AFebJruYrVTi9™'}    Examination  of  Commercial  Peppers.  79 
No.  Ash.      E)ther  Extract.     Piperin.  Oleo-resin. 
1  9  "4  6-39  none  6*39 
2  *  .  9-6  6*39 
3  ....                           .  8'9  8-88 
4                                        .  7-0  8-93 
5  -  •  77  5*36 
6   8-3  5-46 
7   8-3  5*00 
8  "   8-8  5-92 
6'39 
8-88 
8-93 
5-36 
5-46 
5  -oo 
5'92 
Average,  ash,  8 "5;  ether  extract,  6*54;  oleo-resin,  6  "54.  Color  of  ether  extract 
from  light  to  dark  brown. 
As  will  be  seen,  there  is  no  piperin  in  the  hull,  only  oil  and  resin, 
but  there  are  on  the  market  hulls  which  contain  broken  pepper  and 
will  contain  from  1  to  2  per  cent,  of  piperin,  but  the  ash  is  never 
less  than  7  per  cent.,  so  that  the  more  hull  the  greater  will  be  the 
oleo-resin  and  the  less  will  be  the  piperin  found  in  a  sample  of  pep- 
per which  has  been  adulterated  with  hull,  also  the  ash  will  be 
greater. 
Conclusions. — The  ash  should  not  be  above  6.5  per  cent,  for  black 
pepper,  and  3  per  cent,  for  white  pepper.  None  of  the  samples 
examined  gave  so  high  a  percentage  of  ash  ;  1  per  cent,  is  allowed 
for  sand  and  other  material  which  has  gotten  in  in  the  packing  of  the 
pepper ;  the  highest  ash  was  5-5  per  cent,  for  black  pepper,  and  2-8 
per  cent,  for  white  pepper,  which  was  a  very  dirty  sample. 
The  ether  extract  should  be  between  7  5  and  10  per  cent,  for 
black  pepper,  and  6  and  9  per  cent,  for  white  pepper.  In  only  one 
case  did  the  ether  extract  exceed  9  per  cent.,  and  that  was  in  cori- 
ander pepper,  which  sometimes  runs  as  high  as  1 1  per  cent.,  but 
this  variety  is  never  ground  for  white  pepper,  but  is  sold  in  bulk 
whole,  the  cost  being  too  great  to  permit  being  ground  for  commer- 
cial white  pepper. 
Piperin  should  be  present  in  from  5-5  to  9  per  cent,  in  a  good 
black  pepper.  Any  samples  that  do  not  show  this  percentage  are 
not  to  be  considered  good  peppers,  and  while  they  may  be  used  to 
blend  the  flavor  they  should  not  be  used  in  such  quantity  that  the 
percentage  of  piperin  would  fall  below  5-5  per  cent. 
The  writer  examined  only  one  of  the  adulterants  used  in  black 
and  white  peppers  besides  the  hull,  and  that  was  cocoanut  shells. 
The  result  was  as  follows :  Ash  8  per  cent.,  ether  extract  -42  per 
cent.;  if  this  is  added  to  the  pepper  the  ash  will  be  high  and  the 
percentage  of  ether  extract,  piperin  and  oleo-resin  will  be  low.  Since 
