SPICES AND CONDIMENTS. 201 



alike have to ground long pepper if lie will heat np a piece of cold meat between two 

 plates and sprinkle some fresh long pepper on it ; the smell and flavor are so offensive 

 that he will feel obliged to reject the meat. 



Much of that which one gets whole in shops is very old, and has lost much of its 

 flavor and strength, so small a sale does it command. 



The presence of long pepper in ground pepper may be determined by the follow- 

 ing characters : 



1. Color. If any serious quantity of long pepper is ground in with the ordinary 

 pepper it imparts some of its peculiar slaty color; but this is made much lighter by 

 the now very common practice of sifting out much of the darker or husky portions of 

 the long pepper before mixing it with the genuine pepper. Bleaching is also resorted 

 to, but not hitherto very effectively. 



2. The odor of the mixture when warmed is unmistakable by an educated olfactory 

 sense, even if the quantity is comparatively moderate. Attempts are made to disguise 

 the odor by bleaching, but this has not been successful. The ethereal extract also, 

 and even the alcohol extract from which the solvent has been evaporated at a low 

 temperature, yields, when warmed, the characteristic odor very plainly. 



3. Long pepper introduces sand into the pepper with which it is mixed, often to 

 a considerable amount. If the pepper is white, this has more importance than has 

 hitherto been accorded to it ; for white pepper does not contain, even as imported, 2 

 per cent, of sand, and any white pepper containing so much sand must have had the 

 sand improperly introduced, either by direct mixing of Calais sand or in some other 

 way. 



Long pepper from which the husk particles have been sifted out when added to 

 white pepper invariably introduces its sand along with it, as well as some spent 

 bleach, if attempts have been made to bleach it. 



4. The woody matter in ground long pepper is always considerable, arising both 

 from the smallness of the berries, compared with the hardened setting, and from the 

 central woody tube. This may be detected either by chemical analysis or by the 

 microscope, and some of it by the naked eye or a large hand lens. 



If the sample is spread out in a smooth thin layer on strong paper, by means of 

 an ivory paper-knife, pieces of fluffy woody fiber will be detected, especially if the 

 smooth thin layer be tapped lightly from below. Those pieces come from the central 

 part of the indurated catkin which cannot be completely ground fine as genuine 

 pepper stalks are, and are very characteristic if carefully examined. Much of these 

 are of course removed by the grinders' sieves, but enough finds its way through the 

 meshes of the silk to be useful as a corroborative indication. 



5. Particles of husks, if present, can be distinguished from genuine pepper husks. 

 0. A proportion of the starch granules of long pepper are of larger size, above 



.0002 inch, and of angular shape, very slightly smaller than rice granules, and more 

 loosely aggregated in clusters or isolated. 



Brown also calls attention to the statement of authorities that genuine 

 pepper starch is round in form, and shows that this is not always the 

 case. By reference to our illustration, Fig. 65, Plate XXVIII, it will 

 be seen that he is correct. He has lately found* that Dhoura corn, a 

 variety of sorghum, is being largely used in England as a diluent of pep- 

 per. The grain is well known in this country as Egyptian corn, and is 

 a common crop in the South and Southwest, but has not been used here 

 as an adulterant. Brown says : 



I have met with it only about four times in popper, but it probably occurs more 

 frequently in o<her districts. It is known in England as great millet or Turkish 



* Analyst, 12, 89-90. 



