Gross things you ate as a child or your kids eat?

What kind of cheese bluecorp?

cheddar

strauss & sasha, maybe you should revise the wikipedia article on cod liver oil.

Cod liver oil is a nutritional supplement derived from liver of cod fish. It has high levels of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, and very high levels of vitamin A and vitamin D. It is widely taken to ease the symptoms of arthritis and for other health benefits. It was once commonly given to children, because the high levels of vitamin D in cod liver oil have been shown to prevent rickets and other symptoms of vitamin D deficiency.

It definitely belongs on the "gross" list:

Cod liver oil was traditionally manufactured by filling a wooden barrel with fresh cod livers and seawater and allowing the mixture to ferment for up to a year before removing the oil.

I'm sure like any oil it would have some laxative effect, although wikipedia doesn't mention that. But I don't think that was the primary purpose. Castor oil was the traditional laxative that children hated.

I remember our chemist was viewed as a sorta doctor when i was a kid, he sold all sorts of things over the counter and did give out advise on what the medications should be used for. I remember Dr MacKenzie's mentiods, Dr Nan's Cod Liver OIL, Ford pills, Vick's 'Vaco Rub', Alaskan Medicated Ju-Jubs and i guess was there was many more that i have forgotten.

In pharmacies here its possible to find tiny bottles of olive oil, sold either as a laxative, or to put down your ear in order to get ear wax out.

Vinny - maybe I was thinking of castor oil. Sounds like I should be taking cod liver oil for my arthritis. Welllll, maybe not.

Drovers reminded me - my cat used to throw up wads of dried cat food. Looked like poop made out of cat food. One day, my husband and I went to the unfinished side of the basement to find our daughter, who was about 1 year old at the time standing there eating one of them. She had a really attitude when we interrupted her meal, didn't fuss at all.

#35 -- That was about the only way you could get olive oil (under the name "sweet oil") in the English-speaking world up until Italian emigration started c. 1890.

But still to be buying it this way nowadays.I find it surprising that even if you did want to put it in your ear you would go down to the chemist and buy yourself a teeny tiny bottle. It would suggest there are still a large number of people who would not think of using it as a foodstuff. Just cost wise, you could buy a big enough bottle to keep yourself 'regular' from the supermarket. I guess that old habits die hard.

Castor oil is also used for lubrication of vehicle engines and mechanical moving parts apart from being a laxative for constipation.
Think "Castrol" the lub oil company adapted the name from castor oil.
Pretty certain that it can be,or already is, used as an alternatve bio fuel for motor vehicles as well.

my cat used to throw up wads of dried cat food.

Today, April 29, is Hairball Awareness Day.

Vicks Vapo-Rub is still around. I don't think I'd like to rub in on my chest & go around smelling like a pile of eucalyptus leaves, but it does help ease a congested chest if you put it in boiling water & inhale the steam.

I once had an interesting correspondence with was stuck answering the letters from a gentleman who decided to let me in on his cures for all sorts of ills. He recommended 20 Mule Team Borax (a laundry additive) to control Dutch Elm Disease, based on his cure of the "fungus ills' of an orchard. When I read through his description (he sent 10-12 page letters in the vilest handwriting) I realized he had cured the trees of boron deficiency.

HIs finest was his cure for cancer. He described his symptoms in detail--TMI detail--and explained that he was about to "go under the knife," when "theophanic connection" (i.e. personal message from God) gave him a "whiff of Vick's Vapo-Rub." He started eating a couple of tablespoons a day and all of his symptoms disappeared, except for a little ringing in the ears.