PART IX.

SUGAR, SIRUP, CONFECTIONERY, AND HONEY.

SUGAR.

The term “sugar” is applied by common consent to the pure sugar commercially prepared from the sugar cane and the sugar beet. These two kinds of sugar are sometimes designated by their own name, as, for instance, the purchaser will ask for cane sugar or beet sugar. When no other name appears the term sugar is applied as above.

In Europe the principal sugar used is that derived from the sugar beet. In the United States the principal sugar is that derived from the sugar cane. Notable quantities of sugar are also found in commerce derived from the maple tree, a small quantity from sorghum, and in Asia a considerable quantity is made from the palm.

Chemically, sugar belongs to the class of bodies known as sucrose or saccharose and is a compound in a pure state consisting solely of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, typical of that class of foods of which starch is the most important member, known as carbohydrates. The elements mentioned are combined in sugar in the proportion of 12 parts of carbon, 22 of hydrogen, and 11 of oxygen.

The quantity of sugar consumed by the people of the United States is very large. Excluding molasses, honey, and sirups the quantity consumed in the United States in the year ending December 31, 1905, was 2,632,216 tons. There should be added to this the total quantity of sugar found in the articles of diet which are so common in this country in the form of honey, sirups, and molasses.

=Origin of Sugar.=--In the earliest times practically the only sugar which was used by man was that stored by the bees, namely, honey. The sugar cane is indigenous to Asia and was not known as a source of sugar in Europe until the 13th or 14th century, when it was brought by Eastern merchants to Europe. The discovery of America and the introduction of sugar cane into the islands adjacent thereto opened up a new field for the culture of that plant and laid the foundation of the great industry which followed. It was not, however, until 100 years ago that the sugar cane industry assumed anything like the proportions which indicated its subsequent growth. About 1747 sugar cane was introduced into Louisiana and soon thereafter, about 1790, became one of the most important crops of that state. Until the beginning of the Civil War Louisiana produced a large proportion of the cane sugar consumed in the United States. During the Civil War the industry was almost totally destroyed, but since then it has grown until it has assumed greater proportions than ever before but constantly diminishing proportions in relation to the total supply. Louisiana is somewhat too far north for the most economic production of sugar cane, since it is subject to injury by frosts. Sugar cane is a plant which is very sensitive to cold weather and is usually killed by a hard frost. For this reason its greatest development has occurred in tropical countries, especially in Cuba, the Hawaiian Islands, and in other similar localities. At the present time by far the largest part of the sugar made from sugar cane in the world is produced in Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands,--the Cuban crop amounting, in round numbers, to 1,200,000 tons and the Hawaiian to about 400,000 tons.

=Beet Sugar.=--The fact that beet sugar is contained in the common garden beet was first discovered by a German chemist, Margraff, in 1747. This important discovery remained dormant for nearly half a century when one of Margraff’s pupils, the son of a French refugee from Prussia, named Achard, resumed the researches which had been started by Margraff and obtained results which were then regarded as of an astonishing character. Achard’s statements were the subject of doubt and of ridicule and even his French co-laborers, members of the academy doubted the accuracy of his work, while thinking it of sufficient interest to look into further. A commission consisting of some of the most important members of the Academy of Science, among them Chaptal and Vauquelin, investigated the matter and announced that the attempt to make sugar was unsuccessful but thought perhaps the maple tree might be grown in France. Nevertheless the commission modified the methods of Achard and obtained better results. This was the beginning of that long series of investigations which has resulted in the establishment of a beet sugar industry, making in round numbers six million tons of sugar per year, a quantity considerable greater than that produced from the sugar cane. The name of Chaptal has been mentioned as belonging to the commission which was appointed to study Achard’s process because it was through the influence of Chaptal, who had then become a Count, that the Emperor Napoleon on January 15, 1811, issued his decree establishing the beet sugar industry as a national industry of France and granting a subvention thereto. This decree ordered that one hundred thousand hectares should be planted in beets in France. Both the taxes and the octroi were withdrawn upon all sugar produced from beets for a period of four years. There were also to be established, according to the decree, four central beet sugar factories, and it was ordered that the crop of sugar beets in 1812 and 1813 should reach two million kilograms of raw sugar. The disastrous Russian campaign and the subsequent fall of the Napoleonic dynasty interrupted but did not destroy the industry.

The establishment of an industry by imperial decree is perhaps a novel method of procedure and gave rise at that time to a caricature in which the Emperor Napoleon and the young King of Rome figured as the most important characters. The Emperor was represented as seated in the nursery with a cup of coffee before him into which he was squeezing the juice of a beet. Near him was seated the young King of Rome voraciously sucking a beet root while the nurse standing near and steadfastly observing the process is saying to the youthful monarch--“Suck, dear, suck, your father says it’s sugar.”

By reason of the embargo laid on commerce by England the cane sugar coming from tropical islands had been kept out of the continent, so in order to supply the deficiency the Emperor Napoleon issued the decree mentioned. Due to this impetus the industry grew rapidly in France even after the fall of the empire and in the course of 20 years had assumed proportions of commercial importance. About this period German scientists became interested in the matter and by studies directed to the improvement of the sugar in the beet and methods of manufacture laid the foundation of a great industry in Germany which has outclassed the similar industries of all other countries.

The production of beet sugar in the United States was only a few thousand pounds in 1879 and during that and succeeding years a number of factories were built. All of these, however, were unsuccessful except one which was located in Alvarado, California, and which has been continuously operated ever since. In 1884 the U. S. Department of Agriculture undertook anew the investigation of the conditions which were favorable to the sugar beet industry and as a result of these investigations a new start was made on a more substantial basis. The industry has since then extensively grown in importance until at the present time as much sugar is made from the sugar beet in this country as from the sugar cane. In order that an adequate idea of the magnitude of the sugar industry in the world may be had a statistical table is submitted on page 471, showing the production of sugar in the world during the year 1906.

The first important report on the beet sugar industry in the United States was made by McMurtrie as a special report No. 28 on the culture of the sugar beet, issued in 1880 by the Department of Agriculture. It is there recounted that two Philadelphians, as early as 1880, became interested in the beet sugar industry which was then in its infancy in Europe. Eight years later David L. Child undertook in a small way the production of beet sugar in Northampton, Mass., and issued a small work on the subject, entitled “The Culture of the Beet and the Manufacture of Beet Sugar.” He reports that he had grown beets that would yield 6 percent of sugar which cost not more than 11 cents a pound. He made in all about one thousand, three hundred pounds of sugar.

The first factory of any considerable size in the United States was erected in 1863 at Chatsworth, Ill., but this proved to be a financial failure. A beet sugar factory was erected in the Sacramento Valley, California, in 1869, and after various vicissitudes a permanent factory was established at Alvarado, as has already been mentioned. In 1874 as much as 1,500,000 pounds of beet sugar were made in California. In 1870 and 1871 New Jersey and Massachusetts enacted legislation exempting from taxation for a period of 10 years all property devoted to the production of beet sugar. Factories were established in Massachusetts and in Delaware later on, but these all suffered financial reverses. It was not until the latter part of the 80’s that the beet sugar industry in the United States was placed upon a paying basis, and even since that date many ventures in the manufacture of beet sugar have resulted in financial loss and in the abandonment of the factories.

_Conditions of Cultivation._--The sugar beet in the United States does not produce its maximum content of sugar in areas where the mean temperature for the three months of June, July, and August rises above 70 degrees F. The southern limit of this area is an irregular, waving line, as indicated in the accompanying map (Fig. 69). There are, of course, localities where high-grade beets can be produced south of this line, but in point of fact nearly every successful beet sugar enterprise has been located within the field indicated. There is really no limit to the northern edge of this belt except that of short seasons, incident to late frosts of spring and early frosts of autumn. To successfully compete in the sugar markets of the world the sugar beet should enter the factory with an average percentage of sugar of not less than 12. Very much richer beets are often produced and in some of the irrigated areas of the west, where the climate is remarkably dry, an average percentage of 16 and 18 even has been obtained. In the whole beet sugar crop of the United States the average percentage of sugar in the beet is probably not far from 13 or 14. In this respect it is seen that the beet is richer in sugar than the average sugar cane of Louisiana, which does not contain over 11 or 12 percent of sugar.

_Yield per Acre._--The average yield per acre of sugar beets in the United States is unfortunately very low, due chiefly to ignorance of the proper method of culture. The sugar beet is more of a garden than a field crop and requires special cultivation and fertilization. The average yield in the United States has probably not exceeded eight tons per acre, while the average yield in Europe is twelve or thirteen tons per acre. In this respect the Louisiana sugar cane has a marked advantage, the average crop being over twenty tons, while thirty and even forty tons are often obtained. As soon as our farmers learn the principles of culture it is certain that the average yield in the United States will be as great as that in Europe. A typical field of beets ready for the harvest is shown in Fig. 70.

_Manufacture._--The manufacture of beet sugar is both a simple and a complicated operation. The simplicity of it consists in the fact that it is only necessary to extract the saccharine juices of the beet, properly clarify them, and reduce them by evaporation to a point where the sugar will crystallize. In reality the operation of successful manufacture requires elaborate and costly machinery and a high degree of technical skill. A brief outline of the method will be sufficient for the purpose of this manual.

The beets, after harvesting, have the tops cut off with a small quantity of the adhering material of the neck of the beet, which contains large quantities of salts and is not suitable to enter the factory. In Fig. 71 is shown a view of a beet field after the harvest. The beets are then thoroughly washed and passed through a slicing machine in which they are cut up into thin slices or ribbons. They then enter a series of tanks, known as a diffusion battery, in which they are thoroughly treated with hot water, by means of which practically all of the sugar which they contain is extracted. The saccharine product obtained, known as the diffusion juice, is treated with a large excess of lime, heated, and carbonic acid derived from a lime kiln blown through it until the lime is all converted into a carbonate carrying down with it the impurities of the juices. The diffusion juice as it comes from the diffusion battery is usually almost as black as ink. After carbonatation, as the process above is called, it is of a clear, light amber tint. To separate the liquid from the solid matter the whole is passed through a filter press from which the juice emerges bright and clear and the carbonate of lime with its adhering impurities remains in the filter press as hard cakes. This process is repeated in order to secure as great a purity as possible in the juice.

_Evaporation._--The purified juice is conducted into multiple-effect vacuum pans, Fig. 73, from which the air is partially exhausted by a pump, the vacuum rising in the series. There are usually three or four of these pans connected together,--the first one having the least air exhausted from it and the last one the most, that is, having the highest vacuum. The vapor which arises from the first pan is conducted through the copper coils to the second and serves as the heating agent while the vapor from the second pan passes through the copper coils to the third and so on to the fourth. Thus the steam used for evaporating is turned only on the first pan and by this means a great economy in the use of fuel is secured. In this way the juice is evaporated to a sirup. This is usually somewhat colored and if white sugar is made it is bleached by passing through bone-black or by the application of sulfur fumes. When sulfur is used it is often applied first to the unevaporated juice as well as to the sirup.

_Final Crystallization._--The sirup is now ready for the final process, which takes place in what is known as the vacuum strike pan, Fig. 74. A considerable quantity of sirup is introduced so as to cover the lower coils of this pan and, after the vacuum is established by a pump, evaporated to the crystallizing point. An additional quantity of cold sirup is then drawn into the pan, chilling the mass and thus producing incipient crystallization in the form of extremely minute crystals. The evaporation is now continued with the addition of sirup from time to time, by which process the sugar crystals begin to grow. In the course of a few hours the pan is full of crystals of the size desired.

_Purification of the Sugar._--The vacuum is broken and the crystallized mass of sugar drawn into a mixing apparatus whereby all lumps are broken up and a uniform magma secured. This is done while the mass is still warm. Were it allowed to cool it would be extremely difficult to break it up. The warm mixture is then passed into the centrifugal machine, by means of which the molasses is separated from the crystals and these remain as white pure crystals in the pan. The whole process of separating the juice from the massecuite, as the mass is called, occupies only a few minutes. Thus the sugar is often centrifugalled and in the barrels before it is cold from the vacuum pan.

The above is merely the outline of a method which requires complicated apparatus, often of extensive proportions, and which could not be described in detail except in a technical work. It gives the reader, however, an idea of how the white sugar which he eats is made. Often white sugar is not made at the sugar factory, in which case the bleaching with bone-black, etc., is omitted and a brown sugar is produced which afterward goes to the refinery.

_Growth of Sugar Cane._--The growth of sugar cane is confined to tropical and subtropical regions. In the United States this crop is grown chiefly in Louisiana and Texas. Its cultivation does not extend northward beyond the center of Georgia. Typical scenes in sugar cane fields are shown in Figs. 75 and 76.

=Manufacture of Cane Sugar.=--In the manufacture of sugar from the sugar cane the first process, naturally, after the harvest, is the expression of the juice from the cane. At the time of harvesting the canes are topped in such a way as to cut off the green portion of the upper part of the stalk and the leaves also are removed.

There are two methods of extracting the juice from the cane, one similar to that described for the sugar beet but used very little. Only one or two factories in the United States use this method of extraction. The most common method of extraction is by passing the canes through heavy mills. These mills are made of great strength so as to bear an immense pressure without breaking. The largest mills have a capacity of grinding from 500 to 1000 tons of cane a day. Many of them grind only from 200 to 500 tons per day. The mills are nearly always placed in series, that is, the cane is subjected to a double pressure. The first mill is uniformly composed of three rollers of the same size and set so that the first and second are not quite so close together as the second and third. The second mill also often consists of three rollers the same as the first mill but sometimes only two. Occasionally a third is used. It is quite customary to sprinkle the crushed cane as it comes from the first mill with water before it enters the second mill, thus securing a greater degree of extraction. The residue from the mill is called bagasse and is commonly carried directly to the furnace and used as fuel, furnishing steam, to evaporate the juice and drive the mill. The mills extract from 75 to 80 percent of the weight of cane in juice. The sugar cane contains about 88 percent of its weight of sugar juice. It is seen, therefore, that a considerable portion of the sugar remains in the bagasse. By the process of diffusion a larger proportion of the sugar is extracted than by milling, but the resulting juices are very much diluted and require a greater combustion of fuel for evaporation.

_Clarifying the Juice._--The juice as expressed from the cane is a dirty-looking mass and requires to be clarified before it is concentrated. It is a very common practice to subject the fresh juice to the fumes of burning sulfur. In all cases the first step in the clarifying is the addition of lime to neutralize the natural acidity of the juice and facilitate the coagulation of the dissolved matter. The limed juice is next subjected to heating and as the boiling point approaches a separation of the suspended and coagulated matter takes place, the light coming to the top and the heavy falling to the bottom. The common method of separating these bodies is by skimming the top coagulum and settling the bottom portion and drawing off the clear juice therefrom. In addition to this to get a more complete separation the heated juice may be run through a filter press.

The clarification of sugar cane juice, as is seen, is much more simple than that of beet juice. The method employed for the clarification of beet juice is sometimes used for cane juice but not very frequently.

_Evaporation of Clarified Juice._--After the clarification is completed the further treatment of the juice is exactly the same as that for the sugar beet.

=Manufacture of Maple Sugar.=--The maple trees in the United States grow chiefly in the New England states, especially in Vermont, New York, Ohio, and Indiana. Very little sugar is made in other states. The season of manufacture is at the beginning of spring, when the sap first begins to run and before the buds of the new leaves have developed very extensively. The season lasts from four to six weeks. In New England it begins the latter part of March and in Ohio and Indiana in February. The trees are bored and a tubular spile driven into the wood through which the sap escapes into the bucket or other receptacle. Figs. 77, 78, and 79 are typical scenes in a small maple orchard during the season, showing tapping of the trees and collection and boiling of the sap. The sap of the maple tree is extremely bright and clear and requires no clarifying. It is usually evaporated in open kettles or pans, the vacuum process not being employed. The crystallization takes place at the final moment of evaporation and usually the whole mass is sold as sugar, forming what is known in the cane sugar industry as concrete. Maple sugar is never refined, since in the process of refining the peculiar flavor and odor which give it its chief value would disappear. The quantity of maple sugar made in the United States is almost negligible from a commercial point of view, amounting annually to only about 10,000 tons. Perhaps a greater quantity of maple sap is used in the form of sirup than of sugar.

=Refining of Sugar.=--All kinds of raw sugar but maple are refined before entering commerce. The public taste has demanded a pure white sugar and in so far as beet sugar is concerned the refining process is a necessity, inasmuch as raw beet sugar has a very disagreeable soapy taste and odor which render it unfit for consumption. On the other hand raw cane sugar is aromatic, fragrant, and delicious to a far greater degree in the raw state than when it is refined, since after the refining process it is difficult to distinguish the product of the beet juice from that of the sugar cane.

_Process of Refining._--The manipulation attending the refining of sugar is a somewhat simple one, but experience has shown that it can only be done economically in very large establishments, many of which cost millions of dollars. The attempt to refine sugar on a small scale makes the product too expensive to compete commercially with the product of the large refinery. The raw sugar is first mixed with water and melted and reduced to the condition of a sirup. In this state it is treated with lime and clarified as has been described for sugar cane juice. Sometimes at this stage it is also treated with sulfur fumes, but not usually. After clarifying the juice is filtered through bags or filter presses so as to free it from all suspended matter. In order to decolorize it it is then passed through large cylinders filled with bone-black from which it emerges quite or almost water-white. When the bone-black loses its decolorizing properties it is removed from the cylinder and reburned in closed retorts, by which process it regains its power to decolorize the sugar solution. The decolorized juices are next taken into vacuum strike pans, as has already been described in the manufacture of sugar, only of a much larger size. In these pans they are evaporated and crystallized and the sugar separated in centrifugals as described above. After the sugar comes from the centrifugal it is placed in a granulating apparatus, a large revolving drum supplied with a steam jacket from which it emerges dry. Granulated sugar is almost chemically pure, often containing 99.9 percent of pure sugar. The molasses from the centrifugal is diluted, passed through bone-black, and reboiled and a new lot of sugar obtained. Finally when the product becomes so low in sugar as not to yield a white product lower grades of brown sugar are made, which are usually sold without drying and contain considerable quantities of moisture and some molasses. The final molasses which no longer crystallizes is sold usually for mixing with glucose to make table sirup. It contains so much mineral matter in solution as to be hardly suitable for food purposes.

Loaf sugar, cut loaf, etc., are forms of pure sugar which are pressed or cut in the forms in which they appear on the market and then dried instead of being dried in a granulated state as described. Powdered sugar is dry refined sugar reduced to a fine powder.

In the refining of sugar it is quite customary to wash the crystals in the centrifugal with ultramarine blue suspended in water. This is done in order to form with the blue water and the yellow tint, which sometimes accompanies the crystals, a perfectly white appearance, on the optical principle which shows that when a blue and a yellow tint are mixed a white color results. This process is not required for the first-class product coming from the first crystallization and very often dealers require sugar for special purposes which has not been so treated. It would be advisable if all consumers should demand a sugar of the same character.

While the refining of sugar can probably never be abolished it should not be forgotten that the very finest sugar, from a palatable point of view, is that made from the maple or sugar cane without refining in which the crystals retain their natural yellow color. If consumers understood thoroughly the value of a sugar of this kind they would demand it instead of the dead white product which is now in vogue.

As has been stated a raw sugar of this kind could not be used if made from beets.

=Sugar Crops of the World.=--These figures include local consumption of home production wherever known.

Willett and Gray’s estimates of cane sugar crops, Oct. 18, 1906:

CROP BEGINS: 1906-07. 1905-06. 1904-05. United States-- Louisiana September 265,000 330,000 335,000 Texas September 14,000 12,000 15,000 Porto Rico January 230,000 213,000 145,000 Hawaiian Islands November 395,000 385,000 382,576 Cuba, _crop_ December 1,250,000 1,175,000 1,163,258 British West Indies-- Trinidad, _exports_ January 50,000 55,000 31,000 Barbados, _exports_ January 43,000 49,680 41,600 Jamaica, _crop_ January 18,000 18,000 16,000 Antigua and St. Kitts January 24,000 24,000 24,000 French West Indies-- Martinique, _exports_ January 35,000 33,000 29,986 Guadeloupe January 36,000 36,000 36,000 Danish West Indies-- St. Croix January 13,000 13,000 11,000 Haiti and San Domingo January 50,000 50,000 47,000 Lesser Antilles, not named above January 13,000 13,000 13,000 Mexico, _crop_ December 110,000 105,000 107,038 Central America-- Guatemala, _crop_ January 8,000 8,000 7,640 San Salvador, _crop_ January 6,000 6,000 5,588 Nicaragua, _crop_ January 5,000 5,000 4,235 Costa Rica, _crop_ January 3,000 3,000 2,305 South America-- Demerara, _exports_ Oct. & May 120,000 121,693 101,278 Surinam, _crop_ October 13,000 13,000 13,000 Venezuela October 3,000 3,000 3,000 Peru, _crop_ October 140,000 150,000 150,000 Argentine Republic, _crop_ June 140,000 137,308 128,104 Brazil, _crop_ October 260,000 275,000 195,000 --------- --------- --------- Total in America 3,244,000 3,233,681 3,005,608 --------- --------- ---------

Asia-- British India-- _Exports_ December 30,000 15,000 30,000 Siam (cons’n 30,000 tons, mostly imported) ..... ..... ..... ..... Java, _crop_ May 950,000 993,900 1,008,900 Japan (cons’n 260,000 tons, mostly imported) ..... ..... ..... ..... Philippine Islands, _crop_ December 160,000 135,625 106,875 China (cons’n large, mostly imported) ..... ..... ..... ..... --------- --------- --------- Total in Asia 1,140,000 1,144,525 1,145,775 --------- --------- ---------

Australia and Polynesia-- Queensland June 170,000 170,000 147,688 New South Wales June 20,000 20,000 21,525 Fiji Islands, _exports_ June 40,000 40,000 47,000 ------- ------- ------- Total in Australia and Polynesia 230,000 230,000 216,213 ------- ------- -------

Africa--Egypt, _crop_ January 60,000 65,000 60,000 Mauritius August 200,000 188,364 142,101 Reunion September 30,000 30,000 30,000 ------- ------- ------- Total in Africa 290,000 283,364 232,101 ------- ------- ------- Europe--Spain December 15,000 14,512 18,592 ------- ------- -------

Total Cane sugar crops (W. & G.) 4,919,000 4,906,082 4,618,289 Europe Beet sugar crops (F. O. Licht) September 6,570,000 6,954,000 4,708,758 United States Beet sugar crops (W. & G.) July & Oct. 345,000 283,717 209,722 ---------- ---------- --------- Grand total Cane and Beet Sugar-- Tons 11,834,000 12,143,799 9,536,769 Estimated decrease in the world’s production 309,799 ..... .....

=Adulteration of Sugar.=--In the United States there are few adulterations of sugar practiced. The product has grown so cheap not only in the United States but all over the world that adulterations are no longer a paying process and whenever adulteration ceases to pay it requires no law to prevent it. White sugars have been adulterated from time to time by the admixture of white earth or terra alba (either ground silicate, ground gypsum, or ground chalk). I have never found any adulteration of this kind in an American white sugar. White flour has also been added to sugar as an adulterant, but that form of adulteration is not known in this country. The only adulteration which is found in American sugar, in so far as I know, is that incident to the process of manufacture which I have described. When sulfur is used in sulfuring the juice before clarifying a trace of sulfurous acid may still adhere to the finished product. When bluing is used the particles of ultramarine blue attach themselves to the sugar crystals and become an adulteration. I have seen sugar so blued that on solution the water would turn blue. Sugar granules are also sometimes washed with salts of tin, a very poisonous compound, and a trace of these salts may still adhere to the crystals. Sugar has also been mixed with dextrose made from starch, in other words, from starch sugar, or as it is ordinarily called, anhydrous grape sugar. This is a form of adulteration which has been little practiced on account of the difficulty of getting a dry starch sugar in commercial quantities. Recent improvements in the manufacture of dextrose have made it more probable that this form of adulteration may be more frequent in the future. As a food product pure dextrose is probably as valuable as sugar, but if it can be made cheaper it would become a fraudulent adulteration or if added in any way without notice its addition is fraudulent and constitutes an adulteration. There is little, however, to fear from this form of adulteration as long as the price of sugar does not go much above 5 cents per pound.

=Sugar as a Food.=--The food value of sugar is well defined. It furnishes next to oil and fat the most complete food for heat and energy that can be consumed, ranking, of course, as starch in this particular. Sugar is a quick-acting food and therefore is especially valuable to relieve exhaustion. It is particularly useful for soldiers on a forced march or for people engaged in any extraordinary effort. A lump of sugar eaten occasionally keeps up the strength and prevents exhaustion. The value of sugar as a food is not appreciated as it should be, since it is valued mostly for its condimental and preservative properties.

SIRUP.

A very common form in which sugar is used in this country is in the form of sirup. The United States more than any other nation consumes viscous liquid solutions of sugar as a condimental food product, especially at breakfast on hot cakes and other articles of diet. Table sirup is an almost uniform article of diet upon the American breakfast table whether in the household, the hotel, or restaurant.

=Maple Sirup.=--Among the sirups, first of all must be mentioned the most valuable and highly appreciated, namely, maple sirup. Maple sirup is the product of the evaporation of the juice of the sap of the maple tree to a consistency in which only about 25 or 30 percent of its weight is water. This is sufficient to prevent the crystallization of the sugar for at least a reasonable length of time. Maple sirup is best when freshly made, and if kept through the summer should be put in tins and tightly sealed while hot. In this condition it will keep its original flavor almost entirely, whereas if left in barrels or other ordinary receptacles its flavor is impaired. Maple sirup is also made by dissolving maple sugar as occasion may require, but this kind is not so highly prized as that made directly from the maple sap.

_Analysis of Maple Sirup._--The average composition of ten samples of maple sirup of known purity is as follows:

Total solids, 70.50 percent Water, 31.40 „ Ash, .53 „ Sucrose, 64.10 „ Reducing sugar, 1.30 „

The study of the ash of maple sirup is an important point in connection with its purity. It is distinctly different from the ash of the sugar cane and sorghum, and its study should not be neglected in all cases where there is any doubt respecting the genuineness of the samples.

=Cane Sirup.=--Sugar cane sirup is made by expressing the juice of the sugar cane as described, clarifying, and evaporating the juice to a consistency where only about 25 or 30 percent of the water remains, which is sufficient to prevent the sugar from crystallizing for a reasonable length of time. Sugar cane sirup is made in hundreds of small factories in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. It is usually made in a small way with mills driven by a horse or mule and with primitive methods of evaporation in an ordinary kettle. Hard pine wood is burned for the evaporation and the empyreumatic flavor of the pine is often absorbed by the sirup. In Figs. 80 and 81 are shown typical apparatus used for the manufacture of sirup from sugar cane in Georgia and in Fig. 82 the relative length of canes ready for manufacture. In factories where modern apparatus is used, in so far as I know, the vacuum process is not employed. In fact, except for economy of fuel, the vacuum process would be objectionable, since by boiling in an ordinary open kettle a larger quantity of sugar is inverted and thus the tendency to crystallization is diminished. It is a common but reprehensible practice in making sugar cane sirup to subject the freshly expressed juice to the fumes of burning sulfur. This makes a light-colored sirup but introduces a substance highly objectionable and one which destroys to a certain degree the flavor of the product. Experiments made by the Department of Agriculture show that delicious, wholesome, and palatable sugar cane sirup is best made by clarifying the expressed juice solely by means of heat and mechanical separation of the coagulum. The addition of lime or any other clarifying reagent is unnecessary and only makes a sirup of less desirable and less palatable quality. Since cane sirup is made uniformly in open kettles or pans there is a slight caramellization of the sirup during evaporation which gives a reddish tint to the product, which should be a mark of superiority instead of being so often regarded as a mark of inferiority. The consumer should always be suspicious of a sugar cane sirup which is light in color. It is probably a case of “Greeks bearing gifts” in the form of sulfurous acid or other injurious bleaching materials. Sugar cane sirup is not appreciated by the people of the North. In fact it is rarely seen or consumed by them. In its own country, however, it is a staple article of diet, highly esteemed, wholesome, palatable, and nutritious.

_Analysis of Sugar Cane Sirup._--The average composition of thirteen samples of cane sirup of known purity is as follows:

Total solids, 75.0 percent Water, 25.8 „ Ash, 1.2 „ Sucrose, 52.0 „ Reducing sugar, 17.6 „

=Sorghum Sirup.=--The sorghum plant (_Sorghum saccharatum_) is grown practically in every state in the Union, but principally in Kansas. Some of the very best sorghum sirup made in the United States, however, is made in Minnesota, and this plant can be used for sirup making purposes over the whole area of the United States.

The method of manufacture is exactly that of sugar cane sirup. It is made in small mills mostly driven by horse power, though some large factories have steam apparatus for its manufacture. It should also be made without the use of any other clarifying reagent than heat. Sorghum sirup has a peculiar flavor which is not disagreeable to those accustomed to its use. It is extremely wholesome, highly nutritious, and palatable. It is a staple article of diet with thousands of families in the United States, principally in the northern and central portion. It rarely is made in the New England states and not very often in those southern states where sugar cane can be used in its place, since the sugar cane makes a sirup which is preferred by most people.

_Analysis of Sorghum Sirup._--The average composition of ten samples of sorghum sirup of known purity is as follows:

Total solids, 76.0 percent Water, 28.6 „ Ash, 4.0 „ Sucrose, 36.7 „ Reducing sugar, 26.6 „

=Molasses.=--The term “molasses” is properly applied to the saccharine product which is separated from sugar in the process of manufacture. It is well to clearly discriminate in the use of the term in order that no confusion or misunderstanding may arise. To this end the terms “sirup” and “molasses” may be contrasted. A sirup is the direct product of the evaporation of the juice of a sugar-yielding plant or tree without the removal of any of the sugar. The term molasses applies to the same process with the exception of the fact that sugar has been removed at least partially by crystallization and some kind of mechanical separation of the crystals from the remaining liquid. Molasses, therefore, to use a term employed in chemistry, may be considered the “mother liquid” which has produced the crystallization of the sugar. The production of molasses has already been sufficiently described in the article on sugar making. The molasses is either separated by gravitation as in the old style of drying sugar or, as at the present time, almost exclusively by centrifugal action. The molasses naturally contains all the substances in solution or suspension which are not retained upon the gauze of the centrifugal. It differs from the total mass of evaporated sugar liquid only in the fact that a large portion of the sucrose or crystallizible sugar has been separated. The sugar juices of the cane and sorghum contain considerable quantities of sugar of a kind different from sucrose or common sugar, namely, an invert sugar, a “reducing sugar,” as it is called, which consists usually of about equal parts of dextrose and levulose. During the process of manufacture small portions of the sucrose are converted into sugar of this kind thus increasing its quantity. In the final crystallization there is always a portion of sugar uncrystallized remaining as a viscous liquid in contact with the crystallized particles. This natural invert sugar which is in the juice, the small portion formed from the sucrose during the process of manufacture, and the part of sucrose remaining uncrystallized in the mother liquid constitutes the molasses. In the washing of sugar the water which is used also passes into the molasses thus diluting it somewhat from its natural consistence. In the sugar refinery the molasses is made up of practically such materials as just mentioned, but inasmuch as the separation of the sugar is more complete the other portions of the molasses, namely, the mineral salts, particularly appear in a very much larger proportion than in the ordinary molasses as will be seen by the analysis of these bodies.

=Varieties of Molasses.=--_New Orleans Molasses._--The real New Orleans molasses is the product of the manufacture of sugar in the old-fashioned way in the open kettle and without the aid of vacuum pans. In this process the crystallization of the sugar does not take place during the boiling but the concentrated liquid is placed in tanks where the crystallization takes place. When this is complete it is broken up into small fragments and placed in a hogshead standing in an upright position, the bottom of which is perforated and covered with straw or fragments of sugar cane. When the hogshead is filled with the crystallized mixture, through the action of gravity the liquid portion gradually sinks and passes out at the bottom of the hogshead. This natural separation of the molasses makes a product of exquisite palatability and one of a character which it is difficult to equal even by the production of high-grade sirup. Before the Civil War this kind of molasses was used throughout the United States. At the present time only extremely small quantities of it are made inasmuch as the open kettle process is practically a lost industry in the South. The term “New Orleans molasses” as used at the present day, therefore, applies to a product of quite a different character.

_Sugar Cane Molasses._--Since the introduction of modern processes of making sugar, namely the vacuum pan and centrifugal process, the character of molasses from the sugar cane factory has constantly deteriorated. This is a natural deterioration due to the improvement in the method of sugar making. Much larger quantities of sugar are now obtained in a crystallized state than formerly. The molasses is to this extent impoverished and the impurities contained therein increased proportionately. It is quite common now in the process of manufacture of sugar from sugar cane to secure at least three crystallizations.

_First Molasses._--When the sugar is crystallized in the vacuum pans and separated from the molasses in the centrifugal the product which is obtained is called “first molasses.” Usually this molasses is diluted to a sirup and reboiled in connection with the clarified juices direct from the sugar cane and thus a second portion of sugar is obtained or the molasses may be boiled separately and a second crystallization of the sugar separated by the centrifugal. The molasses from this product is called “_second molasses_” and is inferior in quality to the first molasses.

_Third Molasses._--The second molasses is reboiled to a thick consistency and placed in wagons, transferred to a warm room where it is allowed to remain, sometimes for two or three months, when a third crystallization takes place. The sugar from this crystallization is separated as usual by the centrifugal, and a third molasses produced of still greater inferiority. Thus, in the best sugar factories high-grade molasses is not made in the United States but only that of inferior quality. This molasses is largely used for fermentation, or is fed to the mules on the plantations. It is also employed to a certain extent for mixing purposes as indicated above.

_Analysis of First, Second, and Third Molasses._--

-------+-------+------+------+------+------+--------+------+------ | | | | | | | | ACIDS | TOTAL | SU- | DEX- | LEVU-| | ALBU- | | AND |SOLIDS.|CROSE.|TROSE.| LOSE.| ASH. |MINOIDS.|AMIDS.| GUMS. -------+-------+------+------+------+------+--------+------+------ | _Per- |_Per- | _Per-| _Per-| _Per-| _Per- | _Per-|_Per- | cent._|cent._|cent._|cent._|cent._| cent._ |cent._|cent._ First, | 80.00 | 53.60| 8.76 | 8.00| 4.00 | 0.20 | 0.94 | 4.50 Second,| 80.00 | 41.70|12.20 | 12.50| 5.35 | 0.25 | 1.50 | 6.50 Third | 80.00 | 31.70|15.00 | 16.50| 6.30 | 0.30 | 2.00 | 8.20 -------+-------+------+------+------+------+--------+------+------

The increasing content of dextrose and levulose, of ash, acids, and gums, and the decreasing content of sucrose or pure sugar are characteristic of the second and third molasses.

The above analyses show the progressive change in molasses due to the separation of the successive portions of sugar and indicate the lowering of the quality of the molasses, at least for food purposes, as the separation of the sugar becomes more complete. It is evident that in the manufacture of sugar in this way, in which very probably an effort is made to get the highest possible yield, the resulting final molasses is a substance quite unfit for human consumption.

_Sugar-house Molasses._--Attention has already been called to the production of sugar-house molasses or sugar refinery molasses. This is a product which in its physical appearance is far superior to the third molasses of the sugar factory and this superiority is due to the fact that all suspended matter in the refined molasses has been separated by filtration. In so far as soluble materials which are not food is concerned, however, the refinery molasses contains even larger proportions than the sugar factory molasses. The refinery molasses is not usually considered suitable for food except when diluted as has been before indicated in the way of mixing sirup.

=Mixed Sirups.=--By far the greater part of the sirups used in the United States are mixtures of two or more saccharine substances. The glucose of commerce is the base and perhaps chief constituent of the most of these mixtures. The glucose, being colorless and of a thick body, forms an ideal base as far as physical properties are concerned, for a table sirup. The quantity used varies very largely, but in general the glucose constitutes by far the larger percentage of the mixed product. Since glucose has only a very slightly sweet taste and is devoid of the general palatable properties which make a sirup attractive, it is colored and flavored with the product of the sugar cane or the maple tree. Sorghum sirup is also used very extensively in mixing. The process of mixing is an extremely simple one. The glucose is warmed until it is easily workable and the added sirups or molasses which are used for coloring and flavoring mixed intimately with it. In large factories this is done by mechanical mixers while in a small way it may be done by hand. Instead of glucose, one sirup itself may be used as the base and mixed with another for flavor, as, for instance, in the case of mixed maple sirup. Very commonly the brown sugar is melted with water and this is used as a base for the formation of sirups. Whichever may be the case the principle of the process remains the same, namely, using as the base a cheaper and less palatable material and flavoring and coloring with the more expensive and more palatable material. From a dietetic and commercial point of view there can be no valid objection raised to this method of mixing sirups. The product is, as a rule, attractive, palatable, and wholesome.

Attention has already been called to the fact that the final molasses in the sugar refinery, after all the sugar has been extracted that can possibly be gotten out by the most approved modern process, is used very extensively for mixing purposes. This molasses has a very high content of soluble salts, reaching often 8 percent or more, which gives a distinct flavor and character. It also has acquired a certain flavor from repeated filtering over bone-black and in general has a strong and pronounced flavor which gives it a peculiar value as a flavoring agent. It is also a clear product, free from suspended matter by reason of its repeated filtration. It can thus be mixed with glucose and forms a bright mixture, devoid of suspended matter and turbidity, and is attractive to the eye. Ten percent of molasses of this kind added to a glucose will make a mixture which is attractive and salable, and, it may also be added, palatable. The other products which are used for mixing with the glucose in the manufacture of table sirup consist of the molasses obtained from cane sugar factories or the sirups made directly from the sugar cane and sorghum. All these bodies have valuable mixing properties and small quantities of them give sufficient color and flavor to the mixed product.

_Adulteration of Mixed Sirups._--The adulteration of mixed sirups consists chiefly of adulterations that are in the materials from which they are made. Glucose itself often contains sulfurous acid used for bleaching in the process of manufacture. It also contains considerable quantities of sulfate or chlorid of lime incident to its manufacture and coming from the sulfuric or hydrochloric acid used in the hydrolysis of the starch from which it is made. The molasses which is used for coloring and flavoring may also contain injurious substances. For instance, sulfurous acid is very extensively used in the manufacture of cane sugar and this acid becomes concentrated in the molasses. Lime is used very extensively in the clarification of the juices and this lime is not wholly separated but some of it is concentrated in the molasses. A moderate amount of lime, however, is not objectionable. Salts of tin are frequently employed in washing the sugar in a centrifugal and these salts are found concentrated in the molasses. The excess of bluing which is used in the centrifugal is also found in the molasses. Various forms of acid phosphates are frequently employed in the clarifying of the cane juices and a part of these is also found concentrated in the molasses. In fact the molasses from sugar cane factories very frequently contains such quantities of these added substances as to render it unfit for human consumption. It is true that these substances are diluted when mixed with glucose, but this is not a sufficient excuse to warrant their employment. It is possible to obtain unobjectionable sirups and molasses for mixing purposes and manufacturers should be held strictly to account if this is not done. In so far as has come to my knowledge there are no adulterants directly added to the mixed sirups except for bleaching purposes.

Attention should be called, however, to still another form of adulteration due to the fact that the molasses from the sugar cane factories is often so dark-colored as to be even unfit for mixing.

In such cases it is not uncommon to bleach the molasses by adding zinc and acid producing nascent hydrogen and leaving the salts of zinc, either the sulfite or chlorid as the case may be, in the product. Molasses containing salts of any of these heavy metals, namely, zinc, tin, or lead, should be rigidly excluded from consumption.

=General Observations.=--If a sirup is to be considered in the light of the definitions already given, as the result of evaporation, after proper clarification of the saccharine juices of sugar-producing plants it is doubtful if the term should be used in connection with the mixed products which have been described. I have used it because these are the commercial designations. Since molasses is also used very extensively in the manufacture of these mixed sirups it might be asked if they could not also be as properly called molasses as sirup. In England the material which is called molasses in this country is usually known as treacle and the very dark molasses coming from the refinery or the sugar factory is known in both countries as “black strap.” If molasses be concentrated to a high degree and pulled while cooling the product is known as taffy in this country or toffy in England,--it is also known as molasses candy.

The general conclusion in regard to this matter is that since the processes of sugar making have been so improved as to extract the greater part of the crystallizible sugar, thus concentrating the residue of an inedible character in the molasses and since, further, the use of various chemicals in the clarifying of sugar juices has become general, all of which are practically concentrated in the molasses, this latter product has practically ceased to be edible.

The laws relating to the distillation of alcohol have been so amended as to permit the production of industrial alcohol, under conditions prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, free of tax. Molasses is an excellent material for this purpose and, in addition to this, is the cheapest material which can be used. The obvious inference is that this material should be used exclusively for the production of industrial alcohol or for some other technical uses and no longer be prepared for human food. The production of straight, pure sirups from maple sap and the sap of the sugar cane and of sorghum and, in certain conditions, from sugar, can be easily secured in quantities sufficient to supply the demand not only for the consumption of pure sirups but also for supplying the materials which when mixed with pure glucose produce the mixed sirups of commerce. Thus inedible molasses would be eliminated from human food and mixed sirups be rendered unobjectionable articles of diet.

CONFECTIONERY.

The term confectionery is applied to a wide range of products which may in general be described as preparations of saccharine substances with various colors and flavors. A common appellation used in connection with confectionery and one which describes perhaps the major part of the product is the term “candy.”

=Material Used in the Preparation of Confectionery.=--The saccharine materials which are employed in the preparation of confectionery are sugars of various kinds, namely, maple, cane, and beet sugar together with glucose, dextrose, and invert sugar. Starch, which is not a saccharine substance, is sometimes used as a filler in some forms of confectionery. The colors used are either those of a vegetable character, such as saffron and annatto, or derived from the animal substances, such as cochineal, or more generally, that large class of bodies derived from coal tar and generally known under the name of anilin dyes. The flavors employed are either natural flavors, such as those derived from nuts and fruits, or their preparations, extracts, such as the extract of vanilla, and synthetic preparations, including a very large number of artificial flavoring materials resembling to a greater or less degree the natural flavor of fruits, nuts, or flowers. Chocolate is one of the most common and one of the most highly appreciated flavoring reagents employed, being largely mixed with sugar before using. Not to be included in the permissible materials in the manufacture of confectionery are any powdered mineral substances or mineral substances of any kind (except such as are incident to the manufacture of the product as the natural constituents of the raw material), poisonous or harmful colors or flavors, and fermented, vinous, and distilled liquors and drugs of all kinds.

Under adulterations the question of what is harmful or hurtful in such material will be more fully discussed.

=Method of Manufacture.=--Each manufacturer has his own method of mixing, flavoring, and coloring his products and these are mostly trade secrets. A general statement, however, may be made regarding the method of procedure. The saccharine substances are usually dissolved in water and brought to the proper consistency by heating. The colors and flavors are added during such part of the process as is most favorable to their incorporation and retention. The mass, when of the proper consistence, is molded into the various forms in which candies are found in commerce and in many cases polished in revolving drums of copper or other polishing device. It would be useless to undertake, even if they were known, to describe the manifold methods employed to secure the fancy and high-class confections which are found upon the market.

=Crystallized Fruits and Flowers.=--When fruits and flowers are treated with sugar sirup which is subsequently allowed to crystallize there are produced what is known as candied or crystallized flowers or fruit. These substances in this case become confections and should be judged by the same standards as the straight candy.

=Food Value of Candy.=--The food value of confectionery or candy is not as a rule considered, since it is eaten more for its flavor and general palatability and attractiveness than for its nutritive properties. Nevertheless, the food value of candy is often very high and is measured chiefly by the sugars it contains.

=Adulteration of Confections.=--The question of adulteration of confectionery is one which is somewhat difficult to discuss, since in the definition of confectionery and candies the incorporation of added harmless colors and flavors is regarded as a legitimate process. It is evident that because a confection is colored or flavored there is no reason for the statement that it is adulterated. Confections not being a natural product their coloring and flavoring cannot be regarded as deceptive since neither process can be used in any sense to deceive the purchaser. It follows, therefore, that any kind of a harmless coloring or flavoring material will be a legitimate addition to confectionery. The question, however, of what is harmful or harmless is one difficult to decide. The manufacturer of coloring and flavoring materials and the manufacturer of confectionery are always quite ready to certify that the colors and flavors used are harmless to health. On the other hand the physiological chemist, who stands apart from the commercial point of view, may be led with difficulty to adopt the same conclusions. It is evident there are some colors, especially those of a vegetable character, which must be regarded as harmless. Nearly all vegetables contain natural coloring materials, either chlorophyll or derivatives therefrom, which are, without doubt, quite harmless. The addition of coloring matter of a vegetable character to confectionery is not regarded as in any way a harmful or deleterious ingredient to the product. The same may be said of animal coloring matter, since there are also natural constituents of animal substances used such as cochineal, which, as is well known, is derived from an insect, and hence the addition of such a substance to a food product may be regarded in the present light of our knowledge as harmless. There are also synthetical preparations which from a chemical point of view and in so far as known from the physical point of view are closely identified with vegetable substances. These preparations may, _a priori_, be regarded as substances not injurious to health. On the other hand almost the whole range of mineral colors which formerly were so much used in tinctorial art, namely, the oxids and salts of metals such as copper, chromium, lead, arsenic, etc., are regarded by practically all authorities as injurious substances and not suitable for introduction into food products. There is left then for consideration in this respect that vast body of coloring matters derived from coal tar and known in general as anilin dyes, whether directly made from anilin or not. On the question of wholesomeness of these bodies there is much division of opinion. Of the many which are known, however, only a few are regarded as harmless. Perhaps thirty different dyes would cover the whole number which have been pronounced harmless by expert observers. The experts, however, who have rendered decisions in this matter do not agree as to the harmlessness of the list just mentioned. Some of them include some portions of the list and exclude others from their commendation. It so happens, therefore, that only a few so-called anilin dyes have really escaped condemnation at the hands of some of the experts. The general character of anilin dyes and the well known poisonous property of the radical from which they are derived leads to the supposition that it would be very unsafe in any case to make an absolute statement in favor of any of them. These bodies, as a rule, undergo no change in the metabolic processes. They pass in and through the cellular tissues of the body and are excreted mostly in the urine and hence place a burden upon the excretory cells which, although light, is unnecessary. The possibility, too, might be taken into consideration of a direct toxic effect which they may exert although in a minute degree upon the cell structures through which they pass. It is certain that these bodies can exert no beneficial effect upon the structure of the cells and it is hardly likely, in the doctrine of probabilities, that they should be neutral. It is advisable, therefore, to suggest to the manufacturer of confectionery as well as of the other food products, but of confections in particular, the wisdom of seeking some method of producing attractive colors in their products among sources which are open to no suspicion. It might be that this would be attended with some expense and that the dyes which are unobjectionable may be more costly. This, however, should be a matter of very small consideration to the manufacturer who has the welfare of the public at heart. The price of confectionery, as is well known, is out of proportion to the prices of the raw materials of which it is made. The quantity of coloring matter which confections contain is acknowledged to be minute so that whether the colors cost a dollar or five dollars a pound makes little difference in the actual cost of the product and the highest priced colors would not diminish the percentage of profit to any noticeable degree.

Aside from the use of harmful colors and flavors, which are always to be regarded as adulterants, there are many other practices in connection with the manufacture of confections that may be classed as objectionable. Most of these have, however, been forbidden by law in the states and in other countries and are now forbidden by our national law. The addition of ground mineral matter was long known as one of the principal adulterations of confectionery. This, in my opinion, is no longer practiced in the United States. The substances used were commonly known as terra alba, that is, ground talc, powdered silicates, powdered chalk, or ground marble--in fact any white powdered mineral substance. The object of this adulteration is manifestly to increase the weight.

_Poisonous Mineral Colors._--In the early days of the manufacturing of confectionery salts of lead and compounds of chromium, as well as compounds of other metals such as copper, etc., were employed for coloring purposes. The use of these bodies is now extremely rare, however, if it is ever practiced, and hence may be regarded as a practice of the past.

_Glucose Containing Harmful Substances._--The bleaching of glucose by sulfurous acid naturally leads to the introduction into candies of this substance. It is present in minute quantities, however, and if the glucose is carefully made, I may add, in negligible quantities. The danger of over-sulfuring must not be forgotten and it is difficult to draw a line of demarkation between what may be regarded as negligible and injurious quantities. The abandonment, therefore, of the use of sulfur must be regarded as the only safe way of protecting the consumer against an adulteration of this kind. The use of poisonous flavoring is perhaps more extensive than is generally recognized, especially of that flavor which is supposed to be characteristic of the kernel of the peach, namely, benzaldehyde or its derivatives. There is also a small amount of hydrocyanic acid in the kernels of the peach, almond, etc. This is a very deadly substance and no artificial preparation of it should ever be used. If there be any flavor of this kind in a confection it should be derived solely from the almond or similar nuts which contain only minute traces. While nature, as is well known, places poisonous substances in many food products, they have been so skilfully combined as to render their effect the least harmful. When man produces a similar poisonous article artificially and adds it to a food, the poisonous effect thereof is undoubtedly increased. Hence the use of artificial harmful flavors of any kind in a food product, especially confectionery, is utterly reprehensible and unpardonable.

_Alcohol._--Alcohol has been placed in different forms in confectionery, sometimes enclosed as drops within the saccharine substance. This must be regarded as an adulteration of a very reprehensible character, since these products are eaten so much by children and the danger of injury from the alcohol and the danger of forming a habit from eating it in this way is extremely great. This form of adulteration is specifically forbidden by the national law. In view of the fact that children and young persons of both sexes, and especially girls, eat confectionery so largely it is incumbent upon every manufacturer to see that no raw material is employed in his processes and no flavoring or coloring or other added ingredient used which is in any way under suspicion as being a harmful or deleterious substance. Manufacturers should remember that a mere certificate of purity from the person making these substances is of little value whatever. Even if the statements made in such certificates are true they will always be under suspicion, because it would be supposed that they were made for the purpose of furthering trade rather than for the protection of the consumer. In the case of two experts of like honesty and like industry, one employed for the purpose of giving a certificate to the article of food and one whose researches are entirely independent of any commercial relations, the public will generally give the decision of the latter a greater weight. Inspection officers under state and national food and drug acts should give especial attention to the subject of confectionery as an article of diet almost universally employed and consumed by a class of the community most susceptible to injury.

HONEY.

Honey is defined as the nectar of flowers, gathered and stored by the honey bee (_Apis melifica_). While the above is a good definition there is often found in honey saccharine exudations of the plant other than the nectar of flowers. Many plants contain sugar in their saps and when an exudation of sap takes place and the water in the sap is evaporated a saccharine residue remains which is also gathered by the bee. Many trees, especially of the pine family, exude a sweet sap when stung by a kind of louse (aphis) and this is also gathered by the bees. Thus while there may be other exudations of the plant found in honey the fact remains that the true honey is gathered exclusively from the nectar of the flowering plant. A honey which is made by feeding bees sugar sirup or other artificial sugar food cannot be regarded as a genuine article. The feeding of bees, while a strictly legitimate practice, should be confined to keeping them over periods of famine or the keeping of them alive during the winter or at other times when they do not have access to the flowering plant.

=Historical.=--Honey has been used by man for food from the remotest antiquity. In fact, in earlier times honey was the only sugar substance at the disposition of man. He had not yet learned the sources of great supply which now are at his command or if he had he was not familiar with the technical processes of preparing the commercial article. Honey is approximately a pure saccharine substance and this, in addition to its peculiar and, to most people, pleasant flavor, not only gave it a vogue in the earlier times of necessity but has maintained it in public favor when other and cheaper sources of saccharine substances have been developed. In fact, at the present time it might be said that honey owes its value upon the market not to the fact that it is a saccharine body but that it contains flavors and aromas imparted to it by the flower and by the bee which render it a luxury rather than a necessity of life.

=Preparation of Honey.=--While bees stored their honey in hollow trees or other suitable places in earlier times this was a doubtful source of supply. The bee tree is still an object of interest in every neighborhood. Many wild animals, especially bears, are very fond of honey and these animals were the robbers of the honey bee in the days when such animals roamed the forests. Since the removal of the forests to such a large extent in the interest of agriculture the bee tree is becoming a curiosity rather than a matter of common occurrence. Wild swarms of bees, therefore, at the present time, find other places for building their hives than the hollows of trees. They are likely to light upon almost any point that affords them a temporary support and attempt, at least, to form a colony. Unless, however, they have some natural protection such as that of a hollow tree, these attempts are usually unsuccessful. In Fig. 83 is shown a swarm of bees, which, gathering on the bough of a tree, have bent it to the ground.

=Artificial Hives.=--The artificial hive has now become an inseparable incident in bee culture. The various forms of hives and their relative merits cannot be discussed in this manual. There are many special works on bee culture in which all these mechanical appliances, which are so favorable to the storing of large quantities of honey, are described. The most approved form is that which permits the depositing of the combs in small boxes which when filled usually weigh about one pound and which can be easily removed from the comb and are in a condition to send to market. The proper method of locating bee hives is indicated in Fig. 84.

The art of bee keeping is not easily acquired and it requires a natural aptitude as well as long study and research to become an expert bee keeper. Experts differ in their opinion respecting the relative value of hives, and rival manufacturers also do much in the way of advertising one or another of these contrivances. All of them that have merits are such as protect the bee, during the months when it is idle, from starvation and disease and afford it every possible facility for storing its treasures during the season of activity.

=Distribution of the Honey-producing Industry.=--Every part of the United States is suitable in some respects for the production of honey. Naturally the extreme northern portion, where the winters are very severe, are less favorable than the southern portion for two reasons, first, the difficulty of keeping the bees over the winter is greater in the North, and, second, the season of activity is much shorter. On the other hand the honey which is gathered from the northern flowers is, as a rule, more highly prized than that gathered from the more southern regions. California, perhaps, is the greatest honey-producing state in the Union, though portions of New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and many other states have developed great industries. It is very common also for the farmer to have a number of bee hives, particularly for storing honey for domestic consumption, so that the making of honey is almost as common on the farm as the making of butter.

=Comb Honey.=--The honey which is produced in the hives and removed without extracting it from the comb is known as “comb honey.” As indicated above, at the present time large amounts of this product are made by the filling of small boxes of a size intended for the market. This is, by far, the most convenient method of handling the product. A frame showing 24 boxes of comb honey as withdrawn from the hive is illustrated in Fig. 85. It has also the additional merit of a practical guarantee of the product. In Fig. 86 is seen a box of honey in which the capping is incomplete. Many mechanical attempts have been made to imitate the genuine comb and in many respects a certain degree of success has been attained. In fact nearly all of the commercial comb honey of the present day is made in combs built upon an artificial base in which the cells of the comb are started and sometimes built to a considerable depth. The bee is then only required to fill out the remaining portion of the cell and, after filling it with honey, to cover it over. Thus the labor of the bee is greatly diminished in respect of comb building and its energies preserved for a greater production of honey. It must be admitted that honey preserved in the comb has a delicacy and daintiness which does not attach to that which has been separated and sold in a liquid form. The comb honey, therefore, commands a fancy price.

=Extracted Honey.=--Where honey is to be shipped to any great distance it is found difficult, if not impossible, to transport it in the comb, since the jarring and exposure incident to transit break the delicate cells and allow the honey to escape. For commercial purposes, therefore, especially when honey is to be shipped to distant points, it is separated from the comb at the place of manufacture. The usual method of separation is by centrifugal force. The caps of the cells being removed, the boxes which contain them are placed in a centrifugal machine and the honey forced out by centrifugal action. The boxes are then returned to the hives where they are refilled by the bees. By this process extracted honey can be made in great quantities and for a much lower price than the same quantity of honey still held in the combs. The principal objection to extracted honey is due to the fact that it has been subjected to such extensive adulterations as will be mentioned further on. There can be no valid objection made to the character of extracted honey when it has been prepared under competent direction and with the skill and care which are required by the professional honey makers.

=Strained Honey.=--Strained honey is a variety of extracted honey which from the broken or fragmentary combs is allowed to flow by gravity or by gentle pressure. In such cases, naturally, the cell or honey comb is destroyed. The residual comb is sent to market as beeswax.

=Properties of Honey.=--Honey at ordinary temperature is a viscous liquid of a tint varying from almost colorless to almost black, according to the character of the flowers and the season in which it is gathered and the length of time of storage. It contains from 15 to 25 percent of water and usually has a small quantity of foreign substances, incident to its manufacture, such as particles of dust, pollen, fragments of bees, fragments of comb, etc. Honey, therefore, is a somewhat concentrated solution of sugars and these sugars are the natural products of the flowers of plants, modified to some extent, by passing through the organism of the bee. In passage through the bee the honey is impregnated with a small quantity of an acid, named from the ant, formic acid. It also suffers other changes which are very strongly marked in flavor and aroma but which cannot be very readily traced chemically.

=Polarization.=--Pure honey, that is, honey gathered solely from the saccharine exudations of flowers at the ordinary temperature of the laboratory, namely, from 65 to 85 degrees F., has the faculty of turning a plane of polarized light to the left, which is just the opposite of the optical properties of cane sugar. Whenever a honey shows a right-handed polarization it is a cause for suspicion respecting its purity. A honey of this kind has either been made by feeding the bees a sugar sirup or by the gathering, on the part of the bees, of the saccharine exudation, before alluded to, known as honey dew. It is perfectly true that bees may have gathered honey in exceptional cases, that is, the saccharine exudations of the plants in general, which will show a right-handed polarization, but this occurs so infrequently as to render it advisable to regard such a honey as abnormal in quality. The polariscope, therefore, becomes an almost indispensable implement in a study of the purity of honey.

=Water.=--As has already been stated, the usual content of water in honey is from 15 to 25 percent. It very rarely falls below 15 percent and also very rarely goes above 20 percent. In extremely dry periods it is evident that the content of water becomes less, while in times of rain or at the first advent of the flowers the content of water will be greater. The bee naturally modifies to some extent the content of water in order that the organism may dispose of the product. If the content of water is too small the bee handles the product with difficulty and if the content of water is too large difficulty in gathering and storing the honey on account of the excessive fluidity is experienced. As before intimated, the color of the honey depends largely upon the flower from which it is made. White clover gives a honey almost water-white and among all the honey-producing flowers is perhaps regarded the most highly. On the other hand a plant like the golden rod, which flowers later in the summer, produces honey of a deep yellow and sometimes almost a black tint. The color of honey, therefore, indicates not only the season of the year at which it is stored, becoming darker as the autumn advances, but also the nature of the flower from which it is produced.

=Ash.=--The content of mineral matter in honey is extremely small and perhaps is largely due to the mechanical entanglement of dust in the nectar rather than the exudation of actual mineral matter itself from the flower. In some cases the amount of mineral matter is so small as to become a mere trace while in other cases it has been found as high as .3 of one percent. A high content of ash denotes the exposure of the nectar previous to gathering to an infection of dust or to some other abnormal condition. A high ash content, therefore, always indicates that further study should be made respecting the purity of the product.

=Sucrose.=--The amount of sugar (cane sugar) which is found in honey is in normal conditions not very large, but in exceptional cases the sugar content, that is, the sucrose content, may reach as high as 8 or 10 percent. At such times the honey has only a slightly left-handed polarization or may become right-handed. Whenever the content of sucrose in honey reaches as high as 8 percent there is ground for suspicion that the bees have been fed on sugar sirup, or that some other form of adulteration has been practiced.

=Dextrose and Levulose.=--The two principal saccharine components of honey are the sugars known as dextrose and levulose, in other words, taken together, inverted sugar, that is, sugar made by the inversion of cane sugar or sucrose. In the nectar of flowers these two sugars exist almost in the proportion which would be expected if they had been formed from sucrose or ordinary sugar by a simple chemical process. Sometimes one of these sugars and sometimes the other may be in slight excess. The names of these two sugars indicate their active properties. Dextrose is a right-handed sugar, that is, it turns the plane of polarization to the right. In this respect it resembles sucrose or ordinary cane sugar, although it is not so strongly right-handed. Levulose, as the name implies, is a sugar which turns the plane of polarization to the left. The temperature of the solution has a very marked influence upon this active property,--the lower the temperature the greater the left-handed rotation. A honey which has a strong left-handed polarization, therefore, at ordinary temperature is one in which the levulose is present in full proportion or very slight excess. The other constituents of honey, namely, the pollen which is mechanically entangled therein, the dust or dirt which is mechanically attached thereto, the formic acid imparted thereto by the bee, and the other ingredients, are extremely minute in quantity and are not, as a rule, expressed as percentage constituents. In fact the most of them are merely accidental constituents.

=Adulteration of Honey.=--Perhaps there is no common food product, with the possible exception of condimental substances such as pepper and spices, that has been subjected to such extensive and general adulterations as honey.

The high price of honey, its position as a luxury as well as a food product, and its attractive flavor and aroma have all combined to make it a favorite product for adulteration. In addition to this the invention in the last third of a century of an artificial product resembling honey very closely in its physical properties and being itself a saccharine body, namely glucose, has put into the hands of the adulterator an ideal substitute for the natural product. There is only one reason why the adulteration of honey with glucose has not been more extensive than it is, namely, the ease with which the chemist can detect it. The chemical properties of glucose are very distinct from those of honey itself. In spite of this fact, however, the adulteration of honey has been most extensively exploited and until the methods of detecting it were developed it was almost universally practiced. Glucose is a water-white saccharine semi-viscous mass made by the hydrolysis of starch with an acid and therefore forms the body upon which the adulterated article can be built. It has a low saccharine value and cannot be used alone but must necessarily be mingled with the honey. The amount of real honey used is, as a rule, a minimum to give the flavor and taste of the genuine article to the admixture. It is believed at the present time that this method of adulterating honey is very much less practiced than in former years and this is due, as has been said, to the ease with which it can be detected and also, it may be added, to the increased rigidity of national, state, and municipal inspection, rendering it difficult to place an adulterated article such as this upon the market without detection. Incalculable harm has been done to the honey trade of the country by the practice of this style of adulteration. Only liquid honey, that is separated or strained, can be easily adulterated with glucose. Often, however, an attempt has been made to still further deceive the customer by placing a portion of the genuine comb honey in a jar and then filling it with the adulterated mixture, giving the appearance of the genuine article to a certain extent to the whole.

_Adulteration with Inverted Sugar._--A much more subtle form of adulteration, and therefore one much more difficult to detect, is the adulteration of honey with a sirup made from inverted sugar, that is, the product obtained from cane sugar by the action of a dilute acid. This chemical process, as has already been indicated, converts the cane sugar into a mixture of dextrose and levulose. These sugars are identical, for chemical purposes, with the natural dextrose and levulose of honey. The chemist, therefore, has a much more difficult task to perform when he attempts to diagnose the presence of artificial dextrose and levulose in a mixture of the natural product. There are, however, certain qualities of ash, as well as other chemical constituents, which guide him in his work. While his conclusions do not have that definiteness which attaches to the examination of a honey adulterated with glucose they are sufficiently distinctive in most cases to determine whether or not a sophistication has been practiced.

_Adulteration with Cane Sugar._--A very simple form of adulteration and one which cannot be practiced to any extent without being easily detected is the admixture of a sirup of pure cane sugar to honey. As long as the quantity added is not sufficient to change the optical properties, so that the mixture becomes right-handed in its rotation, the admixture of a small quantity of cane sugar sirup might escape the detection of the chemist. Inasmuch, however, as cane sugar exists only in small quantities in honey the regular and persistent occurrence of much cane sugar in a honey would be a just cause for suspicion, although its occasional occurrence might be due to purely natural causes.

MISCELLANEOUS.

=Mince Meat.=--Under the term “mince meat” is included a large variety of mixtures used chiefly for pie making and composed of meats, fruits, evaporated fruits, spices, and sometimes alcohol in some of its forms. It is not possible to describe any particular combination which would be entitled to bear the name alone, since each housewife and each manufacturer follows a method of her and his own. A general description, however, may be given of the manufactured article which, unfortunately, has largely displaced the mince meat of domestic manufacture.

Judged by the name alone, meat of some kind would be an important constituent of this substance. This, however, is not the case. Very few of the mince meats contain more than 10 percent of meat, a large number contain less and quite a large number contain none at all. Suet and tallow are sometimes employed as a substitute for meat, which apparently satisfies the conscience of the manufacturer even if it does not suit the palate of the consumer. Evaporated fruits, such as raisins, etc., form important constituents of the mixture and also fresh fruits, in domestic manufacture, are very often used. Spices of various kinds are also employed and the mixture is sometimes flavored with brandy or some alcoholic beverage.

_Pressed Mince Meat._--The mixture which is above described may be dried and pressed, or pressed without drying, into a hard firm cake which renders it more suitable for transportation and improves its keeping qualities. There is perhaps little difference between the unpressed and the pressed mince meat except in the matter of a binder. The binder consists usually of starch or flour, which serves not only to give additional weight to the mixture but also to hold the particles together. Starch or flour is sometimes used in unpressed mince meat also. There is another advantage in using starch or flour, namely, that these bodies absorb large quantities of moisture and thus increase the weight of the mixture. Mince meat cannot be recommended on sanitary grounds, since the method of manufacture is not always known and the materials from which it is made are not always selected with the sole view to the excellence of the raw materials and the health of the consumer. The meat when used often represents waste material from the table or factory and the fruits are not necessarily those which look best but probably are those usually of the worst appearance and the combinations are made with a view of meeting the ordinary demands of the market rather than of catering to the tenets of sanitation.

It is not the intention of this manual to discourage any kind of legitimate manufacturing industry, but, in view of the general character of substances of this kind, if they are to be used at all, it seems advisable that they should be made in the home, of material selected by the housewife and in a manner which requires no special treatment for its preservation, rather than to be purchased at random in the open market, made of materials of unknown origin put together by an unknown process.

_Adulteration of Mince Meat._--Assuming that the materials which have been selected are wholesome, sanitary, and of fine quality, the principal adulterations to which mince meat is subjected are the addition of chemical preservatives and artificial colors. Inasmuch as mince meat is not expected to be of any very definite color the use of artificial colors is not common. On the other hand when mince meat is made in large quantities, transported long distances, and sometimes kept for a long while on the shelves of the grocery, the subject of preservation becomes a matter of serious importance. It is naturally inconvenient to preserve a mixture of this kind by sterilization, though this has been accomplished. The method of drying and pressing has already been described. This, of course, detracts somewhat from the physical appearance of the product. The common method is the addition of a chemical preservative. At the present time I believe that benzoate of soda is the one very commonly used, and it will probably continue to be so used, by most manufacturers until national and state laws or an enlightened public opinion eliminate it from food products.

=Pie Fillers.=--Nearly allied to mince meat in its character is a large class of substances known as pie fillers. Mince meat itself, as may be seen from the description which has been given of it, is nothing but a pie filler of a particular kind. Unfortunately the demand of the domestic cuisine is for substances prepared, or partially prepared, for immediate consumption. In this way the demand for predigested and precooked food has become a very general one and the pie filler is a legitimate effort on the part of the manufacturers to meet this growing demand. It is far easier for domestic purposes to make a pie of an already prepared material than to go to the trouble of constructing the material in the kitchen. A housewife loses sight of the fact that the fresh domestic pie is probably the only one which, for sanitary and other reasons, should be admitted to the table. As the pie fillers are as varied in character as the different kinds of pies from which they are made, no definite standard can be prescribed for them. Fruits are, naturally, the predominating constituent in these fillers and the condiments and spices used are certainly unobjectionable. If it be possible to prepare spiced fruits and keep them until used for pies there would seem to be no objection to the manufacture, long before using, of these substances in large quantities. The difficulty, however, of preserving the freshness and aroma of a fruit or other substance used for pie making is so evident as to need no particular emphasis.

_Adulteration of Pie Fillers._--The common adulterations in pie fillers are artificial colors, when they are designed to represent fruit of a special character, and preservatives. The same remarks which were made respecting these bodies in mince meat apply with equal force to all kinds of pie fillers. Bodies of this kind are evidently only properly made on the premises where they are consumed and immediately used after manufacture. The addition of artificial colors and preservatives in such substances, while apparently necessary in the present condition of trade, is wholly objectionable from every other point of view, and in such case trade conditions should properly give way to the demands of public and private sanitation and hygiene.