Take no man's _ipse dixit_ when the health or lives of your precious ones
are at stake. "Prove all things."
To detect mineral substances in candy, put a quantity--particularly of
lozenges, peppermints, or cream candy--into a bowl, pour on sufficient hot
water to cover it well. Sugar is soluble in boiling water to any extent.
Terra alba is not. The sugar will all disappear; the plaster, sand, etc.,
will settle to the bottom; the coloring matter will mix in or rise to the
top of the water. _Pure candies leave no sediment when dissolved in hot
water._
I have seen some "chocolate cream drops" which were half terra alba; nor
were these purchased upon the street corners, where the worst sorts are
said to be exhibited. Boston dealers complain that some New York houses
send drummers to Boston who offer confectionery at a less price, at
wholesale, than it costs to manufacture a fair grade of the same by any
process yet known, in Boston. Chocolate drops are made by a patent process
at about seventeen cents per pound when sugar is fourteen, and chocolate
thirty-five cents per pound.
Gum arabic drops have been sold for seventeen cents when sugar cost
almost twice that sum, and pure gum arabic nearly three times seventeen
cents. I asked an extensive confectioner how this could be explained, and
he said, "By using glucose in place of gum arabic."
Now, glucose is a sugar obtained from grapes, a very nice substitute for
the above, though less sweet than other sugars--as cane, beet, etc.
"What do you call glucose?" I asked this confectioner.
"It is mucilage made from glue," was his reply.
Glue is a nasty substance, at best. It is extracted by no very neat
process from the refuse of skins, parings, hoofs, entrails, etc., of
animals, particularly of oxen, calves, and sheep. It usually lies till it
becomes stale and corrupt before being made into glue.
A confectioner showed me some "gum arabic drops" made from this patent
"glucose" which cost but thirteen cents per pound. Jessop exhibited some
extra pure gum drops which actually cost fifty cents to manufacture. I
found all his costlier candies to be pure.
Gum drops are a luxury, and are excellent for bronchial difficulties,
inflammation of the throat, larynx, and stomach. How shall we, then, tell
a pure gum arabic drop from those nasty glue drops? First, the cheap
article is usually of a darker color. The pure gum arabic drops are light
color, like the gum. Take one in your fingers and double it over. If it
possesses sufficient elasticity to bend on itself thus without breaking
the grain, you may feel pretty sure it is gum arabic. The glue drop is
brittle, and breaks up rough as it bends.
Do not purchase the colored drops. Pure sugar and gum arabic are white, or
nearly so, and require no coloring.
Purchase only of a reliable party. Avoid colored confectionery, also all
cheap candies. Even maple sugar makers _have heard_ of sand and gypsum.