Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-12-03
SOURCE OF FLAVORS.
How Common Extracts Are Made
for the Trade,

L L
FROM FRUITS AND PLANTs-PRO-
CESSES OF PRODUCTION CHIEFLY
AMERICAN-OTHERs BEAR NO RELA-
TION TO NAMES.
A recently issued bulletin of the
Agricultural Department gives much
interesting information relative to
sources of the common favoring ex-
tracts. The bulletin is not intended to
tell hOuSekeepers how to make these
fiavors, and it will be of no service in
that regard, yet the bulletin is full of
facts about vanilla, lemon, orange, and
other extracts which will greatly en-
tighten those who use them.
Among other things, the bulletin
says that lemon and vanilla are the
most widely used fiavoring extracts,
constituting about 95 per cent of the
whole. They are also among the COM
parativeIy few of these flavors that are
produced from the fruits. Other davors
are chiefly artificial and many of them
could not be made from the fruits from
which they are named by any persons
known to modern chemistry.
Orange, wintergreen, and pepper
mint are made from the fruit and leaves
of the plants.
VANILLA FROM A BEAN.
Vanilla comprises three times as
much of the worlds consumption OF
extracts as all the rest of the flavors 1t
is curious fact that the fiavoring is
purely an American institution, though,
owing to its convenient form, the use
of the extract, real and artificial, is eX-
tending over the civilized world. 1t
may be taken for granted that all the
pineapple, peach, strawberry, and
many other fiavors used are artificial
as an acceptable fiavoring extract can
not be made from these fruits.
| All real vanilla is made from the
vanilla bean, which came originally
from Mexico, where the best grades of
beans are still produced. 1t was dis
covered in Mexico in 1915 by a Fran
ciscan friar, Bernhardino de Sahagan.
The MeXicans were at that time US
ing it exclusively to flavor cocoa, and
the bean was introduced into Europe,
where it was used for favoring and
where attempts were made to grow it.
The vine requires tropical climate,
and although it has now spread to
many of the tropical countries of the
world, the Mexican bean still holds its
superiority. Considerable quantities
are produced in the valley of the ANA
zon and in Tahiti, as well as in Java
and Borneo, but they are smaller than
Mexican beans and not of good flavor.
The vanilla vine must be three years
old before it produces beans, and there
has been little progress in preparing it
since it was first discovered. The ma
tives in Mexico used to depend entirely
on insects to pollenize the flowers, but
this practice has been changed, and
now the flowers are fertilized by hand,
so that the grower can regulate the
number OF beans that each plant pro-
duces.
Curiously enough, the bean has no
odor or flavor when it is first matured.
This is produced entirely during its
fermentation. The beans are wrapped
in small bundles and exported at about
30 cents bean, so that the crop is
valuable one
HOW 1T IS MANUFACTURED.
When the extract is manufactured
the bean is soaked in 95 per cent alcohol
and the flavoring thus obtained, but
the high-grade flavoring extract is at a
decided premium ON the market, and
all sorts of diluted solutions are used,
some of which contain a little vanilla
and some none at all. The refuse beans
are sometimes pressed with glycerin
and sugar to give sweetness in body to
the compound and sometimes the aIleg-
ed extract is simply synthetic COM
Oination made in a laboratory and has
never been near vanilla plantation.
High-grade lemon extract is made
with alcohol in much the same way,
but the preliminaries are different. The
Oil of lemon is extracted entirely from
the rinds of the fruit, and is made al
most exclusively in the Island of Sicily,
where the chief lemon crop OF the world
is raised. The extract is made from the
culls of the lemons which for any rea-
son are not fit for export.
All the work in Sicily is done by
hand. Women and boys are employed
to cut thefruit into sections, while men
press the rinds over sponges above a
primitive earthenware jar and pour off
the Oil as it accumulates above the juice
and water in the jar. One man will
produce from two to three pounds of oil
of lemon in a day. For this he is paid
from 40 to 60 cents, and the oil itself
sells for about 81 pound.
EXTRACTS MADE FROM PLANTS.
Other flavoring extracts which are
made from the real plants are winter
green and peppermint The chief scene
of peppermint growing is in Michigan,
Northern Indiana, and Wayne county,
N. Y. Liquid wintergreen is produced
largely around White Haven, Pa,
though there are few other localities
where it is distilled. On both cases the
extract is made by passing steam
through large vats containing the plant
and condensing the resulting " alter and
Oil in worm still, such as is used for
making whisky. The water Is drawn
off the bottom and the resulting eN-
tract is saved.