MILK, OR EMULSIONS.
In the perfumery trade, few articles meet with a more ready sale than
that class of cosmetiques denominated milks. It has long been known that
nearly all the seeds of plants which are called nuts, when decorticated
and freed from their pellicle, on being reduced to a pulpy mass, and
rubbed with about four times their weight of water, produce fluid which
has every analogy to cow's milk. The milky appearance of these emulsions
is due to the minute mechanical division of the oil derived from the
nuts being diffused through the water. All these emulsions possess great
chemical interest on account of their rapid decomposition, and the
products emanating from their fermentation, especially that made with
sweet almonds and pistachios (_Pistachia vera_).
In the manufacture of various milks for sale, careful manipulation is of
the utmost importance, otherwise these emulsions "will not keep;" hence
more loss than profit.
"Transformation takes place in the elements of vegetable caseine
(existing in seeds) from _the very moment_ that sweet almonds are
converted into almond-milk."--LIEBIG. This accounts for the
difficulty many persons find in making milk of almonds that does not
spontaneously divide, a day or so after its manufacture.
MILK OF ROSES.
Valencia almonds (blanched), 1/2 lb.
Rose-water, 1 quart.
Alcohol (60 o.p.), 1/4 pint.
Otto of rose, 1 drachm.
White wax, spermaceti, oil soap, each, 1/2 oz.
_Manipulation_.--Shave up the soap, and place it in a vessel that can be
heated by steam or water-bath; add to it two or three ounces of
rose-water. When the soap is perfectly melted, add the wax and
spermaceti, without dividing them more than is necessary to obtain the
correct weight; this insures their melting slowly, and allows time for
their partial saponification by the fluid soap; occasional stirring is
necessary. While this is going on, blanch the almonds, carefully
excluding every particle that is in the least way damaged. Now proceed
to beat up the almonds in a scrupulously clean mortar, allowing the
rose-water to trickle into the mass by degrees; the runner, as used for
the oil in the manufacture of olivine, is very convenient for this
purpose. When the emulsion of almonds is thus finished, it is to be
strained, _without pressure_, through clean _washed_ muslin (_new_
muslin often contains starch, flour, gum, or dextrine).
The previously-formed saponaceous mixture is now to be placed in the
mortar, and the ready-formed emulsion in the runner; the soapy compound
and the emulsion is then carefully blended together. As the last of the
emulsion runs into the mortar, the spirit, in which the otto of roses
has been dissolved, is to take its place, and to be _gradually_ trickled
into the other ingredients. A too sudden addition of the spirit
frequently coagulates the milk and causes it to be curdled; as it is,
the temperature of the mixture rises, and every means must be taken to
keep it down; the constant agitation and cold mortar effecting that
object pretty well. Finally, the now formed milk of roses is to be
strained.
The almond residue may be washed with a few ounces of fresh rose-water,
in order to prevent any loss in bulk to the whole given quantity. The
newly-formed milk should be placed into a bottle having a tap in it
about a quarter of an inch from the bottom. After standing perfectly
quiet for twenty-four hours it is fit to bottle. All the above
precautions being taken, the milk of roses will keep any time without
precipitate or creamy supernatation. These directions apply to all the
other forms of milk now given.
MILK OF ALMONDS.
Bitter almonds (blanched), 10 oz.
Distilled (or rose) water, 1 quart.
Alcohol (60 o.p.), 3/4 pint.[F]
Otto of almonds, 1/2 drachm.
" bergamot, 2 drachms.
Wax, spermaceti, }
Almond oil, curd soap, } each, 1/2 oz.
MILK OF ELDER.
Sweet almonds, 4 oz.
Elder-flower water, 1 pint.
Alcohol (60 o.p.), 8 oz.
Oil of elder flowers, prepared by maceration, 1/2 oz.
Wax, sperm, soap, each, 1/2 oz.
MILK OF DANDELION.
Sweet almonds, 4 oz.
Rose-water, 1 pint.
Expressed juice of dandelion root, 1 oz.
Esprit tubereuse, 8 oz.
Green oil, wax, }
Curd soap, } each 1/2 oz.
Let the juice of the dandelion be perfectly fresh pressed; as it is in
itself an emulsion, it may be put into the mortar after the almonds are
broken up, and stirred with the water and spirit in the usual manner.
MILK OF CUCUMBER.
Sweet almonds, 4 oz.
Expressed juice of cucumbers, 1 pint.
Spirit (60 o.p.), 8 oz.
Essence of cucumbers, 1/4 pint.
Green oil, wax, }
Curd soap, } each 1/2 oz.
Raise the juice of the cucumbers to the boiling point for half a minute,
cool it as quickly as possible, then strain through fine muslin; proceed
to manipulate in the usual manner.
ESSENCE OF CUCUMBERS.
Break up in a mortar 28 lbs. of good fresh cucumbers; with the pulp
produced mix 2 pints rectified spirit (sp. gr. .837), and allow the
mixture to stand for a day and night; then distil the whole, and draw
off a pint and a half. The distillation may be continued so as to obtain
another pint fit for ulterior purposes.
CREME DE PISTACHE. (_Milk of Pistachio Nuts_.)
Pistachio nuts, 3 oz.
Orange-flower water, 3-1/4 pints.
Esprit neroli, 3/4 pint.
Palm soap, }
Green oil, wax, } each, 1 oz.
Spermaceti, }
LAIT VIRGINAL.
Rose-water, 1 quart.
Tincture benzoin, 1/2 oz.
Add the water very slowly to the tincture; by so doing an opalescent
milky fluid is produced, which will retain its consistency for many
years; by reversing this operation, pouring the tincture into the water,
a cloudy precipitate of the resinous matter ensues, which does not again
become readily suspended in the water.
EXTRACT OF ELDER FLOWERS.
Elder-flower water, 1 quart.
Tincture benzoin, 1 oz.
Manipulate as for virgin's milk.
Similar compounds may, of course, be made with orange-flower and other
waters.