ADULTERATION OF FOOD.-—NO. 5 . 
341 
weeds upon farms, and ought to be expelled, or su¬ 
perseded by more useful ones ; about one hundred 
and twenty species, which infest the farm as mere 
weeds.” 
In a future number, I propose to give a few ex¬ 
tracts from the main body of the work, as a prac¬ 
tical illustration of the correctness of the foregoing 
communication, excluding the scientific descrip¬ 
tions, and giving only the ‘‘Observations.” 
A Friend to Farmers. 
September, 1848. 
ADULTERATION OF FOOD.—No. 5. 
Tea .—This useful article is stated to be frequent¬ 
ly adulterated after its arrival into Europe, with 
the leaves of other plants; but the only falsifi¬ 
cation which appears to be extensively employed, 
at the present day, is the mixing it with a certain 
portion of exhausted tea leaves that have been redried 
and curled, or with damaged and inferior kinds of 
tea. The leaves which have been found in the 
possession of the manufacturers of spurious teas are 
those of the sloe, the ash, the elder, and of the 
white thorn. These, in some cases, are said to 
have been boiled, or scalded, with logwood, then 
rolled up and dried, and a bloom given to them by 
verditer, or Dutch pink. 
Besides these, powdered talc, plaster of Paris, 
indigo, Chinese woad, prussian blue, chromate of 
lead, and occasionally carbonate of copper are em¬ 
ployed for the purpose of coloring and “ blooming” 
green teas. That most of the above-named sub¬ 
stances have been used, is evident, from the fact 
that cases have frequently occurred, in which par¬ 
ties have been detected in adulterating with the 
leaves already mentioned; and it has been proved, 
als6, by chemical analyses, that chromate of lead, 
copper, and prussian blue have been present, and it 
is well ascertained, by the late observations of Mr. 
Fortune, that the Chinese finish some of their green 
teas with finely-powdered indigo, or woad, gyp¬ 
sum, talc, and prussian blue. (See p. 355, vol.vi. 
of the Agriculturist, and p. 304 of the present 
volume.) 
Mr. Warrington, in a valuable paper lately pub¬ 
lished in the Memoirs of the London Chemical So¬ 
ciety, states, that, in his researches, he received 
samples both of green and black teas, imported into 
England, from China, which were known by the 
most experienced brokers not to contain a single 
tea leaf, and which were sold at public sale, in 
bond, from l|d. to 2d. per pound. Again, Mr. 
Davis, in his work on the Chinese, says : “ Young 
hyson, until spoiled by the large demand of the 
Americans, was a delicate, genuine leaf.” As it 
could not be fairly produced in any considerable 
quantities, the call for it, on the part of our people, 
was answered by cutting up and sifting other green 
teas through sieves of a certain size. But the 
abuse has since become still worse of late; for the 
coarsest black tea leaves have been cut up, and then 
colored with a preparation resembling the hue of 
green teas. After speaking of the frauds with spu¬ 
rious and adulturated teas, which the Chinese have 
endeavored to practise, Mr. Davis observes: “ But 
this was nothing in comparison with the effrontery 
which they displayed in carrying on an extensive 
manufacture of green teas from damaged black 
leaves , at a village, or a suburb called Honan.” 
The remission of the tea duties in the United 
States, occasioned, in the years 1832-3, a demand 
for green teas, at Canton, which could not be sup¬ 
plied by arrivals from the provinces. The Ameri¬ 
cans, however, were obliged to sail with cargoes of 
green teas within the favorable season, and were 
as determined to have the teas, as the Chinese were 
determined that they should be supplied. Labora¬ 
tories were established for the manufacture of facti¬ 
tious green teas from old or damaged black-tea 
leaves, which, after being dried were transferred 
into cast-iron pans placed over furnaces, and stir¬ 
red rapidly with the hand. A small quantity of 
powdered tumeric having been previously intro¬ 
duced, gave the leaves a yellowish, or orange tinge, 
which were ultimately to be made green. For this 
purpose, some lumps of a fine blue wmre produced, 
together with some powdered gypsum and prussian 
blue. These were triturated finely together with a 
small pestle, in such proportions as reduced the 
dark color of the blue to a light shade, and a quan¬ 
tity, equal to a tea spoonful of this powder, being 
added to the yellowish leaves, they were stirred as 
before, over the fire, until the tea had taken the 
fine “bloom” color of hyson, with very much the 
same scent. One fact, however, is well ascer¬ 
tained and is undeniable; that is, the Chinese 
themselves do not consume those kinds of green 
teas which are prepared for exportation. 
Chocolate .—This delicious article of food is also 
subject to vexatious adulteration, which, though 
not generally absolutely injurious to health, yet 
much depreciates the chocolate, so treated, as a 
nourishing substance. Sometimes, however, the 
falsification is dangerous, particularly when it is 
adulterated with the cocoa bean that has been 
spoilt by sea water; and hence it is as much alter¬ 
ed in its chemical and other characters, as the bean 
of coffee is under the same circumstances. Besides 
the above-named substances, chocolate is adulterat¬ 
ed with flour, potato starch and sugar, with cocoa- 
nut oil, the inferior kinds of butter, lard, mutton 
suet, and even tallow. 
If, in breaking chocolate, it is gravelly—if it 
melts in the mouth without leaving a cool, refresh¬ 
ing taste—if, on the addition of hot water it be¬ 
comes thick and pasty—and lastly, if it forms a 
gelatinous mass on cooling—it is adulterated with 
flour, or potato starch. 
Again, when chocolate has a kind of cheesy 
taste, animal fat has been added ; and when very 
rancid, when it has been exposed for some time to 
the action of the air, in a tolerably warm place, bad 
butter, and either vegetable oil, or even the seeds 
themselves from which the oils were extracted, 
have been made use of in the sophistication. If 
the chocolate be very bitter, the bean has either 
been burnt in the roasting, or it has been impreg¬ 
nated with sea water. In either case, the product 
is unfit for use as an article of food. 
The mineral substances employed in making up 
chocolate, are some of the ochres, both red and yel¬ 
low, together with red lead, Vermillion, sulphate of 
lime (plaster), chalk, &c. Chocolates so adulterat¬ 
ed, more especially with the preparations of lead, 
are highly injurious to health. It is only the in- 
