1902.] FLAVORING EXTRACTS. 1 77 



for the alcohol, the manufacturer naturally strives first to re- 

 duce the amount of this ingredient. But he cannot do this 

 without reducing the amount of oil of lemon to almost noth- 

 ing, as the latter is almost insoluble in weak alcohol. If you 

 dilute a good lemon extract with half its bulk of water the 

 liquid becomes cloudy from separation of oil and finally the 

 oil rises to the surface. (This, by the way, is a reliable test 

 for lemon extract. If the oil does not come out by dilution 

 it is because the extract does not contain an appreciable 

 amount.) In cutting out the alcohol the manufacturer must 

 also cut down the lemon oil almost entirely. That he actually 

 goes to this extreme is shown by our analyses. Thirty-five 

 out of sixty-five brands which we have examined contained 

 less than 0.25 per cent, of lemon oil, and all but ten less than 

 five per cent., which is the amount a good extract should 

 contain. To cover up the fraud, the bogus extracts were 

 colored a beautiful golden yellow or orange yellow with a 

 coal-tar or aniline dye. These dyes, by a simple process, may 

 be extracted from the extract and fixed on woolen cloth, dye- 

 ing the latter fast yellow colors. An ounce of such an ex- 

 tract selling for ten cents contains material costing but a 

 fraction of a cent, and almost worthless at that. 



The red lemonade of the circus blushes because of its sins, 

 but these worthless yellow liquids stare at the public with 

 brazen impudence from their perch on the grocer's shelf, to 

 the mortification of the self-respecting lemons in the grocer's 

 baskets. 



Orange oil is prepared from orange peel by the same pro- 

 cess as has been described for lemon oil, and genuine orange 

 extract is made by dissolving this oil in alcohol. The ex- 

 tract is adulterated in the same way as lemon extract. 



Strawberry, raspberry, peach, pineapple, and other fruit 

 juices are used in large quantities in good soda water, ice 

 cream, etc., but it is impracticable, if not impossible, to make 

 from these juices a concentrated extract. The so-called ex- 

 tracts of these fruits contain no real fruit extract, but are arti- 

 ficial, both as to their flavor and their color. They are used 

 in artificial soda water syrup, cheap ice cream, candies, and 

 pastries. 



The flavoring substances of these extracts are mixtures 

 of chemicals known as ethers, each of which has its own 



Agr. — 12 



