Part 227

«Vinegar.»—A person thoroughly familiar with vinegar can tell much regarding the source of the article from its appearance, color, odor, and taste.

If a glass be rinsed out with the sample of vinegar and allowed to stand for a number of hours or overnight, the odor of the residue remaining in the glass is quite different with different kinds of vinegar. Thus, wine vinegar has the odor characteristic of wine, and cider vinegar has a peculiar fruity odor. A small amount of practice with this test enables one to distinguish with a high degree of accuracy between wine and cider vinegars and the ordinary substitutes.

If a sample of vinegar be placed in a shallow dish on a warm stove or boiling teakettle and heated to a temperature sufficient for evaporation and not sufficient to burn the residue, the odor of the warm residue is also characteristic of the different kinds of vinegar. Thus, the residue from cider vinegar has the odor of baked apples and the flavor is acid and somewhat astringent in taste, and that from wine vinegar is equally characteristic. The residue obtained by evaporating vinegar made from sugar-house products and from spirit and wood vinegar colored by means of caramel has the peculiar bitter taste characteristic of caramel.

If the residue be heated until it begins to burn, the odor of the burning product also varies with different kinds of vinegar. Thus, the residue from cider vinegar has the odor of scorched apples, while that of vinegars made from sugar-house wastes and of distilled and wood vinegars colored with a large amount of caramel has the odor of burnt sugar. In noting these characteristics, however, it must be borne in mind that, in order to make them conform to these tests, distilled and wood vinegars often receive the addition of apple jelly.

The cheaper forms of vinegar, especially distilled and wood vinegar, are commonly colored with caramel, which can be detected by the method given.

«FOOD COLORANTS.»

(Most, if not all, of these colorants are injurious and should therefore be used with extreme caution.)

«Sausage Color.»—To dye sausage red, certain tar dyestuffs are employed, {359} especially the azo dyes, preference being given to the so-called genuine red. For this purpose about 100 parts of dyestuff are dissolved in 1,000 to 2,000 parts of hot water; when the solution is complete, add a likewise hot solution of 45 to 50 parts of boracic acid, whereupon the mixture should be stirred well for some time; then filter, allow to cool, and preserve in tightly closing bottles. It is absolutely necessary in using aniline colors to add a disinfectant to the dyestuff solution, the object of which is, in case the sausage should commence to decompose, to prevent the decomposition azo dyestuff by the disengaged hydrogen. Instead of boracic acid, formalin may be used as a disinfectant. Of this formalin, 38 per cent, add about 25 to 30 parts to the cooled and filtered dyestuff solution. This sausage color is used by adding about 1 1⁠/⁠2 to 2 tablespoonfuls of it to the preserving salt measured out for 100 kilos of sausage mass, stirring well. The sausage turns neither gray nor yellow on storing.

«Cheese Color.»—I.—To produce a suitable, pretty yellow color, boil 100 parts of orlean or annatto with 75 parts of potassium carbonate in 1 1⁠/⁠2 to 2 liters of water, allow to cool, and filter after settling, whereupon 15 to 18 parts of boracic acid are added to give keeping qualities to the solution. According to another method, digest about 200 parts of orlean, 200 parts of potassium carbonate, and 100 parts of turmeric for 10 to 12 days in 1,500 to 2,000 parts of 60 per cent alcohol, filter, and keep in bottles. To 100,000 parts of milk to be made into cheese add 1 1⁠/⁠2 to 2 small spoonfuls of this dye, which imparts to the cheese a permanent and natural yellow appearance.

II.—To obtain a handsome yellow color for cheese, such as is demanded for certain sorts, boil together 100 parts of annatto and 75 parts of potassium carbonate in from 1,500 to 2,000 parts of pure water; let it cool, stand it aside for a time, and filter, adding finally from 12 to 15 parts of boracic acid as a preservative. For coloring butter, there is in the trade a mixture of bicarbonate of soda with 12 per cent to 15 per cent of sodium chloride, to which is added from 1 1⁠/⁠2 per cent to 2 per cent of powdered turmeric.

«Butter Color.»—For the coloring of butter there is in the market under the name of butter powder a mixture of sodium bicarbonate with 12 to 15 per cent of sodium chloride and 1 1⁠/⁠2 to 2 per cent of powdered turmeric; also a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, 1,500 parts; saffron surrogate, 8 parts; and salicylic acid, 2 parts. For the preparation of liquid butter color use a uniform solution of olive oil, 1,500 parts; powdered turmeric, 300 parts; orlean, 200 parts. The orlean is applied on a plate of glass or tin in a thin layer and allowed to dry perfectly, whereupon it is ground very fine and intimately mixed with the powdered turmeric. This mixture is stirred into the oil with digestion for several hours in the water bath. When a uniform, liquid mass has resulted, it is filtered hot through a linen filter with wide meshes. After cooling, the filtrate is filled into bottles. Fifty to 60 drops of this liquid color to 1 1⁠/⁠2 kilos of butter impart to the latter a handsome golden yellow shade.

«INFANT FOODS:»

Infants’ (Malted) Food.—

I.—Powdered malt 1 ounce Oatmeal (finest ground) 2 ounces Sugar of milk 4 ounces Baked flour 1 pound

Mix thoroughly.

II.—Infantine is a German infant food which is stated to contain egg albumen, 5.5 per cent; fat, 0.08 per cent; water, 4.22 per cent; carbohydrates, 86.58 per cent (of which 54.08 per cent is soluble in water); and ash, 2.81 per cent (consisting of calcium, 10.11 per cent; potassium, 2.64 per cent; sodium, 25.27 per cent; chlorine, 36.65 per cent; sulphuric acid, 3.13 per cent; and phosphoric acid, 18.51 per cent).

«MEAT PRESERVATIVES.»

(Most of these are considered injurious by the United States Department of Agriculture and should therefore be used with extreme caution.)

«The Preservation of Meats.»—Decomposition of the meat sets in as soon as the blood ceases to pulse in the veins, and it is therefore necessary to properly preserve it until the time of its consumption.

The nature of preservation must be governed by circumstances such as the kind and quality of the article to be preserved, length of time and climatic condition, etc. While salt, vinegar, and alcohol merit recognition on the strength of a long-continued usage as preservatives, modern usage favors boric acid and borax, and solutions containing salicylic acid and sulphuric acid are common, {360} and have been the subject of severe criticism.

Many other methods of preservation have been tried with variable degrees of success; and of the more thoroughly tested ones the following probably include all of those deserving more than passing mention or consideration.

1. The exclusion of external, atmospheric electricity, which has been observed to materially reduce the decaying of meat, milk, butter, beer, etc.

2. The retention of occluded electric currents. Meats from various animals packed into the same packages, and surrounded by a conducting medium, such as salt and water, liberate electricity.

3. The removal of the nerve centers. Carcasses with the brains and spinal cord left therein will be found more prone to decomposition than those wherefrom these organs have been removed.

4. Desiccation. Dried beef is an excellent example of this method of preservation. Other methods coming under this heading are the application of spices with ethereal oils, various herbs, coriander seed extracted with vinegar, etc.

5. Reduction of temperature, i. e., cold storage.

6. Expulsion of air from the meat and the containers. Appert’s, Willaumez’s, Redwood’s, and Prof. A. Vogel’s methods are representative for this category of preservation. Phenyl paper, Dr. Busch’s, Georges’s, and Medlock and Baily’s processes are equally well known.

7. The application of gases. Here may be mentioned Dr. Gamgee’s and Bert and Reynoso’s processes, applying carbon dioxide and other compressed gases, respectively.