St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-03-03
SPICES OF MANY KINDS.
How Pepper, Cinnamon and the Like Are
Pranared for Market.

ID aOy@tand so near the wheel! 1t
weigns .9go ions aud is making six
hundreu revolutions minute. The
suction is great enough to draw you
in"
So spoke the engineer as reporter
looked at the machinery that operated
long lines of shafting and betting.
The engine works all of the machinery
in a great spice mill, one of the largest
and best equipped in the country, and
located right in the heart of New York
City.
Standing on the top floor the SUPER
intendent said: Here are the spices
as they come to US. This bin contains
mustard seed, this one is full of whole
peppers from Singapore, and here we
have cinnamon from Ceylon and
ginger from Jamaica. There are
several bins of each kind of spice,
and each contains different
grades. The mustard seed is fed
through pipes to pair of large steel
rollers on the floor below. These
crush it out into small fakes. The
first quality of mustard is made by
putting these flakes into long row of
iron mortars, in which the flakes are
pounded to an impalpable powder by
steam trip hammers. )"
Twenty-Five of these hammers began
rising and falling at this moment and
the noise was so great that all further
words were lost The powdered mus
tard was shoveled up into screens
made of the finest silk and placed in
sets of eight on oscillating tables.
The second grade of mustard, after
being crushed, is placed in bags be-
tween hair mattresses in hydraulic
press and subjected to q pressure of
five thousand pounds to the square
inch. This removes large proper
ton of the oil, and leaves a dry hard
cake. which, when ground, is sold for
second-grade mustard. The oil is
used by confectioners, and also in
place of olive oil for packing sardines.
Long pipes connect with the pepper
bins ON the top floor, and feed the
whole pepper seeds to the mills. These
are similar 10 flour mills-revolving
stones. The pepper when ground is
picked up by an endless chain of
buckets and taken to revolving screens;
the coarse parts are returned to the
mill and the fine pepper passes into
bins in the packing room below. Gin
namon, allspice and cloves are ground
in similar manner. Herbs, such as
thyme and sage, require a special
mill. 1t is pair of stone wheels that
travel around center. grinding sub
stances on the stone floor. They are
inclosed in tight room so that
nothing escapes when they are at
work
In the packing department of the
mill two dozen girls are at work maxi
ing and filling boxes with the different
spices A box-folding machine does
the. work of ten girls. 1t
takes the fat cardboard, folds
and pastes it and turns out a box
every three seconds. The automatic |
machine is revolving mar
BILE table. on which are four sets of |
scales. The weight is set at one
pound on each of these scales,
q cardboard box is placed on the
scale and tube from above fills the |
box until it contains just one pound.
When the scale reaches the balance |
point and valve shuts off the supply
until an empty box takes the place of
The full one.
Stepping into the office the SUPER
intendent explained that the best pep
per is the 'tshot" pepper, as it is in
heavier grains than the Singapore
pepper, which is the second grade. but
both kinds come from Singapore. A still
over grade comes from the island of
sumatra. White pepper is the kernel
with the shell removed. and, though
ust as fiery, it has not the flavor of the
black pepper. Pepper is often adul-
Grated with charcoal and buckwheat
The hest red pepper comes from Natal
md costs fifty cents pound. A lower
trade comes from Zanzibar
Brown nutmegs from Penang. West
ndies, are the best. They are in their
Natural state. and are so full of oil
hat it will ooze out if an. incision
'e made. The nutmegs kept by most
ROGERS are the lower grades that are
tut through sweating process to re.
move the oil. and are rolled in lime to
over up all the defects. The best
loves come from Penang. and
re sun-dried. Cheaper grades
ONE from Zanzibar. and are kiln
ried. with much of the oil extracted.
Iround cloves are adulterated by leay-
,g in the stems. Pimento, or allspice,
ONES from Jamaica. The best ginger
lso comes from the same place, and
J bleached white. Borneo ginger is
ften chalked TO make it look like the
leached article. African ginger IS
ark in color and poor in quality. but
$ it is very much cheaper than the
Their kind it is most used. CeyYon
lnnamon is worth a dollar pound,
nd is very little used. Cassia, the
inside bark of the tree. is the sub
;ance in general use, and costs about
ne-tenth Of the genuine article. IN
Nail and Cypress
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