Just for donna #3

[spotweldersfriend]

How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick in metrics please?

[j*oono]

Was it an imperial peck or a US peck?

[lakeland27]

 a bushell and a 

[spotweldersfriend]

Imperial,and while you're at it what's the air speed velocity of an unladen European swallow please

[j*oono]

I don't believe it but you can find the answer on google!  

[j*oono · Accepted solution]

"Although a definitive answer would of course require further measurements, published species-wide averages of wing length and body mass, initial Strouhal estimates based on those averages and cross-species comparisons, the Lund wind tunnel study of birds flying at a range of speeds, and revised Strouhal numbers based on that study all lead me to estimate that the average cruising airspeed velocity of an unladen European Swallow is roughly 11 meters per second, or 24 miles an hour." 

[spotweldersfriend]

😄

I'll wager monman supplied the answer:-D

[the*scarlet*pimpernel]

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@spotweldersfriend wrote:
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick in metrics please?

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How can you pick a pickled pepper? Surely you would have to pick the pepper first and then pickle it.

[*crikey*mate* · Accepted solution]

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@spotweldersfriend wrote:
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick in metrics please?

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At first the author of that verse claims that Peter picked a peck, but later questions if Peter ever did pick a peck and then ponders the whereabouts of that peck, implying that Peter's peck didn't exist, in which case the answer is 0.

But, if Peter's peck does exist and we can accept that it is impossible to know how the peppers were packed into that peck, (all in together, or portioned into little jars? was there additional packing materials in the peck around the jars? were the jars round or square?....) and are happy to go with the theory that all the peppers were packed into the peck together after they were pickled, cos that's how pecks were packed back then, then the answer is 54.

One peck equates to a bit over 9 litres liquid capacity.

1 litre of water/pickling juice weighs 1 kg.

There would be approximately 700g of raw weight peppers per kilo of pickled product.

The average size of an English pepper in 1813 (the year the verse was published) was 120g.

This means there were approximately 6 peppers per kilo of unpackaged pickled peppers.

So, I reckon, that if Peter had a peck and if that peck was full, then the peck of pickled peppers that peter Piper picked, possessed 54 pickled peppers.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@the*scarlet*pimpernel wrote:

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@spotweldersfriend wrote:
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick in metrics please?

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How can you pick a pickled pepper? Surely you would have to pick the pepper first and then pickle it.

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The verse only says that Peter picked a peck, it never said he picked pickled peppers. It's really irrelevant what was in the peck, only that Peter may have picked a peck comprised of pickled peppers.