Snow White’s poisoned apple

I love Halloween. All of you who have been accompanying me for several years in my gastronomic madness know that it is a time of the year that fascinates me. Along with Christmas, my two favorite times of the year. I like to dress up and I love to prepare recipes that are out of the ordinary or usual, like the recipe I’m going to leave you with this year. Snow White’s Poisoned Apple.

I know that this kind of recipes you have to be eager to prepare them or be crazy and passionate about crafts and gastronomy. But they are also recipes that allow us to enjoy a step beyond what a more traditional recipe does. And we all like to dream, escape and enjoy.

This year’s recipe and costume were candidates for last year. Only, finally, between the two ideas I had in mind, I decided to go with Dorothy’s House from The Wizard of Oz. But this year… Yes, I’m leaving you with the poisoned apple and my Evil Queen costume. I always come up with lots of ideas for more creative or unusual recipes to make, but I have to choose one for each year. This is often one of the hardest steps for me because I would love to be able to make them all in a row. In fact, from time to time, I leave you a less conventional recipe of this type.

A few years ago, I left you a recipe for Snow White’s apple, but this year’s recipe has many details that improve the final result. Starting with the filling or interior of the apple; whipped apple ganache with a core of gelled apple candied. At first, it sounds horribly complicated, but believe me it is much more difficult to say what it is, than to make it.

The outside shares the same elaboration process as the previous one, unlike the “poison”. This one will be made with white chocolate and metallic green paint. I wanted to make it so much… This is another one of those recipes that I have enjoyed from start to finish. Although I’m not going to lie to you, it has given me a headache or two.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

This animated film was the first feature film produced by Walt Disney and, in addition, it was the first film included among the Walt Disney Classics.

The feature film premiered on December 21, 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood. The film is an adaptation of the eponymous fairy tale published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, a story rooted in European traditions.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not the first animated feature film in the history of cinema. Rather, it was the Argentine Quirino Cristiani who created the first animated film, The Apostle (1917).

Snow White was a film that had a great impact on the public, both in the United States and internationally. It is considered by many to be a masterpiece. The film marked a new era in the world of animation thanks to the technical and artistic innovations developed for this film.

In 1989, the film was deemed “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It is part of AFI’s Top 10 list, leading the animation category.

Influence for the characters.

The character of Snow White is inspired by two historical princesses: Baroness Maria Sophia von Erthal (born in 1725) and Countess Margaretha von Waldeck (born in 1533).

Thanks to the research of historian Karlheinz Bartels in 1986, the young woman’s father, Philipp Christoph von Erthal, was between 1719 and 1748 Constable of the Electorate of Mainz in Lohr. Because of his diplomatic skills, he traveled frequently as an envoy on special missions. The family residence was Lohr Castle. After the death of Maria Sophia’s mother, her father married Claudia Elizabeth Maria von Venningen, Countess of Reichenstein, on May 15, 1743. The fact that Philipp Christoph von Erthal was hardly ever in Lohr would explain the king’s passive role in the tale, research has concluded.

Karlheinz Bartels’ main argument for linking Maria Sophia to Snow White is the castle mirror. The impressive and rich 1.60-meter-high mirror can still be admired in the Spessart Museum in Lohr Castle, which was a gift from Philipp Christoph to his second wife. It is also said that Maria was a noble young woman full of virtue, a charitable and kind angel who never ceased to show her infinite kindness.

The mirror comes from the mirror manufacturer of the Electorate of Mainz, Kurmainzische Spiegelmanufaktur, founded in 1698, acquired great fame and prestige throughout Europe, thanks to its delicate and refined craftsmanship, as well as for its raw materials, sodium carbonate, known as soda ash or soda, imported from Alicante, Spain.

The mirror was a gift from Maria Sophia’s father to his second wife, whose frame contained an aphorism that read Amour Propre. For this and for the incredible transparency of its surface, something unusual at the time, it was said to be a “talking mirror“, since it always told the truth.

The Forest and the apple.

The virgin forest in which Snow White was exposed was the Spessart (mountain range between Bavaria and Hesse). Today, Lohr is called the Spessart Gate. Snow White’s escape route “over the seven mountains” was the Höhenweg, mentioned as early as the 14th century – the so-called “Wieser Straße“. From Lohr, the mining village of Bieber could be reached, whose workers were small in stature or, more likely, children who extracted the metal from the narrowest tunnels. These children, spoiled by the workload and malnourished, are the ones related to the seven dwarfs.

Regarding the poisoned apple, Bartels’ research has found, citing competent literature in which the poison is described, that half of an apple can be dipped in belladonna juice, a fruit also found in the Spessart. Its berries contain Atropa belladonna used, even to this day, in medicine. Its narcotic effect can produce a death-like rigidity.

The transparent glass sarcophagus and the iron slippers refer to the glass manufacture of Lohr and the malleable iron ores of the Spessart.

Evil Queen.

The Evil Queen, also known as Wicked Queen, is the main antagonist of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs feature film, besides being the first Disney villain. The Queen wanted to be the most beautiful of all, this makes her insanely jealous of Snow White, the only one whose beauty surpassed her.

This led her to take a potion to transform herself into an old woman, after trying to murder her, in order to tempt Snow White to eat a poisoned apple. The first designs to create this character showed a not very slender character, but her appearance eventually evolved into a much more sinister and majestic beauty.

In some publicity materials and early comics she was given the name Queen Grimhilde, but the Walt Disney Company rarely acknowledges this. In the Twisted Tale books she was given the name Queen Ingrid and is sometimes referred to as the Evil Queen.

The Evil Queen is generally regarded as one of the most iconic and menacing villains in film history. She was once voted the tenth greatest movie villain of all time by the American Film Institute.

Evil Queen costume.

The Queen’s costume is rumored to be based on the one worn by Helen Gahagan in the film She, 1935, although animator Art Babbitt and other Disney artists have denied this. At a meeting on October 30, 1934, Disney suggested that Art Deco illustrator Vladislav Theodor Benda’s papier-mâché masks be used as inspiration for the Queen’s face.

The Queen’s costume and overall silhouette may have been inspired by a column statue from Naumburg Cathedral. Although there are also facial similarities to George de Feure’s La Femme au chapeau noir (1898-1900).

Transformation to witch.

The appearance of the witch is similar to the witches in European fairy tale illustrations, particularly Arthur Rackham’s illustration for Hansel and Gretel. Notably, the Witch is the only character who sometimes looks directly into the camera and appears to be addressing the audience. This is likely because Ferguson’s approach was inspired by vaudeville performers.

For the Witch, live-action footage was shot of actors Don Brodie and Moroni Olsen acting as cross-dressers. As a result, the Witch possesses certain masculine qualities that are said to make her appear more aggressive and dangerous.

In story meetings about the transformation sequence and the sequence in the cauldron, Walt Disney referenced Dr. Rotwang’s laboratory in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and the scene in Macbeth in which the three witches prepare their potion. Another influence is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The sequence in which the witch pulls a boat out of the catacombs beneath the castle suggests the influence of an illustration of Charon by Gustave Dore for Dante’s Inferno.

Her powers.

According to the 1938 promotional brochure, the Evil Queen had sold her body and soul to the evil spirits of the Hartz Mountains to become a witch with arcane knowledge and the ability to cast magic of a malevolent nature. Some of her powers were:

• Catoptromancy: Through her Magic Mirror, she had the ability to always get an accurate view of a question or situation, as well as to divine the exact location of people or objects far away from her.
• Potion Brewing: She could create potions or drinks with magical effects.
• Poison Generation: She elaborated a poison that sent its victims to “The Sleeping Death”, whose only known antidote was “Love’s First Kiss”.
• Wind Generation
• Lightning Summoning