Aside from the use of harmful colors and flavors, which are always to be regarded as adulterants, there are many other practices in connection with the manufacture of confections that may be classed as objectionable. Most of these have, however, been forbidden by law in the states and in other countries and are now forbidden by our national law. The addition of ground mineral matter was long known as one of the principal adulterations of confectionery. This, in my opinion, is no longer practiced in the United States. The substances used were commonly known as terra alba, that is, ground talc, powdered silicates, powdered chalk, or ground marble—in fact any white powdered mineral substance. The object of this adulteration is manifestly to increase the weight.
Poisonous Mineral Colors.
—In the early days of the manufacturing of confectionery salts of lead and compounds of chromium, as well as compounds of other metals such as copper, etc., were employed for coloring purposes. The use of these bodies is now extremely rare, however, if it is ever practiced, and hence may be regarded as a practice of the past.
Glucose Containing Harmful Substances.
—The bleaching of glucose by sulfurous acid naturally leads to the introduction into candies of this substance. It is present in minute quantities, however, and if the glucose is carefully made, I may add, in negligible quantities. The danger of over-sulfuring must not be forgotten and it is difficult to draw a line of demarkation between what may be regarded as negligible and injurious quantities. The abandonment, therefore, of the use of sulfur must be regarded as the only safe way of protecting the consumer against an adulteration of this kind. The use of poisonous flavoring is perhaps more extensive than is generally recognized, especially of that flavor which is supposed to be characteristic of the kernel of the peach, namely, benzaldehyde or its derivatives. There is also a small amount of hydrocyanic acid in the kernels of the peach, almond, etc. This is a very deadly substance and no artificial preparation of it should ever be used. If there be any flavor of this kind in a confection it should be derived solely from the almond or similar nuts which contain only minute traces. While nature, as is well known, places poisonous substances in many food products, they have been so skilfully combined as to render their effect the least harmful. When man produces a similar poisonous article artificially and adds it to a food, the poisonous effect thereof is undoubtedly increased. Hence the use of artificial harmful flavors of any kind in a food product, especially confectionery, is utterly reprehensible and unpardonable.
Alcohol.
—Alcohol has been placed in different forms in confectionery, sometimes enclosed as drops within the saccharine substance. This must be regarded as an adulteration of a very reprehensible character, since these products are eaten so much by children and the danger of injury from the alcohol and the danger of forming a habit from eating it in this way is extremely great. This form of adulteration is specifically forbidden by the national law. In view of the fact that children and young persons of both sexes, and especially girls, eat confectionery so largely it is incumbent upon every manufacturer to see that no raw material is employed in his processes and no flavoring or coloring or other added ingredient used which is in any way under suspicion as being a harmful or deleterious substance. Manufacturers should remember that a mere certificate of purity from the person making these substances is of little value whatever. Even if the statements made in such certificates are true they will always be under suspicion, because it would be supposed that they were made for the purpose of furthering trade rather than for the protection of the consumer. In the case of two experts of like honesty and like industry, one employed for the purpose of giving a certificate to the article of food and one whose researches are entirely independent of any commercial relations, the public will generally give the decision of the latter a greater weight. Inspection officers under state and national food and drug acts should give especial attention to the subject of confectionery as an article of diet almost universally employed and consumed by a class of the community most susceptible to injury.
HONEY.
Honey is defined as the nectar of flowers, gathered and stored by the honey bee (Apis melifica). While the above is a good definition there is often found in honey saccharine exudations of the plant other than the nectar of flowers. Many plants contain sugar in their saps and when an exudation of sap takes place and the water in the sap is evaporated a saccharine residue remains which is also gathered by the bee. Many trees, especially of the pine family, exude a sweet sap when stung by a kind of louse (aphis) and this is also gathered by the bees. Thus while there may be other exudations of the plant found in honey the fact remains that the true honey is gathered exclusively from the nectar of the flowering plant. A honey which is made by feeding bees sugar sirup or other artificial sugar food cannot be regarded as a genuine article. The feeding of bees, while a strictly legitimate practice, should be confined to keeping them over periods of famine or the keeping of them alive during the winter or at other times when they do not have access to the flowering plant.
Historical.
—Honey has been used by man for food from the remotest antiquity. In fact, in earlier times honey was the only sugar substance at the disposition of man. He had not yet learned the sources of great supply which now are at his command or if he had he was not familiar with the technical processes of preparing the commercial article. Honey is approximately a pure saccharine substance and this, in addition to its peculiar and, to most people, pleasant flavor, not only gave it a vogue in the earlier times of necessity but has maintained it in public favor when other and cheaper sources of saccharine substances have been developed. In fact, at the present time it might be said that honey owes its value upon the market not to the fact that it is a saccharine body but that it contains flavors and aromas imparted to it by the flower and by the bee which render it a luxury rather than a necessity of life.
Fig. 83.—Swarm of Bees on Bough of Tree.—(Courtesy A. I. Root Co.)
Preparation of Honey.
—While bees stored their honey in hollow trees or other suitable places in earlier times this was a doubtful source of supply. The bee tree is still an object of interest in every neighborhood. Many wild animals, especially bears, are very fond of honey and these animals were the robbers of the honey bee in the days when such animals roamed the forests. Since the removal of the forests to such a large extent in the interest of agriculture the bee tree is becoming a curiosity rather than a matter of common occurrence. Wild swarms of bees, therefore, at the present time, find other places for building their hives than the hollows of trees. They are likely to light upon almost any point that affords them a temporary support and attempt, at least, to form a colony. Unless, however, they have some natural protection such as that of a hollow tree, these attempts are usually unsuccessful. In Fig. 83 is shown a swarm of bees, which, gathering on the bough of a tree, have bent it to the ground.
Fig. 84.—Artificial Bee Hives under Shade of Grape Vine.—(Courtesy of A. I. Root Co.)
Artificial Hives.
—The artificial hive has now become an inseparable incident in bee culture. The various forms of hives and their relative merits cannot be discussed in this manual. There are many special works on bee culture in which all these mechanical appliances, which are so favorable to the storing of large quantities of honey, are described. The most approved form is that which permits the depositing of the combs in small boxes which when filled usually weigh about one pound and which can be easily removed from the comb and are in a condition to send to market. The proper method of locating bee hives is indicated in Fig. 84.
The art of bee keeping is not easily acquired and it requires a natural aptitude as well as long study and research to become an expert bee keeper. Experts differ in their opinion respecting the relative value of hives, and rival manufacturers also do much in the way of advertising one or another of these contrivances. All of them that have merits are such as protect the bee, during the months when it is idle, from starvation and disease and afford it every possible facility for storing its treasures during the season of activity.
Distribution of the Honey-producing Industry.
—Every part of the United States is suitable in some respects for the production of honey. Naturally the extreme northern portion, where the winters are very severe, are less favorable than the southern portion for two reasons, first, the difficulty of keeping the bees over the winter is greater in the North, and, second, the season of activity is much shorter. On the other hand the honey which is gathered from the northern flowers is, as a rule, more highly prized than that gathered from the more southern regions. California, perhaps, is the greatest honey-producing state in the Union, though portions of New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and many other states have developed great industries. It is very common also for the farmer to have a number of bee hives, particularly for storing honey for domestic consumption, so that the making of honey is almost as common on the farm as the making of butter.
Fig. 85.—A Frame Containing 24 Boxes of Honey.—(Courtesy A. I. Root Co.)
Comb Honey.
—The honey which is produced in the hives and removed without extracting it from the comb is known as “comb honey.” As indicated above, at the present time large amounts of this product are made by the filling of small boxes of a size intended for the market. This is, by far, the most convenient method of handling the product. A frame showing 24 boxes of comb honey as withdrawn from the hive is illustrated in Fig. 85. It has also the additional merit of a practical guarantee of the product. In Fig. 86 is seen a box of honey in which the capping is incomplete. Many mechanical attempts have been made to imitate the genuine comb and in many respects a certain degree of success has been attained. In fact nearly all of the commercial comb honey of the present day is made in combs built upon an artificial base in which the cells of the comb are started and sometimes built to a considerable depth. The bee is then only required to fill out the remaining portion of the cell and, after filling it with honey, to cover it over. Thus the labor of the bee is greatly diminished in respect of comb building and its energies preserved for a greater production of honey. It must be admitted that honey preserved in the comb has a delicacy and daintiness which does not attach to that which has been separated and sold in a liquid form. The comb honey, therefore, commands a fancy price.
Fig. 86.—Showing Box of Honey Partially Capped.—(Courtesy A. I. Root Co.)
Extracted Honey.
—Where honey is to be shipped to any great distance it is found difficult, if not impossible, to transport it in the comb, since the jarring and exposure incident to transit break the delicate cells and allow the honey to escape. For commercial purposes, therefore, especially when honey is to be shipped to distant points, it is separated from the comb at the place of manufacture. The usual method of separation is by centrifugal force. The caps of the cells being removed, the boxes which contain them are placed in a centrifugal machine and the honey forced out by centrifugal action. The boxes are then returned to the hives where they are refilled by the bees. By this process extracted honey can be made in great quantities and for a much lower price than the same quantity of honey still held in the combs. The principal objection to extracted honey is due to the fact that it has been subjected to such extensive adulterations as will be mentioned further on. There can be no valid objection made to the character of extracted honey when it has been prepared under competent direction and with the skill and care which are required by the professional honey makers.
Strained Honey.
—Strained honey is a variety of extracted honey which from the broken or fragmentary combs is allowed to flow by gravity or by gentle pressure. In such cases, naturally, the cell or honey comb is destroyed. The residual comb is sent to market as beeswax.
Properties of Honey.
—Honey at ordinary temperature is a viscous liquid of a tint varying from almost colorless to almost black, according to the character of the flowers and the season in which it is gathered and the length of time of storage. It contains from 15 to 25 percent of water and usually has a small quantity of foreign substances, incident to its manufacture, such as particles of dust, pollen, fragments of bees, fragments of comb, etc. Honey, therefore, is a somewhat concentrated solution of sugars and these sugars are the natural products of the flowers of plants, modified to some extent, by passing through the organism of the bee. In passage through the bee the honey is impregnated with a small quantity of an acid, named from the ant, formic acid. It also suffers other changes which are very strongly marked in flavor and aroma but which cannot be very readily traced chemically.
Polarization.
—Pure honey, that is, honey gathered solely from the saccharine exudations of flowers at the ordinary temperature of the laboratory, namely, from 65 to 85 degrees F., has the faculty of turning a plane of polarized light to the left, which is just the opposite of the optical properties of cane sugar. Whenever a honey shows a right-handed polarization it is a cause for suspicion respecting its purity. A honey of this kind has either been made by feeding the bees a sugar sirup or by the gathering, on the part of the bees, of the saccharine exudation, before alluded to, known as honey dew. It is perfectly true that bees may have gathered honey in exceptional cases, that is, the saccharine exudations of the plants in general, which will show a right-handed polarization, but this occurs so infrequently as to render it advisable to regard such a honey as abnormal in quality. The polariscope, therefore, becomes an almost indispensable implement in a study of the purity of honey.
Water.
—As has already been stated, the usual content of water in honey is from 15 to 25 percent. It very rarely falls below 15 percent and also very rarely goes above 20 percent. In extremely dry periods it is evident that the content of water becomes less, while in times of rain or at the first advent of the flowers the content of water will be greater. The bee naturally modifies to some extent the content of water in order that the organism may dispose of the product. If the content of water is too small the bee handles the product with difficulty and if the content of water is too large difficulty in gathering and storing the honey on account of the excessive fluidity is experienced. As before intimated, the color of the honey depends largely upon the flower from which it is made. White clover gives a honey almost water-white and among all the honey-producing flowers is perhaps regarded the most highly. On the other hand a plant like the golden rod, which flowers later in the summer, produces honey of a deep yellow and sometimes almost a black tint. The color of honey, therefore, indicates not only the season of the year at which it is stored, becoming darker as the autumn advances, but also the nature of the flower from which it is produced.
Ash.
—The content of mineral matter in honey is extremely small and perhaps is largely due to the mechanical entanglement of dust in the nectar rather than the exudation of actual mineral matter itself from the flower. In some cases the amount of mineral matter is so small as to become a mere trace while in other cases it has been found as high as .3 of one percent. A high content of ash denotes the exposure of the nectar previous to gathering to an infection of dust or to some other abnormal condition. A high ash content, therefore, always indicates that further study should be made respecting the purity of the product.
Sucrose.
—The amount of sugar (cane sugar) which is found in honey is in normal conditions not very large, but in exceptional cases the sugar content, that is, the sucrose content, may reach as high as 8 or 10 percent. At such times the honey has only a slightly left-handed polarization or may become right-handed. Whenever the content of sucrose in honey reaches as high as 8 percent there is ground for suspicion that the bees have been fed on sugar sirup, or that some other form of adulteration has been practiced.
Dextrose and Levulose.
—The two principal saccharine components of honey are the sugars known as dextrose and levulose, in other words, taken together, inverted sugar, that is, sugar made by the inversion of cane sugar or sucrose. In the nectar of flowers these two sugars exist almost in the proportion which would be expected if they had been formed from sucrose or ordinary sugar by a simple chemical process. Sometimes one of these sugars and sometimes the other may be in slight excess. The names of these two sugars indicate their active properties. Dextrose is a right-handed sugar, that is, it turns the plane of polarization to the right. In this respect it resembles sucrose or ordinary cane sugar, although it is not so strongly right-handed. Levulose, as the name implies, is a sugar which turns the plane of polarization to the left. The temperature of the solution has a very marked influence upon this active property,—the lower the temperature the greater the left-handed rotation. A honey which has a strong left-handed polarization, therefore, at ordinary temperature is one in which the levulose is present in full proportion or very slight excess. The other constituents of honey, namely, the pollen which is mechanically entangled therein, the dust or dirt which is mechanically attached thereto, the formic acid imparted thereto by the bee, and the other ingredients, are extremely minute in quantity and are not, as a rule, expressed as percentage constituents. In fact the most of them are merely accidental constituents.
Adulteration of Honey.
—Perhaps there is no common food product, with the possible exception of condimental substances such as pepper and spices, that has been subjected to such extensive and general adulterations as honey.
The high price of honey, its position as a luxury as well as a food product, and its attractive flavor and aroma have all combined to make it a favorite product for adulteration. In addition to this the invention in the last third of a century of an artificial product resembling honey very closely in its physical properties and being itself a saccharine body, namely glucose, has put into the hands of the adulterator an ideal substitute for the natural product. There is only one reason why the adulteration of honey with glucose has not been more extensive than it is, namely, the ease with which the chemist can detect it. The chemical properties of glucose are very distinct from those of honey itself. In spite of this fact, however, the adulteration of honey has been most extensively exploited and until the methods of detecting it were developed it was almost universally practiced. Glucose is a water-white saccharine semi-viscous mass made by the hydrolysis of starch with an acid and therefore forms the body upon which the adulterated article can be built. It has a low saccharine value and cannot be used alone but must necessarily be mingled with the honey. The amount of real honey used is, as a rule, a minimum to give the flavor and taste of the genuine article to the admixture. It is believed at the present time that this method of adulterating honey is very much less practiced than in former years and this is due, as has been said, to the ease with which it can be detected and also, it may be added, to the increased rigidity of national, state, and municipal inspection, rendering it difficult to place an adulterated article such as this upon the market without detection. Incalculable harm has been done to the honey trade of the country by the practice of this style of adulteration. Only liquid honey, that is separated or strained, can be easily adulterated with glucose. Often, however, an attempt has been made to still further deceive the customer by placing a portion of the genuine comb honey in a jar and then filling it with the adulterated mixture, giving the appearance of the genuine article to a certain extent to the whole.
Adulteration with Inverted Sugar.
—A much more subtle form of adulteration, and therefore one much more difficult to detect, is the adulteration of honey with a sirup made from inverted sugar, that is, the product obtained from cane sugar by the action of a dilute acid. This chemical process, as has already been indicated, converts the cane sugar into a mixture of dextrose and levulose. These sugars are identical, for chemical purposes, with the natural dextrose and levulose of honey. The chemist, therefore, has a much more difficult task to perform when he attempts to diagnose the presence of artificial dextrose and levulose in a mixture of the natural product. There are, however, certain qualities of ash, as well as other chemical constituents, which guide him in his work. While his conclusions do not have that definiteness which attaches to the examination of a honey adulterated with glucose they are sufficiently distinctive in most cases to determine whether or not a sophistication has been practiced.
Adulteration with Cane Sugar.
—A very simple form of adulteration and one which cannot be practiced to any extent without being easily detected is the admixture of a sirup of pure cane sugar to honey. As long as the quantity added is not sufficient to change the optical properties, so that the mixture becomes right-handed in its rotation, the admixture of a small quantity of cane sugar sirup might escape the detection of the chemist. Inasmuch, however, as cane sugar exists only in small quantities in honey the regular and persistent occurrence of much cane sugar in a honey would be a just cause for suspicion, although its occasional occurrence might be due to purely natural causes.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Mince Meat.
—Under the term “mince meat” is included a large variety of mixtures used chiefly for pie making and composed of meats, fruits, evaporated fruits, spices, and sometimes alcohol in some of its forms. It is not possible to describe any particular combination which would be entitled to bear the name alone, since each housewife and each manufacturer follows a method of her and his own. A general description, however, may be given of the manufactured article which, unfortunately, has largely displaced the mince meat of domestic manufacture.
Judged by the name alone, meat of some kind would be an important constituent of this substance. This, however, is not the case. Very few of the mince meats contain more than 10 percent of meat, a large number contain less and quite a large number contain none at all. Suet and tallow are sometimes employed as a substitute for meat, which apparently satisfies the conscience of the manufacturer even if it does not suit the palate of the consumer. Evaporated fruits, such as raisins, etc., form important constituents of the mixture and also fresh fruits, in domestic manufacture, are very often used. Spices of various kinds are also employed and the mixture is sometimes flavored with brandy or some alcoholic beverage.
Pressed Mince Meat.
—The mixture which is above described may be dried and pressed, or pressed without drying, into a hard firm cake which renders it more suitable for transportation and improves its keeping qualities. There is perhaps little difference between the unpressed and the pressed mince meat except in the matter of a binder. The binder consists usually of starch or flour, which serves not only to give additional weight to the mixture but also to hold the particles together. Starch or flour is sometimes used in unpressed mince meat also. There is another advantage in using starch or flour, namely, that these bodies absorb large quantities of moisture and thus increase the weight of the mixture. Mince meat cannot be recommended on sanitary grounds, since the method of manufacture is not always known and the materials from which it is made are not always selected with the sole view to the excellence of the raw materials and the health of the consumer. The meat when used often represents waste material from the table or factory and the fruits are not necessarily those which look best but probably are those usually of the worst appearance and the combinations are made with a view of meeting the ordinary demands of the market rather than of catering to the tenets of sanitation.
It is not the intention of this manual to discourage any kind of legitimate manufacturing industry, but, in view of the general character of substances of this kind, if they are to be used at all, it seems advisable that they should be made in the home, of material selected by the housewife and in a manner which requires no special treatment for its preservation, rather than to be purchased at random in the open market, made of materials of unknown origin put together by an unknown process.
Adulteration of Mince Meat.
—Assuming that the materials which have been selected are wholesome, sanitary, and of fine quality, the principal adulterations to which mince meat is subjected are the addition of chemical preservatives and artificial colors. Inasmuch as mince meat is not expected to be of any very definite color the use of artificial colors is not common. On the other hand when mince meat is made in large quantities, transported long distances, and sometimes kept for a long while on the shelves of the grocery, the subject of preservation becomes a matter of serious importance. It is naturally inconvenient to preserve a mixture of this kind by sterilization, though this has been accomplished. The method of drying and pressing has already been described. This, of course, detracts somewhat from the physical appearance of the product. The common method is the addition of a chemical preservative. At the present time I believe that benzoate of soda is the one very commonly used, and it will probably continue to be so used, by most manufacturers until national and state laws or an enlightened public opinion eliminate it from food products.
Pie Fillers.
—Nearly allied to mince meat in its character is a large class of substances known as pie fillers. Mince meat itself, as may be seen from the description which has been given of it, is nothing but a pie filler of a particular kind. Unfortunately the demand of the domestic cuisine is for substances prepared, or partially prepared, for immediate consumption. In this way the demand for predigested and precooked food has become a very general one and the pie filler is a legitimate effort on the part of the manufacturers to meet this growing demand. It is far easier for domestic purposes to make a pie of an already prepared material than to go to the trouble of constructing the material in the kitchen. A housewife loses sight of the fact that the fresh domestic pie is probably the only one which, for sanitary and other reasons, should be admitted to the table. As the pie fillers are as varied in character as the different kinds of pies from which they are made, no definite standard can be prescribed for them. Fruits are, naturally, the predominating constituent in these fillers and the condiments and spices used are certainly unobjectionable. If it be possible to prepare spiced fruits and keep them until used for pies there would seem to be no objection to the manufacture, long before using, of these substances in large quantities. The difficulty, however, of preserving the freshness and aroma of a fruit or other substance used for pie making is so evident as to need no particular emphasis.
Adulteration of Pie Fillers.
—The common adulterations in pie fillers are artificial colors, when they are designed to represent fruit of a special character, and preservatives. The same remarks which were made respecting these bodies in mince meat apply with equal force to all kinds of pie fillers. Bodies of this kind are evidently only properly made on the premises where they are consumed and immediately used after manufacture. The addition of artificial colors and preservatives in such substances, while apparently necessary in the present condition of trade, is wholly objectionable from every other point of view, and in such case trade conditions should properly give way to the demands of public and private sanitation and hygiene.