514 
Manufacture  of  Peel  Essences. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharrru 
Oct.,  1889. 
who  specially  order  them.  But  it  is,  of  course,  possible  to  have  dif- 
ferent qualities  of  the  machine-made  essences,  as  quality  greatly 
depends  upon  the  condition  of  the  fruit. 
There  is  still  some  doubt  existing  regarding  the  characters  which 
true  essence  of  bergamot  ought  to  present.  Some  say  it  should  be 
brownish-yellow,  pale  yellow  (as  lemon  is),  or  green.  It  is  the  last 
color  that  druggists  are  most  familiar  with,  and  addressing  Mr.  Rizzuto 
on  this  point,  we  asked  him  what  he  thought  about  it.  His  reply  was 
given  in  Calabrian  French,  and  its  expressiveness  is  lost  in  putting  it 
down  in  cool  English,  but  it  had  in  it  a  wholesome  repugnance  to- 
wards much  of  the  green  essence  which  is  in  the  market.  Bergamot 
fruit,  he  told  us,  ripens  in  January,  and  at  that  stage  the  essence  which 
it  yields  is  golden  in  color,  and  of  very  fine  bouquet,  but  much  weaker, 
or,  as  Mr.  Rizzuto  put  it,  not  so  strong  in  odor  as  the  essence  made 
from  the  green  fruit  in  November.  That  essence  is  of  course  green, 
as  it  is  pressed  from  the  fruit  and  retains  the  color  after  filtration.  At 
this  point  we  inspected  specimens  of  both  kinds,  amongst  them  essen- 
ces made  in  the  1884  and  1885  seasons,  which  are  still  fresh,  odorous, 
and  perfectly  free  from  terebinthinate  taint.  Mr.  Rizzuto  explained 
that  the  keeping  properties  are  entirely  due  to  the  fruit  being  carefully 
selected  and  equally  carefully  expressed.  "  What  becomes  of  the  spoilt 
fruit? "  was  the  question  which  naturally  followed  this  explanation. 
"  It  is  used  for  making  the  ordinary  green  essence.  It  is  done  in  this 
way."  And  here  Mr.  Rizzuto  submitted  a  photograph  of  the  appa- 
ratus, which  consists  of  three  parts:  (1)  a  boiler,  (2)  a  still,  and  (3) 
a  condenser.  The  bergamot  peel  is  placed  in  the  still,  which  is  pro- 
vided with  a  false  bottom.  The  boiler  is  for  the  production  of  s^eam, 
which  is  passed  into  the  still,  from  the  bottom  of  which  it  rises,  car- 
rying with  it  the  essential  oil,  and  this  is  duly  condensed  and  separated 
from  the  aqueous  portion.  The  essence  so  obtained  is  of  inferior  odor 
and  is  water-white.  Before  it  can  possibly  be  placed  on  the  market 
as  green  bergamot  it  must  be  skillfully  "doctored/'  both  to  bring  up 
the  color  and  the  odor.  Copper  is  the  colorant.  It  is  remarkable 
how  easily  the  peel  essences  take  up  copper.  Lemon  becomes  quite 
green  in  a  day  if  a  few  chips  of  bright  copper  are  immersed  in  it,  and 
all  the  others  take  up  the  metal  equally  readily.  Body  is  given  to  the 
distilled  essences  by  adding  artificial  perfumes,  such  as  the  paraffin 
ethers,  to  them ;  and  it  is  at  this  stage  that  sophistication  sometimes 
takes  place. 
