The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-01
SPICY MANIA OF CHICAGO MAN,
COLLECTED CONDIMENTS FROH
MI OVER THE WORLD.
Brought Home several Hundred varieties
or Pepper Red Is Natures Color
White Pepper Pretty Bad Almost
Anything GoOd Enough for Americans.

"Ionce had a condiment collecting mania, p"
says a Chicago writer in What 10 Eot, "a
cunning and persistent spell which lasted
till the boxes, bundles, trails and so forth
were landed safely at the Worlds Fair.
When they were all in there were among
them several hundred distinct specimens
of the pepper family alone.
ON my collection trip | landed first in
Japan, determined to learn something
about SOY. which is the basis Of most Of
our best table sauces. The factory | visited
had been running seventy-fve years, but
] was the first white man to gain admission
to it. 1t takes three years TO make the best
soy.
an China / bored and bribed my way in
search of information. The Chinese are
undoubtedly the most refined astronomers
of our day. They have the supreme art of
preserving subtle, evanescent havors and
scents of buds, roots, banks and leaf tips,
as we'll as wonderful discretion in the selec-
ton of the nornen for gathering these.
Some things they pluck only in the morn
ing, others only at night. When you hear
of tea at 500 a pound il may have been pro-
duced in very small quantities by some
mandarin who. like burbank, NAV have
secured a new and unique flavor or have
reproduced a rare fragrance.
in the East Indies my collection grew to
formidable proportions; but the master
sauce Of all was the noukmdn Of Cambodia
and Anam. Few Americans have ever
heard Of it.. 1t is a sort Of angel anchovy
essence distilled from fish hy sur heat. |
heard Of it from a steamboat captain, who
said:
You have not lived unless you have
eaten buffalo hump cooked in noukmdn at
Phillips in Saigon
"The assertion took me nearly a thousand
miles out of my way on a trip of eytraor-
binary misery in n pole hammock, into the
jungle, where ! secured from an antique
sorceress two earthen pots of noukmdn.
"As to the buiRlo hump d~elicacy-it was
like a saute of sweetbreads might possibly
be in bubbling hot cocoanut milk blended
with anchovy essence, oysters, pepper and
something, You get hot things in hot
countries, and IL you are wise, when you
adopt the tropical native diet you will learn
TO eat less n to give up the liquor habit.
"Of course il is commonly known that
in the East Indies curry stuffs are made
fresh from roots, seeds, leaves, tubers,
barks and varying aromatic ingredients,
according to Taste and local convenience,
for immediate use. The best are generally
green chopped or crushed and quite savory
The curries Of Calcutta are entirely different
from the Singapore %curries, for instance,
and so on around.
But the curry stuffs for Europe or this
country must necessarily be made in form
that will hold strength and flavor for a
long time before use, Hence our curry
.pastes and powders, preferably the powders,
because they can thus he made strong and
TO keep we'll.
"Chutneys vary as do c~urries, 80 that
the chutneys Of Madras are quite different
from those Of Bombay or Colombo, in
fact I found in the latter place not less