Researchers and conservators from the Antarctic Heritage Trust located a a 100 year old rusted tin containing a Huntley & Palmers fruitcake amongst the ruins of Antartica’s oldest building. The cake is believed to have belonged to explorer Robert Falcon Scott who probably packed it for his 1911 Terra Nova Expedition near Cape Adare. Once the rust was removed and the tin was opened, witnesses reported that “the cake itself looked and smelt (almost) edible.”
The cake probably dates to the Cape Adare-based Northern Party of Scott’s Terra Nova expedition (1910 – 1913) as it has been documented that Scott took this particular brand of cake with him at that time. …Conservation treatment involved rust removal, chemical stabilisation and coating of the tin remnants. Deacidification of the tin label and some physical repair to the torn paper wrapper and tin label was also carried out. The cake itself was in excellent condition.
