34 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 1908. 



over 30 per cent of sugar in the total solids as reason 

 for suspicion. Four of the country vinegars examined carried 

 more than 30 per cent of sugar and one lot carried 52 per cent 

 of sugar. We have positive information that this latter 

 sample was made from genuine cider without any addition of 

 sugar but the low acid content and general appearance of the 

 vinegar indicate that it was incompletely fermented. It is very 

 probable that the high sugar content of some of the imported 

 vinegars is indicative of the use of sugar wastes in their manu- 

 facture. Ordinarily a well fermented cider vinegar would not 

 be likely to carry as much as 40 per cent of reducing sugars in 

 its total solids and some of the goods, carrying these high per- 

 centages, do not appear to be incompletely fermented. 



It will be noted that for the most part the imported vinegars 

 are normal in regard to the amount of malic acid they carry. 

 Several of the samples, however, were very high in the amount 

 of chlorine present. A normal vinegar either carries no chlo- 

 rine or very slight traces. While we would not be ready to 

 suggest that any of these vinegars are entirely made up without 

 cider vinegar, they have the appearance in several instances that 

 sugar waste vinegars were used to some extent in their manu- 

 facture. It is of course somewhat suspicious for vinegars to 

 run so close to the standards in acid content, as normal cider 

 vinegars would usually carry considerably more acid than the 

 standards call for. In the manufacture of vinegar by fermen- 

 tation of all kinds of ciders either by the old style process or by 

 the quick process, the product would not be likely to be so uni- 

 form as most of these samples show. It is, of course, very 

 probable that if nothing more has been done, that these vinegars 

 have been blended so that they carry practically the per cent of 

 acid called for by the standards. It is claimed that in 

 modifying the goods to meet the requirements of the law, arti- 

 ficial vinegars are frequently used and that in some instances 

 the product is made up entirely of such vinegars reinforced 

 with apple waste to make the required amount of solids and 

 ash. Of course such products, if they exist, are illegal — a fraud 

 on the public and the honest manufacturer of pure cider 

 vinegar. While these are reasons for viewing some of these 

 samples with suspicion, we have not obtained data that would 

 justify us in pronouncing them adulterated. 



