Chapter 11

Cream is often adulterated with rice powder or arrow root. The former is frequently employed for that purpose by pastry cooks, in fabricating creams and custards, for tarts, and other kinds of pastry. The latter is often used in the London dairies. Arrow-root is preferable to rice powder; for, when converted with milk into a thick mucilage by a gentle ebullition, it imparts to cream, previously diluted with milk, a consistence and apparent richness, by no means unpalatable, without materially impairing the taste of the cream.

The arrow-root powder is mixed up with a small quantity of cold skimmed milk into a perfect, smooth, uniform mixture; more milk is then added, and the whole boiled for a few minutes, to effect the solution of the arrow-root: this compound, when perfectly cold, is mixed up with the cream. From 220 to 260 grains, (or three large tea-spoonfuls) of arrow root are added to one pint of milk; and one part of this solution is mixed with three of cream. It is scarcely necessary to state that this sophistication is innocuous.

The fraud may be detected by adding to a tea-spoonful of the sophisticated cream a few drops of a solution of iodine in spirit of wine, which instantly produces with it a dark blue colour. Genuine cream acquires, by the addition of this test, a faint yellow tinge.

_Poisonous Confectionery._

In the preparation of sugar plums, comfits, and other kinds of confectionery, especially those sweetmeats of inferior quality, frequently exposed to sale in the open streets, for the allurement of children, the grossest abuses are committed. The white comfits, called sugar pease, are chiefly composed of a mixture of sugar, starch, and Cornish clay (a species of very white pipe-clay;) and the red sugar drops are usually coloured with the inferior kind of vermilion. The pigment is generally adulterated with red lead. Other kinds of sweetmeats are sometimes rendered poisonous by being coloured with preparations of copper. The following account of Mr. Miles[110] may be advanced in proof of this statement.

"Some time ago, while residing in the house of a confectioner, I noticed the colouring of the green fancy sweetmeats being done by dissolving sap-green in brandy. Now sap-green itself, as prepared from the juice of the buckthorn berries, is no doubt a harmless substance; but the manufacturers of this colour have for many years past produced various tints, some extremely bright, which there can be no doubt are effected by adding preparations of copper.

"The sweetmeats which accompany these lines you will find exhibit vestiges of being contaminated with copper.--The practice of colouring these articles of confectionery should, therefore, be banished: the proprietors of which are not aware of the deleterious quality of the substances employed by them."

The foreign conserves, such as small green limes, citrons, hop-tops, plums, angelica roots, &c. imported into this country, and usually sold in round chip boxes, are frequently impregnated with copper.

The adulteration of confitures by means of clay, may be detected by simply dissolving the comfits in a large quantity of boiling water. The clay, after suffering the mixture to stand undisturbed for a few days, will fall to the bottom of the vessel; and on decanting the clear fluid, and suffering the sediment to become dry gradually, it may be obtained in a separate state. If the adulteration has been effected by means of clay, the obtained precipitate, on exposure to a red heat in the bowl of a common tobacco-pipe, acquires a brick hardness.

The presence of copper may be detected by pouring over the comfits liquid ammonia, which speedily acquires a blue colour, if this metal be present. The presence of lead is rendered obvious by water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, acidulated with muriatic acid (see p. 69,) which assumes a dark brown or black colour, if lead be present.

FOOTNOTES:

[110] Philosoph. Mag. No. 258, vol. 54. 1819, p. 317.

_Poisonous Catsup._

This article is very often subjected to one of the most reprehensible modes of adulteration ever devised. Quantities are daily to be met with, which, on a chemical examination, are found to abound with copper. Indeed, this condiment is often nothing else than the residue left behind after the process employed for obtaining distilled vinegar, subsequently diluted with a decoction of the outer green husk of the walnut, and seasoned with all-spice, Cayenne pepper, pimento, onions, and common salt.

The quantity of copper which we have, more than once, detected in this sauce, used for seasoning, and which, on account of its cheapness, is much resorted to by people in the lower walks of life, has exceeded the proportion of lead to be met with in other articles employed in domestic economy.

The following account of Mr. Lewis[111] on this subject, will be sufficient to cause the public to be on their guard.

"Being in the habit of frequently purchasing large quantities of pickles and other culinary sauces, for the use of my establishment, and also for foreign trade, it fell lately to my lot to purchase from a manufacturer of those commodities a quantity of walnut catsup, apparently of an excellent quality; but, to my great surprise, I had reason to believe that the article might be contaminated with some deleterious substance, from circumstances which happened in my business as a tavern keeper, but which are unnecessary to be detailed here; and it was this that induced me to make inquiry concerning the compounding of the suspected articles.

"The catsup being prepared by boiling in a copper, as is usually practised, the outer green shell of walnuts, after having been suffered to turn black on exposure to air, in combination with common salt, with a portion of pimento and pepper-dust, in common vinegar, strengthened with some vinegar extract, left behind as residue in the still of vinegar manufacturers; I therefore suspected that the catsup might be impregnated with some copper. To convince myself of this opinion. I boiled down to dryness a quart of it in a stone pipkin, which yielded to me a dark brown mass. I put this mass into a crucible, and kept it in a coal fire, red-hot, till it became reduced to a porous black charcoal; on urging the heat with a pair of bellows, and stirring the mass in the crucible with the stem of a tobacco-pipe, it became, after two hours' exposure to an intense heat, converted into a greyish-white ash; but no metal could be discriminated amongst it. I now poured upon it some aqua fortis, which dissolved nearly the whole of it, with an effervescence; and produced, after having been suffered to stand, to let the insoluble portion subside, a bright grass-green solution, of a strong metallic taste; after immersing into this solution the blade of a knife, it became instantly covered with a bright coat of copper.

"The walnut catsup was therefore evidently strongly impregnated with copper. On informing the manufacturer of this fact, he assured me that the same method of preparing the liquor was generally pursued, and that he had manufactured the article in a like manner for upwards of twenty years.

"Such is the statement I wish to communicate; and if you will allow it a place in your Literary Chronicle, it may perhaps tend to put the unwary on their guard against the practice of preparing this sauce by boiling it in a copper, which certainly may contaminate the liquor, and render it poisonous."

FOOTNOTES:

[111] Literary Chronicle, No. 24, p. 379.

_Poisonous Custard._

The leaves of the cherry laurel, _prunus lauro-cerasus_, a poisonous plant, have a nutty flavour, resembling that of the kernels of peach-stones, or of bitter almonds, which to most palates is grateful. These leaves have for many years been in use among cooks, to communicate an almond or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams, _blanc-mange_, and other delicacies of the table.

It has been asserted, that the laurel poison in custards and other articles of cookery is, on account of its being used in very small quantities, quite harmless. To refute this assertion, numerous instances might be cited; and, among them, a recent one, in which four children suffered most severely from partaking of custard flavoured with the leaves of this poisonous plant.

"Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Richmond, having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves of the cherry laurel, as is frequently practised by cooks, four of the poor innocents were taken severely ill in consequence. Two of them, a girl six years of age, and a boy of five years old, fell into a profound sleep, out of which they could not be roused.

"Notwithstanding the various medical exertions used, the boy remained in a stupor ten hours; and the girl nine hours; the other two, one of which was six years old, a girl, and a girl of seven years, complained of severe pains in the epigastric region. They all recovered, after three days' illness. I am anxious to communicate to you this fact, being convinced that your publication is read at all the scholastic establishments in this part of the country. I hope you will allow these lines a corner in your Literary Chronicle, where they may contribute to put the unwary on their guard, against the deleterious effects of flavouring culinary dishes with that baneful herb, the Cherry Laurel.

"I am, with respect, your's, Sir, "THOMAS LIDIARD."[112]

What person of sense or prudence, then, would trust to the discretion of an ignorant cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingredient in his puddings and creams? Who but a maniac would choose to season his victuals with poison?

The water distilled from cherry laurel leaves is frequently mixed with brandy and other spiritous liquors, to impart to them the flavour of the cordial called _noyeau_, (see also page 195.)

This fluid, though long in frequent use as a flavouring substance, was not known to be poisonous until the year 1728; when the sudden death of two women, in Dublin, after drinking some of the common distilled cherry laurel water, demonstrated its deleterious nature.

FOOTNOTES:

[112] Literary Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348.--1819.

_Poisonous Anchovy Sauce._

Several samples which we have examined of this fish sauce have been found contaminated with lead.

The mode of preparation of this fish sauce, consists in rubbing down the broken anchovy in a mortar: and this triturated mass, being of a dark brown colour, receives, without much risk of detection, a certain quantity of Venetian red, added for the purpose of colouring it, which, if genuine, is an innocent colouring substance; but instances have occurred of this pigment having been adulterated with orange lead, which is nothing else than a better kind of minium, or red oxide of lead. The fraud may be detected, as stated p. 229.

The conscientious oilmen, less anxious with respect to colour, substitute for this poison the more harmless pigment, called Armenian bole.

The following recipe for making this fish sauce is copied from Gray's Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias, p. 241.

"Anchovies, 2 lbs. to 4 lbs. and a half; pulp through a fine hair sieve; boil the bones with common salt, 7 oz. in water 6 lbs.; strain; add flour 7 oz. and the pulp of the fish; boil; pass the whole through the sieve; colour with Venetian red to your fancy. It should produce one gallon."

_Adulteration of Lozenges._

Lozenges, particularly those into the composition of which substances enter that are not soluble in water, as ginger, cremor tartar, magnesia, &c., are often sophisticated. The adulterating ingredient is usually pipe-clay, of which a liberal portion is substituted for sugar. The following detection of this fraud was lately made by Dr. T. Lloyd.[113]

"Some ginger lozenges having lately fallen into my hands, I was not a little surprised to observe, accidentally, that when thrown into a coal fire, they suffered but little change. If one of the lozenges was laid on a shovel, previously made red-hot, it speedily took fire; but, instead of burning with a blaze and becoming converted into a charcoal, it took fire, and burnt with a feeble flame for scarcely half a minute, and there remained behind a stony hard substance, retaining the form of the lozenge. This unexpected result led me to examine these lozenges, which were bought at a respectable chemist's shop in the city; and I soon became convinced, that, in the preparation of them, a considerable quantity of common pipe-clay had been substituted for sugar. On making a complaint about this fraud at the shop where the article was sold, I was informed that there were two kinds of ginger lozenges kept for sale, the one at three-pence the ounce, and the other at six-pence per ounce; and that the article furnished to me by mistake was the cheaper commodity: the latter were distinguished by the epithet _verum_, they being composed of sugar and ginger only; but the former were manufactured partly of white Cornish clay, with a portion of sugar only, with ginger and Guinea pepper. I was likewise informed, that of Tolu lozenges, peppermint lozenges and ginger pearls, and several other sorts of lozenges, two kinds were kept; that the _reduced_ articles, as they were called, were manufactured for those very clever persons in their own conceit, who are fond of haggling, and insist on buying better bargains than other people, shutting their eyes to the defects of an article, so that they can enjoy the delight of getting it cheap; and, secondly for those persons, who being but bad paymasters, yet, as the manufacturer, for his own credit's sake, cannot charge more than the usual price of the articles, he thinks himself therefore authorised to adulterate it in value, to make up for the risk he runs, and the long credit he must give."

The comfits called ginger pearls, are frequently adulterated with clay. These frauds may be detected in the manner stated, page 225.

FOOTNOTES:

[113] Literary Gazette, No. 146.

_Poisonous Olive Oil._

This commodity is sometimes contaminated with lead, because the fruit which yields the oil is submitted to the action of the press between leaden plates; and it is, moreover, a practice (particularly in Spain) to suffer the oil to become clear in leaden cisterns, before it is brought to market for sale. The French and Italian olive oil is usually free from this impregnation.

Olive oil is sometimes mixed with oil of poppy seeds: but, by exposing the mixture to the freezing temperature, the olive oil freezes, while that of the poppy seeds remains fluid; and as oils which freeze with most difficulty are most apt to become rancid, olive oil is deteriorated by the mixture of poppy oil.

Good olive oil should have a pale yellow colour, somewhat inclining to green; a bland taste, without smell; and should congeal at 38° Fahrenheit. In this country, it is frequently met with rancid.

The presence of lead is detected by shaking, in a stopped vial, one part of the suspected oil, with two or three parts of water impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. This agent will render the oil of a dark brown or black colour, if any metal, deleterious to health, be present. The practice of keeping this oil in pewter or leaden cisterns, as is often the case, is objectionable; because the oil acts upon the metal. The dealers in this commodity assert, that it prevents the oil from becoming rancid: and hence some retailers often suffer a pewter measure to remain immersed in the oil.

_Adulteration of Mustard._

Genuine mustard, either in powder, or in the state of a paste ready for use, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops. The article sold under the name of _genuine Durham mustard_, is usually a mixture of mustard and common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cayenne pepper, and a large quantity of bay salt, made with water into a paste, ready for use. Some manufacturers adulterate their mustard with radish-seed and pease flour.

It has often been stated, that a fine yellow colour is given to mustard by means of turmeric. We doubt the truth of this assertion. The presence of the minutest quantity of turmeric may instantly be detected, by adding to the mustard a few drops of a solution of potash, or any other alkali, which changes the bright yellow colour, to a brown or deep orange tint.

Two ounces and a half of Cayenne pepper, 1-1/2 lbs. of bay salt, 8 lbs. of mustard flour, and 1-1/2 lbs. of wheaten flour, made into a stiff paste, with the requisite quantity of water, in which the bay-salt is previously dissolved, forms the so-called _genuine Durham mustard_, sold in pots. The salt and Cayenne pepper contribute materially to the keeping of ready-made mustard.

There is therefore nothing deleterious in the usual practice of adulterating this commodity of the table. The fraud only tends to deteriorate the quality and flavour of the genuine article itself.

_Adulteration of Lemon Acid._

It is well known to every one, that the expressed juice of lemons is extremely apt to spoil, on account of the sugar, mucilage, and extractive matter which it contains; and hence various means have been practised, with the intention of rendering it less perishable, and less bulky. The juice has been evaporated to the consistence of rob; but this always gives an unpleasant empyreumatic taste, and does not separate the foreign matters, so that it is still apt to spoil when agitated on board of ship in tropical climates. It has been exposed to frost, and part of the water removed under the form of ice; but this is liable to all the former objections; and, besides, where lemons are produced in sufficient quantity, there is not a sufficient degree of cold. The addition of a portion of spirit to the inspissated juice, separates the mucilage, but not the extractive matter and the sugar. By means, however, of separating the foreign matters associated with it, in the juice, by chemical processes unnecessary to be detailed here, citric acid is now manufactured, perfectly pure, and in a crystallised form, and is sold under the name of concrete lemon acid. In this state it is extremely convenient, both for domestic and medicinal purposes. One drachm, when dissolved in one ounce of water, is equal in strength to a like bulk of fresh lemon juice. To communicate the lemon flavour, it is only necessary to rub a lump of sugar on the rind of a lemon to become impregnated with a portion of the essential oil of the fruit, and to add the sugar to the lemonade, negus, punch, shrub, jellies or culinary sauces, prepared with the pure citric acid.

Fraudulent dealers often substitute the cheaper tartareous acid, for citric acid. The negus and lemonade made by the pastry-cooks, and the liquor called punch, sold at taverns in this metropolis, is usually made with tartareous acid.

To discriminate citric acid from tartareous acid, it is only necessary to add a concentrated solution of the suspected acid, to a concentrated solution of muriate of potash, taking care that the solution of the acid is in excess. If a precipitate ensues, the fraud is obvious, because citric acid does not produce a precipitate with a solution of muriate or potash.

Or, by adding to a saturated solution of tartrate of potash, a saturated solution of the suspected acid, in excess, which produces with it an almost insoluble precipitate in minute granular crystals. Pure citric acid produces no such effect when added in excess to tartrate of potash.

_Poisonous Mushrooms._

Mushrooms have been long used in sauces and other culinary preparations; yet there are numerous instances on record of the deleterious effects of some species of these _fungi_, almost all of which are fraught with poison.[114] Pliny already exclaims against the luxury of his countrymen in this article, and wonders what extraordinary pleasure there can be in eating such dangerous food.[115]

But if the palate must be indulged with these treacherous luxuries, or, as Seneca calls them, "voluptuous poison,"[116] it is highly necessary that the mild eatable mushrooms, should be gathered by persons skilful enough to distinguish the good from the false, or poisonous, which is not always the case; nor are the characters which distinguish them strongly marked.

The following statement is published by Mr. Glen, surgeon, of Knightsbridge:

"A poor man, residing in Knightsbridge, took a walk in Hyde Park, with the intention of gathering some mushrooms. He collected a considerable number, and, after stewing them, began to eat them. He had finished the whole, with the exception of about six or eight, when, about eight or ten minutes from the commencement of his meal, he was suddenly seized with a dimness, or mist before his eyes, a giddiness of the head, with a general trembling and sudden loss of power;--so much so, that he nearly fell off the chair; to this succeeded loss of recollection: he forgot where he was, and all the circumstances of his case. This deprivation soon went off, and he so far rallied as to be able, though with difficulty, to get up, with the intention of going to Mr. Glen for assistance--a distance of about five hundred yards: he had not proceeded more than half way, when his memory again failed him; he lost his road, although previously well acquainted with it. He was met by a friend, who with difficulty learned his state, and conducted him to Mr. Glen's house. His countenance betrayed great anxiety: he reeled about, like a drunken man, and was greatly inclined to sleep; his pulse was low and feeble. Mr. Glen immediately gave him an emetic draught. The poison had so diminished the sensibility of the stomach, that vomiting did not take place for near twenty minutes, although another draught had been exhibited. During this interval his drowsiness increased to such a degree, that he was only kept awake by obliging him to walk round the room with assistance; he also, at this time, complained of distressing pains in the calves of his legs.--Full vomiting was at length produced. After the operation of the emetic, he expressed himself generally better, but still continued drowsy. In the evening Mr. Glen found him doing well."

The following case is recorded in the Medical Transactions, vol. ii.

"A middle-aged man having gathered what he called champignons, they were stewed, and eaten by himself and his wife; their child also, about four years old, ate a little of them, and the sippets of bread which were put into the liquor. Within five minutes after eating them, the man began to stare in an unusual manner, and was unable to shut his eyes. All objects appeared to him coloured with a variety of colours. He felt a palpitation in what he called his stomach; and was so giddy, that he could hardly stand. He seemed to himself swelled all over his body. He hardly knew what he did or said; and sometimes was unable to speak at all. These symptoms continued in a greater or less degree for twenty-four hours; after which, he felt little or no disorder. Soon after he perceived himself ill, one scruple of white vitriol was given him, and repeated two or three times, with which he vomited plentifully.