GIXGER 103 



week or ten days, then dniw off the syrup and throw another, 

 exactly the same quantity as the last, again boiling, over the 

 ginger ; let this stand for another week, then throw of!' the second 

 syrup and drain the ginger well on a hair sieve, return it to the 

 jar, and pour over it the final syrup made as follows : — 12 pounds 

 of loaf sugar to 12 pints of boiling water ; stir till the sugar is 

 dissolved for fear it should settle and burn, then boil till it is as 

 thick as good honey and drops slowly from a silver spoon ; now 

 pour boiling water over the ginger and let it stand till cold, when 

 it can be put into the bottles or jars in which it is to remain. Put 

 in the pieces of ginger first, as close as they will pack, then fill 

 right up to the cork, to leave no room for air. The corks should 

 be new and good, not old ones that have been pierced by 

 corkscrews.* 



Candied ginger is also imported, in boxes. 



Soluble essence of ginger. The following is the method 

 of preparation recommended by Thresh : — " Take a strong tincture 

 (1 to 1) of finest Jamaica ginger one pint, add in small portions at 

 a time finely-powdered slacked lime, shaking vigorously after each 

 addition, until the tincture ceases to lose colour, throw the whole 

 upon a filter, and pass through the residue proof spirit until the 

 product measures two pints. Xow add, drop by drop, dilute 

 sulphuric acid until the rich yellow of the tincture suddenly 

 disappears, let stand for twenty-four hours, dilute with water to 

 four pints, shake with a little powdered pumice or silica (by no 

 means lime or magnesia), and filter at 0° C. if possible. The 

 rationale of the process is as follows : — 



As may be gathered from a consideration of the constituents of 

 ginger root, the alcoholic tincture will contain besides the 

 extractive, soluble in water, which need not further be considered, 

 essential oil, neutral resins (a and y8), gingerol, and small 

 quantities of the red fat (? wax) and peculiar extractive, insoluble 

 in ether. Upon agitating the tincture with lime, the greater part 

 of the a and /S resins is removed, and by addition of the acid the 

 lime which has entered into solution is precipitated. The 

 addition of water precipitates the neutral resin, wax, fat and 

 peculiar extractive, and unless the ginger from which the original 

 tincture was prepared was poor in oil, the excess of volatile oil 



* Journal of the Society of Arts, 13tli May, 1892. 



