CHAPTER XII FOOD ADJUNCTS, UNCLASSIFIED FOOD MANY articles commonly classed as foods are consumed rather for their condimental properties than for nutritive value. In commerce and in food legislation there is usually no attempt to define the boundary between foods and condiments. Thus it will be remembered that the Food and Drugs Act so defines the word "food" as to cover all articles used as food, drink, confection, or condiment. Some of the condiments offer considerable opportunity for adulteration, and in the enforcement of the pure food laws this group of materials usually receives a large share of attention. For the purposes of the present work brief statements regarding these food adjuncts seem sufficient; but opportunity is taken to present here the directions given by Dr. Hirschfelder for reënforcing table salt with iodide as a safeguard against the iodine deficiency which sometimes leads to goiter. Salt Salt is prepared in many localities throughout the world, sometimes by mining rock salt, sometimes by pumping brine out of salt wells, sometimes by impounding the water of salt lakes or of the ocean, and allowing it to evaporate in the sun, then refining the product by recrystallization. In the United States, salt is produced chiefly by Michigan, New York, Kansas, and Ohio, which together furnish about nine tenths of the total output. According to Bailey most of the salts on the market contain from 97 to 99 per cent of sodium chloride. In order to avoid the introduction of impurities which would alter the flavor, careful butter-makers pay much attention to the purity of the salt which they use, and thus the term " dairy salt" has come to signify as high a degree of purity as is usually attempted commercially. An analysis of high grade dairy salt has been given in the account of butter manufacture. According to the standards of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists: Table salt, dairy salt, is fine-grained crystalline salt containing, on a water-free basis, not more than 1.4 per cent of calcium sulphate, nor more than 0.5 per cent of calcium and magnesium chloride, nor more than 0.1 per cent of matters insoluble in water. In order to prevent salt, which is to be exposed to atmospheric conditions on the table, from becoming caked through absorption of moisture, it is sometimes mixed with a small amount of starch or of calcium phosphate. To avoid conflict with the standard set by the Official Chemists, salt thus prepared should be labeled to show its nature and composition. Hirschfelder's directions for reënforcing table salt with iodide.1 It is now well established that the extreme prevalence of goiter in certain regions is attributable to deficiency of iodine in the food and water of these regions and may be prevented by simple administration of small quantities of iodide. Hirschfelder suggests that this be done through the medium of the table salt used in each household of such regions as follows: A stock of "iodized salt " consisting of 99 per cent table salt and 1 per cent potassium iodide is prepared, by grinding the two salts together until finely powdered and thoroughly mixed and is then kept constantly on hand. Thereafter as each 5-pound bag of table salt is purchased it is spread in a thin layer and 5 teaspoonsful of the iodized salt are evenly added to the 5 pounds of table salt 1 Hirschfelder, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 79, page 1426 (1922). by means of an ordinary salt shaker. The salt thus treated is thoroughly mixed and used in cooking and for table salt. Spices The spices owe their condimental properties most often, probably, to volatile oils, but also in several cases to other substances, as will be seen from the descriptions which follow. Adulteration of whole spice usually takes the form of abstracting a part of the valuable component, while ground spices are often adulterated by addition of ground hulls (or other fibrous material) or of starchy materials such as flour, and sometimes of mineral matter. Where standards of composition have been adopted it will be seen that they usually set limits to one or more of these components. Allspice, or pimento, is obtained from an evergreen tree, belonging to the same family with the clove, which is found in the West Indies and is cultivated chiefly in Jamaica. The commercial spice is obtained by drying the berries, which, in order to avoid loss of aroma, are gathered when they have grown to full size but before they are fully ripe. The average percentages of some constituents in samples. of pure whole allspice analyzed by Winton, Mitchell, and Ogden at the Connecticut Experiment Station were as follows: The volatile oil of allspice is similar to that of cloves and according to Leach is composed of eugenol (C10H1202) and a hydrocarbon belonging to the sesquiterpenes whose exact chemical constitution has not yet been determined. According to the definition and standard of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists: Allspice, pimento, is the dried fruit of the Pimenta pimenta (L.) Karst., and contains not less than 8 per cent of quercitannic acid, not more than 6 per cent of total ash, not more than 0.4 per cent of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid, and not more than 25 per cent of crude fiber. Anise is the fruit of the Pimpinella anisum L. Bay leaf is the dried leaf of Laurus nobilis L. Capers are the flower buds of a shrub, Capparis spinosa L. and are commonly pickled in vinegar. Caraway is the fruit (so-called seed) of Carum carui L., an umbelliferous plant growing chiefly in the northern and central parts of Europe and Asia. The dry caraways yield 3 to 6 per cent of a volatile oil which is said to contain cymene, cymene aldehyde, carvone, and limonene. Cassia is the dried bark of Cinnamonum cassia and some other species of the same genus. Its condimental properties are due to the volatile oil, which may be obtained as such in commerce under the name of oil of cassia, and of which the chief component is cinnamic aldehyde. Cassia buds are the dried immature buds of species of Cinnamonum. Cayenne, or cayenne pepper, is the dried ripe fruit of Capsicum frutescens, Capsicum baccatum, or some other small fruited species of capsicum, and owes its pungency largely to the presence of a characteristic alkaloid capsicine. Cinnamon in the stricter use of the term (true cinnamon) is the dried inner bark of Cinnamonum zeylanicum (Beyne). Commonly, however, the term cinnamon is applied to the dried bark of any species of Cinnamonum from which the outer layers may or may not have been removed. Cinnamon, like cassia, owes its characteristic properties to a volatile oil of which cinnamic aldehyde is the chief component. Ground cinnamon or ground cassia is a powder consisting of cinnamon, cassia, cassia buds, or a mixture of these. Cloves are the dried flower buds of the clove plant (Caryophyllus aromaticus, or Eugenia caryophyllata), which is an evergreen tree growing 20 to 40 feet high and cultivated largely in Brazil, Ceylon, India, Zanzibar, Mauritius, and the West Indies. The average percentages of the more prominent constituents as found by Winton, Ogden, and Mitchell in analysis of eight samples of whole cloves of known purity were as follows: The condimental property of cloves is chiefly due to the volatile oil, which consists mainly of eugenol with smaller quantities of a sesquiterpene known as caryophylene. Probably, however, the fixed oils and resins and the tannin may also contribute to the characteristic pungency of the clove. According to the standard of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists cloves must contain not more than 5 per cent of clove stems, not less than 15 per cent of volatile oil, not less than 12 per cent of quercitannic acid, not more than 7 per cent of total ash, not more than 0.5 per cent of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid, and not more than 10 per cent of crude fiber. |