History Main / BitterAlmonds

Bitter almonds [[ShapedLikeItself smell like cyanide because they contain cyanide]], but sweet almonds smell primarily of benzaldehyde, which most people associate with the aroma of cherries... almond and cherry flavoring extracts rather famously smell nearly identical (mainly because almond is actually a close relative of cherries, peaches and apricots). All these aromas are mainly caused by a glicoside called amygdalin (from the Greek "Amygdalon", "almond"), which in broken seeds ofthe prune family fruits, imcluding the almonds is enzymatically dissociated to the aforementioned benzaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide -- whose smells are, curiously, quite similar.

* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': In "I, Murdoch", Dr Ogden identifies that the BodyOfTheWeek has been killed with prussic acid because of the scent of bitter almonds.

::: He then goes on to [[GenreSavvy point out the difference between the smell of bitter and sweet almonds]], as mentioned above.

* A case in ''Manga/TanteiGakuenQ'' had Megumi detect the Bitter Almond smell in a bottle of ''Salad Dressing''.

-->--'''Music/{{Genesis}}''', "Broadway Melody of 1974".

* Infamous Mafia hitman Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski killed several people by giving them hamburgers with mustard that he had mixed with cyanide; he noted that "even if he tastes it, he's already dead from it."

Bitter almonds [[ShapedLikeItself smell like cyanide because they contain cyanide]], but sweet almonds smell primarily of benzaldehyde (which most people associate with the aroma of cherries... almond and cherry flavoring extracts rather famously smell nearly identical). If it's clear that a character who should know better confuses the smell of cyanide or bitter almonds with the smell of sweet almonds, almond extract, or "burnt almonds", then the writer hasn't bothered to fact check. It's also oddly uncommon for fictional characters to identify the smell as being associated with arsenic.

* An interesting version by scam artist Louis Enricht- in 1916 he claimed to have invented a chemical that, when diluted in water, could replace gasoline. During demonstrations of his product, many noted the strong smell of almonds, and he often warned the reporters that the chemical was poisonous. As it later turned out, the (fake) miracle fuel had cyanide as an ingredient, solely so that the smell would mask the real chemicals (acetone and acetylene, which would make a gas engine work, but would also corrode it very quickly)

-->--'''Music/{{Genesis}}''', "Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway".

* Referenced in Music/{{Genesis}}'s "Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway":

* In the "A Midwinter's Murder" episode of ''RedPandaAdventures'', the Red Panda detects a poison via this trope. He identifies the smell as indicating arsenic and cites "burnt almonds"...

* "Bitter Almonds" is the title of a ''Literature/MontagueEgg'' mystery by DorothyLSayers. The story concerns an elderly man who was believed to have been poisoned by his nephew after threatening to disinherit him. Mr. Egg, a traveling salesman for a fine-wines-and-spirits brokerage, realizes the true story thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of liquors. The "victim", after the argument with his nephew, poured himself a glass of almond liqueur from a bottle that had stood unopened in his cabinet for twenty years. The problem with that particular brand of liqueur is that its flavoring contained bitter almond oil; the stuff had risen to the top of the bottle and concentrated, and so the glass the old man poured himself contained a lethal dose of cyanide. And if this sounds outlandish to you, [[RippedFromTheHeadlines there is at least one true story]] of a person accidentally killing themselves in this way which Sayers had heard about.

** In manga file #757 of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'', Conan points out that there's an element of FingertipDrugAnalysis to this: he smells an almond scent coming from a corpse's lips, but [[http://dctp.ws/V72-Reader/V72-6Read/A3.html cautions one of the others on the scene against sniffing]] because he's an "amateur".

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* Parodied in a ''ComicBook/MikeMistMinuteMystery'' page published in the second issue of FirstComics ''Comicbook/{{E-Man}}''. Mike stops his client from eating a [[ParodyNames Winkies]] snack because of the bitter almond smell, but it turns out that it was just Winkies's new bitter almond flavored creme filling.

* In ''TheAsylumForWaywardVictorianGirls'', Madame Mournigton realizes that Dr. Stockill killed her daughter, Violet, after recognizing the scent of almond (the only thing she is cabable of smelling) on recently-killed Christelle's breath.

* In the DetectiveConan Wii game, one of the victims ends up with cyanide poisoning in the Labyrinth of Ice...and Conan, as always, is conveniently there.

* One episode of ''Golgo13'' played with this. Golgo's targets smelled almonds in the air, and assumed he had put cyanide gas in the ventilation system. It was actually just a harmless almond-scented spray, which he used so that his targets would flee the secured room they were hiding in for the dubious safety of an area with fresh air that he had a clear line of fire to.

* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' Abby is almost poisoned in her lab by a piece of evidence from a crime scene that is tainted with cyanide. She can smell the bitter almond; [=McGee=] can't, but once she mentions cyanide he drags her out of the lab. The crime scene was actually faked and the tainted evidence planted in an attempt to kill Abby, who is a forensics witness in a trial taking place during the episode.[[hottip:*:To be precise, it is cocaine tainted with a cyanide salt (NaCN) that releases gaseous cyanide when combined with cobalt thiocyanate (a standard [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_thiocyanate_test test for cocaine]]). For all its frequent research screw-ups, NCIS seemingly got the Chemistry right that time.