BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?

Subject: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Mr Red
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 04:05 PM

I have just discovered that the EU has banned this flavour because it is alledgedly addictive - (unlike nictine?).

It was used to flavour sweets called Troach (a Black Country delicacy - (non Brits should think NOT Birmingham but north west about 15 miles) and a sweet called Army & Navy - indeed the Paynes hard boiled candy had it printed on the jar less than 10 years ago. Apparently there was a sweet called paragoric too.

apart from a heavy metal band I found this kind of thing here which does give the warning about habit forming -

Traoch never made me crave anything except the lost culture of a smelly, dirty smudge on the map.

has anyone got any other knowledge?

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Peace
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 04:08 PM

Is it possible the spelling was

paregoric?

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 04:12 PM

If it's "paregoric," it's a tincture of opium. And yes, it is addictive.   In the past, cigarettes were sometimes dipped into it and smoked. See here.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Peace
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 04:13 PM

Paregoric, also known as Camphorated Opium tincture, is a medicine known for its anti-diarrheal and systemic properties. The active ingredient of this mixture is opium, with other ingredients being benzoic acid, camphor and anise oil. The main effect of this preparation is to increase the muscular tone of the intestine, and also to inhibit normal peristalsis. Its main use is as a cure for acute diarrhea. Problems with its use include: possible opium dependency.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Peace
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 04:13 PM

Sorry, Rap. Cross posted.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Peace
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 04:38 PM

Eureka.

There ya go, Mr Red.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: DougR
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 07:21 PM

When I was a wee lad and had a tummy problem, my other this vile tasting medicine was the only way to go. It tastes awful.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 08:09 PM

It's a long time since I read it, but didn't "paregoric Pall Malls" feature in the opening chapters of folkie Richard Farina's novel "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me"?
BTW, paregoric would also be an effective cough suppressant, which might explain how it got into them boiled sweets--they were originally meant to be cold medicine, like codeine cough syrup.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 08:58 PM

Yeah, Bob, I think they did.

Paregoric was used by some LRRPs in 'Nam to prevent them from leaving feces when out on patrol. Yankee poop was not the same as VC or NVA poop due to dietary differences. The wrong kind of shit could get you into a world of shit. Or to put it another way, not all shit is created equal.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Peace
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 09:03 PM

Codeine has the same effect, BTW. Keep it in survival kits when I go off for a few weeks. Prevents crapping yerself out of fluid.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 09:12 PM

ObSongs:

TTTO "John Brown's Body":

When the baby gets a colic in the middle of the night,

And you hunt the paregoric, and you can't find the light.

That was as far as my mother ever sang it.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Young fool, old foolishness. :||

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 09:36 PM

Historically it was used as "soothing syrup" for cranky or colicky infants.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Peace
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 09:37 PM

So was boiled marijuana: twigs, seeds and leaves.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 02:22 AM

...and heroin was originally marketed as a "non-addictive" cough medicine.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Aloha,
Mark

(Still haven't figured out how to do accents, etc.)

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Mrs_Annie
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 06:53 AM

When I was a kid, we used to have these as 'cough sweets'. I loved them. Bet my mother never knew what was in them............

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Mr Red - chobbling the last Troach drop.....
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 08:12 AM

thanx folks - my spelling produced hits too - no wonder I am confused - too many Troach drops this week-end.

Paregoric's constituants included anise - no wonder everyone thought it was just aniseed. The Paynes Army & Navy sweets now boast the logo "The original flavour of liquorice" as if that was what it was all along! Sorry Mr Payne - I distinctly remember Paregoric on the label even if the spelling is optional. BUT the original flavour was a cross between aniseed and liquorice but not quite - if you see what I mean.

Can't say that the Troach drops ever made me constipated or cleared-up thrush or were addictive - but they are sure morish!

and a song snippet too - wow..............

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Hollowfox
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 12:02 PM

Gaaah! My mother used to give it to me when I was very young whenI had trouble going to sleep. I'd lay like a board in bed for an hour rather than gag that stuff down.
As I recall, Rosalie Sorrells mentioned this use in her "Hostile Baby Rocking Song" monologue on her album "Be Careful, There's a Baby in the House".

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Mr Red - no moreTroach drops...........
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 01:51 PM

Troach drops were not that strong on paregoric judging by the lack of effect they had on me. "army & Navy" were too strong for me - probably more opium in there.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: bobad
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 02:07 PM

Mark

Here's one way to do accented letters:

1.   Press the Windows key near the lower left corner of the keyboard. In a standard computer configuration, a menu will pop up.

2.   Use your mouse or keyboard to select the 'Run' command.

3.   Type 'charmap' (without the quote marks) in the space provided.

4.   Press the Enter key or click on 'OK.'

5.   A box with all the available characters will appear. Double-click on the character you wish to use.

6.   You should see the character appear in the box at the upper right.

7.   Press (click on) the 'Copy' button. This copies the character into the clipboard.

8.   Click on your document and place your cursor where you wish the character to appear.

9.   Press the Ctrl and V keys at the same time to paste the character in place.

10.   The non-English character should now be in place.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 05:31 PM

When I was a kid one could still by it (tincture of paregoric) over the counter to settle down toddlers and babies while traveling. It was even used for teething pains. Then came the over the counter codiene cough syrups.

But the best of all was Romliar AF which had a rare ingedient from the Amazon labeled "Telepathine" and I kid you not it gave some very powerful clairvoyant effects. We would have a person look at photos in one room and another person in a seperate room could say what the photo was. Telepathine was phenomenal. Unlike any other drug the visions were entirely controlable. For example if you wanted to see an unpublished music manuscript by Beethoven you see it note for note in his original hand writting - but when you tried to write it down the individual notes, they would sort of dissolve.


Soon there was a war on drugs...

and they were all taken away.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 24 Oct 05 - 06:06 PM

What a fascinating thread - and a testament to the mudcat's combined wisdom & experience.

Thanks to all contributors.

Man I love Mudcat!!

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From:
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 08:16 AM

GUEST,Fullerton - register and have fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 09:19 AM

In these modern times instead of using paregoric to treat babies with colic we have more advanced methods such as the suggestion of running a loud vacume sweeper.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 03:11 PM

Thanks for the advice Mr Red.

I am currently not registered but I do have fun

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 03:19 PM

Troach is available online here
http://www.villagesweetshop.com/showprod_MNT21.htm

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 01:36 PM

ahem http://www.villagesweetshop.com/showprod_MNT21.htm

by the look of the photos the Troach Drops are made by Sela - I seem to remember a link to that site and Sela. Sela used to be based in West Bromwich.


I will be up in sunny Tamworth where the bad news on paregoric was imparted.

Subject: RE: BS: Paragoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Mr Red
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 01:43 PM

My hilights - but intriguing

Arkansas City Republican, Saturday, December 5, 1885.

BIRTH. At last J. W. Henthorn of the Burden Eagle, has become the father of a bran new baby. Over at Burden there is a host of Henthorn's and every time a baby has been born to any of them, the REPUBLICAN has laid it at the door of J. W. All the babies we have had J. W. the father of heretofore are not his. Bro. Henthorn calls his baby his little eaglet. No doubt it is appropriately named. Anyway, Bro. Henthorn, we wish you no worse luck than the never getting up out of a warm bed this winter and falling downstairs hunting for the "paregoric" bottle. May your "little eaglet" scream as loud as your other bird of freedom.

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Mr Red hunting the parAgoric
Date: 27 Oct 05 - 08:11 AM

someone changed the spelling in the title search and I panicked.

Now lets see if the archive stuff survived the Mudcrash of 04 or was it just finger trouble...............................

parEgoric - here I come.

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,Jill in Croydon
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 06:50 AM

Hi there!

This is fascinating. I was only ruminating (so to speak) about paragoric sweets last night (I have a cold at present and had some cough candy so it went from there). My husband has never heard of paragoric sweets and thinks I'm making it up!

I well remember going to my local sweet shop in Fulham as a child (45 years ago, I'm sorry to say) and buying them. They were flattish, brown, oval-shaped sweets, quite dull-looking and we bought them when we had coughs and colds, your correspondent was right, it was a cross between aniseed and liquorice, a bit medicine-tasting and we thought it was doing us good!

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: kendall
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 08:47 AM

I only remember it being rubbed on my gums when I was teething. It didn't taste as good as sweet spirits of Nitre though.

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: clueless don
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 09:54 AM

I remember paregoric. As a young child I liked the flavor so much that (as far as I remember) it is the only medicine I ever sneaked a taste of - a practice I DO NOT recommend (particularly now that I have a child of my own)! I'm guessing it was the anise oil that produced the taste. It was interesting to see earlier posters describe the flavor in negative terms.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 11:17 AM

GUEST,Jill in Croydon

Those are Army & Navy by Paines

They still sell 'em but the referrence to Paregoric is missing and they claim it is the "original taste of liquorice" now.

They were too strong for my tastes.

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: GUEST,maire-aine
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 01:09 PM

I remember that. I think it was given to me for stomach "flu". The old doctor that we went to had the old druggist make the stuff up on order. There was no mistaking that taste.

M.

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: TIA
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 11:06 PM

My father-in-law (an elderly MD) gave us a wee bottle when our kids were teething. Worked like a charm. I jealously guard our little illicit stash. NOTHING is better for an oral sore than a tiny pinkie tip of paragoric.

Subject: RE: BS: Paregoric - got any info on the flavour?
From: Tweed
Date: 27 Oct 06 - 08:28 AM

My Mom used to mix it with orange juice and give it to me for ear aches when I was a little kid. Still tasted funky but it worked and got me to sleep or nodding at least. This, of course, was prior to the invention of the little drainage tubes they put in both my kids' ears. I'm not sure which worked better as I continued to have ear aches until I didn't and so did they, even with the "miracle" tubes.