish-black stain; and speedily afford, when thrown into cold water, a blueish-black tincture, which instantly becomes reddened by letting fall into it, a drop or two, of sulphuric acid.
Two ounces of the suspected leaves should be infused in half-a-pint of cold, soft water, and suffered to stand for about an hour. Genuine tea produces an amber-coloured infusion, which does not become reddened by sulphuric acid.
All the samples of spurious green tea(nineteen in number) which I have examined, were coloured with carbonate of copper (a poisonous substance), and not by means of verdigrise, or copperas*. (Mr. Twining, an eminent tea-merchant, asserts, that “the leaves of spurious tea are boiled in a copper, with copperas and sheep’s dung.—See Encyclop. Britan. vol.xviii. p. 331. 1797. See alo the History of the Tea Plant, p. 48; and p. 22 and 231 of this Treatise.) The latter substances would instantly turn the tea black; because both these metallic salts being soluble in water, are acted on by the astringent matter of the leaves, whether genuine or spurious, and convert the infusion into ink.
Tea, rendered poisonous by carbonate of copper, speedily imparts to liquid ammonia a fine sapphire blue tinge. It is only necessary to shake up in a stopped vial, for a few minutes, a tea-spoonful of the suspected leaves, with about two table-spoonsful of liquid ammonia, diluted with half its bulk of water. The supernatant liquid will exhibit a fine blue colour, if the minutest quantity of copper be present.
Green tea, coloured with carbonate of copper, when thrown into water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, immediately acquires a black colour. Genuine green tea suffers no change from the action of these tests.
The presence of copper may be further rendered obvious, by mixing one part of the suspected tea-leaves, reduced to powder, with two or three parts of nitrate of potash, (or with two parts of chlorate of potash,) and projecting this mixture by small portions at a time, into a platina, or porcelain-ware crucible, kept red-hot in a coal fire; the whole vegetable matter of the tea leaves will thus become destroyed, and the oxide of copper left behind, in combination with the potash, of the nitrate of potash(or salt petre), or with the muriate of potash, if chlorate of potash has been employed.
If water, acidulated with nitric acid, be then poured into the crucible to dissolve the mass, the presence of the copper may be rendered manifest by adding to the solution, liquid ammonia, in such quantity that the pungent odour of it predominates.
Verum usque in præsentem diem multa garriunt inter se Canonici de abscondito quodam istius Abbatis Thomæ thesauro, quem sæpe, quanquam adhuc incassum, quæsiverunt Steinfeldenses. Ipsum enim Thomam adhuc florida in ætate existentem ingentem auri massam circa monasterium defodisse perhibent; de quo multoties interrogatus ubi esset, cum risu respondere solitus erat: “Job, [...] Read more →
On the decline of the Roman power, about five centuries after Christ, the countries of Northern Europe were left almost destitute of a national government. Numerous chiefs, more or less powerful, held local sway, as far as each [...] Read more →
It has been said by a thoughtful writer that the subject of witchcraft has hardly received that place which it deserves in the history of opinions. There has been, of course, a reason for this neglect—the fact that the belief in witchcraft is no longer [...] Read more →
Are you dissatisfied with the Savings Account and CD Interest Rates your bank currently has on offer?
If so, go to https://www.treasurydirect.gov and open an account. The U.S. Government’s iBonds are currently earning 9.62% interest through October of this year.
Individuals may purchase $10,000 worth of iBonds per [...] Read more →
The rude awakening over the past year of increasingly high food and gas prices has been quite the shock for the American consumer. The U.S. Federal Government and Federal Reserve Bank’s sluggish reaction to growing consumer price inflation certainly have not helped. If history is to be our guide, there is more [...] Read more →
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION16 CFR Part 23Guides for the Jewelry, PreciousMetals, and Pewter Industries
The US Government has laws guiding the business practices of the Jewelry and Precious Metals Industries. If you are unclear as a seller as to your obligations under the law as related to any [...] Read more →
Prisons as places of detention are very ancient institutions. As soon as men had learned the way to build, in stone, as in Egypt, or with bricks, as in Mesopotamia, when kings had many-towered fortresses, and the great barons castles [...] Read more →
Country House Essays, the book is now in print. This is an eclectic collection of both original, and historical essays, poems, books, and articles created for our loyal reader hear at CountryHouseEssays.com. It is jam packed with reprints of articles from this website. The cost is $49.95 for this massive [...] Read more →
Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary [...] Read more →
Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Chemistry (third from the right) with his staff, not long after he joined the division in 1883. Wiley’s scientific expertise and political skills were a key to passage of the 1906 Food and Drugs Act and the creation of the FDA.
“Saint John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, the main gateway to the Priory of Saint John of Jerusalem,” black and white photograph by the British photographer Henry Dixon, 1880. The church was founded in the 12th century by Jordan de Briset, a Norman knight. Prior Docwra completed the gatehouse shown in this photograph in 1504. The gateway [...] Read more →
The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee has a long heralded tradition of assisting farmers and growers through it’s Agricultural Extension Service. The following bulletin entitled Grape Growing in Tennessee discusses the Muscadine variety of grapes among others. Muscadine grapes are often found growing wild in Tennessee. On my grandfather’s West Tennessee [...] Read more →
Resolution adapted at the New Orleans Convention of the American Institute of Banking, October 9, 1919:
“Ours is an educational association organized for the benefit of the banking fraternity of the country and within our membership may be found on an equal basis both employees and employers; and in full appreciation [...] Read more →
Reprinted from FineModelShips.com with the kind permission of Dr. Michael Czytko
The SAN FELIPE is one of the most favoured ships among the ship model builders. The model is elegant, very beautifully designed, and makes a decorative piece of art to be displayed at home or in [...] Read more →
By the death of Mr. Scarth on the 5th of April, at Tangier, where he had gone for his health’s sake, the familiar form of an old and much valued Member of the Institute has passed away. Harry Mengden Scarth was bron at Staindrop in Durham, [...] Read more →
A Lecture Delivered at the Guildhall, March 2, 1853 by Rev. H.M. Scarth, M.A., Rector of Bathwick.
To understand the ancient history of the country in which we live, to know something of the arts and manners of the people who have preceded us, to ascertain what we owe to [...] Read more →
Eadweard Muybridge was a fascinating character. Click here to learn how Eadweard committed “Justifiable Homicide” after shooting his wife’s lover in 1874.
The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent'”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used [...] Read more →
Photo Caption: The Marquis of Zetland, KC, PC – otherwise known as Lawrence Dundas Son of: John Charles Dundas and: Margaret Matilda Talbot born: Friday 16 August 1844 died: Monday 11 March 1929 at Aske Hall Occupation: M.P. for Richmond Viceroy of Ireland Vice Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire Lord – in – Waiting [...] Read more →
The Hunt Saboteur is a national disgrace barking out loud, black mask on her face get those dogs off, get them off she did yell until a swift kick from me mare her voice it did quell and sent the Hunt Saboteur scurrying up vale to the full cry of hounds drowning out her [...] Read more →
From The Historian’s History of the World (In 25 Volumes) by Henry Smith William L.L.D. – Vol. XVI.(Scandinavia) Pg. 308-310
The northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, as already noticed, had been peopled from the remotest times by nomadic tribes called Finns or Cwenas by the Norwegians and Lapps [...] Read more →
I swapped a parakeet for a red-headed Macaw That drank my rum and called me paw I’d rock in my chair, she’d swing on her perch When the preacher came around she’d pretend it was church
On Saturday mornings when we drove into town She’d ride on the back of my blue-tick hound Howling [...] Read more →
Four times the nuptial bed she warm’d, And every time so well perform’d, That when death spoil’d each husband’s billing, He left the widow every shilling. Fond was the dame, but not dejected; Five stately mansions she erected With more than royal pomp, to vary The prison of her captive When Hardwicke’s towers shall bow [...] Read more →
Artisans world-wide spend a fortune on commercial brand oil-based gold leaf sizing. The most popular brands include Luco, Dux, and L.A. Gold Leaf. Pricing for quart size containers range from $35 to $55 depending upon retailer pricing.
Fast drying sizing sets up in 2-4 hours depending upon environmental conditions, humidity [...] Read more →
Before meeting with an untimely death at the hand of an unknown assassin in Rome on January 11th, 1996, master forger Eric Hebborn put down on paper a wealth of knowledge about the art of forgery. In a book published posthumously in 1997, titled The Art Forger’s Handbook, Hebborn suggests the following [...] Read more →
THE VALUE OF EVEN TEMPER IN ATHLETICS—SOME OF THE FEATS THAT REQUIRE GOOD NATURE
In the writer’s opinion it becomes necessary to make at this point some suggestions relative to a very important part of the training in jiu-jitsu. Good nature is as essential [...] Read more →
Tuna fish being weighed on quay-side in Greece – Photo by Tom Oates
No two commercial tuna salads are prepared by exactly the same formula, but they do not show the wide variety characteristic of herring salad. The recipe given here is typical. It is offered, however, only as a guide. The [...] Read more →
Grapes are the world’s leading fruit crop and the eighth most important food crop in the world, exceeded only by the principal cereals and starchytubers. Though substantial quantities are used for fresh fruit, raisins, juice and preserves, most of the world’s annual production of about 60 million [...] Read more →
Toxicity of Rhododendron From Countrysideinfo.co.UK
“Potentially toxic chemicals, particularly ‘free’ phenols, and diterpenes, occur in significant quantities in the tissues of plants of Rhododendron species. Diterpenes, known as grayanotoxins, occur in the leaves, flowers and nectar of Rhododendrons. These differ from species to species. Not all species produce them, although Rhododendron ponticum [...] Read more →
The meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, took place between 7 to 24 June 1520 in a valley subsequently called the Val d’Or, near Guisnes to the south of Calais. The [...] Read more →
Have you ever wondered just how a Franklin Library Book is put together?
Franklin Library, a division of the Franklin Mint, as many a book collector can attest, was considered the equivalent of the Cadillac division of GM in the modern 20th Century book market. They put out [...] Read more →
Felix Weihs de Weldon, age 96, died broke in the year 2003 after successive bankruptcies and accumulating $4 million dollars worth of debt. Most of the debt was related to the high cost of love for a wife living with Alzheimer’s. Health care [...] Read more →
Aw, the good old days, meet in the coffee shop with a few friends, click open the Zippo, inhale a glorious nosegay of lighter fluid, fresh roasted coffee and a Chesterfield cigarette….
A Meta-analysis of Coffee Drinking, Cigarette Smoking, and the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease
Effective 01 August, 2013, the U. S. Coast Guard terminated its radio guard of the international voice distress, safety and calling frequency 2182 kHz and the international digital selective calling (DSC) distress and safety frequency 2187.5 kHz. Additionally, marine information and weather broadcasts transmitted [...] Read more →
Take to every quart of water one pound of Malaga raisins, rub and cut the raisins small, and put them to the water, and let them stand ten days, stirring once or twice a day. You may boil the water an hour before you put it to the raisins, and let it [...] Read more →
From Conquest of the Tropics by Frederick Upham Adams
Chapter VI – Birth of the United Fruit Company
Only those who have lived in the tropic and are familiar with the hazards which confront the cultivation and marketing of its fruits can readily understand [...] Read more →
Here, where these low lush meadows lie, We wandered in the summer weather, When earth and air and arching sky, Blazed grandly, goldenly together.
And oft, in that same summertime, We sought and roamed these self-same meadows, When evening brought the curfew chime, And peopled field and fold with shadows.
The greatest cause of failure in vinegar making is carelessness on the part of the operator. Intelligent separation should be made of the process into its various steps from the beginning to end.
PRESSING THE JUICE
The apples should be clean and ripe. If not clean, undesirable fermentations [...] Read more →
Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Chemistry (third from the right) with his staff, not long after he joined the division in 1883. Wiley’s scientific expertise and political skills were a key to passage of the 1906 Food and Drugs Act and the creation of the FDA.
Water, 1 gallon; sugar 2 pounds of water. 61/2 pints, and simple syrup. 2 1/2 pints; 2 pints of pineapple stock or 1 pint of pineapple stock and 1 pint of grated pineapple juice of 6 lemons. Mix, strain and freeze.
The following highly collectible Franklin Library Signed Editions were published between 1977 and 1982. They are all fully leather bound with beautiful covers and contain gorgeous and rich silk moire endpapers. Signatures are protected by unattached tissue inserts.
The values listed are average prices that were sought by [...] Read more →
Group of Thuggee – From Harpers Magazine – Dec. 12, 1837
The existence of large bodies of men having no other means of subsistence than those afforded by plunder, is, in all countries, too common to excite surprise; and, unhappily, organized bands of assassins are not peculiar to India! The associations of [...] Read more →
The rude awakening over the past year of increasingly high food and gas prices has been quite the shock for the American consumer. The U.S. Federal Government and Federal Reserve Bank’s sluggish reaction to growing consumer price inflation certainly have not helped. If history is to be our guide, there is more [...] Read more →
A Lecture Delivered at the Guildhall, March 2, 1853 by Rev. H.M. Scarth, M.A., Rector of Bathwick.
To understand the ancient history of the country in which we live, to know something of the arts and manners of the people who have preceded us, to ascertain what we owe to [...] Read more →
A terrestial globe on which the tracts and discoveries are laid down from the accurate observations made by Capts Cook, Furneux, Phipps, published 1782 / globe by John Newton ; cartography by William Palmer, held by the State Library of New South Wales
The British Library, using sophisticated filming equipment and software, [...] Read more →
DISTILLING TURPENTINE One of the Most Important Industries of the State of Georgia Injuring the Magnificent Trees Spirits, Resin, Tar, Pitch, and Crude Turpentine all from the Long Leaved Pine – “Naval Stores” So Called.
Dublin, Ga., May 8. – One of the most important industries [...] Read more →
Photo Caption: The Marquis of Zetland, KC, PC – otherwise known as Lawrence Dundas Son of: John Charles Dundas and: Margaret Matilda Talbot born: Friday 16 August 1844 died: Monday 11 March 1929 at Aske Hall Occupation: M.P. for Richmond Viceroy of Ireland Vice Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire Lord – in – Waiting [...] Read more →
THE FOWLING PIECE, from the Shooter’s Guide by B. Thomas – 1811.
I AM perfectly aware that a large volume might be written on this subject; but, as my intention is to give only such information and instruction as is necessary for the sportsman, I shall forbear introducing any extraneous [...] Read more →
Modern slow cookers come in all sizes and colors with various bells and whistles, including timers and shut off mechanisms. They also come with a serious design flaw, that being the lack of a proper domed lid.
The first photo below depicts a popular model Crock-Pot® sold far and wide [...] Read more →
