The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-03
ODD THINGS WE EAT.
AduIteratiOn of Foods Apt TO Occur
in "Chenp" Goods.
From the New York Press.

~
From the New York Press.
One Of the most benehcent of services
being rendered mankind by the chemical
laboratories, through boards OF health and
the agricultural department at Washing
ton is the exposition of fraudulent food
preparations. A grand effort has long
been made to get manufacturers to mark
packages with labels that tell no lies.
For instance. if a man prefers TO take
"molasses. water and any odd tasting
herb" each separately. he should have
that privilege, and also the one of taking
sarsaparilla as he pIeases. He should not
be obliged to use his faith in mans hon
esty when he drinks the first connection
under guise of the second. for the iodide
Of potash it is likely to contain may make
his digestion more cranky than before.
Nor should any of US be compelled to
swallow sawdust under misrepresenta-
ton. "A peck of sawdust' may now well
be said to be mans limit 1t is a greater
favorite with the mixed than sticks and
stones" bark, husks, charcoal, etc. How
ever, thanks to energy in the health de-
partments there is much less pernicious
adulteration practiced than formerly.
Laws and regulations are enforced more
carefully Inc pOldIlbCOpe ana Lue MI
croscope now strike terror to the soul Of
the concocter of beverages and foods.
1t is hard to believe our best tea can
be injurious, but as il has been the most
abused Of all such goods, for which we
may thank the willy Chinese, it behooves
us to make tests by examining the
leaves after soaking A genuine tea
leaf will be firm and tough when picked
up with pin. 1t is long and pointed,
with delicate veins looped along its
edges. The latter is an important means
OF Identification AS many as thirty-two
kinds Of leaves have been passed off as
genuine. Ash, plum, cleo. elder, haw-
thorn, willow, alum, wisteria, camelia
and other laves, with graphite. Prus-
sian blue, indigo, tumerc, gypsum and
iron filings, to add flavor and weight,
are some Of the ingredients which I'M
'ba=pecting purchasers buy, brew and
imbibe. Add to these recolored and re-
favored exhausted leaves, and one does
not wonder nerves and digestion become
cranky"
Coffee follows in the wake of tea, with
the addition of various hard substances
like sawdust, and husks, rye, peas, beans
carrots, acorns and roots, etc. One of
the most successful limitations is the
making from flour paste the actual coun-
terfeit of the coffee bean. So perfect is
the little form turned out and favored
that very bright inspector was com
pletely befogged until he brought his
| microscope to bear upon It. Then an
American Indian would have been no
more easily detected than were the
beans of -four. good test is to soak
! a pinch of ground coffee in cold water
Authorizations will fall to the bottom
| The pure article floats. Greater oppor.
| tunity for deception is afforded in all
| ground materials, so that to use coffee
in the bean may save some trouble. Re
cause it is used as an antidote for GER
tain poisons, authorizations should be a
| penal offense.
Chocolate, being a manufactured arti-
| Gle, affords excellent means of fraud
| The best article is neither pasty nor
gravelly when mixed with water. One
danger in pure 81 white -four is the
| alum used to whiten. Undoctored -four
! is not perfectly white, and housekeep-
ers would send q purer bread to table il
they were willing to forego the white
| ness and make the flour of natural color
| Alum is likely to cause dyspepsia and
general disorder of the stomach Car
! Donate of soda is largely used to doc
tor low grade of flour. Obviously the
| fewer chemical elements administered To
our stomachs the better health we are
| likely to have, and certainly the staff
] of life should not be overdosed with
acids for the sake of a little difference
| in color.
| The microscopic examinations of sam
pies of spices show as great percentage
| of sophisticatton as almost any other
| product, unless it be certain drugs
Every conceivable substitute is used to
make up a compound of spice, osten-
sively pure. but alas in reality scarce
a third pure, the rest anything from
| ground sawdust to pulverized brown
bread. Here our only resort of outwit-
| ting such practices is to supply tn,
/ kitchen with sDica mill r,,roy,o-
whole berries or beans and refuse to
feed the family on indigesubIe chips or
husks.
No wonder our sinaplsms don't burn
when half of the pure mustard is made
| up of wheat, hulls, rice, tumeric, and the
| like. An authority assures us that sugar
| is generally pure. Rigid inspection pre-
vents frauds formerly practiced
| The canning of goods has been vastly
/ improved of late years. So much adulter-
/ alton and preserving elements We're used
/ that eeyry bulletin showed almost uni
| versal sophistication. Poison from the
| lead tops Is now almost wholly avoided
| while a purer tin is used for the cans
/ The sulphuric and salicylic acids for
| insuring preservation are more carefully
used, at least on this side of the Atlantic.
France being the greatest offender for
many years.
No can should hold its contents after
being opened. The air Immediately be-
! gins the chemical action upon the tin.
the fermentation and qualification sets
in Immediately. Lead tops should be re-
fused. good, pure flavor should alone
be noticed upon opening. Tin cans should
not look dull and leady. This would show
a cheap article-more lead than the law
! allows. Well cooked brands are safest
as the more cooking is given a fruit or
vegetable the less likely salicylic acid has
! been employed as a preservatiye.
The Rev. J. NJ. Bennett, a curbstone
/ BOOKSELLER IN Louisville, who died re-
Gently, was one of the famous preachers
/ Of the south before the war. In addition
/ to his theological learning he had an
elegance Of presence and dressed fault
= fegglW bI1f 10 hapn ma