Jan. 1908.] 



41 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



INNOCUOUS COFFEE. 

 Coffee can now be produced absolutely free from caffeine. The Coffee 

 Trading Company in Bremen is reaping the benefit of this invention. This com- 

 pany owns a factory which is under the control of the chemical laboratory, " Tren- 

 senius," at Wiesbaden. There all the caffeine is extracted from the raw coffee 

 berries. This system has already been patented in most of the civilised countries. 

 Coffee freed from all caffeine hardly contains any substance which acts dele- 

 teriously on the nervous system. Experiments made in hospitals go to prove that 

 it can safely be given to patients suffering from heart, nerve, or stomach complaints 

 without injuring them in the slightest degree. The coffee retains all its original 

 flavour after this treatment. Since October, 1907, coffee free from all caffeine is 

 sold by all grocers in Germany at the same price as ordinary coffee. Since caffeine 

 is sold for medical purposes, the expenses for extracting it from the coffee will 

 easily be covered. The factory is capable of an output of 1,000 cwts. a day.— 

 The International, a Review of the World's Progress, No. 1, Vol. 1, December. 



EDIBLE OIL FROM SAFFLOWER SEED. 

 (Carthamus Tinctorius, Linn.) 



The following memorandum drawn up by M. R, Ry. Rao Bahadur C. K. 

 Subba[Rau Avergal, B.A., Acting Government Botanist, Madras, and communicated 

 to the Central Agricultural Committee by the Director of Agriculture, Madras, 

 has been printed for general information :— 



In the Tamil districts of Madura and Tinnevelly as well as in the Telugu 

 districts of Cuddapah, Anantapur, Bellary, and Kurnool, safflower seed is culti- 

 vated on the margins of black cotton soil fields for preventing cattle trespassing 

 into cholam and other crops. 



While the ryots of the Telugu districts named above are accustomed to 

 have the safflower seed crushed in an oil-mill after it is husked and winnowed, 

 and thereby get an oil which is used for all purposes for which gingelly oil {Sesamum 

 indicum) is used, the ryots of Madura and Tinnevelly only extract a lamp oil of no 

 market value whatever, by the boiling process in the same way as they do castor- 

 oil (Ricinis communis), and throw away the refuse. In the Telugu districts, the 

 refuse of the oil-mill is used for feeding cattle or for manure. 



In the Telugu districts safflower oil is sold in the bazaars at about 10 annas 

 per Madras measure, and the oilcake at 3 to 3£ Madras maunds, of 26 lb. each per 

 rupee, so that the price per candy is about Rs. 7. 



In the Telugu as well as in the Tamil districts mentioned above, fried 

 safflower seed is ground together with tamarind, salt and fried chillies and made 

 into chutney. Roasted safflower seed mixed with fried rice-wafers, Bengal gram, 

 etc., is sold in the bazaars in some of the Telugu districts named above, while in 

 the Otapidaram Taluk, fried safflower seed is used by some people in making curry 

 powder for fragrance sake. 



On the 5th instant Mr. C. K. Subba Rau, the Acting Government Botanist, 

 had the kernels obtained from forty Madras measures of safflower seed by grinding 

 it in a stone mill of particular kind received from Tadpatri, crushed in an oil-mill 

 at Pothimuttur, three miles from Otapidaram, in the presence of the Tahsildar, 

 and a number of other people, and obtained 4§ Madras measures of sweet smelling oil. 



