Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-06-27

classical ancestors. During the mid
die ages the cunning baker mixed his
dour 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 a delicate
pink TO a deep carmine, according to
the animal from which it comes. 1t
must be elastic to the touch. The
Dent which is caused by pressing a
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 u
pleasant odor. The fat in the meat
from sick animals is pale, gray and
smeary and has an unpleasant odor.
Sausage offersa wide field for adult
teration of the most dangerous kind,
and m 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 it is
illustrative of the esteem in which
they hold the sausage. "a man saved
the life OF a butcher by endangering
his own. The poor butcher, overcome
With gratitude, cried out in q moment
of self-forgetfulness: Never in your
Ngfa ararn n a f,n,I 90.
The authorizations in this line are
manifold. To produce the fresh red
color, so alluring in sausage, fuchsine
is mixed with the ingredients instead
OF blood. 1t is a very common prac-
tice to put -four in sausage, and, while
Q little of it is harmless, it neverthe-
less leads to early fermentation OF the
article in question. The buyer, how
ever, is very much imposed upon when
fdour is added in large quantities, for
1t 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 a stop to
this fraud by limiting the addition of
Hour to three per cent.
Fish are adulterated in the same way
by rubbing their gills with a~niline,
which gives them the appearance of
freshness. The aniline iseasily washed
of and the fraud detected. In fresh
fish the eyes are full and protruding,
while in old fish they are Opaque, dull
and sunken. The best way to recog-
nize IN 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 a very dangerous poison.
A crawtish that has been boiled alive
Will show a 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
oieomargarine is to put q piece of it on
q hot potato which has been boiled in
the jacket and freshly peeled. The
taste OF butter is more pronounced
when eaten in this way THAI any other.
and the fraud is detected. It is also
the safest way to discover the age of
dairy or creamery butter.
Lard is frequently adulterated 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
Llthe other foreign ingredients.
To tell good eggs from bad ones it
b only necessary to put them in q
Ash filled with water containing from
i've 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, spar,
and almost the same ingredients are
used for the ad~ulteration of cinnamon.
Pulverized ginger fares no better, and
is mixed with potato -four, wheat and
cayenne pepper, while the sweet-scent-
ed anise seed comes in for a share of
earth, sand and little brown and black
stones. Housekeepers will always be
more or less cheated in buying pow
dered 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 aud
basted with balm of Peru.
Coffee is adulterated in all forms
and in every possible way. Machines
have been invented and large factor
les erected, where artificial coffee
beans are made from acorn -four and
gum arabic, and these are mixed with
the real coffee; and even the real
beans are covered with poisonous
shemicals if they have been damaged
by sea water in transportation or the
influence of the sur or time. Ground
Or roasted coffee offer the best oppor-
tuQftIeg- however for frauI