The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1880-11-20
DELIBERATIONS
Cheap and Inferior Substitutes - How
hey arc Mixed With Butter, Sugar
Lard. ETC.. and Sold for the Genuine
Article.

Lard. ETC., and Sold for the Genuin
Article.
Nearly every article of food that is
sold can safely be said to be more or less
adulterated. Not that the pure article
cannot be bought or that all dealers are
dishonest, but that the purchaser must
know what he is about or he will in
many instances be given adulterated
substances. Indeed, in some cases, it
may be said that the customer prefers
the adulterated to the pure article. so
depraved has his taste become by the
long continued use of the former. In
stances are many where people have be-
come so accustomed to drink coffee
mixed with chicory, peas and the like
that they will send back to the store as
inferior in taste the very best Java. This,
however. is no excuse for deceit.
Adulteration has now become a fine
art. and in those articles on which there
is but a small margin of profit when
sold legitimately it is carried on with
skill worthy of a better cause. For in
stance, a firm, whose mandatory is in
South Brooklyn, isT.making and selling
as butter a substance which has not even
the merit of oleomargarine to recon-
mend it. Oleaine (the oil of fat), lard
and good butter are melted in o. tank
and thoroughly mixed, when it is put
into new Welsh tubs and sold to ship.
pers as butter. Such little butter as is
used in this process is really of a fine
grade, but it is. only used to give color
and flavor to the substance. Of course,
much money is made by this deception.
Sugar, however, is more largely
adulterated than any other article, as is
well kno m. Oftentimes the legitimate
profit on this article is very small, and
then the disreputable dealers resort to
ways that are dark" to increase their
returns. For instance, grape sugar
(made together with glucose from corn
is used as an adulterator. It is ground
very fine and then mixed with refined
sugar. The manufacturers of this SUBJ
stance do not refine their own sugar
but pur chase it. from the large refiners.
The latter latterly refused to sell to
these dealers because the sale of the I'M
adulterated article interfered with their
own business. The mixture costs about
three and q quarter cents a pound,
while the cheapest sugar cannot be pur-
chased for less than seven cents, and
there is conse luently a large profit. 1t
is understood, however, that the manu-
facturers Of this mixture have now no
difficulty in purchasing refined sugar,
and are prosecuting their. business with
success. It is difficult to detect the
adulteration, but grape sugar has no
grain and will leave a sediment in the
cup.
New Orleans molasses is also initiated
by mixing glucose, worth about forty
two cents a gallon, and black strap"
at twenty cents a gallon, and other SUBJ
stances, creating a syrup of a rich amber
color, which is much sought after by
many buyers, who imagine they are
purchasing the best. Those who wish
the real genuine syrup should buy that
having a very dark color. The adulter-
alton is put up in secondhand New
Orleans molasses hogsheads, the dealers
paying thirty-five cents apiece more for
| these than for new barrels of a different
| make.
Again there is what is known as a
Scotch process of adulterating sugar.
Many persons are complaining nova
days that they can no longer sweeten
their coffee or tea. Where they for
merly pnt in only one teaspoonful they
are obliged now to increase the quantity
threefold. The reason can soon be ex'
planned. The makers take good imported
sugar, boil and reboil it. The syrup
thus made they mix with yellow sugar
making the brown. damp, soggy sugar
so large y sold at the corner groceries
The difference in price between it ant
uAC OCob WhltC ouSdl 10 Ouly dDOQG wv
cents a pound, but the latter contains l0t
per cent. more sweetness; so that the
latter is really the cheaper article. II
making 1900 barrels of this sugar about
fifty barrels of syrup are used.
Lard isalso siulterated, especially so
it is said, for the Cuban market. Tht
stuff sent there is said to be made up o
lard, tallow, and what's known as "gu
lard" besides other things which neet
not be mentioned. Why this stuff should
be SC largely exported to Cuba, while
only the best refined lard is sent to South
America, is a mystery. but SO it is. Thu
continent of Europe also imports a fail
quality of lard. Our home consumpticr
consists mainly of the natural lard
unrefined.
And SO through a long list of article:
do authorizations extend. That tn
Chinese color tea for the American
market, though they do not drink i
themselves, is well known. The hold
of coffee vessels are swept and the leav
ings are preserved, cleaned slightly, ant
+, on soId "a q sort of cOmbination coffee