Snapdragon!

I have the best friends in the world. The other night, we played this:

Fetching flaming fruit from liquor… what could go wrong?

The basic game is:

Snapdragon (or flapdragon) is the name of a pastime that delighted Victorian children during the Christmas season. A shallow bowl was filled with brandy, raisins were tossed in, and the brandy set on fire. Players try to snatch the raisins from the flickering blue flames and pop them, still blazing, into their mouths. The burning raisins also were called snapdragons.

We used a metal platter on a couple hot pads, and the flames were no hotter than the space heater in my basement. In fact, I could hold a flaming raisin in my fingers for quite some time without any pain. That’s because alcohol burns at temperatures as low as 26 °C, or 79 °F. Indeed, the fire burned itself out in less than ten minutes.

Pro tips: use cheap brandy; it’s not like you’ll be drinking it. Also, warm it up a little first, to make it light more easily.

Much fun, but please be safe. Use a stable surface and keep something handy to extinguish the fire if need arises: baking soda or water should be fine.