ADULTERATION 



DAIRY FARMING 



Qhi 





Iuntainous frontier, certain races, such as the Kashmiris, are said not 

 i/fti (Lawrence, Valley of Kashmir, 339). In the Ain-i-Akbari 

 (Hloclmiann. t ratis!.), I .".(M mention is made of the allowance to the 

 elephants. [Cf. also Jahangir, Memoirs (Pru-c, transl.), G.'J, 71, etc.] 

 It c.uvfiilly enclosed in skins while still hot it inay be preserved for i'rirfuon. 

 man\ years without requiring the aid of salt or other preservatives. It 

 what significant, in fact, that medical writers should speak of purana 

 iihrita (old ghi) as being superior to fresh. Dutt, for example, observes 

 that i/lt i ten years old has a strong pungent taste and is of the colour of 



The longer this butter is kept the more efficacious it is said to prove Medicinal OM. 

 as an external application. Clarified butter a hundred years old is often 100 Yew ow. 

 heard of. The richer Natives always have a stock of old ghrita of this 

 i.tion which, they preserve with care for their own use as well as for 

 distribution to their poorer neighbours." Fryer (New Ace. E. Ind. and 

 Pers., 1672-81, 137), in his description of Surat and a journey into the 

 i > i, speaks of " the granaries hewed out of stone" and of " several 



tilled with butter of 400 years standing, prized by the Gentiles 400 Yean ow. 

 h it'll as Gold, prevalent in Old Aches and Sore Eyes, one of which was 

 ned for my sake, and a present made me of its black stinking and viscous 

 Isom." Butter preserved in skins has been known to remain for many 

 rs without deteriorating very materially. It usually, however, dries 

 d becomes almost like wax instead of changing colour and assuming 

 condition of the purana ghrita or medicinal ghi of the Hindus and the Roghan. 

 han of Persian travellers. 



Food. Ghi has been for many centuries at least an important article Food, 

 food in India. Linschoten and most of the early travellers allude to 

 extensive employment in all forms of cookery. It is, in fact, used Cookery, 

 all purposes to which butter is put in Europe such as the cooking 

 meat, fish, vegetables, curries, rice, etc., or utilised in the preparation 

 sweatmeats, and is also eaten uncooked with bread and rice. With 

 e poor it is a luxury for feast days, and in everyday life its place is Sweetous. 

 en by sweet vegetable oils. 



Adulteration. The chief articles used in the adulteration of ghi are Adultera- 

 etable oils such as cocoa-nut, ground-nut, cotton, safflower, poppy, tion. 

 amum, niger and kolcam. These are all harmless enough, though 

 eaper than ghi ; but injurious oils are also used, especially mahua, SV/7- oils. 



i (kakhan) and castor-oil. Other animal fats, especially mutton, 

 largely utilised. Starches, such as rice, bdjra, plantains, potatoes and starches, 

 ms, are frequently resorted to in order to thicken oily compositions, 

 .pure or adulterated ghi is also often remade with milk or curd, to render 

 tection difficult. The simplest method of ascertaining adulteration, 

 d to purify the ghi at the same time, is to boil a given quantity, and Purification, 

 .en it is in a state of complete ebullition to dash cold water on it. The 

 will rise to the surface and part from its admixtures. One of the most 

 luable papers on the adulteration of ghi is that written by Mr. Shroff, 

 .o states that the Bombay ghi trade is in the hands of a dozen mer- 

 ants, and that adulteration is effected, not by the dairymen, but by the 

 .ers. The fats used are often most offensive and deleterious substances, 

 at times even obtained from the carcases of diseased animals Numerous 

 complaints have been made and even legal proceedings recently taken re- 

 garding the adulteration of ghi. In consequence the necessity for protect- 

 ing the poor and helpless has been urged as justifying special legislation. Legislation. 



479 



