Old Wives' Tale Wisdom

Today Cressida brought me a new jar of apricots to open for her.  She asked why it didn't have more pits in it.  I told hr you only put one in.  She asked why and I said, "That's just the way Grandma Mickie did it.  I think her mom did it."

But it got me to thinking and looking on the Internet and I found this:

Apricot kernels are a good source of amygdaline. This controversial compound helps prevent cancer. It's also known as vitamin B17 and laetrile.
My mother always puts a few apricot pits into her preserves for, she said, "The flavor."   As a child, her logic was beyond my ken as apricot kernels are nastily bitter. Today, I take my hat off to mom and the perennial kitchen wisdom she still serves up. According to both Oriental Medicine and alternative medicine, these kernels are anti-carcinogenic.
In Chinese pharmacology, the pits are classified as a drug rather than as a food as they contain cyanide (hydrocyanic acid).   They're used medicinally to combat cancer, stimulate respiration, improve digestion, help reduce blood pressure and arthritic pain and give a sense of well-being.
Amygdaline is commercially available as vitamin B17 and it continues to be used in cancer clinics outside of the United States. The Food and Drug Administration, however, maintains that there is no scientifically accepted evidence of its efficacy. The amygdaline content in apricots is chemically identical to that in bitter almonds.
Mom also told us kids that we could taste an apricot kernel but never eat them as, in quantity, they could be poisonous. Of course we tasted them, but they were so bitter we spit them out. When cooked or fermented, apricot kernel toxicity is reduced.
Consumption of 10 or more wild apricot kernels for children and 40 or more for adults may cause adverse reaction, even death.  Yet, bitter almonds or apricot pits are a small but essential ingredient in authentic marzipan and amaretto.
Using a nut cracker, crack open the apricot pits and extract their inner nutmeat. Use judiciously.   

http://thefruitstand.net/facts/

Interesting.  Also while searching, I found that you can add chipotles in adobo to make your apricot jam a little more interesting.  So going to try that!  I guess, though that you would want to have a lot of apricots to tone it down.  Have to research this more.

I also found this:

Add a handful of pits to the pot. Don't ask why, it is just one of those things you don't question, it is just always done that way:) At least that is what I was told, Oma did it that way, mom does it that way, so I do it that way...is that a good enough reason, I sure hope so. Actually I think it adds to the natural flavor.  (I am told it is a natural pectin).

Another person who does it because that is how it was passed down.  Of course, hers is jam and I am sure she strains them out before canning them, but it doesn't actually say and maybe she doesn't.

I also found a comic article on canning as I remember it when I was a kid.  Except the husband's reaction, this is almost exactly my recollection.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19810822&id=iUxTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X4MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6898,6350045