"""juneriST"-}  Extract  of  Vanilla.  281 
menstruum  and  either  for  a  limited  or  an  unlimited  period — and  pro- 
longed maceration  followed  by  percolation.  The  writer  prefers  simple 
percolation  J  which,  of  course,  requires  to  be  skillfully  managed.  Some 
writers  have  recommended  strong  alcohol  as  a  menstruum.  This,  I 
believe  is  unnecessary,  as  it  is  a  waste  of  alcohol,  making  the  prepara- 
tion more  expensive  without  obtaining  better  results.  I  have  found 
50  per  cent,  alcohol  to  answer  the  purpose  admirably,  and  as  vanillin, 
to  which  the  odor  is  due,  is  soluble  in  this  menstruum,  it  is,  in  my 
judgment,  the  most  desirable  one  to  use. 
As  there  are  many  varieties  of  vanilla  in  the  market,  attention  should 
be  given  as  to  its  selection.  A  good  quality,  although  perhaps  decidedly 
more  expensive  at  the  outset,  will  be  the  cheapest  in  the  end  for  pre- 
paring the  extract.  There  is  an  inferior  kind  of  Mexican  vanilla  sent 
into  the  market,  cut  up  into  small  pieces  of  an  inch  or  a  little  more  in 
length,  which  consists  of  beans  unfit  to  be  bundled  up,  and  is  offered 
at  the  low  price  of  $5  per  pound.  It  is  unwise  to  purchase  vanilla  in 
a  broken  condition.  In  the  manufacture  of  an  extract  only  a  good 
quality  of  Mexican  bean  should  be  used,  Avhich  has  a  peculiar,  agree- 
able, characteristic  odor  of  its  own,  whilst  some  of  the  other  kinds  have 
an  odor  resembling  that  of  tonka,  which,  in  my  jurlgment,  makes 
those  varieties  decidedly  objectionable.  You  might  almost  as  well  use 
a  certain  percentage  of  tonka  bean  as  the  lower  kinds  of  vanilla  for 
the  purpose  of  making  a  cheap  flavoring  extract.  A  preparation  should 
be  sold  be  sold  for  what  it  is,  and  nothing  else.  If  it  contains  tonka 
call  it,  say,  compound  extract  of  vanilla  for  flavoring,  or  any  other  suit- 
able name,  but,  above  all,  do  not  throw  it  upon  the  market  as  extract 
of  vanilla.  There  are  those  })eople  perhaps,  though  very  few,  who 
prefer  the  odor  of  tonka,  which  is  due  to  coumarin,  but  for  their  use 
an  extract  of  tonka  could  easily  be  prepared. 
A  short  time  ago  I  was  oflered,  by  a  traveling  salesman,  a  bean  at  $4 
per  pound.  He  stated  for  extract  purposes  it  was  just  the  thing,  and 
was  largely  sold  to  ice  cream  makers  and  others.  They  were  about  six 
inches  long,  bright  brown  in  color,  quite  dry  and  brittle,  void  of  odor, 
and  would  remind  one  of  a  bean  that  had  lain  in  alcohol  for  weeks, 
taken  out  and  dried.  Cheap  and  worthless  extracts  of  vanilla  appear 
to  be  largely  sold,  and  perhaps  mainly  by  grocers. 
The  formula  proposed  is  as  follows : 
Take  of  Good  Mexican  vanilla,  .  .    '        .  ,^iv 
Sugar  (j|i:ranulated),  .  .  .  ,^iv 
Alcohol,  water,  of  each  a  sufficient  (quantity. 
