200 



FOODS AND POOD ADULTERANTS. 



article, showing that it should be discouraged, from the fact that . 

 brings with it a large amount of dirt and mineral matter, and has a dis- 

 agreeable offensive odor developed by warmth. Brown says : 



It is now time that all should take up a decided position in regard to this form of 

 adulteration. Long pepper is the fruit of Chavlca Roxburgltii* and does not consist 

 merely of the berries analogous to the pepper-corns of the true pepper-plant; it hears 

 much the same relation to them that wild grass-seed would hear to oatmeal. It consists 

 of the small berries with the husks and indurated coverings hardened together and 

 to the central woody stem, much in the same way that in pines the seed and cover- 

 ings are all hardened into one cone. Long pepper is for the most part derived from 

 wild plants of Chavica Boxburgltii, which grow by the sides of the water-courses in 

 India. Consequently it always brings with it a mass of dirt, picked up from the soil 

 of the banks whereon it grows, embedded in the crevices and irregularities of the 

 fruit, which dirt the native collector takes care not to lessen, but rather to increase, 

 seeing that he is paid by weight for what he brings down to the merchants. 



In commerce we find accordingly that it has always from 3 to 7 per cent, of insoluble 

 sand and clay, in addition to the proper ash of the fruit. And it is difficult, if not im- 

 possible, to clean long pepper before grinding in the way that true pepper can easily 

 be cleaned ; it can with difficulty be cleaned by hand. 



The ash contains a very large proportion of salts insoluble in hydrochloric acid. 

 When ground, the hard husk and woody center, as well as the dirt, are necessarily 

 ground along with the minute berries. The ground long pepper contains not only 

 sand, but more woody fibre than ground genuine pepper of the corresponding shade, 

 although not so much total cellulose as the most husky black pepper. It has the 

 composition shown by Mr. Heisch in his paper. I can confirm his results by the fol- 

 lowing : 



Analyses of long pepper carefully cleaned by hand. 



Although the cost of long pepper is at present nearly as high as some very inferior 

 varieties of black pepper, yet the price is generally decidedly lower ; even now long 

 pepper is much cheaper than the pepper with which it has been sometimes mixed of 

 late, and its use affords a handsome illegitimate profit, to the detriment both of tho 

 grocer and his customer. Long pepper has been, and is, legitimately used for pickles, 

 but it is not known, nor has it been recognized by the trade, as ground long popper; 

 and all the respectable grocers, and others of whom I have inquired, say decidedly 

 that they would not buy, nor retain, if received, any ground pepper which they knew 

 or suspected to contain an admixture of long pepper. In fact, it is no more right to 

 give pepper containing long pepper in response to a request for simply "pepper"' 

 than it would be to give horse-chestnuts instead of Spanish chestnuts in response to 

 a request for simply " chestnuts." It may, of course, be sold as ground long pepper 

 without offense, but no one would buy it. Not only is long pepper a fraudulent ad- 

 mixture in ground pepper, but it is objectionable on the score of quality and flavor. 

 Its disagreeable, offensive odor is developed by warmth. Any candid person can- 

 convince himself of the real cause of the objections which housekeepers and grocers 



~ Known also as Piper officinarum and Piper Long urn. 



