The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-07-21

Fusel Oil as the Essence of Pineapple Straw
berry-Cider From No Orchard.
From the New York Sun. @
There is mighty little genuine fruit ex.,
tract in the strip and extracts of commerce.
the chemist of a manufacturing house said,
pushing aside glass jars, strainers, and re-
torts, SO as to make clear place for some
of his books of formulas. Natural favors,
are both weak and costly. For instance, if
if you sugar down pineapples or strawber-
ries, you get delightful natural strip, but
your white sugar alone will cost you SO
cents gallon, and the fruit is expensive,
as you know. The flavor is just at its
proper strength and will not 60 a great ways
in aayoring additions to the strip; and 50
only small portion of the fruit syrups and
essence of commerce have any fruit about
them. Smell this!"
He unstoppeda bottle of thin, transparent
liquid. 1t ditfused a strong pineapple oder
of Irritating pungency.
THAT" he said, is butyric ether. Mixed
with alcohol, it is the pineapple oil Of COM
merce, and it enters into nearly every favor
manufactured and into most perfumes. It
is extracted from rancid fat. The tallow
oil which is the basis of artificial butter will
furnish it. Another prominent ingred dent
of artificial favors is amyle, which you will
know better by the name of fusel oil. Some
one Of its compounds 60 into the manufac-
ture of the favOrs of'pineapple. strawberry,
raspberry, apricot, pearl, orange and apple.
Compounds Of methyl, ali extract of coal
tar, are also much used. Succinic acid, OBJ
tanned from amber; sebacic acid, extracted
from fat; and benzoic acid, originally ex-
tracted from vegetable resin, but now
made from naphthaline, a coal-ol product,
| al in
Formic acid, another Ingredient, was origin
ally obtained from ants, and hence its name
is derived from the Latin word for ant,
formicia. But it is now manufactured arti-
ficially. Chloroform goes into some favors,
notably grape essence, and Oxalic acid goes
into the bloom Of gooseberry, apricot, lena
on, 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?"
t.Not when ased simply for tlavoring
purposes y was the answer. ''The reason
why they must be used to initiate natural
favors 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 ar
tifcial 1avors or essences would be poison
GUS, taken in large quantities, it does MOI
follow that their use as favors is injurious
any more than that almonds should not b
| eaten because their concentrated extract ii
i poisonous. 5z1
'.As matter of fact, soda water favorl
and candy havors are almost invariably ar
ti6cial; and the bouquet and flavor of man,
bottle of wine is due to the various amyl
or fussel oil others. !"
$ 81 remember" he continued, 'seein,
some time ago an anecdote about Frencl
wine seller, who said to his son: Away!
, remember, my son, that wine may be mad
, from anything, even grape juice. hav
thought the same thing often when I hav
, drunk the sweet cider of commerce.
OF course there is sweet cider that is mad
! from apple juice, and it may be kept hon
, getting hard by the addition Of bisulphite o
, lime. But there are immense quantities o
: sweet cider sold that are perfectly innocen
i of apple juice, aud there are plenty of re
: cipts for making it. People that kno,
what good orchard cider is, are not ikel
to drink much of the manufactured cider
and If they did it would not hurt them
although would not like to drink eide
made from this recipe.
The chemist showed the reporter trad
recipe for cider, which called for honey
: catechu ian astringeHt resin), alum yeas
> bitter almonds. cloves, burnt sugar, an
s alcahol. The recipe adds::aH too swee
add sulphuric acid to suit the taste.
7, = aSulphuric acid, " he said. is not a health
ful article Of diet; but, as I said before,
r thing may be perfectly innocuous in d
3 luted shape and very small quantity thu
3 would be hurtful in q concentrated form
Odd, isn't it, that delicate favors and pei
fumes should come from the refuse of tt
abatteir and .coal-oil distillery? But
e great many pleasant things have humb
origins.