K. T. ACHAYA AND B. N. BANERJEE 263
TABLE IV
Constituents of ghee and milk, colouring matters,
breakdown products, etc.
Sample
Acids
Acetic . .
Butyric . .
Stearic . .
Oleic . .
Lactic . .
Other possible con-
stituents
Alcohol . .
Glycerine .
Cholesterol .
Lactose . .
Natural and arti-
ficial colouring
matters
Carotene solu-
tion in petrol
ether
Chlorophyll so-
lution
in
SO per cent
acetone
Annatto in con-
centrated so-
lution
Pure annatto,
1:20 aqueous
solution .
Butter colour
made
from
above
Lactochrome so-
lution water
Colour by day light
Colourless liquid .
do. . .
Colourless solid .
Pale, orange yellow
liquid
Colourless liquid .
Colourless liquid .
Colourless viscous
liquid
White, crystalline
flakes
Colourless solid .
Pale yellow in very
dilute solution;
orange residue-on
evaporation
Pale green solu-
tion, green re-
sidue on eva-
poration
Very dark blood-
red
Very dark orange
red
Bright red . .
Pale greenish yel-
low
Colour by ultra-
violet light
Colourless liquid
Bright purple
Beautiful violet
Pale purple
Pale lilac
Very pale blue
Extremely
faint
blue
Bright
purple
colour
Pale blue colour
Bright
milky
yellow ; residue
yellow on evapo-
ration
Beautiful ruby-red
on evaporation
yellowish-red
Dirty redish-yellow
Dull orange-red
do.
Bright
greenish
white
extracted by the simple method recommended by
Dan, Kon, and Moore [1937].
It has been suggested by Morgen and MacLennan
[1928], etc. that the blue colours obtained are due
to vitamins. They may also possibly be due to
sterols. Cholesterol has a blue fluorescence; and
crystals of plant phytosterol when examined showed
a light purple colour.
Finally, the results of the examination of ghee
itself are given in Table VI and discussed.
The first suggestion is that the colour range is
wide and erratic. However, it is seen that
(1) no fresh ghee gives any tint of blue, (2) old
and very white ghee gives a blue shade and (3) a
yellow colour in ghee reveals itself as a yellow colour
in fluorescent light. The observations on carotene
come to mind. It seems as if carotene masks the
true colour of the ghee, and that its removal
might yield better information. Some of the above
samples of ghee were therefore bleached with 10 per
cent of animal charcoal for 20 seconds and filtered.
Also a petrol-ether solution of carotene (extracted
from dried carrots) was added drop by drop to
these bleached samples till the colours matched the
C
TABLE V
Unsaponifiable matter from ghee and oils
Sample
Sindhi cow ghee,
rather old
Murrah
buffalo
ghee, three years
old
Dacca ghee, June,
1942
Porbunder buff-
alo ghee, Feb-
ruary, 1942
Fresh
buffalo
ghee
Ghee
prepared
from
soured
cream
Groundnut hard-
ened oil
Cocoanut
hard-
ened oil
Cotton seed hard-
ened oil
Cocoanut oil
Colour by day light
Yellow oily globul-
es
Pale yellow viscous
liquid
Yellow slimy li-
quid
Colourless oil
Yellow oily drops
White milky liquid
Pale yellow oil
do. .
Silky white crys-
tals
Yellow oily liquid
Colour by ultra-
violet light
Bright bluish violet
Blue with green
tinge
Bluish yellow
Bright purple
Bright bluish purple
Bright blue
Bright bluish purple
do.
Fairly bright blue
Bluish violet
TABLE VI
Fluorescence of ghee
Sample
1. Fresh
buffalo
ghee
2. Fresh buffalo
ghee gone slight-
ly rancid
3. Cow ghee, fresh
4. Old ghees—
(a) Hariana
cow ghee, 2½
years
(b) Ayrshire cow
ghee, 2½ years
(c) Sindhi cow
ghee, 2½ years
(d) Murrah buff-
alo ghee, 2½
years
Colour by day light
Pale yellow solid
and liquid on
melting
Pale yellow solid,
almost colourless
on melting
Bright
yellow
liquid
Golden yellow liquid
Bright yellow .
do. .
Dirty yellow li-
quid
Colour by ultra-
violet light
Pale greenish white
Pale greenish white
with
tint
of
blue
Bright milky yellow
Light blue
Bright canary yellow
do.
Bright greenish blue