I had not heard that appleseeds had arsenic in them until a viewer asked about it on our how to make applesauce video.
With a little searching, I found the Department of Energy Ask a Scientist site, where this question of arsenic in appleseeds was answered to my satisfaction.
Question – Do apple seeds have arsenic in them? Is it dangerous to
process apples with the seeds still in the fruit?The good news: apple seeds do not contain arsenic. The bad news: apple
seeds DO contain cyanide. As for processing the apples, what kind of
processing are you interested in? Grinding apples and pressing them for
cider doesn’t release enough cyanide to be a problem; neither does cooking
apples and straining them to make a sauce. About the only way you can
actually ruin into a problem with the toxicity of apple seeds is if you save
the seeds from about a bushel of apples and eat them all at once.
So, as long as you don’t eat a bushel of apple seeds, you are fine. Eating a bushel full of anything could probably kill you, don’t you think?
What other poisons in food myths, rumors, facts have you heard about? Let us know below.
Scott
Very nice. I love informative mythbusting subjects like this.
Tonia Moxley
Thanks very much for clearing this up! Wow. Cyanide. Amazing what’s in plants. Glad it can’t be extracted by making sauce, too.
Gail
I couldn’t think of a food myth off the top of my head, so I googled food myths and WOW! there are bunches out there! Thank you for jumpstarting such sn interesting topic!
Laurel
I know you can give apple to your rabbits, but not the seeds because of the arsenic. I did not know that cooking the seed makes it safe . Thanks a lot.!
paul
There is a conflict of wording that should be cleared up.
The answered question says
“About the only way you can actually ruin into a problem with the toxicity of apple seeds is if you save the seeds from about a bushel of apples and eat them all at once.”
The author responded,
“So, as long as you don’t eat a bushel of apple seeds, you are fine. Eating a bushel full of anything could probably kill you, don’t you think?”
The answered question does not say a “bushel” of apple seeds it says the “seeds” from a bushel of apples which would not be a bushel of seeds.
There is a big difference between a bushel of apple seeds and the seeds from a bushel of apples.