[Sca-cooks] The dangers of synthetic dyes

[Stefan li Rous]

Selene C. commented:
> So basically what he is saying is, SCA-period food-based colorants are
> good, modern chemical dyes are bad.
>
> Annatto being the only exception, and maybe we can squeeze that in with
> the Conquistadors post-1492. <smile>
Well, those particular ones mentioned, I guess. I don't remember right 
now many of the medieval food colorants (see the Florilegium :-) ) but 
if the period food colorants were anything like the medieval cosmetics, 
I'd be *very* cautious about using them before checking them out 
individually.

White lead and a mercury compound (cinnabar?) are two I remember being 
used in period cosmetics. Gasp.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****