The San Francisco call., 1910-11-06

cally valuable because all the substitutes for coffee
which have been devised up the present writing
contain large quantities of starch with the exception
of chcory
One of the deceptens practiced with regard to tea
is the treating of it with pigments with graphite
increase its weight and conceal the that the
leaves have already had much of their virtue ab-
stracted from them by first drawing tablespoon
fu of the suspected sample should be placed in wide
mouthed bottle and shaken vigorously with six times
the bulk of cold water Strain the mixture through
sieve and the insoluble mineral substances which
employed in the sophistcaton will sink to the
bottom of the bottle. Tests made by Professor Allyn
show that many of the cheap in the market con-
tain very large percentage of nsoubfe mineral sub
stances.
There is perhaps no more common deception prac-
tced upon the housewife than that of substituting
cottonseed oil for the pure olive product At the pres
ent time woman need pay any attention to the
specious legend upon gilt and embossed labels Many
pretentious and arstocratic looking bottle contains
oil which not from the groves of sunny Italy,
but from the cotton fields of the south.
Place tablespoonful of the oil under investigation
in clean, white teacup or better STILL footed test
tube and add equal amount of nitric acid stir
fully with glass rod. If the oil be pure is should
turn in few minutes from a pale to dark green.
1t the fluid changes to brown red orange the
presence of an adulterant is indicated
Place teacup containing the oil to which acid has
been added in dish of boiling water for FIVE min
Pure oil under those conditions will turn pale
yellow orange yellow, and after standing from II
to 18 hours will become yellow solid.
The most satisfactory test for cottonseed oil con-
sists of placing tablespoonful of the suspected oil
in small bottle and adding equal amount of Hal
phens reagent Heat the contents of the bottle in
pint of water, which three tablespoonfu1s of salt
have been added, for IS minutes. The presence of
cottonseed oil is evident if layer of red appears
the mixture, the depth Of this layer indicating the
percentage of the cheaper oil which the manufacturer
has added. The reagent may be obtained from any
druggist and should be used with caution, the car
bon dsuIphide, which is of its constituents is
infammable The bottle employed should be corked
with loosely fitting plug. of cotton during the test
There many of the so called lards the market
which also contain cottonseed oil, and the for
them may be conducted in the same manner with the
of the Halphen reagent.
All this is without prejudice to cottonseed oil as
product when honestly labeled as such, for it is a
clean product and in way deleterious Its use is
merely matter of individual preference. In these
days. however the housewife Of an investigating turn
of mind will not pay olive oil prices for the product
which contains large proportion of the cheaper fluids
extracted from the cottonseed or the peanut
Tomato catsup has been the subject of much dis
cussion, and its manufacturers required to def
nitey state whether not they have used artificial
coorng preservatiyes in its preparation 1t is the