Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-01-15
Something About Glucose.

that the profits of the business now
amount to about 81, 100000 year upon
a capital of 100000. The fact that
enormous quantities of grape sugar, or
glucose, is sold, and that the business
has at least doubled every year for the
last five years, until at present all the
starch factories turn out more or less Of
the product; that several vast establish
ments arc building for the purpose of
manufacturing glucose, one in Detroit
and one in Chicago; and that the adul-
terations in which glucose is used are
now recognized among merchants, in
duced reporter to inquire into the his
tory and extent of the glucose business.
Sugar merchants who mix glucose with
their sugar are careful about giving
facts and figures, but all admitted that
its use was widespread and increasing
every day.
In 1867 German chemist named
GOesling arrived in New York with
secret process of producing strip from
corn at small cost, about twenty gallons
of sirup being obtained from one bushel
OF corn. The corn was first made into
starch, which, after treatment with sui
phuric acid was run through mar
ble-dust in order to extract the acid,
after which il was purified with
boneblack and boiled to any desired
consistency. DR.. Goesling interested
some New York capitalists and sugar
merchants in his process and sold the
patents TO a company called the Union
Sugar Company for half million dol
lars. The Union Sugar Company had
been organized especially to make the
new kind of sugar, and Immediately
erected works and began business.
Prosperity was too much for DR.. Goes
ling, who died before the first batch of
sirup was turned out. No one thought
at that time of making solid glucose /;
the sirup was all that the Union Sugar
Company intended to produce. When
the first barrels of the new strip were
produced the appearance was excellent,
and the stockholders congratulated
themselves upon having possession of q
gold mine. Unfortunately the new pro-
duct had defects, the chief among which
was that it would not "stand," as the
sirup men say; it solidifed and candied,
becoming solid, waxy mass which was
unstable. DR.. Goesling had apparently
forgotten to tell the company his method
of making the sirup "stand." He had
known some method of doing this, but
his secret died with him. After several
Intellectual and costly attempts TO solve
the difficulty the Union Sugar Company
gave up business, having lost about ST.
O00, 900, and sold the product of candied
sirup on hand to the Tribune Association
at two dollars a barrel, for the purpose
of making ink rollers.
, When DR.. Goesling sold his patents
to the New York company, a Buffalo
! company had already bought from
, Goesling the right to use his process in
Buffalo. The Buffalo company met
, with the same difficulty which the Union
, Sugar Company experienced their
product candied. But instead of giving
, up the manufacture they went to work
to find out to what use the candied glu-
cose could be put. In the first place il
was found that the glucose strip, if mixed
with low-grade black molasscs, made an
+ excellent golden strip, which, while not
so sweet as refined Cuba strip, was as
q good in appearance and sold as well
| As glucose sirup could be produced fol
l half the cost of sugar strip. the saving
9 effected by mixing the two was enOr
\ nous. In the next place, if glucose
sirup was allowed to candy asd harden
y it was found that it could be grounC
9 up and mixed with low-grade darl
. brown sugars, the mixture having tn,
. appearance and qualities of refined Ugh
q brown sugar, with the exception that i
Z was not so sweet as refined sugar. From
p small beginnings the business of thu
: Buffalo company grew to Importance
The glucose could be produced from
!. corn at the rate of thirty pounds of gu
. cose, worth three and half cents ;
pound, from one bushel of corn, besid
|, which the refuse from each bushel %
4 corn brought six cents when sold n
f stock food. One of,the witnesses in TIT
# suit mentioned in the beginning Of thi
article testified that he mixed from
/. twelve to twenty per centum of glucos
i. with his cane sugar, selling. the mlXtur
:, at good profit under the name o
! "new process sugars" He sold NOR
than 200 barrels day of this sugar.
~ Upon referring to several Wall Stree
\. sugar merchants the reporter found tina
, while the use of glucose in vast quaint
~ ties was admitted, the mixers, as the
p are called to distinguish them from sug
a ar refiners, are not anxious to have muc
' light thrown upon the business. Th
: refiners are not mixers. They sell sue
- ar only, Just as the Buffalo company sell
q, glucose only. The mixers buy of bot
~ and mix it to suit themselves. Severa
~ firms do this sort of business exclusively
n calling the product "new process
m sugars"
W Having been told that glucose in sug
3, 70 ar had bad effect upon the health {
10 the consumer. and that therefore it wa
+v worse than mere assault upon tn
~ pocket, the reporter next sought OF
10 Professor Chandler, of the Board {
m Health, who secuted the notion this
. glucose in sugar was unhealthy. "W
u eat glucose with every mouthful we take
~ every bit of starchy food we take turr
ar into glucose. There is glucose in ever
in fruit and a certain quantity in the be
N of sugars. Because saccharine particle
w are found in diabetes, people jump
y the conclusion that it is glucose. Again
h. they hear that sulphuric acid is used
q. making glucose, and they are Mortified
~ They might as we'll be afraid of geuin
r.. some of the iron off the hoe with whic
i. their potatoes are dug up as t. be afrai
es of the sulphric acid used in making gll
70 cose. So long as the mixers only put OF