Sterno

2025-09-24T06:31:55Z

2603:6010:E700:E71:950E:1C4A:4968:3B06: /* Abuse */Replaced the term “alcohol” with “ethanol” since both methanol and ethanol are alcohols.

{{Short description|Brand of denatured alcohol fuel in gel form}}
{{For|"sterno-" as a prefix|Sternum}}
{{For|the record label|Sterno Records}}
[[File:Sterno.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A can of Sterno aflame]]
'''Sterno''' is a [[brand]] of [[gel|jellied]] [[denatured alcohol]] sold in and meant to be burned directly in its can. Popular both in commercial food service and home entertainment, its primary uses are as a [[chafing fuel|fuel]] for heating [[chafing dish]]es in [[buffet]]s and serving [[fondue]]. Other uses are for [[portable stove]]s and as an emergency heat source. It is also used with toy and model steam and other [[external combustion engine]]s.

The flame is typically lit with a [[match]] or [[lighter]] and extinguished by placing the lid over the can to starve it of air, though any noncombustible cover will do.

== History ==
[[File:Advertising sign LOC 14999564845.jpg|thumb|alt=S. Sternau & Co at 233 5th Av., Manhattan.|S. Sternau & Co at 233 5th Av., Manhattan.]]
[[File:Sterno ad 1915.jpg|thumb|1915 magazine ad]]
The Sterno brand and trademark is owned by Sterno Products, a portfolio company of Westar Capital LLC, based in [[Corona, California]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.insideview.com/directory/the-sterno-group-llc|website=Insideview.com]|title= The Sterno Group LLC |access-date=27 November 2012}}</ref> The brand was purchased from [[Blyth, Inc.]] in late 2012.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Blyth, Inc. Announces Sale Of Sterno Business (Press release)|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/article/2012-10-29/ahfpJSEjayrc.html|access-date=10 June 2014|work=Bloomberg|agency=PR Newswire|date=29 October 2012}}</ref> Blyth had acquired the business from [[Colgate-Palmolive]] in 1997.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Company News; Colgate To Sell Heating Fuel Business For $70 Million|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/02/business/company-news-colgate-to-sell-heating-fuel-business-for-70-million.html|access-date=11 February 2015|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2 October 1997}}</ref>

The name comes from that of the original manufacturer, S. Sternau & Co. of [[Brooklyn, New York]], a maker of [[chafing dish]]es, [[coffee percolator]]s and similar appliances since 1893. It had previously applied the name to its "Sterno-Inferno" alcohol burner. In 1918, it promoted its Sterno Stove as being a perfect gift for a soldier going overseas.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn78004456/1918-08-25/ed-1/?sp=6&st=text|title=Image 6 of The New York Times, August 25, 1918|work=The Library of Congress|access-date=2018-02-04|language=en}}</ref> In his book ''[[With the Old Breed]]'', [[Eugene Sledge|E. B. Sledge]] describes its use on the battlefields of the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|Pacific Theatre]] in 1944 and 1945.

Discovered around 1900 as a byproduct of the [[nitrocellulose]] manufacturing process,{{cn|date=December 2019}} Sterno is made from [[ethanol]] [[Denatured alcohol|denatured]] by adding [[methanol]], water, and an [[Amphoterism|amphoteric]] oxide [[gel|gelling agent]], plus, in recent decades, a safety dye that gives it a characteristic pink color. The methanol is added to denature the product, which is intended to make it too toxic for consumption. Designed to be odorless, a {{convert|7|oz|g|adj=on}} can will burn for up to two hours.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sterno-CandleLamp-7-oz-Odorless-Canned-Heat-6-Pack-20503/206680428|title=Sterno CandleLamp 7 oz. Odorless Canned Heat (6-Pack)-20503& - The Home Depot|website=The Home Depot|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-04}}</ref>

== Abuse ==
Sterno contains methyl alcohol, which makes it poisonous. Moreover, the methanol can cause permanent blindness by destruction of the retina [[optic nerve]]s. In spite of this there are many instances of people ingesting Sterno in lieu of ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Bluesman [[Tommy Johnson (guitarist)|Tommy Johnson]] alludes to the practice in his song "Canned Heat Blues" recorded in 1928.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/delta/blues/people/tommy_johnson.htm |title=National Park Service, Trail of the Hellhound: Tommy Johnson Accessed on 10/09/11 |access-date=2011-07-31 |archive-date=2011-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229144158/http://www.nps.gov/history/delta/blues/people/tommy_johnson.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> (The blues band [[Canned Heat]] derived their name from the song.)

The practice is said to have become popular during [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PyW8a_2bvMsC&dq=sterno+prohibition&pg=PA95 |title=in google books |isbn=9780801868702 |access-date=2015-02-03 |archive-date=2022-11-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125233227/https://books.google.com/books?id=PyW8a_2bvMsC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=sterno+prohibition&source=bl&ots=XFJlZmBPnB&sig=TrldGlu2LazLf0hO9C64GjItRLw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Hw3QVOjnO4HQgwSC74LQAw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=sterno%20prohibition&f=false |url-status=live |last1=Murdock |first1=Catherine Gilbert |date=26 June 2002 }}</ref> and the [[Great Depression]], in [[hobo]] camps, or "jungles", when the Sterno would be squeezed through [[cheesecloth]] or a [[sock]] and the resulting liquid mixed with fruit [[juice]] to make "[[jungle juice]]", "sock wine", "squeeze",<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19620105&id=5vMeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=04sEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7280,483466 "Police Start Drive on Drinkers of Canned Heat"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125233227/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19620105&id=5vMeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=04sEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7280,483466 |date=2022-11-25 }}, ''The Sarasota Journal'', January 5, 1962.</ref> or "smoke".<ref name=Courtwright>Courtwright, David (1996) ''Violent Land: Single Men abd Social Disorder from the Frontier to the Inner City'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 194, {{isbn|0-674-27871-2}}</ref>

The 1956 American documentary ''[[On the Bowery]]'' includes footage of three homeless men straining Sterno cooking fuel to make "squeeze" and then drinking the alcohol.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/this-month/movie-news.html?id=473080&name=On-the-Bowery-Lionel-Rogosin-s-Landmark-1956-Documentary|title=Turner Classic Movies |website=Tcm.com|access-date=July 27, 2025}}</ref>

In an article for the ''[[JAMA (journal)|Journal of the American Medical Association]]'' in 1961, Capt. James H. Shinaberger, MC, writes about a study of three people who had suffered methanol poisoning as a result of drinking Sterno. One of the patients "had been drinking Sterno for about a week and had been in the city prison for 48 hours when severe abdominal pain and vomiting occurred".<ref>{{Cite journal
| last1 = Shinaberger | first1 = J. H.
| title = Treatment of Methanol Poisoning by Extracorporeal Dialysis
| doi = 10.1001/archinte.1961.03620120121016
| journal = Archives of Internal Medicine
| volume = 108
| issue = 6
| pages = 937–939
| year = 1961
| pmid = 13912015
}}</ref> According to one observer, the consumption of Sterno "results in a physiological and neurotic degeneracy which is as disastrous as narcotic addiction. ... Individuals habituated to 'smoke' ordinarily do not return to the comparatively mild effects of whiskey or beer." One substitute uses in the absence of Sterno was [[kerosene]] mixed with milk, then boiled, skimmed and cooled before consumption.<ref name=Courtwright/>

In December 1963, a rash of 31 deaths in [[Philadelphia]]'s homeless population was traced to a local store that knowingly sold Sterno to people for them to consume and get drunk.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/1967311211pasuper1001294|title=COMMONWEALTH v. FEINBERG | 211 Pa.Super... | uper1001294 | Leagle.com|website=Leagle.com|access-date=July 27, 2025}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Beverage-can stove]]
*[[Calcium acetate]]
*[[Coleman fuel]]
*[[Hexamine fuel tablet]]
*[[Portable stove]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.sterno.com/}}
* [https://www.sternopro.com/sds Material Safety Data Sheets]

[[Category:Camping equipment]]
[[Category:Fuels]]
[[Category:Alcohol abuse]]

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Sterno