Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-08-18
WHAT THEY PUT IN FLAVORS.

"There is mighty little genuine fruit ex-
tract in the syrups and favors of commerce. -
the chemist of manufacturing house said,
pushing aside glass jars, strainers and retorts,
so as to make clear space for some of his
books Of formulas. Natural favors are both
weak and costly. For instance, if you sugar
down pineapples or strawberries, you get de.
lightful natural syrup, but your white sugar
alone will cost you eighty.eigbt cents gal
Ion, and the fruit is expensive. as you know:
The flavor is just at its proper strength and
will not 60 great ways in aavoring addi'
tions to the syrup; and so only a small por-
tion of the fruit syrups and essences of com.
merce have any fruit about them. Smell
this"
He unstopped vial of thin; transparent
liquid. 1t diffused strong pineapple odor of
irritating pungency.
THAT" he said, sis butyric acid. Mixed
with alcohol, it is the pineapple oil Of COM
merce, and it enters into nearly every flavor
manufactured. and into most perfumes. 1t is
extracted from rancid fat The tallow oil,
which. is the basis of artificial butter, will fur.
nish it. Another prominent ingredient of ar.
ti6cial aavors is amyle, which you will know
better by the name of fuse. Ill. Some one of
its compounds 60 into the manufacture Of the
havors Of pineapple, strawberry, raspberry,
apricot, pear, orange and apple. Compounds
Of metbyl, an extract of coal tar, are also
much used. Succinic acid, obtained from
amber sebacic acid, extracted from fat and
benzoic acid, originally extracted from veg.
etable resin, but now made from nathaline, a
coal oil product, are also much used in vari.
Gus shapes. Formic acid, another ingredient,
was originally obtained from ants, and hence
its name is derived from the Latin word for
ant, tormica. But it is now manufactured ar.
tifcially. Chloroform goes into some Aavors,
notably grape essence, and oxalic acid goes
into the bloom of gooseberry, apricot, lemon
and apple. Tartaric acid is also largely used.
Most of these substances are used in the form
of ethers, and their strength Of odor is due to
their exceeding volatility"
"Are not such compounds injurious ?"
"Not when used simply for Havoring pur-
poses," was the answer. "The reason why
they may be used to initiate natural aavors
with such success, is doubtless due to the fact
that the favors of the natural fruits are due
to their presence. Butyric acid is naturally
present in the pineapple, tartaric acid in wine,
citric acid in lemons, and oxalic acid in
gooseberries. While artificial favors or es'
sences would be poisonous, taken in large
quantities. it does not follow that their use as
havors, is injurious any more than that al.
monds should not be eaten because their con-
centrated extract is poisonous AS a matter
of fact soda water favors and candy havors
are almost invariably artificial, and the
bouquet and flavor of many bottle of wine
is due to the various amylic or fusel oil eth
ers."
81 remember" he continued, "seeing some
time ago an anecdote about French wine
seller, who said to his son: "Always remem:
Der, my son, that wine may be made out OF
anything, even grape juice" l have thoug ht
the same thing often when have drunk the
sweet cider of commerce. Of course there is
a sweet cider that is made from apple juice,
and it may be kept from getting hard by the
addition of bisul phite of lime. But there are
immense quantities of sweet cider sold that
are perfectly innocent of apple juice, and
there are plenty of receipts for making it.
People that know what good apple cider is are
not likely to drink much Of the manufactured
cider, and if they did it would not hurt them,
although could not like to drink cider made
from this receipt
The chemist showed the reporter trade
receipt for cider, which called for honey,
catecbu, Gan astringent resin), alum, yeast,
bitter almonds, cloves, burnt sugar and alco:
hol. The receipt adds "If too sweet, add
sulphuric acid to suit the TASTE"
"Sulphuric acid" he said, "is not a health.
full article of diet but, as I said before, a
thing may be perfectly innocent in diluted
shape and in a very small quantity that
would be hurtful in concentrated form.
Odd, isn't it, that delicate flowers and per.
fumes should come from the refuse of the alb.
battoir and the coal of distillery? But a
great many pleasant things have humble or
$50