710 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS, 



REMARKS ON ANALYSES OF MOLASSES AND SIRUPS. 



The general remarks which have been made concerning the purchase 

 of samples in the case of sugars apply also to the molasses and sirups. 

 The importance of the examination, however, in the case of molasses 

 and sirups is much greater than with sugars. While it was expected 

 that no adulteration would be found with sugars, it was known that 

 adulteration is largely practiced in the case of molasses ; that is, adul- 

 teration is practiced if the idea of molasses which is generally enter- 

 tained is a correct one. 



The common notion of molasses or sirup is a product derived wholly 

 from sorghum, sugar cane, or maple sap. The popular idea of an adul- 

 terated molasses or sirup would be one made from other materials or 

 compounds than those mentioned. It is true that the word molasses, 

 in a more limited and technical sense, should be applied only to the 

 liquid material draining from granulated cane sugar made from sugar 

 cane, either by natural percolation or by being treated in centrifugal 

 machines. The commercial term molasses, however, applies to a larger 

 number of products. It includes the molasses made from sorghum, and 

 this is no mean product wheu the whole country is considered. It is dif- 

 ficult to get accurate estimates of the amount of sorghum molasses made. 

 This product is made chiefly in small one-horse or two-horse mills, with 

 simple evaporating apparatus, and no account of it is taken in coinmer. 

 cial transactions. The farmer makes his own molasses from his small 

 plot of sorghum and works up the plots of his neighbors, either on 

 shares or for a certain price per gallon. The uncrystallizable portion 

 of the product of maple orchards is also recognized in the trade as mo 

 lasses and known as maple molasses or maple sirup. 



Perhaps the best distinction to be made between the term molasses 

 and the term sirup is this : 



Molasses is the natural product of the manufacture of sugar cane, 

 sorghum, or maple sap, or any product from which a part of the sugar 

 kas been removed. Sirup is the product of the refining of these articles 

 or the mixing of various other articles together. 



It has long been known that a large part of the maple sirup sold 

 in the market is made from glucose, understanding by this term the 

 liquid product of the conversion of starch into sugar. It is also well 

 known that large quantities of maple sirups are sold on the market 

 which are fabrications made up of other sweets, to which a little maple 

 molasses is added for the purpose of giving it flavor, or, as is often the 

 case, being entirely free from any addition of maple product whatever. 

 The maple flavor is imparted to sirups by mixing with them an extract 

 of hickory bark, and this product has been made and sold under the 

 term of " mapleine." It is safe to say that perhaps the greater quantity 

 of maple molasses or sirup sold on the market is an adulteration in the 

 true sense of the word. These definitions, however, are only of a pop- 

 ular nature, and a sirup could not be said to be adulterated, legally, 



