USES OF STARCH 101 



the delicacies of the pastry-cook, of the confectioner, 

 and of the manufacturer of refreshing beverages, 

 which you believe to be sweetened with ordinary 

 sugar, really owe their sweet taste to syrup made 

 from starch — a much cheaper product than sugar. 

 You see the potato furnishes something else besides 

 the modest dishes with which it supplies our table. 



"Nor is that the whole story. Starch-sugar, or 

 glucose, is exactly the same as the sugar of ripe 

 grapes. With potato-flour, water, and a few drops 

 of oil of vitriol there is artificially produced, in 

 enormous boilers, the same sugary substance that 

 the vine produces in its bunches of grapes with the 

 help of the sun's rays. Now grape sugar turns to 

 alcohol by fermenting. Glucose must undergo a sim- 

 ilar change. And, as a matter of fact, in northern 

 countries too cold to admit of the cultivation of the 

 vine, alcoholic liquors are made from starch pre- 

 viously changed into sugar. On account of their 

 origin these liquors go under the general name of 

 potato-brandy. All seeds and roots rich in starch 

 can be used in similar manufacture. 



"Beer is a product of this sort. First barley is 

 made to germinate by being kept moist and warm. 

 In the process of germination the starch is changed 

 into glucose for the nourishment of the young shoots. 

 "When the little plants begin to develop, the grain is 

 dried and ground to flour. This mixed with water 

 furnishes a sugary liquid which ferments, turning 

 partly to alcohol and finally becoming beer." 



