Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-01-05
FOOD
HOW SOME FLAGRANT CASES
MAY BE DETECTED.
Indications Of Healthy Meat-Sausage
and Fish Adulteration-To Tell
Good Butter. Lard and Eggs
Fraud in Spices.

- ventlon of modern 'iHi'S'
. but was practiced by our
classical ancestors During the mid
die ages the cunning baker mixed his
flour with lime, sand and gypsum, and
on discovery was thrown into a prison
cell and compelled to eat the product
of his entire bakery, which cured him
of the fraudulent habit.
The most important article Of food
in every household is the meat. The
meat which comes from healthy AMI
mails is distinguished by q pleasant
odor and fresh color, from delicate
pink to a deep carmine, according to
the animal from which it cones. 1t
must be elastic to the touch. The
dent which is caused by pressing
finger on it must disappear when the
pressure is removed. The fatty sub
stance of the meat is a good indicator
of its quality. In healthy animals the
fat is yellow and elastic and has
bleasant odor. The fat in the meat
from sick animals is pale, gray and
smeary and has an unpleasant odor.
Sausage offersa wide field for sdul-
teration of the most dangerous kind,
and in the pamphlets which vegetar-
ians send broadcast over the land from
time to time they give prominence to
an anecdote which is as terse as 1t Is
illustrative Of the esteem IN which
they hold the sausage. "A man saved
the life of a butcher by endangerlng
his own. The poor butcher, overcome
with gratitude, cried out in moment
of self-forgetfulness "Never in your
life again, my friend. eat sausage.
The adulterations in this line are
manifold. To produce the fresh red
color, so alluring in sausage, fuchsine
ismixed with the ingredients instead
Of blood. IT is n very common prac-
ticc to put -four in sausage, and, while
a little of it is harmless, 1t neverthe-
less leads TO early fermentation OF the
article in question. The buyer, how
ever, is very much imposed upon when
-four is added in large quantities, for
il enables the sausage makers to add
from sixty to seventy per cent. OF
water. which is paid for at the rate OF
meat. France has lately put stop to
this fraud by limiting the addition OF
-four to three per cent.
Fish are adulterated in the same way
by rubbing their gills with anlline,
which gives them the appearance OF
freshness. The aniline is easily washed
off and the fraud detected. In fresh
Rsh the eyes are full and protruding,
while in old fish they are Opaque, dull
and sunken. The best way to recog-
nize an old fish is to watch the gills,
which emit an odor of decay if the fish
is too old for use.
Crawfsh or crabs should always be
bought alive Crabs that are sold al
ready cooked have usually been boiled
after they were dead, and soon decay,
generating very dangerous poison.
A crawfsh that has been boiled alive
will show curious and twisted tail,
while. on the other hand, one that was
cooked after death has the tail per
fectly straight.
The best way to tell butter from
oleomargarine is to put piece OF 1t on
hot potato which has been boiled in
the Jacket and freshly peeled. The
taste of butter is more pronounced
when eaten in this way thal any other,
and the fraud is detected. 1t is also
the safest way to discover the age Of
dairy or creamery butte
Lard is frequently adulte :ated with
water to increase its weight, and
mixed with corn-starch, salt, chalk,
etc. to bind the water to the fat
This may be discovered by carefully
melting the lard and setting it aside
in a lukewarm place. The fat not
only separates from the water, but
collects at the bottom of the dish with
all the other foreign Ingredients.
To tell good eggs from bad ones it
is only necessary % put them in a
dish filed with water containing from
eve to ten per cent. of salt. Fresh
eggs drop to the bottom, old ones
swim on the surface, and those of
medium quality sink half way down.
All spices suffer more or less adul-
teration, but most of all those which
are sold in a pulverized state. Ground
pepper is mixed with paprica, millet,
bread, powdered olives, almond meal,
dust, sand, gypsum, sawdust, spnr,
and almost the same ingredients are
used for the adulteration ot cinnamon.
Pulverized ginger fares no better, and
is mixed with potato flour, wheat and
cayenne pepper, while the sweet-scent-
ed anise seed comes in for share of
earth, sand and little brown and black
stones. Housekeepers will always be
more or less cheated in buying pow
aered spices, which should be bought
in their natural state and ground at
home. The vanilla bean, before the
invention Of the artificial vanilline,
was deprived of its natural aroma and