344 °'^ ^"^ SUGAR OF GnAPES. 



boiled down to the consistence of a sirup, whi«h may b6 

 more or less thick, according to the use for which it is in- 

 tended. This rob, divested of its principal acids, answers 

 as wp see to the first product of the cane, saturated and 

 boilefi down to the point at which it takes the name of 

 muscovado. 

 Must boiled When the must has been thus prepared, it affords us a 



down has a coloured sirup, thouffh extracted from v/hite grapes. Its 



shghtacrimony, i 7 a ^ b 1 



and in a little taste is sweet and pleasant ; but if as much as a spoonful be 



time becomes g^allowed, it affects the throat with that slight impression 



of acrimony, which is experienced from yellow honey. It 



condenses in eight, fifteen, or twenty days, mose or less, 



according to the degree to which it is boiled down, into a 



yellow, granular mass, of sufficient consistenty to be 



pressed into pots, without flowing out if they be set upside 



For this it down. The sirup that has not been most boiled is the first 



should not be ^^ 1 rru c j. • 



too much t^ become solid. Ihe sugar 01 grapes appears to require a 

 boil"'- certain quantity of water for its crystallization, as it is not 



found in sirup too much boiled. Hence this is longer before 

 it becomes solid, but then it acquires a consistency more 

 convenient for carriage. Lastly, in this state the musco- 

 vado of grapes has the consistency, colour, and appear- 

 ance of that of the sugar-cane. A vessel that contains but 

 sixteen pounds of water will hold twenty five of this sugar, 

 so that its specific gravity is to that of water rather more 

 than as three to two. 

 Su"ar of the ^^ nuiscovado of the grape be compared with that of the 



grape compared sugar-cane, we find, that the latter adds to a slight bitter- 



with that of the . t .. l i_ r i • i • 



^..^jjg ness a peculiar aroma, the character of which is very 



striking in rum : while that of the grape has no sensible 



aroma, being a sugar with a flavour of roasted fruit. This 



taste, as well as its colour, is owing to the concentrated 



extractive matter ; which has the common property of its 



genus, that of becoming darker coloured, both by simple 



exposure to the air, from which it attracts some principle, 



and by being heated. It is this that gives ihe muscovado 



of the grape its orange colour ; an effect similar to which 



is produced in the sugar of the cane, the juice of which is 



nearly colourless. If the muscovado of the grape be di 



luted with a quantity of water equal to what it has lost, v 



obt; 



