Transcriber’s Notes
Italic text enclosed with _underscores_.
Small-caps replaced by ALL CAPS.
More notes appear at the end of the file.
[Illustration:
Price, 20 Cents.
Grocers’ Goods: A Family Guide.
THE TRADESMAN’S PUBLISHING COMPANY,
Tribune Building,
NEW YORK CITY.
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GROCERS’ GOODS:
A FAMILY GUIDE
TO THE PURCHASE OF
FLOUR, SUGAR, TEA, COFFEE, SPICES,
CANNED GOODS, CIGARS, WINES,
AND ALL OTHER ARTICLES
Usually Found in American Grocery Stores.
BY F. B. GODDARD.
COPYRIGHTED 1888.
THE TRADESMEN’S PUBLISHING COMPANY,
TRIBUNE BUILDING,
NEW YORK CITY.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Index List of Grocers’ Goods.
Housekeepers will find this list suggestive and helpful in making up
orders for the Grocer, as well as useful for page reference.
PAGE.
Adulterations 6
Ale 62
Allspice 41
Almonds 50
Apples 44
Apples, Dried 48
Artificial Butter 30
Asparagus 47
Bacon 35
Baking Powders 16
Bananas 45
Barley 13
Bath Brick 58
Beans 47-48
Beef, Dried 35
Beef, Fresh 34
Beer 62
Berries 45-49
Beeswax 58
Bird Seed 57
Biscuit 16
Blacking 57
Blended Tea 24
Bluing 55
Brandies 63
Brazil Nuts 50
Bread 15
Brooms 56
Brushes 56
Buckwheat 14
Burgundy Wines 60-64
Butter 28
Butterine 30
Cabbage 46
California Wines 61-64
Candies 19
Candles 55
Canned Goods 36
“ Meats 37
“ Fish 37
“ Vegetables 38
“ Fruits 38
Cans, Tin 38
Capers 43
Carrots 47
Cassia and Buds 41
Catsups 44
Cauliflower 47
Celery 47
Celery Salt 42
Cereals 10
Champagne 61
Cheese 31
Cherries 44
Chicory 27
Chocolate 27
Cider 63
Cigars 51
Cigarettes 52
Cinnamon 41
Claret Wines 60-64
Clothes Pins 56
Cloves 41
Cocoa 27
Cocoanuts 45
Cod Fish 35
Coffee 24
Condensed Milk 28
Condiments 39
Cordials 64
Corn 12
Corn Starch 12
Crackers 16
Cranberries 45
Cream 28
Cream of Tartar 16
Cucumbers 47
Currants 45-49
Curry Powders 41
Dates 50
Disinfectants 58
Distilled Liquors 63
Dried Fruits 48
Eggs 33
Egg Plant 48
Essences 39
Extracts 39
Farinaceous Foods 14
Feed, for Stock 15
Figs 49
Filberts 50
Fish 35
Flavoring Extracts 32
Flour 11
Fruits 44
“ Domestic 44
“ Tropical 45
“ Dried 48
“ Brandy 39
“ Canned 39
Fruit Butter 39
Garlic 47
Gelatine 39
Gin 64
Ginger 40
Ginger Ale 63
Glucose 18
Gooseberries 45
Graham Flour 12
Grapes 44
Greens 48
Green Corn 47
Groats 14
Grocers’ Sundries 58
Halibut 53
Ham 35
Herbs 39
Herring 35
Hints to Housekeepers 8
Hominy 13
Honey 19
Horseradish 43
Insect Powder 58
Isinglass 39
Jams 39
Japan Tea 24
Jellies 38
Koumiss 28
Ketchup 44
Lager Beer 62
Lard 33
Lemons 45
Lentils 48
Madeira Wine 64
Maccaroni 17
Mackerel 35
Malt Liquors 62
Mace 41
Maple Sugar 18
“ Syrup 18
Marmalades 39
Matches 57
Meal 12
Meat Extracts 36
Meats, Canned 37
“ Fresh 34
“ Smoked 35
Melons 48
Milk 9-28
Mineral Waters 61
Molasses 19
Mops 56
Mustard 40
Mutton 34
Nuts 50
Nutmegs 41
Oatmeal 13
Oil, Salad 43
Olives 43
Oleomargarine 30
Onions 47
Oranges 45
Oyster Plant 48
Pails 58
Parsnips 47
Pea Nuts 50
Peaches 44
“ Dried 49
Pears 44
Pearl Barley 13
Peas 47-48
Pecan Nuts 50
Pepper 40
Pepper, Cayenne 40
Pepper Sauce 44
Pickles 43
Pipes 51
Pine Apples 45
Plums 44-49
Pork 34
Porter 62
Port Wine 59-61
Potatoes 46
Poultry 34
Preserves 38
Prunes 49
Radishes 47
Raisins 49
Rice 14
Rhine Wines 60-64
Rhubarb 47
Rum 64
Rye Flour 13
Sago 15
Salads 48
Salad Dressings 43
Saleratus 16
Salmon 35
Salt 42
Samp 13
Sauces 43
Seeds 57
Shells 27
Sherry Wine 59-61
Shoe Dressing 57
Snuff 53
Soaps 53
“ Toilet 54
“ Shaving 54
Soups Canned 37
Soda 16
Spaghetti 17
Spices 39
Squash 48
Starch, Laundry 55
Stove Polish 57
Stout 64
Strawberries 45
Sugar 17
Sundries 58
Sweet Potatoes 46
Syrups 19
Tamarinds 50
Tapioca 15
Tea 21
Tobacco, Chewing 51
“ Smoking 51
Tomatoes 47
Tongues 35
Turnips 47
Veal 34
Vegetables, Fresh 46
“ Canned 38
Vermicelli 17
Vinegar 42
Washboards 46
Wines and Liquors 59
Wheat 10
Whiskey 64
Yeast 16
GROCERS’ GOODS.
A FAMILY GUIDE.
In the ancient times of twenty-five or thirty years ago, the grocer’s
goods consisted chiefly of codfish, flour, sugar, tea, coffee, salt,
molasses and whale oil. There were also a little candy in glass jars,
some nuts in bins, a few drums of figs and a box of sour oranges. The
grocer himself found plenty of time to talk politics and play checkers
across the counter with his friends and neighbors. Those were the days
when a few conservative old merchants used to meet and discuss the tea
market and allot among themselves the quantity to be imported, not a
pound of which could arrive under twelve or fifteen months.
But things have changed. The importer now flashes his order under the
sea and on, over plains and through jungles to China. “Ocean tramp”
steamships are waiting to receive his merchandise, and within thirty or
forty days it may be sending up its grateful fragrance from tea tables
in the Mississippi Valley.
THE MODERN GROCER.
Nor has the enterprising retail grocer of to-day failed to catch the
spirit of this progress and keep even step with it. He has become the
Popular Food Provider, and his store represents about everything which
is palatable in either hemisphere or any zone. As the world has grown
enlightened and refined, his stock has become more and more varied and
better adapted to the wants of mankind, until it embraces every delicacy
of the land, sea or air.
His cunningly prepared sauces provoke the appetite and give zest to more
substantial articles, while they help also to digest them. He has food
fitted for the intellectual worker and for the laborer, for the invalid
and for the infant. He practically annihilates the seasons and furnishes
fruits and vegetables in mid-winter, as fresh and delicate as when first
plucked from their native stems or vines. And, moreover, all the goods
upon his sightly shelves are now put up in the most attractive, portable
and convenient form for family use.
Food Never Before so Low.
Nor would a day’s wages ever before purchase so much of food products.
In the English market, for the ten years from 1870 to 1880, the price of
wheat was forty-three per cent. higher than the average of 1886. Sugars
have fallen in price nearly one-half in ten years, and teas, coffee, and
many other articles are proportionately low.
This is due to improvements in machinery, increased transportation
facilities and the opening up of new and fertile sections of the earth,
under all of which the world’s supply of food has of late years been
greatly in excess of the world’s increase in population; and it is the
grocer who brings these advantages home to our families.
Food Adulteration.
There has long been an uneasy feeling lest many articles of food and
drink were not only mixed with substances which reduced their nutritive
value, but were also often colored with cumulative poisons, and
adulterated with substances injurious to health.
These fears have not been altogether groundless. There can be no doubt
that this monstrous crime has been practiced to some extent in respect
to certain articles. But, thanks to the diffusion of intelligence, the
teachings of science, the operation of law, the fear of detection and
punishment, and largely, also, by the refusal of conscientious grocers
to sell such unwholesome products; greedy and unscrupulous manufacturers
have been compelled to abandon their vicious practices, and noxious food
adulteration is now comparatively a rare crime.
Those who desire pure articles can almost always obtain them of a
reputable grocer by paying their value. But in order to supply the
demand for cheaper goods and meet competition, such articles as powdered
spices, etc., are extensively prepared, mixed with harmless substances,
and containing the largest quantity of pure material which can be
furnished at the price for which they are sold. Perhaps, also, such
articles are more economical in the using, and admixtures are sometimes
improvements.
Adulteration Laws.
Yet even this class of adulterated goods is objectionable, from the fact
that there are always dealers who will be tempted to sell them as
“Strictly pure,” thus defrauding the purchaser, out-reaching honest
rivals and losing their own self-respect. Probably, therefore, most of
the upright and leading grocers of the country would be glad to see wise
and effective general laws passed against food adulterations, under
which all could unite and be freed from unfair competition by the
unscrupulous. But laws which will protect both the health and the pocket
are difficult to frame and to execute without being sumptuary and
oppressive. The most effectual and probably the best laws of the kind in
this country at present are the enactments of Massachusetts, New York,
Ohio, New Jersey, and Michigan.
Less Adulteration than Commonly Supposed.
The general Government is also moving in the matter. Last year (1887)
three “Bulletins” were issued at Washington, which deal exhaustively
with current adulterations of dairy products, spices, etc., and
fermented beverages. These reports, made under direction of the
Commissioner of Agriculture, were prepared respectively by Messrs. H. W.
Wiley, C. Richardson, and C. A. Crampton, who state in substance that
they found certain articles extensively adulterated, but generally with
harmless materials.
The president of the N. Y. Microscopical Society states that many
members of that scientific body have looked into the alleged
adulterations of food products and find them not as general as many
suppose, and the adulterants found were in most cases harmless.
At the recent “Health Exhibition,” in England, Dr. Jas. Bell declared to
the Conference, that, “In most articles of food there has been a very
great improvement in recent years as regards adulterations,” and that
the “gross and deleterious adulterants formerly used have been
practically abandoned.” This accords also with the recently expressed
opinions of the eminent Dr. Hassall and of many scientific investigators
in this country.
Hints to Housekeepers.
As a rule, whole or unground articles are to be preferred to those which
are powdered; not only because they are less liable to adulteration, but
also because the latter more quickly lose flavor and strength.
This objection applies also to buying goods in large quantities of
wholesale dealers, for family use. This plan may appear to be
economical, but is generally disadvantageous both to buyer and seller.
Tea, aromatic and ground goods, and many other commodities often
deteriorate in quality before they are used. Servants who can dip their
hands into abundant supplies are apt to become more wasteful. If
articles so purchased do not prove suitable, it is more trouble to
exchange them than with the retail dealer who sells in smaller
quantities and is in daily contact with his customers. And, besides, an
honest man who studies the daily wants of the families of his community,
and adapts his business to supplying them with good articles in
convenient quantities and at fair prices, has a right to expect
consideration and encouragement from his friends and neighbors.
The Daily Food of a Model Man.
A healthy man, weighing, say, one hundred and fifty-four pounds,
consists of water one hundred and nine pounds, and of solid matter
forty-five pounds. His blood weighs about twelve pounds, or, when dry,
two pounds. The quantity of food substances he should consume every day,
and their relative proportions necessary to keep him vigorous and well,
are stated by Prof. Johnston to be about as follows:
lbs. oz.
Water 5 8-3/4
Albumen, fibrin, gluten, etc. 4-1/4
Starch, sugar, etc. 11-1/2
Fat 3-3/4
Common salt 3/4
Phosphates, potash salts, etc. 1/3
If for a time the proper balance of constituents is not preserved in the
food, even though the health may not appear affected, the laborer can do
less work, a frail constitution is engendered and the person becomes
more susceptible to disease.
Variety in Food.
If any constituent is deficient we must supply it; hence variety in food
is not only agreeable but necessary to health. Albumen, fibrin, casein
and gluten build up the muscles and tissues, while starch, sugar and fat
produce the warmth and energy of the body. The mineral substances are
necessary for the framework—the bones. Grains, fruits and vegetables
contain starch and sugar and more or less gluten; meats contain fibrin
and albumen; milk, casein, etc.
Beef and Bread
have the following composition:
Lean Wheaten
beef. Bread.
Water 77 40
Fibrin or gluten 19 7
Fat 3 1
Starch 0 50
Salt and other 1 2
minerals
―――― ――――
100 100
This shows that the main difference between beef and bread is that the
meat contains no starch, and nearly three times as much of the muscle
making fibrin as the proportion of gluten (which is similar in many
respects) in wheaten bread.
The water, climate, season, age, habits, etc., all have to do with the
choice of food we eat. Besides the quantity of nourishment contained in
the food, there is also the question of the ease and completeness with
which it can be digested and assimilated. It is not always fat eaters
who are the fattest.
Milk.
Woman’s milk is considered the type of human food when the conditions
approach that of the child, as the milk of the mother is the natural
food of all young animals. Milk partakes of the nature of both animal
and vegetable food. It contains:
Human Cow’s
milk. milk.
Water 89-1/2 87
Casein 1-2/8 4
Butter or milk fat 2-1/4 3-1/2
Sugar of milk 6-1/8 4-3/4
Salts or ash 1/4 3/4
――――――― ――――――
100 100
These are average analyses. The casein is equivalent to the gluten of
vegetables or the fibrin of meat, and the sugar to starch.
With these few general observations, let us pass on to consider in
detail the Grocer’s Goods.
THE CEREALS.
WHEAT.
The cereal grains consist of solidified vegetable milk, drawn from the
bosom of Mother Earth. But two of them all are used for making light and
spongy bread with yeast, and wheat has the universal preference because
it contains all the elements necessary to the growth and sustenance of
the body. It makes bread which is more inviting to the eye and more
agreeable to the taste. It is the highest type of vegetable food known
to mankind, and it is claimed that the most enlightened nations of
modern times owe their mental and bodily superiority to this great and
beneficent product.
There is little if any difference in the nutriment or value of spring
and winter wheat. Some prefer the one and some the other. Southern
raised wheat is apt to be drier than northern and will better stand the
effects of warm climates. Wheat varies in weight per bushel as the
season is wet or dry. The best is round, plump and smooth. It contains
about fifteen parts of water, sixty-five to seventy-five parts of
starch, and about ten parts of gluten. The average annual production of
wheat in the United States during the past eight years has been
448,815,699 bushels; an increase over the preceding ten years of
forty-four per cent., while the increase of population has been only
twenty-five per cent.
Wheaten Flour.
Wheat was formerly ground by mill stones, and the product bolted and
sifted into the different grades. But during the last twelve years, this
process has been largely superseded by the “Patent Roller” process of
crushing and separating the flour from the bran. This is a great
improvement over the old method; more flour is obtained from the wheat,
and it is whiter, contains more gluten, and is therefore stronger.
The first consideration is the color or whiteness; second, the quantity
of gluten the flour contains. The eye determines the first, and a hasty
test of the quantity and quality of the gluten may be made by squeezing
some of the flour into a lump in the hand. This lump will more closely
show the prints of the fingers, and will hold its form in handling with
considerable more tenacity if the flour is good, than if it is inferior
and deficient in gluten.
Grocers and bakers test flour by smoothing a little out on a board with
a knife or paper cutter, to see its color, and if it contains specks of
bran, etc., which may show that it has not been well bolted or
“dressed.” To determine the quantity and strength of the gluten, they
mix some of the flour with water, and judge by the tenacity of the
dough—the length to which it may be drawn out by the fingers, or spread
into a thin sheet.
Injury to flour is shown most quickly in the gluten, which may lose its
vitality. The gluten of good flour will swell to several times its bulk
under a gentle heat, and give off the pleasant odor of hot bread, while
the gluten from poor flour swells but little, becomes viscous or nearly
fluid, and smells disagreeably.
Points for Purchasers of Flour.
As starch is whiter than gluten, whiteness is therefore really no
indication of the sweetness and strength of flour; and, although flour
becomes whiter with age and will take up more water and make a whiter
loaf, many prefer freshly ground flour for family use, as being better
in flavor, while others claim that flour will “work better” if kept for
some time after grinding.
The brand or word “Patent” on packages of flour has come to signify, not
that the flour is really patented, but that it is or should be finest
quality. Fancy brands may mean little; they are put on at the whim of
the maker. Flour is rarely adulterated at present, but good and poor
grades are sometimes mixed. Inferior grades of flour are largely
exported, while the best are mainly used at home. Graham flour is ground
wheat from which the bran has not been removed.
Flour is put up in barrels of one hundred and ninety-six pounds net
weight, and in muslin sacks of various weights. Families everywhere
invariably want “the best,” and dealers often adopt the excellent plan
of buying quantities of some very choice and tried grade of flour and
selling it in convenient sized packages for family trade, under their
own brand and guarantee.
Corn or Maize.
This is one of the most beautiful of plants, and the Indians formerly
ascribed to it a Divine origin. Hiawatha watched by the grave of the
Spirit Mondamin,
“’Till at length a small green feather
From the earth shot slowly upward,
Then another and another,
And before the summer ended
Stood the maize in all its beauty,
With its shining robes about it,
And its long, soft, yellow tresses.”
Indian corn contains more oil or fat than any of the common cereals. It
will make as white and fine flour as wheat, but this does not make good
fermented bread, unless mixed with wheaten flour. CORN MEAL is
healthful, nutritious and cheap, but, owing to its fat, is prone to
attract oxygen and spoil, especially in warm weather. There are two
kinds, one WHITE, the other GOLDEN YELLOW. They are equally nutritious,
and about the same in price. Some prefer the one and some the other, but
probably the yellow is rather the most popular. The starch extracted
from corn is very extensively used throughout the country, and such
leading brands of CORN STARCH as those of Kingsford, Duryea, etc., are
well known. In fact, the consumption of all the products of corn is
enormous.
SAMP is corn deprived of its skin and eye and left whole or cracked in
halves. HOMINY is corn ground or cracked into coarse, medium or fine
grains, and pearled or polished. DRIED CORN, largely prepared by the
Shakers, is sweet corn boiled and dried. It is excellent and much used
as a vegetable.
Rye Flour.
Rye ranks next to wheat for bread making, and is equally nutritious. It
yields less flour and more bran than wheat, contains more sugar, and is
darker in color. Its gluten has less tenacity and it will not make as
light and spongy bread as wheat flour, hence is little used in this
country. Rye flour should contain a little of the bran, as this has a
pleasant, aromatic flavor. The “Black bread,” so extensively eaten in
portions of Europe, is made of rye flour. It is dark, heavy and sourish,
but like all rye bread, has the property of keeping moist a long time.
Two parts of wheat with one of rye flour makes wholesome and palatable
bread.
Barley.
This grain is less nutritious and less digestible than wheat, but
contains more sugar and more of the phosphates, and is also cooling. It
will not make good bread, but is sometimes used for the purpose, mixed
with wheaten flour.
PEARL BARLEY is the whole grain freed from its hulls like rice. It is
used in soups, etc., and is sold by all grocers. In the best qualities
the grains are large and well rounded. It is sold in bulk and in pound
packages.
Oatmeal.
Oats are substantial, nutritious and wholesome, being rich in gluten and
fat. Oatmeal for the table is made from kiln dried, large, white oats,
freed from the husks. Alone it does not make good bread. If long used as
a sole or chief food it is reputed to overtax the digestive organs, heat
the blood, and produce eruptions of the skin. Many claim, however, that
these effects are due solely to insufficient cooking of the meal or
porridge, and there are excellent preparations in market which have been
well cooked by steam and afterwards dried.
Besides these there are various brands of Scotch, Irish, Canadian and
American oatmeal, “Crushed,” “Rolled,” “Granulated,” etc., also oat
“AVENA,” “FARINA,” etc. GROATS are the whole kernels of oats deprived of
their husks. The consumption of oatmeal has vastly increased within five
or six years, and is rapidly becoming universal. Salt only _after_
cooking. If added before, salt tends to harden the meal and prevent its
swelling.
Buckwheat.
This grain may be classed with wheat as regards its nutritive qualities.
It contains thirteen or fourteen per cent. of water, about fifteen per
cent. of gluten, and sixty or sixty-five per cent. of starch. It will
not make good fermented bread, but its delicious cakes are an essential
and attractive feature upon American breakfast tables everywhere,
especially in cool weather. It is sold in bulk and is also put up in
three and six pound packages.
Rice.
Although this grain is the main food of one-third of the human race and
is very easily digested, it contains too little gluten and fat and too
much starch to be considered alone as a perfect food for man. Rice has a
slightly constipating effect but is an excellent and wholesome
occasional article of diet, and one which could not well be spared from
the family list. Rice is sold deprived of its husk. It is imported from
the East Indies, but the best is the fine, large head rice of the
Carolinas. As some of the most valuable qualities of rice dissolve out
in hot water, it should be steamed until tender, rather than boiled.
Farinaceous Foods.
These are very numerous and some of them are excellent. Among them may
be named the “CEREALINE FLAKES,” made from white corn; CRACKED and
CRUSHED WHEAT, WHEATEN GRITS, FARINA, which is the inner part of the
wheat granulated, SELF-RAISING, BUCKWHEAT and other FLOURS; “WHEATLET,”
“GRAINLET,” “GRANUM,” “FARINOSE,” “MAIZENA,” MANIOCA, INFANT FOOD, MILK
FOOD, ARROW ROOT, CORN STARCH of various makes, GRAHAM FLOUR, BOSTON
BROWN BREAD MIXTURES, etc. Many of these preparations are eaten with
milk, and prove valuable additions to the family diet.
SAGO is the pith of an Indian palm steeped in water until it becomes a
paste, then formed into little balls by rubbing it through a perforated
plate. The best is the whitest. TAPIOCA is the pith of the Manihot tree,
washed like sago, but granulated differently. Both are nutritious and
easily digested, and are made into puddings, often with fruit, and eaten
with milk or sauce.
Bread.
One hundred pounds of good, fine, wheaten flour will take up forty-five
pounds of water, and yield one hundred and forty-five pounds of bread.
The proper and legal weight of bread is while it is hot. A four pound
loaf loses in twenty-four hours one and one-quarter ounces; in
forty-eight hours five ounces; in seventy hours nine ounces. The
quantity of water which flour will absorb depends largely on the
proportion and quality of the gluten. The best flours absorb most, and
will take up more in dry than in wet seasons; hence a dry season is good
for the baker. Thorough kneading increases the absorption of water, and
should be continued until none of the dough will stick to the hand.
Feed for Stock.
Among the articles largely used as food for animals are the refuse
products of the various grains made in preparing them for human
consumption; as, for instance, the refuse left in the pearling of
barley, or in making hominy and samp; dried BARLEY SPROUTS from malt,
low grade flour; MIDDLINGS, which are a mixture of bran and flour; BRAN,
etc. Besides these, OATS, white, black and mixed, and vast quantities of
Southern and Western CORN are also used for stock, ground into coarse
meal.
Bread Raising Materials.
Fermentation, says Liebig, is not only the simplest and best, but
likewise the most economical way of making light and porous bread.
YEAST is a true fungous plant, which has the power of establishing
fermentation and changing starch into sugar, and the escaping gas makes
the loaf light and spongy. Hops prevent too great fermentation and
impart an agreeable flavor. BREWERS’ YEAST is largely used when
obtainable, and there are many domestic modes of preparing yeast from
potatoes, flour, etc.
DRIED YEAST.—But as all these fresh yeasts are liable to spoil and
affect the bread unpleasantly, there is an extensive demand for a yeast
which shall possess the same properties and which may be kept a long
time. Hence, the various brands of yeast cakes sold by the grocer. They
are made usually by adding corn meal to the yeast and carefully drying
the cakes in the sun. It is singular that a fall or sudden jar may
injure yeast cakes and deprive them largely of their qualities.
CREAM OF TARTAR, BI-CARBONATE OF SODA, BI-CARBONATE OF POTASH
(SALERATUS), are all used in bread making, and are to be had in all
sorts of packages of the grocer. Cream of tartar is tartrate of potash,
and is made from the argols found incrusted upon the inside of wine
barrels. It should be white, and not yellowish in tint. The effect of
these chemicals in raising bread is due chiefly to the liberation of the
carbonic acid gas they contain when mixed with water, incorporated with
the dough and put in the oven, and the great requisite is that they
should be pure and unadulterated.
BAKING POWDERS are much used for making light and palatable domestic
biscuits, etc. They are convenient, and generally lessen the quantity of
shortening required. They are made chiefly of tartaric acid and
bi-carbonate of soda, and should be neutral to the taste, and without
effervescence if either an acid or alkali is added. One popular variety,
called “Phosphatic Baking Powder,” consists of acid phosphate of lime
instead of cream of tartar, with soda.
Biscuits, Crackers, etc.
The word biscuit means twice baked, and is a survival from the ancient
mode of cooking the cakes which is now no longer in use. Plain biscuits
are said to be more nutritious than bread in the proportion of five to
three, and are most digestible when light and well browned in baking, so
as to turn much of the starch into dextrine. Sea biscuit or ship bread
is made simply of flour and water baked at a high heat. In the large
cracker bakeries the dough is mixed, rolled and cut by machinery and the
cakes travel on through patent ovens until baked, when they drop out
into baskets. Those made by hand are, however, considered best.
The variety of biscuits and crackers in market is utterly bewildering.
These are among the standards: BOSTON, SODA, BUTTER, OYSTER, SUGAR,
FRUIT, MILK, ENGLISH ALBERT, WATER, CREAM, GINGER, LEMON, OATMEAL,
CARAWAY, VANILLA, and dozens more kinds of biscuits, crackers and wafers
at various prices; besides GINGER and LEMON SNAPS and JUMBLES, and even
DOG BISCUIT. There is also CRACKER DUST, for frying oysters, fish, etc.
Some of the above come in handsome tin packages.
MACCARONI, VERMICELLI, SPAGHETTI.—These are all made from the dough of
the hardest and most glutenous Southern wheat, and the domestic are
inferior to the Italian or French. The best will merely swell and soften
after long boiling, and still retain its form. Maccaroni is in small
tubes, spaghetti in small stems, and vermicelli in threads or shreds.
Letters, stars, and other figures are also made from the same material
or paste; all are largely used in soups. EGG NOODLES are ribbon
maccaroni.
SUGAR AND THE SWEETS.
This necessity of modern life ranks as one of the most important
articles among the grocers’ goods. Two hundred years ago it was sold
chiefly by the apothecaries, but is now consumed in all parts of the
world to the extent of many millions of tons annually. Sugars have been
divided into four kinds, viz.: cane sugar, found in stems; grape sugar,
found in fruits; manna sugar, found in leaves; and milk or animal sugar.
There are many varieties of the sugar cane which contain from twelve to
twenty per cent. of sugar; these are cut, crushed, and the juice boiled
down and clarified with lime, etc.; the sugar crystallizes and leaves
the molasses. The sugar beet contains from seven to thirteen per cent.
of sugar, which, when raw, is unpleasant, but when refined is identical
with cane sugar. The fact that the molasses of the sugar beet, although
colorless, is very disagreeable, has retarded the beet sugar
manufacture, but it is a great and growing industry. The sap of the
sugar maple contains about two per cent. of MAPLE SUGAR, which is
identical with cane sugar, and may be made white, but is preferred
brown, as containing more of the rich maple flavor. About seven thousand
tons of maple sugar are annually made in the New England States. MAPLE
SYRUP is extensively sold by grocers in cans, bottles, etc.
GRAPE SUGAR OR GLUCOSE.—The sweetness of ripe fruits is due to the
starch which they contain, passing, under the ripening influence of
nature, into grape sugar. Substances may consist of the same elements,
but different proportions may greatly vary their properties. For
instance, starch and sugar consist merely of carbon and water. Grape
sugar contains more water than starch, and cane sugar more than grape
sugar.
Now, long boiling of starch in pure water produces little change upon
it; but it was found that if a little sulphuric acid is added, the
starch will take up more water and become entirely converted into grape
sugar. And this is substantially the way in which commercial glucose is
made. The acid is neutralized by lime, and the liquor boiled down into
solid grape sugar or syrup.
CANE SUGARS are sweeter than grape sugars in the proportion of five to
three; hence, three pounds of cane sugar are worth five pounds of grape
or starch sugar for sweetening purposes. This is the reason why grape
sugar is used to adulterate cane sugar, and it is the only adulterant
used at present to any extent.
One pound of water will dissolve three pounds of cane, but only one
pound of grape sugar. The latter has a gummy taste on the tongue and
dissolves slowly. A small grained sugar may carry some glucose and
perhaps escape detection, but the crystals of a large grained sugar will
always be brilliant in contrast with its contaminating ingredients, and
thus proclaim the fraud. In other words, inferior sugars have a dull
look, while good sugars are bright. Glucose sugars melt at one hundred
and five degrees, C., while cane sugars melt only when heated to one
hundred and thirty-seven degrees, C. Raw sugars are no longer used. They
should be refined to free them from the repulsive sugar mite and other
impurities. The best sugar is always the most economical.
THE BEST GRADES OF FAMILY SUGAR are the cut loaf, cubes and crushed.
Next in market value, in the order in which they stand, are powdered,
granulated, A sugars, C sugars, white, yellow, extra golden, etc., down
to common yellow.
SYRUPS.—These are the uncrystallized residue in refining brown sugars.
They are diluted, filtered through animal charcoal, and concentrated.
The lighter the color the higher the price. The better qualities are
called “Rock Candy Drips,” “Golden Drips,” etc.
MOLASSES.—The choicest are the New Orleans Fancy, Choice, Prime. Good,
etc., down through the same grades of Porto Rico, to the Cuba Muscovado.
The quality of molasses has deteriorated with improvements in the
manufacture of sugar on plantations, and it is sometimes sold mixed with
glucose.
HONEY.—Consists of eighty parts in a hundred of pure grape sugar with an
acid and aromatic principle. Spring honey is better than that made in
autumn, and that from clover or other fragrant flowers is better than
that of buckwheat.
Sugar Candies.
Whatever dangers may have lurked in confectionery in times past, parents
may now be assured that they can gratify the natural and healthy
appetite of their children for sweets, without fear of poisonous
colorings or harmful adulterants.
The “National Confectioners’ Association,” (an organization formed by a
large proportion of the leading manufacturing confectioners of the
United States,) “is pledged by its constitution and by-laws to prosecute
all parties using poisonous colorings, terra-alba, or other mineral
substances in the manufacture of confectionery.” They invite fathers and
others interested to report any supposed case of injury from eating
poisoned candy, and “offer a reward of one hundred dollars for evidence
that will enable them to convict the offender.” It is the opinion of the
editor of the _Weekly Confectioner_, and of many prominent manufacturing
confectioners in New York, as expressed to us, that in all the land
there is now no product of domestic manufacture and consumption which is
more free from poisonous colorings and injurious adulterants than
confectionery.
But more than this: in 1886 this association passed an amendment to its
constitution forbidding any member, under penalty of expulsion, to buy
or sell “any candy adulterated with flour, corn meal, starch, or
cerealine, except such amount of starch as is necessary to the
manufacture of gum goods and fig paste work.” Many confectioners,
however, think this action was ill advised.
Making Candy, etc.
Glucose or grape sugar now enters largely into the manufacture of many
kinds of confectionery, and harmless vegetable colors are used.
Manipulation breaks up the crystals of sugar and thereby renders it
whiter, and the difference in the price of candies is now largely due to
the amount of manipulation it receives. Few have an idea of the vast
quantities of confectionery manufactured. It amounts to many hundred
tons daily; much of it is made almost entirely by machinery, and the
business is divided. For instance, one firm makes only lozenges, another
gum drops, caramels or licorice, marshmellow, etc. Jobbers supply
retailers.
If synthetic or chemically prepared flavoring extracts are used, they
are such only as are guaranteed harmless.
French imported “Bon Bons” are still superior to the domestic, and so
are their candied violets; but rose leaves iced here are equal to the
imported. Licorice candies are having an increased demand yearly.
Cocoanut candy contains usually a large admixture of the harmless
cerealine. Space will not permit more than a reference to the great
variety of confections in market. Among them are stick and lump candies
in scallops and patties, with mottoes, etc., assorted and in various
colors; mixed candies in various forms and flavors, gum drops, lozenges,
white, red and assorted; rock candies, etc.
FAMILY BEVERAGES.
TEA.
This staple necessity of modern life is now consumed by more than five
hundred millions of people, and its use appears to grow with the growth
of civilization. There is but one species of the tea plant and its
varieties are due to differences of soil and climate. China alone
produces annually nearly a million and a half tons of tea; to say
nothing of the teas of Japan, Corea, Assam, and Java.
Effects of Tea.
Tea exhilarates without intoxicating; rouses the mind to increased
activity without reaction, while at the same time it soothes the body,
dispels headache, and counteracts the effects of fermented liquors and
narcotics. It lessens also the waste of the tissues under the labors of
life.
As an English authority says: “When the time has arrived to the old and
infirm, that the stomach can no longer digest enough of the ordinary
elements of food to keep up the waste of the system, and the size and
weight of the body begins to diminish, tea comes in as a medicine to
arrest this loss of tissue.” No wonder then that the aged, the infirm
and the poor should take kindly to tea. If supplies of food are scanty
it lessens the need for them, while it makes them feel more light and
cheerful, and contributes to their enjoyment.
Black and Green Teas.
Either may be prepared at will from the same leaves; the difference lies
in the mode of treatment. The earliest leaves are the tenderest and best
flavored; later gatherings grow more woody and bitter. Black teas are
spread in the air for some time after gathering, then roasted and rolled
by hand, again exposed to the air, whereby they undergo a slight degree
of fermentation, and finally are dried slowly over charcoal fires. The
leaves for green tea are, as soon as gathered, roasted a few minutes in
pans over a brisk fire, after which they are carefully rolled and
thoroughly dried.
Analysis of Tea by Dr. Hassall.
Black. Green.
Water 11.56 9.37
Tannin 15.24 18.69
Gum 5.70 5.89
Albuminous matter 15.55 24.39
Theine 2.53 2.79
Ash 5.82 5.38
Chlorophyle, etc. 5.24 1.83
Cellulose and other 38.36 31.66
matter insoluble in
water
―――――― ――――――
100.00 100.00
The aroma and commercial value of tea are due to a small quantity, (from
1/4 to 1 per cent.) of a volatile oil which it contains. This oil, as in
coffee, is developed by roasting, the fresh picked leaves having neither
an astringent, aromatic, nor bitter taste. But the effects of tea are
due to its theine and tannin. Theine is present in all kinds of tea, as
well as in coffee and cocoa, but it has no flavor. Tannin forms from a
fifth to a seventh of the weight of the dried tea leaf, and is the more
completely extracted the longer the tea is infused, or “draws.” Its
precise effect upon the system is not fully known. Black tea contains
less theine, essential oil, and tannin, than green tea.
The Chinese pour hot water upon their tea, and drink it clear, and in
Russia a squeeze of lemon takes the place of our cream. The Chinese
sometimes flavor their fine teas with the cowslip colored blossoms of
the sweet-scented olive and other odoriferous plants; and they also
adulterate them with foreign or exhausted tea leaves, or with tea dust,
called “Lie tea.” But good authorities declare that fair grades of tea
are not now much or necessarily adulterated, and that the old idea that
green teas are colored or faced with copper is erroneous; at least
experts have not been able to detect even traces of it.
Tea Made to Order.
There are tea coloring and facing establishments in this country which
use for the purpose substances very similar to those used by the
Chinese, and they have become so expert of late years that they can turn
a black tea into a green (or _vice versa_) at short notice.
Tea buyers judge quality by the aroma, flavor, and the color and
strength of the infusion. They detect vegetable adulterations by the
shape and size of the leaf when unrolled, and sometimes burn the leaves
and weigh the residue of ash.
Gunpowder, Hyson, and Imperial.
Some of the most experienced tea dealers in New York declare that there
is really no essential difference in the quality of the “Firsts” or
choicest grades of any “Chop” of either Gunpowder, Hyson, or Imperial,
the only difference being in the form or fineness of granulation. But
the popular preference in green tea is for Gunpowder, which is believed
to consist of the first leaves or leaf buds of the plant. It is graded
from “common” or “fair” up to “choicest.”
Varieties of Tea.
Hyson is a widely used green tea. The name is derived from He-chun, a
noted Chinese tea grower. Young Hyson is said to be made from the
earlier leaves; Imperials and Hysons from later gatherings. Hyson skin
is the light inferior leaves winnowed out. Twankay is the poorest of the
green, as Bohea is of the black teas. Pekoe is the best of black teas,
but is little used, except to give fragrance to mixtures. “Capers” is
used similarly to flavor green teas. Congou (made with care) and
Souchong are good black teas, and are the so-called “English Breakfast
Teas.” Moyune teas are considered as among the best and healthiest of
green teas, while Pingsuys are inferior. Cheap teas are most
adulterated. Fine teas are not only better in flavor, but are stronger
and go further.
Oolong teas have “the call” in popularity with the Americans just now
and they are recommended in sickness by the best physicians. There are
three kinds, the Formosa, Foo Chow, and Amoy. The first two are the
best. An article in the _London Daily News_, of February 18, 1888, avers
that the Chinese are growing neglectful in cultivating, firing, and
fermenting their teas, and that Japan is stealing away the green tea
trade of China, as India and Ceylon are taking that in black tea.
Japan Teas.
A. & A. Low, of New York, imported the first cargo of Japan tea about
twenty years ago, and since then its consumption has constantly
increased. The natural leaf is yellowish brown, and the first Japan teas
brought here were of that color. But the tint has changed. The
“uncolored” Japan tea is in fact now all colored with some substance
like the Chinese green teas, but not injuriously. The “Basket fired” is
the nearest to the uncolored leaf. The “Sun-dried” is very popular here,
and is but slightly colored. Expert tea tasters declare that Japan teas
are more exciting to the nerves than those from China.
Blended Teas.
New crop teas are the best. Japan teas come in June, and Chinese later,
say in July and August. Many prefer a mixture of green and black tea for
family use, and retail dealers often have the knack of so blending the
two that the excellence of each is enhanced. Such a combination has less
effect upon the nerves, and is less expensive than good green tea, while
it may be more delightful in flavor than either black or green tea
alone.
COFFEE.
Coffee has been aptly called the “Beverage of Intelligence.” It quickens
the functions of the brain, arouses all the intellectual faculties,
stimulates and gives clearness to thought and increases the powers of
judgment. It exhilarates the nervous system, counteracts the stupor
caused by fatigue, by disease, or by opium, allays hunger, retards the
waste of the tissues, fortifies the powers of endurance, and to a
certain extent gives to the weary and exhausted increased strength and
vigor, and a feeling of comfort and repose.
Both tea and coffee are more and more used in proportion to the
intellectual development of modern times. But coffee does not excite the
nervous system as greatly as tea and there is less reaction after it.
Coffee Better than Alcohol.
Coffee tends to lessen the desire for alcoholic drinks, and possesses
some of their properties without their bad effects. Alcohol is a false
and dangerous friend. Its free use enfeebles the vital organs, reduces
the power of resistance, degrades the mind and body and leads on to
poverty, disease, and death. Coffee produces the beneficial effects of
moderate doses of alcohol, without its injurious effects. It does not,
like alcohol, destroy the nerves, or invite immoderation, and even when
used to excess is incapable of doing serious injury.
The most temperate countries are those which consume most coffee, and in
the light of all these facts it would appear that efforts to extend and
increase the use of coffee tend to check or diminish alcoholism.
Coffee Growth and Production.
Coffee plants are raised from the seed, are set out in 12 months, 450
plants to the acre, begin to bear in 4 years, mature in 7 years, and
continue for 40 years. The flowers are white and fragrant; the fruit,
which grows in clusters, resembles a red cherry and contains two seeds,
which are the coffee of commerce.
The world’s total annual production of coffee is about 666,000 tons, of
which Brazil furnishes 360,000 tons. The entire population of the United
States averages to consume, per capita 7-42/100 lbs. of coffee yearly,
more than three-quarters of which comes from Brazil.
RAW COFFEE, unlike tea, improves in quality with age, while it shrinks
in weight, and inferior coffees may in time equal the choicest
varieties. The aroma is in the direct ratio of its drying by keeping.
Inferior coffees are uneven, often unclean. The large, uniform, dense,
heavy grains are preferred, as showing complete maturity and careful
selection. The color varies from all shades of yellow to tints of brown,
green, and bluish green. There are large establishments in one or more
eastern cities, which assort, color, and polish raw coffees. Much
Brazilian coffee is assorted and sold for Mocha, Java, etc. Real Mocha
is small, round, and dark yellow; Java and East Indian is larger and of
a paler yellow. Ceylon, Brazilian and West Indian have naturally a
bluish green or greenish grey tint.
ROASTING is necessary to develop the aroma and goodness of coffee. This
delicate operation changes its chemical composition and develops the
caffeine and volatile oil. If roasted too little the coffee retains a
raw taste; if too much, a part is changed to charcoal and much aroma
lost. The outside may be burned and the inside left raw, or some grains
may be half raw and others burned. Coffee loses in weight from 15 to 20
and even 25 per cent., and gains in bulk from 30 to 60 per cent.,
according as it is roasted to a reddish, chestnut, or dark brown. The
best roasting is that which reduces the weight about sixteen per cent.,
or to a light chestnut brown.
Coffee and Tea Compared.
Tea yields, weight for weight, twice as much caffeine (or theine) as
coffee; but as we use more in weight of the latter, a cup of coffee
contains about as much caffeine as a cup of tea. The composition of
roasted coffee and the tea leaf are given as follows, although the
proportions are variable:
Tea. Coffee.
Water 8 5
Theine or caffeine 2-1/2 3/4
Tannin 14 4
Essential oil 1/2 Trace.
Minor extractives 15 36
Insoluble organic 54-1/2 50
matter
Ash 5-1/2 4-1/4
―――――― ――――――
100 100
Modes of Making Coffee.
One pound of the properly roasted bean or berry should make 55 or 60
cups of good coffee. Coffee may be made too bitter, but it is impossible
to make it too fragrant. Coffee is much the best when freshly ground.
The French and many Americans merely steep or infuse their coffee at a
temperature just below the boiling point, claiming that boiling
dissipates the aroma; others bring it only to a boil; while others
still, hold that boiling it a little is more economical, as giving an
increased quantity of the soluble, exhilarating and bitter principles.
Soft water is best for coffee, and coffee is better cold than warmed
over, as it then loses its fragrance.
Coffee Substitutes and Adulterations.
Rye, beans, peas, acorns, carrots, turnips, dandelion root, burned
bread, and many similar substances have at times been used as
substitutes or adulterants for coffee. But as none of them contain
caffeine or the volatile aromatic oil, they cannot serve the same
physiological principle. Ground coffee is extensively adulterated, and
mainly with the much cheaper
Chicory or Wild Endive.
Roasting develops in this root an empyreumatic, volatile oil which
exercises upon the system some of the nerve-soothing, hunger-staying
effects of tea and coffee. A little chicory gives as dark a color and as
bitter a taste as a great deal of coffee. It is not unwholesome unless
taken in excess, when its effects are bad. It is a poor substitute for
coffee, but some people seem actually to prefer coffee which contains
chicory.
Tests for Adulterations.
If ground coffee cakes in the paper, or when pinched by the fingers, or
if, when a little is put into water, a part sinks while the rest swims,
and the water becomes immediately discolored, the coffee is probably
adulterated. The more caking and discoloration, the more chicory and the
less value.