THE UTILIZATION OF CHERRY BY-PRODUCTS. 



19 



Table VII. — Yield, physical properties, and chemical composition of the volatile 

 oils from various fruit sources. 



Source of oil. 



Yield 

 from 

 press 

 cake. 



Color. 



Odor. 



Taste. 



Spe- 

 cific 

 gravity 

 at 24 C. 



irrn.i 



1.050 



Per ct. 

 4.21 



1.012 



7.94 



1.068 



2.20 



1.080 



2.05 



1.050 



1.75 



1.056 



4.80 



1.059 



2.57 



1.058 



2.12 



1.062 



513.7 



Benzal- 



de- 

 hyde.2 



Cherry kernels. . 



Cherry pits 



Peach kernels ' . 



Apricot kernels < 



Prune kernels ' . 

 Bitter almonds ' 



Bitter- almond oil 

 (market sample 2 

 years old). 



B it ter- almond oil 

 (market sample 1 

 year old). 



Benzaldehyde (sev- 

 eral years old). 



Per cent. 

 0.95 



.10 

 1.17 



1.33 



.71 

 1.15 



Pale straw. . 



Golden yel- 

 low. 



Pale straw . 



Straw. 



Faint straw . 

 do 



Golden 



Pale yellow. 



Deep yel- 

 low. 



Pleasant, 

 strong, bit- 

 ter-almond - 

 like. 



Agreeable 

 c h a r a c- 

 teristic. 



Biller-almond- 

 like, some- 

 what irritat- 

 ing. 



Aromatic, 

 almond-like. 



Strong benzal- 

 dehyde. 



Less aromatic 

 ( fainter than 

 above). 



Characteristic, 

 mellow. 



Strong and 

 penetrating. 



....do 



Sweet and 

 very pun- 

 gent. 



Sweet, strong, 

 pungent. 



Sweet and 

 pungent. 



Sweet and in- 

 tensely pun- 

 gent. 



Sweet and 

 pungent. 



Sweet, less 

 pungent. 



Very pungent. 



Sweetish pun- 

 gent. 



Very sweet, 

 pungent. 



Per ct. 

 3 81.53 



67.95 

 73.1 



8 88. 7 



76 

 62 



78.45 



80.6 



77.5 



i Assayed according to the volumetric method of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, Eighth 

 decennial revision, p. 300. Philadelphia, 1907. 



2 Assayed by the sodium bisulphite method. The Pharmacopoeia. Loc. cit. 



8 Assayed immediately after distillation. 



* Rabak, Prank. Peach, apricot, and prune kernels as by-products of the fruit industry of the United 

 States. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 133, p. 23, 25, 1908. 



5 Benzoic acid. 



The physical properties do not differ greatly; in fact, they nearly 

 coincide with those of the other oils. In hydrocyanic-acid content the 

 cherry oil was found to be somewhat higher than in the other oils, but 

 it was nearly within the limits of the Pharmacopoeia, which requires 

 not less than 2 nor more than 4 per cent. The benzaldehyde content, 

 which, because of its instability under ordinary means of preservation 

 fluctuates noticeably in this class of oils, compares favorably with the 

 other kernel oils. The pharmacopceial requirement with regard to 

 benzaldehyde content is that it shall not be less than 85 per cent. The 

 benzaldehyde content of the cherry oil, although lower than the 

 requirement, is not as low as in the two samples of bitter-almond oil 

 purchased in the open market, both of which were slightly deficient 

 on account of deterioration, which was undoubtedly due to the age of 

 the oils. This deterioration in benzaldehyde content is more or less 

 rapid, because of the ease with which it oxidizes to benzoic acid. The 

 sample of benzaldehyde examined illustrates the change which takes 

 place under ordinary conditions. The sample, which originally was 

 a pure compound, after standing for several years shows but 77.5 per 

 cent of benzaldehyde. The free acidity, calculated as benzonic acid, 

 was 13.7 per cent. The benzaldehyde content bears a direct relation- 

 ship to the specific gravity ; the higher the benzaldehyde content the 

 lower the specific gravity. 



