Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-02-23
SPICES OF MANY KINDS.
How Pepper, Cinnamon and the Like Arc
Prepared for Market.

/
How Pepper, Cinnamon and the Like Ars
Prepared for Market.
Don't stand so near the wheel! Ii
wei CHS two tons and is making SIX
hundred revolutions minute. The
suction is great enough to draw you
i'm.
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 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 a 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 n 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 ut 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 a hydraulic
press and subjected to pressure OF
five thousand pounds to the square
inch. This removes a 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
pl ace of olive oil for packing sardincS
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 milEs-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 a CENTER grinding sub
stances on the stone floor. They are
inclosed in a 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. It
takes the flat cardboard. folds,
and pastes it and turns out a box
every three seconds. The automatic
weighing machine is a revolving mar
Bile table. on which are four sets of
scales. The weight is set at one
pound on each of these scales,
cardboard box is placed on the
scale and n 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 he best pep
per is the shot pepper, as it is in
heavier grains than the Singapore
pepper, which is the second grade. but
both Kinds come from Singapore. A still
lower grade comes from the island of
Sumatra. White pepper is the kernel
with the shell removed. and, though
just as fiery, it has not the flavor of the
black pepper. Pepper is often adult
terated with charcoal and buckwheat.
The hest red pepper comes from Natal
and costs fifty cents pound. A, lower
grade comes from Zanzibar.
Brown nutmegs from Penang. West
Indies, are the best. They are in their
natural state, and are so full of oil
tIlat IL Will OOZe out II an IN ClSlOn
be made. The nutmegs kept by most
grocers are the lower grades that are
put through sweating process tore
move the oil. and are rolled in lime to
cover up all the defects. The best
cloves come from Penang, and
are sun-dried. Cheaper grades
come from Zanzibar and are kiln.
dried. with much of the oil extracted.
Ground cloves are adulterated by leav--
ing in the stems. Pimento. or allspice,
comes from Jamaica. The best ginger
also comes from the same place, and
is bleached white. Bornco ginger Isl
often chalked to make it look like the,
bleached article. African ginger. IS
dark in color and poor in quality. but
as it IS very much cheaper than the
other kind it is most used. Ceylon
cinnamon is worth dollar pound.
and is very little used. Cassia,. the
outside bark of the. tree, is the SUBJ
ttanee in general use. and costs about
onc-tenth of the genuine article---M
T. Halt and Express