Toads, I've heard of.
Newts? Never heard of it, and can't find any psychoactive connections. Salamanders, neither.
I've made mead before (something I figured I had to try, once), and the fermentation is pretty simple. I can't think of anything a newt's tail would do other than taste vile as it slowly rotted and tainted the whole jug. I have a strong suspicion it worked its way into recipes as a kind of ongoing joke.
'Specially since on the net, the only recipe references I can find are specifically to spotted newt.
ON THE OTHER HAND, I did find references to tetrodotoxins in newts, starting with the California newt but, it turns out, in plenty of other species, too. This is a non-protein neurotoxin that works by blocking calcium in yer nervous system. It's the same kind of toxin that's in puffer fish venom... which is why ground up puffers are used to make zombies.
This more user-friendly page has some lovely links, talking about toxic Japanese newts and other newt-related pleasantries.
Quote: If you were to do something dumb like try to eat or lick your newt, you'd notice a horrible burning sensation, and then you'd probably start vomiting to get the little guy out of your stomach. How do we know this? Because every now and then some drunk guy will dare or bet some other drunk guy to swallow a newt. These cases make it into the medical literature (citations coming as soon as I can dig them up), and we find that if by chance you don't throw up, the poison from the newt is enough to kill you.
So.
Tetrodotoxin has no antidote, but is being used to create pain-killers for cancer patients (currently still in the testing phase). Symptoms of tetrodotoxin poisoning include numbness, tingling/burning in the extremities, paralysis, coma and death.
It *could* be that this stuff is the origin of newt-mead. In that case, I really hope the tail was left in briefly and strained out before bottling. |
