Fl;avorings (Re: Handy Real-Life Example and some on Potions, Yuck)

[Milz]

No: HPFGUIDX 26453

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> And *just* to keep it on-topic, how do you know that the potions
> ingredients taste awful? Other than the Effective Medicine Must 
Taste
> Revolting metalaw? I mean, I understand that roasted caterpillars 
are
> succulent, my own (god help me) father once brought us chocolate 
covered
> ants and bees which were (according to braver souls than I) quite 
tasty,
> and if I did not know it was a bona fide dish, if the books 
mentioned
> birds' nest soup I'd think they'd made it up. The potions might 
taste
> just great. They just *sound* revolting.

IIRc, Lupin says the Wolfsbane potion tastes awful, but it's rendered 
useless if any type of flavoring is added to it. Most likely, some of 
these potions are flavored.

And since these are potions, I don't think bits and chunks of the 
potion materials are imbibed. Just it being a potion, indicates to me 
that it's a liquid....uh-oh, really gross thought here along the 
lines of a thin puree...Ahem, anyway, they're probably like most 
liquid medicines: flavored with maybe an after-taste.

One elderly physician I knew when I was in high school actually 
learned how to write prescriptions the old way. That is, giving the 
ingredients to certain medicines for the pharmacist to mix up. I 
remember him saying something about the various flavorings 
like "spirits of peppermint" ('spirits' indicating an alcohol based 
product, not the ghostly kind). I imagine Potions class is similar to 
this elderly doc's pharmacology class where he was taught the 
ingredients of various medical 'potions'.

BTW, some of the herbs Rowling mentions are bona fide herbs with 
medicinal/toxic qualities, like dittany and wolfsbane.

Milz