Wiki Wednesday time yet again.
You know - you go to Wikipedia, you click on "random article," you report on the outcome.
Here's my random Wiki Wednesday find for this week:
Salmiakki (Finnish) or salmiak (Danish, Swedish, Dutch) or salmiakk (Norwegian) is a salty confectionery that is popular in the Nordic countries. Many agree that it is an acquired taste and is generally loathed outside of Europe in a similar manner that Vegemite is loathed outside of Australia and New Zealand.
Although salmiakki candy resembles black liquorice in colour, it is flavoured with the salt ammonium chloride and often also mixed with liquorice. The word salmiak(ki) comes from the old Latin name for ammonium chloride, sal ammoniac.
Salmiakki candies are almost always black or very dark brown and can range from very hard to very soft and may be brittle. The other colours used are white and variants of grey. Since pure ammonium chloride is a white powder, the reason why black is the preferred colour for salmiakki is somewhat unclear. It might be partly to provide a "tougher image" for the candies, and partly because of the liquorice used to vary and soften the salty flavour. Carbon black is used as a food colouring agent in these candies.
Dang, if I knew this 40 years ago, I'd have been skinny all this time. Doh!!!
Posted by: Donna | 2006.05.31 at 06:12 PM
I wonder if Otto golfed...
Mikkelsen Islands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mikkelsen Islands is a small group of islands and rocks lying off the southeast coast of Adelaide Island, 3 km (2 miles) southeast of the Leonie Islands. Discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, 1908-10, and named by him for Otto Mikkelsen, Norwegian diver who inspected the damaged hull of the Pourquoi-Pas at Deception Island.
This Antarctica or antarctic or sub-antarctic islands location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Posted by: Janie | 2006.06.01 at 12:54 PM