What You Need to Know about Eating Gold
/A recent article on Tech Insider reports that The Manila Social Club, a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, is currently selling a $100 donut that is wrapped in pure 24k gold leaf. Yup, you can actually eat it. The pastry chef who invented it states that the gold is “inert” and doesn’t hurt you or get absorbed by your body. Gold is only one of the donut’s unusual ingredients, which also include flour made from a Filipino root vegetable called ube and Roederer Cristal champagne.
There Are Actually Many Ways to Eat and Drink Gold
After reading the story of the 24k gold leaf wrapped donut, we decided to scour the Internet in search of other foods and beverages that contain gold. We found plenty of products out there that contain gold, including . . .
- Sushi rolls that contain gold leaf are being offered occasionally at sushi restaurants and catered events.
- Goldschläger, a brand of schnapps that is actually made in Italy (why the German name?) is sold in bottles that contain a few flakes of gold.
- Gold-infused champagne – there are more than a few brands – is bottled along with gold flakes that sparkle and look nice.
- Gold-frosted cakes and pastries, including cakes for weddings and other special occasions, are not as rare as you might think.
- Gold-dusted chocolates, like those shown here, have descended from ostentatious offerings by celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck to local artisanal chocolate shops for anyone to enjoy.
The Not-Very Happy History of Gold Eaters
Over the centuries, a lot of people have eaten gold for a variety of reasons. Here’s a brief review . . .
- Alchemists in Alexandria, Egypt, are said to have been selling a gold-infused elixir about 5,000 years ago. Interestingly, there is no evidence that Egyptian monarchs like King Tut actually ate gold, even though they covered their coffins with it.
- Paracelsus, a Swiss-German scientist who lived from 1493-1541, experimented with tonics and elixirs that contained gold and other metals too.
- Diane de Poitiers, who lived from 1499-1566, was probably the most famous gold-eater of all time. She was the mistress of the 16-century French king Henry II and apparently believed that drinking beverages that were infused with powdered gold would preserve her youthful beauty. The only problem was that the gold she chugged apparently contained mercury too, and it killed her.
- Colloidal gold pills and solutions are available today and actually pretty easy to buy online. Apparently some people still believe that eating gold is good for you. The good news is, these modern formulations should be free from the mercury that killed Diane de Poitiers.
- Crooks apparently cannot resist the temptation to swallow gold and smuggle it across international borders, even though it is a very bad idea. One recent story? CNN reports that in 2014, a man swallowed 12 gold bars, passed through airport security without attracting attention, and successfully smuggled them into India. His great idea turned sour when he got nauseous, checked into a hospital, where the gold was quickly discovered.
Where Can You Find Edible Gold Today?
If you are on the hunt for sources of gold that you can recycle profitably, chances are pretty slim that you will find enough in beverages, foods or medicines to yield much money. (If you happen to buy a company that manufactures colloidal gold pills and come to own pounds and pounds of gold flakes or powder, that might be the exception.)
But here’s some advice you can use. If you own gold in any form and would like to learn more about how to recycle it profitably, call us at 800-426-2344. Be sure to mention today’s blog post when you call and ask about free or discounted shipping costs when you forward your gold to us for testing.
Related Posts:
“How Much Gold Is in my Body” and Answers to Six Other Wild and Crazy Questions about Gold
Why Gold Still Makes News Every Day
Three Reasons Why the Gold You Have Has Mystical and Magical Properties
How Much Gold Does Donald Trump Own
