machine. Warm the coffee pot, or jug, put in the coffee, and then add
the water, which, as with tea, should just have come to the boil, and
after standing a little time, the coffee is fit to drink. If the coffee
is boiled, the extremely volatile aroma is dissipated, and its exquisite
flavour lost.
But a good way of making coffee is to make it over night. Put the coffee
in a jug, and pour cold water on it. The lighter particles soon get
soaked and fall to the bottom. In the morning it has only to be warmed
until it just boils, when it should be strained and served at once. This
only applies to _pure_ coffee.
There are too many adulterants used, and what “French Coffee” and “Coffee
as in France” is made of, the Lord and their manufacturers only know.
The chief of these offenders in England is the root of the succory,
chicory, or wild endive (_Cichorium Intybus_), which, originally wild,
is now extensively cultivated in England; whilst on the Continent it is
very largely grown in France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland, and both
home-grown and foreign chicory are largely in our market, the latter
fetching the higher price. It does not taste like coffee, nor has it
any aroma; but, when roasted, it gives a dark colour to water, and a
bitter taste, as if a great deal of coffee had been used; and for this
purpose it must have been first used in the old coffee-houses. But it is
a question whether you buy pure roasted and ground chicory. In Germany it
is adulterated largely with turnips and carrots, whilst Venetian red is
used to give it a colour.
Notice has already been made of the different kinds of coffee, but not
the West African species—the Liberian coffee (_Coffea Liberica_)—which
has not, as yet, come into common use in England. There are many
substitutes for coffee, one of which developed a few years since into
a large commercial undertaking, but eventually collapsed. It was
Date Coffee, made out of date stones roasted and ground. Among other
substances used in lieu of coffee, are the roasted seeds of the yellow
water-lily (_Iris pseudocorus_); the seeds of a _Goumelia_, called in
Turkey _Keuguel_; roasted acorns and beans, chick peas, rye and other
grains, nuts, almonds, and dandelion roots (_Leontodon taraxacum_),
whilst in Africa many berries are used in its stead.
J. A.
[Illustration]
COCOA.
Where Cocoa is Grown—Its Manufacture—Its Use Abroad
and in England—Cocoa as a Drink—Chocolate, Edible and
Otherwise—Substitutes for Cocoa.
Linnæus was so fond of the drink made from the seeds of this plant that
he gave it the name of _Cacao Theobroma_, or “Food of the Gods.”
As a drink it cannot be classed among the infusions, like tea, nor is it
roasted and ground to powder like coffee; but the seeds are crushed and
mealed in a mill, and from this oily meal is made the thin gruel which we
drink as cocoa.
It seems to have been originally a native of Mexico, and is now
cultivated there, in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru,
Ecuador, New Granada, Venezuela, Guiana, and most of the West India
Islands. Commercially the different sorts rank in value as follow:
Trinidad, Caraccas, Grenada, Guayaquil, Surinam, Bahia, Ceylon, and
British West Indies.
It grows, as we see in the illustration, somewhat like a melon, which
contains some fifty or more seeds, in rows embedded in a spongy
substance, from which the seeds are cleansed and then dried in the sun,
when it becomes brittle and of a dark colour internally, eating like an
oily nut, but with a decidedly bitter and somewhat astringent taste.
To render it fit for food, it is gently roasted to develop the aroma,
allowed to cool, deprived of its husk, and then crushed into small
fragments called cocoa nibs, which is the purest form in which it is
used, but also the one which entails the greatest trouble in making a
drink therefrom. The granulated, rock, flake, and soluble cocoas are
made by the beans being ground into a paste in a rolling mill; starch,
flour, sugar, and other ingredients being used, according to the taste of
different manufacturers.
It was used by the Mexicans and Peruvians before their conquest by the
Spaniards, and formed an article of barter among them. Columbus brought a
knowledge of it to Europe; but those were not the days of non-alcoholic
drinks, and it was some time before it came into vogue. Naturally, first
of all in Spain, and to this day Spain is the greatest European consumer
of cocoa in some shape or other. It was introduced into England about the
same time as tea and coffee, but the chocolate houses, pure and simple,
as such, were very few compared to the coffee houses. It was taxed as a
drink by the same Acts as tea, and paid the same duty. In the eighteenth
century it became a fashionable morning drink, especially for ladies, and
is perpetually alluded to by the essayists; but it was so expensive as to
be only a drink for the upper classes.
[Illustration: CHOCOLATE DRINKING.]
Cocoa as a drink is far more nutritious than either tea or coffee, and
like those two substances it has a volatile oil which gives the delicious
aroma, and an active principle resembling Theine or Caffeine—but not
identical with them—called _Theobromine_. It has no tannic acid, but it
has what the other two do not possess, it has a peculiar fatty matter,
known as cocoa butter, which sometimes amounts to half the contents of
the seed. It is this excess of fat which renders it liable to disagree
with some susceptible stomachs, but the mixture of farinaceous matter and
sugar tend in a great measure to obviate this inconvenience.
In another method of manufacture it is known as Chocolate, which is
simply the cocoa bean ground and flavoured with sugar, vanilla, almonds,
cinnamon, or what not, according to taste. It is in a dry form the most
popular of sweetmeats, although the adulterations practised by low class
firms, in order to sell a cheap article, are many, owing to its high
price; yet the goods of first-rate firms like Menier, Fry, Cadbury, and
others, may be taken without suspicion, and are—good!!!
There are pseudo cocoas, as there are pseudo coffees and teas. The
Guarana, or Brazilian Cocoa (_Paullina sorbilis_); a ground nut, the
_Arachis hypogeia_, used in South Carolina, Angola, and elsewhere;
the _Cyperus esculentus_, or earth chestnut, in Spain, are the chief
substitutes; but it is needless to say that none compare with the
THEOBROMA. Alas! that it should be adulterated.
J. A.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
AËRATED DRINKS.
Ginger Beer—Old and New Methods of
Manufacture—Lemonade—Chemicals in Non-Alcoholic Drinks—Fruit
Syrups—Non-Alcoholic Cordials and Liquors—Natural Mineral
Waters—Their Constituents—Artificial Aërated Waters—Their
Introduction into England—Manufacture.
Popular among non-intoxicant drinks is the homely Ginger Beer, so dearly
beloved of thirsty holiday makers and small children; dear also to the
boating man in connection with good ale, as “Shandy-gaff.” And the stone
bottle, in which it used generally to be encased, is familiar to every
reader. We say, advisedly, _used_, because now-a-days it is also put up
in glass bottles; nay, it is sold in casks, like beer, to the publicans
and others. The probability is that, in the old days, its somewhat murky
colour would not bear inspection through bright glass. The old ginger
beer, whose flavour cannot be approached by the modern decoctions, was
made of Jamaica ginger macerated in water, with the addition of lemon
juice and sugar. It was allowed to ferment, and possessed decided traces
of alcohol. It was made after this fashion:—
Take 1 ounce of best Jamaica ginger, and crush thoroughly with a hammer
or suitable crushing machine; boil gently for about an hour in about
a quart of water, then add 1 lb. of best loaf sugar, and make up to a
gallon with hot water; stir until all is dissolved. Add a small quantity
of the soluble essence of lemon, and gum extract, the quantity to be
regulated to taste of the maker. Then stir in ¼ ounce of tartaric acid,
and, if required for quick fermentation, a very small quantity of yeast.
The beer should fine down perfectly clear, and should then be bottled. In
from one to three weeks time it is ready for drinking, and should keep
good about six months.
This was the old fashion—now for the new.[146]
Plain Syrup, from 56° to 60° T.[147] 3 quarts
Boiling Water 1 quart
Oil of Lemon 24 minims
Acetic Acid 4 fluid ounces
Ginger Tincture (21, 22, or 23), Q.S.[148]
Use 1 to 1½ ounce of the flavoured spirit to each bottle.
First incorporate the lemon oil with 1 quart of the thick syrup. (If the
oil contains a large proportion of insoluble matter, it may be well to
use rather less than 1 quart of syrup in the first place.) Then add the
boiling water, and, after that, the remaining syrup; taking care to keep
the mixture constantly agitated during the process.
Lastly, add the acid, and ginger tincture according to taste, or the
requirements of the public analyst.
By adding boiling _syrup_ instead of boiling water to the mixture of
plain syrup and oil of lemon, and subsequently adding the required
quantity of cold water, the whole operation will be brought more
thoroughly under control, and a larger proportion of oil may be employed
without waste. With some samples of the oil, it may be necessary to heat
a larger portion of the syrup; but the oil should always be mixed with
_cold_, _thick_ syrup in the first place, unless a perfectly _close_,
_air-tight vessel_ is provided for mixing; in this case, hot, thick syrup
may be poured on the oil, cold water being subsequently added to give the
requisite density.
When it is required to incorporate a maximum quantity of lemon oil with
the syrup, it should first be whisked into the _whole_ of the thick syrup
_cold_; the flavoured syrup should then be carefully heated by means of a
steam jacket, or other convenient arrangement, until the suspended oil is
reduced to a state of solution. The syrup will then be transparent. Let
it be cooled again as quickly as possible.
_Gingerade._
Plain Syrup, 42° T.[149] 1 gallon
Ginger Tincture (No. 21 or 22) 4 fluid ounces
Acetic Acid 4 ”
Bitter Orange Tincture, Q.S.
Use 1 to 1½ ounce of flavoured syrup to each bottle.
Ginger Ale is a beverage supposed to beguile the artless teetotaller into
an idea that he is doing something naughty, or at all events, placing
himself on the very verge of tampering with the accursed thing “Beer.”
Hence its name, but what a difference in the two drinks! Here are two
receipts for making
_Ginger Ale._
Plain Syrup, 42° T. 1 gallon
Comp. Ginger Tincture (No. 23) 4 fluid ounces
Acetic Acid 4 ”
Sugar Colouring ½ ”
Or
Plain Syrup, 42° T. 1 gallon
Ginger Tincture (No. 21 or 22) 4 fluid ounces
Capsicum Tincture (No. 24) 1 ”
Sugar Colouring ½ ”
Use 1 to 1½ ounce of flavoured syrup to each bottle.
If desired, the _bouquet_ may be enriched by the use of one or more of
the following ingredients:—
Essence of Vanilla 3 drams (180 minims) per gallon
Butyric Ether 4 minims ”
Otto of Roses ⅓ ” ”
Half an ounce of Spanish liquorice to the gallon will considerably
improve the flavour.
_Lemonade._
Plain Syrup, 42° T. 1 gallon
Lemon Tincture (No. 19) 4 fluid ounces
Acetic Acid 4 to 5 ”
Use 1½ ounce of flavoured syrup to each bottle.
When lemonade is required specially for medicinal purposes, and is sold
expressly as a genuine fruit preparation, citric acid should be employed
instead of acetic. In that case dissolve 1 lb. of citric acid in a pint
of boiling water, and use 4 fluid ounces of the clear solution to each
gallon of syrup.
Some manufacturers have attained a high reputation for their lemonade by
adding a small quantity of _Neroli_[150] to the ordinary syrup. This, if
judiciously used, will doubtless be deemed an improvement by connoisseurs
generally, provided they are kept in ignorance of the substance employed;
but a still greater improvement is produced by adding about 1 fluid ounce
of good _orange flower water_ to each gallon of syrup.
In the next beverage we are perilously tempting the fiend Alcohol,
although it ranks as a Temperance drink.
_Champagne Cyder._
Plain Syrup, 42° T. 1 gallon
Butyrate of Ethyl[151] 4 minims
Acetate of Amyl[152] 4 ”
Nitrate of Amyl 2 ”
Acetic Acid 4 or 5 fluid ounces
Sugar Colouring 1 ”
Use 1 to 1½ fluid ounces of this syrup to each bottle.
But here is a direction which plainly shows the cloven hoof.
“The Ethyl and Amyl compounds are conveniently used by mixing them
separately in the first place with nine times their bulk of Alcohol, or
strong rectified spirit, adding these mixtures to the Acetic Acid, and
this in turn to the syrup.”
At every turn, in all these drinks, are chemicals used. Do you want the
flavour of the luscious Jargonelle pear? hey, presto! There it is for
you in a spirituous solution of Acetate of Amyl, made by distilling
potato spirit with Oil of Vitrol and Acetate of Potash, at least this
gives a fine fruity flavour, but to bring out the true Jargonelle taste
it must be mixed with six times its bulk of spirits of wine (_Mem. for
Teetotallers_). The taste of apples can be counterfeited by mixing
Amylic Ether (potato ether) and Valerianic Acid, which latter is made
by substituting Bichromate of Potash for Acetate of Potash, and largely
added Alcohol. The delicious aroma of the Pine-apple is made from Butyric
Acid, mixed with ordinary ether, and dissolved in Alcohol. Indeed with
compounds of the Ethyls, Methyls, and Amyls, all the bouquets contained
in wines or spirits can be obtained.[153]
Does your chemical compound look flat and dull when poured out? lo!
you can produce a “head,” or froth, made out of isinglass, gum arabic,
gelatine, white of egg, Irish moss, or soapwort. The latter gives an
excellent head; but as these frothing mixtures detract from the keeping
of the chemical drink, yet another chemical has to be used as an
antiseptic, and Salicylic Acid, made from Carbolic Acid, is recommended.
Do you want to colour your decoctions? There is a wide range of tints
for you to choose from, from the harmless burnt sugar to the Acetate of
Rosaniline, or Aniline Magenta, of which 1/30th of a grain will colour a
bottleful, a beautiful red.
For the fruit syrups, fruits are very often used, but of course not
necessarily. Even milk is not sacred from the chemist. Here are two
recipes for making Cream Syrup:—
No. 1.
Fresh Cream ½ pint
Fresh Milk ½ ”
Powdered Sugar 1 pound
Another formula:—
No. 2.
Oil of Sweet Almonds 2 ounces
Powdered Gum Arabic 2 ”
Water 4 ”
Make an emulsion, and add simple syrup to make up 2 pints, and there you
are, thoroughly independent of the cow!
In these syrupy mixtures the Americans run riot, and a few years since
many shops, notably druggists, sold strange and curious frothing
mixtures; but there was no call for them in the winter, and they died
out as suddenly as they were introduced. The following is a fair list
of syrups, some of which, however, are decidedly exciseable. Ambrosia,
Apple, Apricot, Banana, Blackberry, Brandy, Capillaire, Cherry,
Chocolate, Citron, Clove, Coffee, Cream, Curaçoa, Currant (black or red),
Ginger, Grape, Groseille, Gum, Lemon, Limes, Mulberry, Nectar, Nectarine,
Noyeau, Orange (bitter), Orange (sweet), Orange (Tangerine), Orgeat,
Peach, Pear, Peppermint, Pine-apple, Plum, Quince, Raspberry, Roses,
Sarsaparilla, Sherbet, Strawberry, Vanilla, Violets.
And here is a list of Non-Alcoholic Cordials and Liqueurs
(non-exciseable), it is said; but if so, they must be fearfully and
wonderfully made. Anisette, Bitters, Caraway, Cherry Brandy, Clove,
Curaçoa, Elderette, Fettle, Ginger Brandy, Ginger Cordial, Ginger Gin,
Ginger Punch, Gingerette, Lemon Punch, Lime Fruit, Nectar Punch, Noyeau,
Orange Bitters, Orange Gin, Peppermint, Pepper Punch, Pick-me-up,
Raspberry, Raspberry Punch, Rum Punch, Rum Shrub, Sarsaparilla, Shrub,
Spiced Ale, Strawberry, Tangerine, Tonic, Winter Punch.
But enough of these chemical concoctions of man; let us go to Nature, and
see what she turns out of her laboratory. Most marvellous combinations
of Minerals, Acids, Gases, and Water. Among the Minerals may be named
Alumina, Arsenic, Barium, Boron, Bromine, Cæsium, Calcium, Copper,
Fluorine, Iodine, Iron, Lithium, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus,
Potassium, Rubidium, Silicon, Sodium, Strontium, Sulphur, Zinc, etc.
And of Gases we have Ammonia, Carbonic Acid, Hydrogen, Hydro-Sulphuric,
Nitrogen, and Oxygen. These materials are mixed in very varying
amounts, and from very valuable medical agencies, from the purgative
Friedrichshall, to the nauseous Harrogate. But all are not nasty: some
are just sufficiently alkaline to be tasty, and, having a briskness
imparted to them either naturally, or otherwise, by carbonic acid, make
pleasant drinks for table.
These simple waters are abundant on the Continent. In Germany we have
the well-known Apollinaris, Selters, Landskro, Brückenau, Roisdorf,
Gieshübel, and Heppingen, whilst in France there are those of St.
Galmier, Chateldon, and Pougues, besides some in Italy and many in
America.
These, especially the medical waters, are imported into England; but
mineral waters are largely manufactured. By mineral waters I do not mean
the aërated waters we drink under the names of Soda, and Seltzer, but the
medicinal waters.
The effervescing, or aërated waters, which are now so much used all over
the civilized world, were first made on a large commercial scale by the
firm of J. Schweppe, of Geneva (a name very well known in England, in
connection with the manufacture), in 1789; and ten years afterwards, his
partner, Mr. N. Paul (whose name yet survives in the firm Paul & Burrows,
St. George’s Road, S.E.), established an Aërated Water Factory in
England. It is somewhat curious how the names last in this trade, for in
1799 a Mr. Thwaites established a factory in Dublin, and the firm still
remains as A. & R. Thwaites & Co.
Since its introduction, aërated water has much improved, especially
the universal soda water, which is simply ordinary water charged with
carbonic acid gas. Vastly improved machinery has been introduced,
cleanliness and purity of materials are specially looked after, and
the bottles and vessels for holding it wonderfully improved. We have
not, in England, taken so kindly to the syphon as they have abroad; but
the cork in the bottle has been nearly entirely done away with, and we
are no longer compelled to pay for, if we could not drink, the large
bottle, which at one time bid fair to be perennial; but which has almost
succumbed to its younger brother the “Small” Soda. Year by year, through
competition and vastly increased consumption, aërated waters are getting
cheaper, and consequently more used.
The ordinary soda water of commerce contains no soda,—it is made by the
absorption, under pressure, of carbonic acid gas, which is generally
obtained from chalk or whitening, and sulphuric acid, which makes as good
a gas for commercial purposes as if it were produced from the purest
Carrara marble.
The number of chemical teetotal drinks is legion. They are all calculated
according to their concocter’s reports, to make the drinker healthier
and wiser; nay, even to provide him with extra brain power, as did the
vaunted Zoedone, which contained phosphates and iron. They have their
little day, and another nostrum takes their place. It has, hitherto,
always been so, and probably will continue, only intensified, to the end
of time.
J. A.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
MILK.
First Food of all Mammals—Skim and Butter Milk—Chemicals used
in its Preservation—Condensed Milk—Syllabubs—Koumiss—Its Early
Use—When first utilized in Medical Treatment—Koumiss from Cows’
Milk—Methods of Manufacture—Intoxicating Drinks made from Milk.
Milk is the first liquid food taken by man, in common with all mammals,
after his birth; and this liquid is so happily ordered, as to contain all
the elements of food necessary for him, at this period of his existence.
The new-born mammal naturally, and directly after its birth, seeks the
fountain of its nourishment, and even that most helpless of all created
beings, a baby, is soon taught where to seek its food.
But we have to consider milk as a beverage, more than as a food, and,
as a drink, it is comparatively a failure, as to most people it is
indigestible, if taken in any quantity. It may, however, be taken with
comparative impunity as skim milk, _i.e._ when deprived to a very large
extent of its fat, and of a hot day, for a perfect thirst quencher,
let us commend slightly acidulated butter milk. Milk has very great
disadvantages as a beverage: first, that it will not keep good any time,
unless chemicalized by salicylic acid, borax, liquor potassæ, or some
other bedevilment, except as condensed milk, which is milk with much of
its water evaporated, and sugar added. This, however good it may be as
a substitute for fresh cow’s milk, where such is not attainable, can
hardly be called a drink. Secondly, milk, in common with all fatty animal
substances, has a tendency to absorb any odour which may come in contact
with it, and is a ready vehicle for the seeds of disease, especially the
microbes of fever or cholera.
It is singular that milk has not been made into more _drinks_. Of modern
times we have soda and milk, or aërated milk and water, and in the
pastoral times of the last century, the times of Corydon and Phyllis,
Chloe and Strephon, it was _de rigueur_ to indulge in “syllabubs”
whenever the nearest approach to rurality, in the shape of a grass field,
and a cow, presented itself. Whoever tastes a syllabub now? Ask fifty
people—forty-nine at least, will answer that they have never partaken
of the delicacy, and the vast majority will be totally ignorant even of
its composition. It was made of milk, milked from the cow into a bowl
containing mashed fruit, such as gooseberries, and sugar, or else, wine
or beer. The great thing was to make it froth, as we may see in the
following recipe for an Ale Syllabub, which our forefathers considered as
the _ne plus ultra_ of a syllabub.
“No Syllabubs made at the milking pail,
But what are composed of a pot of good ale.”
“Place in a large bowl, a quart of strong ale or beer, grate into this
a little nutmeg, and sweeten with sugar: milk the cow rapidly into the
bowl, forcing the milk as strongly as possible into the ale, and against
the sides of the vessel, to raise a good froth. Let it stand an hour, and
it will be fit for use. The proportion of milk, or of sugar, will depend
upon the taste of the drinker, who will, after a trial or two, be able
to make a delightful beverage. Cider may be used instead of malt liquor
for those who object to the alcoholic strength of the ale, or a bottle of
wine.”
The Dutch, who are naturally a pastoral people, make a syllabub of milk,
sugar, etc., which they call _Slemp_; but this rustic delicacy has died
out owing to the universal use of tea and coffee. Curds and whey used to
be much drank, and white wine whey is not to be despised when one has a
very heavy cold—but, of course, it can only be drank by the wicked and
intemperate; good people confining themselves to hot milk, or treacle
posset, either of which served the purpose nearly as well. So, also, the
unregenerate have the solace of rum and milk in the early morning.
We have now exhausted all the milk drinks we know of, except “Koumiss,”
which, although as old as the hills, is of very modern introduction
into civilization, and comes to us heralded by a fanfare of medical
trumpets as a _panacea_ for many evils which the human body has to bear,
especially consumption; but Koumiss is decidedly alcoholic.
[Illustration]