Period Alcohol from China Berries

[Stiles/Akin]

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[donna]

Interesting. What do hey mean by mechanical purposes? Sounds like for engines.

 

[captaindrew]

Now I have to ask, what's a China Berry?

 

[RobertP]

I didn't realize the China Berry tree was growing in the US that far back, thinking it was a 20th century import.

Where I grew up it was considered undesirable, very brittle with messy berries. You saw them a lot around black cabins, they grew quickly and provided much needed shade.

Donna, I'll bet the writer meant medicinal instead of mechanical!

 

[Pollaco]

Arent China Berrys poisonous? Or is that an old wives tale?

 

[captaindrew]

Arent China Berrys poisonous? Or is that an old wives tale?

Out of curiosity I looked it up. It says in large quantities it's toxic to humans but not to birds which eat them.

 

[nc native]

After my maternal grandfather died, my grandmother moved from the church parsonage they
shared into another house and I remember it had a China Berry tree in the yard. We called
the berries China Balls and I remember my grandmother and my mother both telling me that
they were poisonous. We never had any use for them and I don't even remember the birds
or wildlife even caring about them.

I've heard about a lot of things you can use in the distilling process to make alcohol but I
must admit a recipe for China Berry moonshine does not interest me in the least. In my
genelogical research, I have learned that the family still was a prize possession and often
passed down from generation to generation. Most of the stills I've encountered in wills
in my family ran brandy distilled from fruit like apples and plums.

 

[BDK1066]

I didn't realize the China Berry tree was growing in the US that far back, thinking it was a 20th century import.

Where I grew up it was considered undesirable, very brittle with messy berries. You saw them a lot around black cabins, they grew quickly and provided much needed shade.

Donna, I'll bet the writer meant medicinal instead of mechanical!

What are black cabins?

 

[BDK1066]

Out of curiosity I looked it up. It says in large quantities it's toxic to humans but not to birds which eat them.

Chinaberry trees grow well in the south, but can be hard to find except in rural areas. I think the mess caused by the berries littering the ground and the numerous sprouts growing from the berries make them undesirable for manicured yards in towns and cities.

Birds do eat chinaberries but sometimes overindulge and get intoxicated, then exhibit some not unexpected behaviors. I have seen them fall out of a tree and lay on the ground, unable to fly, not entirely unlike someone sliding off a barstool and being unable to get off the floor.

 

[Pollaco]

Thats probably where the old story about china berries being poison came from. Intoxicated birds that appeared to be poisoned. The "unexpected behavior" they display could be mistaken for being poisoned I suppose.

 

[BlueNGrey]

I'll bet the writer meant medicinal instead of mechanical!

Pretty sure they meant to say mechanical and not medical. You need to remember that in 1863 printing was a mechanical process and the typeset had to be arranged by hand. This was obviously a type of what we would now call a denatured alcohol.

 

[RobertP]

What are black cabins?

Small houses in the rural South occupied by African Americans, an extremely common sight.