70 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVI, No. a 
—the latter name being given to the places where the horchata is made 
and sold—it is said that there exist in the streets of Madrid about three 
hundred horchata stands and many ambulatory salesmen of the same 
article. 4 The chufa is gathered on the shores of the river Segura, and the 
majority of persons engaged in the industry in any of its distinct branches 
are inhabitants of Valencia and Alicante. For the preparation of the 
beverage the Cyperus tubers are first washed in cylinders of wire netting 
by means of a continuous flow of water, then subjected to pressure, and 
the expressed milky liquid, which apparently contains the fatty oil in an 
emulsified state, is finally cooled or frozen. 
The tubers of Cyperus esculentus appear to have been first qualitatively 
examined in 1822 by Lesant (4), who called attention to the importance 
of their cultivation in certain parts of France. A more complete investi¬ 
gation of them was recorded in 1851 by Luna (d), who noted the presence 
of 28 per cent of fatty oil (about 17 per cent by expression and 11 per 
cent by subsequent extraction with ether), 14 per cent of cane sugar, 
and 29 per cent of starch, together with small amounts of albumin, gum, 
and coloring matter. The oil was described as liquid at ordinary tem¬ 
peratures, but solidifying at o° C., having the yellow color of olive oil, 
transparent and inodorous. Its density was found to be 0.9190 at 12 0 
C., and the presence of olein was determined. The characters of the 
starch grains were also noted by Luna, but they have been much more 
completely described by Vogl (7). 
Hell and Twerdomedoff (3) , by extracting the tubers with light petro¬ 
leum, obtained an average of 27.1 per cent of fatty oil, which was stated 
to have a yellow color and a not unpleasant odor, suggestive somewhat 
of burnt sugar, but its physical characters were not further described. 
They considered the oil to consist chiefly of olein with a little myristin. 
Inasmuch as all the previous examinations of chufa appear to have 
been conducted with material obtained from southern Europe, it has 
seemed desirable that an investigation should be made of the tubers 
grown in this country. One of the most important constituents of the 
tubers is the fatty oil, and it was therefore of particular interest that this 
should be more completely examined. 
PRELIMINARY TESTS 
* The material first examined by us was kindly supplied by Dr. David 
Fairchild, from the 1917 crop, purchased in Richmond, Va. This 
material consisted of the dried Cyperus tubers, which were pale brown 
in color, much wrinkled, and very small, their average weight being 
about 0.25 gm ; 
A small portion of the material (20 gm.) was tested for the presence of 
an alkaloid, but with a perfectly negative result. 
Twenty-five gm. of the ground tubers were extracted successively in 
a Soxhlet apparatus with various solvents, when the following amounts 
of extract, dried at ioo° C., were obtained: 
Light petroleum (b. p. 35-55 0 C.) extracted. 4.44 grams= 17.76 per cent. 
Ether.extracted. 0.22 grams= 0.88 per cent. 
Chloroform.extracted. 0.05 grams= 0.20 per cent. 
Alcohol.extracted. 5.82 grams= 23.28 per cent. 
Total. 10.53 grams=42.i2 per cent* 
4 It is of interest to note incidentally the observation of Luna ( 6 ), in 1850, that in Madrid alone 12,000 
kgm. of chufa were annually consumed in the preparation of orgeat, but he considered it more important 
that the tubers should be used for obtaining therefrom the oil, sugar, and starch. 
