Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-11-16

ure foisted upon him which contains, in
addition TO dodri, the sporules of fungus,
grit, grape sugar, dirt and tapioca starch
In white sugar, the very fine kind that
is Affected by some bousekeepers for pow
dering the tops of cakes, etc, is almost
always adulterated with flour, starch and
plaster of Paris. The coarser.grained
sugars, such as the coarse granulated,
are as general thing pure. -Four or
FIVE years ago number of eminent ply
sicians published card in the newspa-
pers warning the public az inst the use
of brown sugars, which were declared
"totally unfit for human consumption"
Mostof the impure coffee is found in
the prepared packages, or in those estab-
lishments where II is ready ground"
The better class of dealers keep the berry
in bulk and grind it to order. Still there
is an enormous amount of coffee, so-called,
sold in packages, which in reality is not
coffee at all, but compound of roasted
beans or peas, chickory, burnt corn,
dandelion and roasted grain of various
kinds. Worse than all these--which
happily are not deleterious-baked liver
is extensively used for mixing with other
materials, no discrimination being made
as to its condition or the animal from
which it is taken
Turnips, carrots and parsnips are also
used in the manufacture of this patent
coffee; so, too, are roasted and ground
acorns, and even saw-dust. To give the
deep brown color which people generally
suppose belongs to good coffee, Venetian
red is used. -- -. .-. --
And here let us say, for the benefit of
coffee. drinkers, that genuine coffee of
good quality should be, when infused, of
a clear amber color, and not dark brown. /
Chicory bears the greater share in the
foregoing list of articles used for adul.
terating purposes, and even that is near
ly always reduced in quality by the ad-
mixture of other things, as Pereira re-
marks: "While the grocers on one hand
cheat their customers by adulterating
with chicory, the dealers in that article
in turn cheat the grocers by adulterating
chicory." This is done with many of
the articles above mentioned, and with
once-used coffee, e-ground tanbark and
powdered logwood.
The adulteration of tea is carried to
even a greater extent, and wonderful in
genuity is shown both in this country and
China in defrauding buyers and custom.
ers. In China three distinct methods
of adulteration are practiced: one con.
ssts of the mixture of other kinds of
leaves with those of the tea-plant; the
second is the manufacture of wholly
spurious article, aptly enough called
Lie tea" while the third consists in
painting, glazing or artiticially coloring
the surface of the leaves with various
pigmentary substances. a-l
Millions of pounds of the leaves of
different kinds of plants are annually
dried in China to mingle with the genu-
ine so that in commercial ways that
are dark, the Mongolian sets the exam.
pie. Lie" tea, as we have already said,
is not tea at all. 1t consists of the dust
of tea and other leaves, with sand, made
up by means of starch and gum into lit
tie masses, which are afterward painted
and colored to resemble black o. green
gunpowder tea. This article is exten-
sively imported into this country For
coloring teas. Prussian blue and indigo,
tumeric, China clay and black lead are
extensively used, and sometimes sulphate
of lime and gypsum, 1twould be hardly
an exaggeration to say that nearly all the
green teas brought to this Country are
! thus colored. H@ II A
| Certain American dealers, that is,
those who import, have undoubtedly
benefited in some measure from the ex.
| ample set them by the Celestials, and we
have seen here in Boston an adulteration
that was freely sold, consisting of wheat
chaff and other small husks, by which 1t
20 hnlf ta1 tn Irrt 81 Naa
who make a regular business of it.
There are those, of course, who take
no hand in this wickedness, but are con-
tent to sell what they buy and to buy
what they choose. Exhausted tea-leaves
are used in immense quantities for doc
toring teas. They are treated with sui
phate of iron, catechu and gum, to give
them color, astringency and gloss In
London few years ago, there were eight
| large establishments where redrying ex-
hausted tea-leaves was carried on, and
agents were sent through the country for
the purpose of buying up from the hotels
and coffee houses the "grounds" of the
tea-makings.
Cocoa, so much enjoyed by invalids,
and supposed to be the purest of all ar
ticles used for beverages, is Just as liza
BILE to adulteration at the hands of the
manufacturer and dealer as tea and cof.
fee. Genuine cocoa is exceedingly hard
to find. Many of the preparations of the
cocoanut sold under the name of choco-
late shells and chocolate powder, con
sist of disgusting mixture of bad or
musty cocoanuts, with their shells, sugar
of the poorest quality, ground up with
potato starch, old sea biscuits, coarse,
branny -four, tallow or lard, red and yell
low ochre, chalk, sulphate of lime, red
lead, etc. Ninetenths of the prepara.
| tions from cocoa contain these ingredi-
ents in greater or less proportion.
In buying butter for the family table
| one needs to be as wise as serpent 1t
may be that he is acquainted with the
dealer, and is, therefore, safe in laying
in his tub of Goshen or best Vermont,
but if he prowls round the various mar
kets and buys of Thomas, Richard or
Henry, he is pretty sure to find that an
inferior article has been palmed off on
him. 1t is not generally known, perhaps,
that the weight of butter can be largely
increased by the addition of water. Let
US suppose that there is such thing as
q NhO 10 Wiling w hldhO a
large profit, and that he is not particular
how it is done, Suppose that he has a
dozen tubs of genuine Vermont butter
which he wishes to DOCTOR"
This is the way he goes to work: First,
he melts tub of butter in large iron
kettle; then he adds to 1t four or FIVE
pounds of lard, and when the two are in
corporated he stirs in salt and water un-
til it cools, when it is slightly worked
and put back into the tub. Besides the
choapening of the butter by the addition
of lard, gain of per cent in weight
is made by the water added. Other
adulterations are accomplished by the
aid of animal fat and even potato starch
As may be supposed, these represent the
very poorest qualities. The new sub.
stance, oleomargarine, can hardly be
called an adulteration. 1t is made from
suet, and, although unit for table use,
is preferred by many housekeepers to