Not sure about it being "cyanide," at least in the true (poison) meaning of the word. Maybe there's traces of the chemical in the pits, but surely eating one or two won't hurt you. I remember my grandfather used to eat them here and there when he had a peach--he cracked the pits with something and extracted the seed and ate it. He lived to 94. Don't be worried if you ate some, just don't eat one everyday for the rest of your life.
Cyanide smells of almonds.
potassium cyanide is a poisen that is distinguised by its smell and taste of bitter almonds
Cyanide gas
About 4 to 9 mg of cyanide can be extracted from bitter almonds. It would take - literally - thousands of almonds to poison you. So munch away.
In books, the small of bitter almonds on a body indicates cyanide poisoning.
They along with numerous foods do contain trace amounts of a variety of harmful chemicals almonds are associated with cyanide(sp). There are 2 different types of Almonds, sweet and bitter. Sweet almonds are your common ones used in cooking or processed for oils, Bitter almonds are also used in cooking but must first be processed. It is these bitter almonds which are know to have a toxic amount of prussic acid (prussic acid can be refined into cyanide.) If you were to eat bitter almonds that had not yet been processed (prussic acid leached out) it could be fatal. A hand full would do the trick. =================================================== Nuts from a wild variety of the domesticated almonds tree, growing in some of the Eastern Mediterranean area (Western Asia), does contain Glycoside Amygdalin, a chemical, which could became Hydrogen cyanide (or Prussic acid), if the nuts got crushed (or chewed). Domesticated (sweet) almond does not contain this chemical.
It's cyanide. Cyanide occurred naturally in the bitter almond and could be broken down by cooking, which is why people would roast almonds before eating them until we managed to guide the evolution of the almond tree until the bitter form, formerly 70% of almond trees, is now nearly extinct.
There is no such thing as "sionide".However "Cyanide" is EXTREMELY poisonous and tasting it could kill you!!!It is said to have a smell like bitter almonds.
Arsenic is highly toxic and has the distinct odor of garlic. This is not to be confused with cyanide, which is toxic and has the odor of bitter almonds.
"Cyanide" is the polyatomic ion CN-. Compounds of cyanide reportedly tend to smell like "bitter almonds" (as opposed to sweet almonds, which smell like benzaldehyde); they're toxic enough I don't go around intentionally sniffing them.
Arsenic when heated will form Arsenic Trioxide which has an order resembling garlic.
Type your answer here... Sorry, in the Land of the Free, Big Brother says you can't buy bitter almonds, raw milk, unpastuerized almonds and quite a few other potential health foods. You may have luck sourcing them from Europe or just use plum pits which taste similar due to the same compound. Of course use in moderation, because too much of the natural cyanide compound in bitter almonds is dangerous. Gotta love Big Brother - outlaw natural bitter almonds but force everyone to drink fluoride, a substance far more toxic.