SPICES AND CONDIMENTS. 

 Prices as supplied l\j spice mills. 



149 



CHARACTER OF THE SPICES IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



The spices found in Washington are from various markets. The first 

 class grocers carry the best English and rarely good American brands. 

 Adulteration, however, is frequent, especially among the mustards, pep- 

 pers, and cinnamon, the first having lost its oil and added flour, and the 

 last having cassia substituted for it. Among the cheaper class of dealers 

 adulterated spices are nearly universal, the supply being obtained 

 largely from Baltimore and to a small extent ground in Washington, 

 both places in which yellow corn and charcoal are much used as adul- 

 terants. 



Of a series of samples collected impartially fro rcuall classes of shops the 

 ratio of adulterated to non- adulterated was as follows : 



* Oil expressed in one case and tumeric added and oil expressed in all American brands. 



The preceding samples, which have proved to be so largely adulter- 

 ated, have been used in connection with a collection of authenticated 

 whole spices obtained directly from the importers as a means of inves- 

 tigating the methods which have been recommended for the detection 



