Mustard:

The flavors, other than that of the mustard itself, of the various preparations are imparted by the judicious use of spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pimento, etc.—aromatic herbs, such as thyme, sage, chervil, parsley, mint, marjoram, tarragon, etc., and finally chives, onions, shallots, leeks, garlic, etc.

In preparing the mustards on a large scale, the mustard flower and wheat or rye flour are mixed and ground to a smooth paste with vinegar, must (unfermented grape juice), wine, or whatever is used in the preparation, a mill similar to a drug or paint mill being used for the purpose. This dough immediately becomes spongy, and in this condition, technically called “cake,” is used as the basis of the various mustards of commerce.

Yellow mustard, from 20 to 30 per cent; salt, from 1 to 3 per cent; spices, from ¹/₄ to ¹/₂ of 1 per cent; wheat flour, from 8 to 12 per cent.

Vinegar, must, or wine, complete the mixture.

The brown cake is made with black mustard, and contains about the following proportions:

Black mustard, from 20 to 30 per cent; salt, from 1 to 3 per cent; spices, from ¹/₄ to ¹/₂ of 1 per cent; wheat or rye flour, from 10 to 15 per cent.

The variations are so wide, however, that it is impossible to give exact proportions. In the manufacture of table mustards, in fact, as in every other kind of manufacture, excellence is attained only by practice and the exercise of sound judgment and taste by the manufacturer.

Grind all together to a perfectly smooth paste, and strain several times through muslin.

Duesseldorff Mustard.—

Mix after the general directions given above.

German Table Mustard.—

Mix after general directions as given above.

Krems Mustard, Sweet.—

Mix and boil down to the proper consistency.

Krems Mustard, Sour.—

Mix and boil down to a paste and then stir in 8 parts of wine vinegar.

Tarragon Mustard.—

Boil the mustard in the vinegar and add the tarragon vinegar.

Moutarde Aux Epices.—

Mix the herbs and macerate them in the vinegar to exhaustion, then add to the mustards, and grind together. Set aside for a week or ten days, then strain through muslin.

In all the foregoing formulas where the amount of salt is not specified, it is to be added according to the taste or discretion of the manufacturer.

Mustard Vinegar.—

Mix and macerate together for a week or 10 days in a warm place, then strain off.

Ravigotte Mustard.—

Cut or bruise the plants and spices, and macerate them in the vinegar for 15 or 20 days. Strain the liquid through a cloth and add the salt. Rub up mustard with the olive oil in a vessel set in ice, adding a little of the spiced vinegar from time to time, until the whole is incorporated and the complete mixture makes 384 parts. {216}

CONDIMENTS, TESTS FOR ADULTERATED: See Foods.

CONDITION POWDERS FOR CATTLE: See Veterinary Formulas.

CONDUCTIVITY OF ALUMINUM ALLOYS: See Alloys.

CONFECTIONERY

To make such a mass into tablets, it is necessary only to pour out on a well-greased slab, turning the edges back if inclined to run, until the candy is firm, and then scoring with a knife so that it can easily be broken into pieces when cold. To make “drops” a suitable mold is necessary.

Experiment as to the sufficiency of the boiling in making candy may be saved and greater certainty of a good result secured by the use of a chemical thermometer. As the syrup is boiled and the water evaporates the temperature of the liquid rises. When it reaches 220° F., the sugar is then in a condition to yield the “thread” form; at 240° “soft ball” is formed; at 245°, “hard ball”; at 252°, “crack”; and at 290°, “hard crack.” By simply suspending the thermometer in the liquid and observing it from time to time, one may know exactly when to end the boiling.

Montpelier Cough Drops.—

Melt the sugar in the water, and when at a sharp boil add the cream of tartar. Cover the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and let the sugar boil up to crack degree. Turn out the batch on an oiled slab, and when cool enough to handle mold in the acid and flavoring. Pass it through the acid drop rollers, and when the drops are chipped up, and before sifting, rub some icing with them.

Medicated Cough Drops.—

Proceed as before prescribed, but when sufficiently cool pass the batch through the acid tablet rollers and dust with sugar.

Horehound Candy.—

Pour the water on the leaves and let it gently simmer till reduced to 3 pints; then strain the infusion through muslin, and add the liquid to the sugar. Put the pan containing the syrup on the fire, and when at a sharp boil add the cream of tartar. Put the lid on the pan for 5 minutes; then remove it, and let the sugar boil to stiff boil degree. Take the pan off the fire and rub portions of the sugar against the side until it produces a creamy appearance; then add the flavoring. Stir all well, and pour into square tin frames, previously well oiled.

Menthol Cough Drops.—

Soak the gelatin in the water for 2 hours, then heat on a water bath until dissolved, and add 1 ¹/₂ ounces of glycerine. Dissolve the menthol in the spirit, mix with the remainder of the glycerine, add to the glyco-gelatin mass, and pour into an oiled tin tray (such as the lid of a biscuit box). When the mass is cold divide into 10 dozen pastilles.

Menthol pastilles are said to be an excellent remedy for tickling cough as well as laryngitis. They should be freshly prepared, and cut oblong, so that the patient may take half of one, or less, as may be necessary.

Make a solution, adding the water last.

Rub up the potassium carbonate and the cochineal together, adding the water and alcohol, little by little, under constant trituration. Set aside over night, then add the syrup and filter.

Pink.—

Mix. Should the color be too high, dilute with water until the requisite tint is acquired.

A red added to any of the yellows gives an orange color.

The aniline colors made by the “Aktiengesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation,” of Berlin, are absolutely non-toxic, and can be used for the purposes recommended, i. e., the coloration of syrups, cakes, candies, etc., with perfect confidence in their innocuity.

Pastille Yellow.—

Sap-blue Paste.—

Sugar-black Paste.—

Cinnabar Red.*—

Bluish Rose.*—

Yellowish Rose.—

Violet.—

Carmine Green.—

To the colors marked with an asterisk (*) add, for every 4 pounds, 4 ¹/₂ ounces, a grain and a half each of potassium iodide and sodium nitrate. Colors given in form of powders should be dissolved in hot water for use.

Blue.—

Mix.

Indigo carmine is a beautiful, powerful, and harmless agent. It may usually be bought commercially, but if it cannot be readily obtained, proceed as follows:

Into a capsule put 30 grains of indigo in powder, place on a water bath, and heat to dryness. When entirely dry put {219} into a large porcelain mortar (the substance swells enormously under subsequent treatment—hence the necessity for a large, or comparatively large, mortar) and cautiously add, drop by drop, 120 grains, by weight, of sulphuric acid, C. P., stirring continuously during the addition. Cover the swollen mass closely, and set aside for 24 hours. Now add 3 fluidounces of distilled water, a few drops at a time, rubbing or stirring continuously. Transfer the liquid thus obtained to a tall, narrow, glass cylinder or beaker, cover and let stand for 4 days, giving the liquid an occasional stirring. Make a strong solution of sodium carbonate or bicarbonate, and at the end of the time named cautiously neutralize the liquid, adding the carbonate a little at a time, stirring the indigo solution and testing it after each addition, as the least excess of alkali will cause the indigo to separate out, and fall in a doughy mass. Stop when the test shows the near approach of neutrality, as the slight remaining acidity will not affect the taste or the properties of the liquid. Filter, and evaporate in the water bath to dryness. The resultant matter is sulphindigotate of potassium, or the “indigo carmine” of commerce.

Tincture of indigo may also be used as a harmless blue.

Voice And Throat Lozenges.—

Mix to produce 7 pounds of lozenges.

CONSTIPATION IN BIRDS: See Veterinary Formulas.

COOKING TABLE: See Tables.

COOLING SCREEN: See Refrigeration.

COPPER

Annealing Copper.—

Copper is almost universally annealed in muffles, in which it is raised to the desired temperature, and subsequently allowed to cool either in the air or in water. A muffle is nothing more or less than a reverberatory furnace. It is necessary to watch the copper carefully, so that when it has reached the right temperature it may be drawn from the muffle and allowed to cool. This is important, for if the copper is heated too high, or is left in the muffle at the ordinary temperature of annealing too long, it is burnt, as the workmen say. Copper that has been burnt is yellow, coarsely granular, and exceedingly brittle—even more brittle at a red heat than when cold.

In the case of coarse wire it is found that only the surface is burnt, while the interior is damaged less. This causes the exterior to split loose from the interior when bent or rolled, thus giving the appearance of a brittle copper tube with a copper wire snugly fitted into it. Cracks a half inch in depth have been observed on the surface of an ingot on its first pass through the rolls, all due to this exterior burning. It is apparent that copper that has been thus overheated in the muffle is entirely unfit for rolling. It is found that the purer forms of copper are less liable to be harmed by overheating than samples containing even a small amount of impurities. Even the ordinary heating in a muffle will often suffice to burn in this manner the surface of some specimens of copper, rendering them unfit for further working. Copper that has been thus ruined is of use only to be refined again.

As may be inferred only the highest grades of refined copper are used for drawing or for rolling. This is not because the lower grades, when refined, cannot stand sufficiently high tests, but because methods of working are not adequate to prevent these grades of copper from experiencing the deterioration due to overheating.

The process of refining copper consists in an oxidizing action followed by a reducing action which, since it is performed by the aid of gases generated by stirring the melted copper with a pole, is called poling. The object of the oxidation is to oxidize and either volatilize or turn to slag all the impurities contained in the copper. This procedure is materially aided by the fact that the {220} suboxide of copper is freely soluble in metallic copper and thus penetrates to all parts of the copper, and parting with its oxygen, oxidizes the impurities. The object of the reducing part of the refining process is to change the excess of the suboxide of copper to metallic copper. Copper containing even less than 1 per cent of the suboxide of copper shows decreased malleability and ductility, and is both cold-short and red-short. If the copper to be refined contains any impurities, such as arsenic or antimony, it is well not to remove too much of the oxygen in the refining process. If this is done, overpoled copper is produced. In this condition it is brittle, granular, of a shining yellow color, and more red-short than cold-short. When the refining has been properly done, and neither too much nor too little oxygen is present, the copper is in the condition of “tough pitch,” and is in a fit state to be worked.

Copper is said to be “tough pitch” when it requires frequent bending to break it, and when, after it is broken, the color is pale red, the fracture has a silky luster, and is fibrous like a tuft of silk. On hammering a piece to a thin plate it should show no cracks at the edge. At tough pitch copper offers the highest degree of malleability and ductility of which a given specimen is capable. This is the condition in which refined copper is (or should be) placed on the market, and if it could be worked without changing this tough pitch, any specimen of copper that could be brought to this condition would be suitable for rolling or drawing. But tough pitch is changed if oxygen is either added or taken from refined copper.

By far the more important of these is the removal of oxygen, especially from those specimens that contain more than a mere trace of impurities. This is shown by the absolutely worthless condition of overpoled copper. The addition of carbon also plays a very important part in the production of overpoled copper.

That the addition of oxygen to refined copper is not so damaging is shown by the fact that at present nearly all the copper that is worked is considerably oxidized at some stage of the process, and not especially to its detriment.

Burnt copper is nothing more or less than copper in the overpoled condition. This is brought about by the action of reducing gases in the muffle. By this means the small amount of oxygen necessary to give the copper its tough pitch is removed. This oxygen is combined with impurities in the copper, and thus renders them inert. For example, the oxide of arsenic or antimony is incapable of combining more than mechanically with the copper, but when its oxygen is removed the arsenic or antimony is left free to combine with the copper. This forms a brittle alloy, and one that corresponds almost exactly in its properties with overpoled copper. To be sure overpoled copper is supposed to contain carbon, but that this is not the essential ruling principle in case of annealing is shown by the fact that pure copper does not undergo this change under conditions that ruin impure copper, and also by the fact that the same state may be produced by annealing in pure hydrogen and thus removing the oxygen that renders the arsenic or antimony inert. No attempt is made to deny the well-known fact that carbon does combine with copper to the extent of 0.2 per cent and cause it to become exceedingly brittle. It is simply claimed that this is probably not what occurs in the production of so-called burnt copper during annealing. The amount of impurities capable of rendering copper easily burnt is exceedingly small. This may be better appreciated when it is considered that from 0.01 to 0.2 per cent expresses the amount of oxygen necessary to render the impurities inert. The removal of this very small amount of oxygen, which is often so small as to be almost within the limits of the errors of analysis, will suffice to render copper overpoled and ruin it for any use.

There are methods of avoiding the numerous accidents that may occur in the annealing of copper, due to a change of pitch. As already pointed out, the quality of refined copper is lowered if oxygen be either added to or taken from it. It is quite apparent, therefore, that a really good method of annealing copper will prevent any change in the state of oxidation. It is necessary to prevent access to the heated copper both of atmospheric air, which would oxidize it, and of the reducing gases used in heating the muffle, which would take oxygen away from it. Obviously the only way of accomplishing this is to inclose the copper when heated and till cool in an atmosphere that can neither oxidize nor deoxidize copper. By so doing copper may be heated to the melting point and allowed to cool again without suffering as regards its pitch. There are comparatively few gases that can be used for this purpose, but, fortunately, one which is exceedingly cheap and universally {221} prevalent fulfills all requirements, viz., steam. In order to apply the principles enunciated it is necessary only to anneal copper in the ordinary annealing pots such as are used for iron, care being taken to inclose the copper while heating and while cooling in an atmosphere of steam. This will effectually exclude air and prevent the ingress of gases used in heating the annealer. Twenty-four hours may be used in the process, as in the annealing of iron wire, with no detriment to the wire. This may seem incredible to those manufacturers who have tried to anneal copper wire after the manner of annealing iron wire. By this method perfectly bright annealed wire may be produced. Such a process of annealing copper offers many advantages. It allows the use of a grade of copper that has hitherto been worked only at a great disadvantage, owing to its tendency to get out of pitch. It allows the use of annealers such as are ordinarily employed for annealing iron, and thus cheapens the annealing considerably as compared with the present use of muffles. There is no chance of producing the overpoled condition from the action of reducing gases used in heating the muffles. There is no chance of producing the underpoled condition due to the absorption of suboxide of copper. None of the metal is lost as scale, and the saving that is thus effected amounts to a considerable percentage of the total value of the copper. The expense and time of cleaning are wholly saved. Incidentally bright annealed copper is produced by a process which is applicable to copper of any shape, size, or condition—a product that has hitherto been obtained only by processes (mostly secret) which are too cumbersome and too expensive for extensive use; and, as is the case with at least one process, with the danger of producing the overpoled condition, often in only a small section of the wire, but thus ruining the whole piece.

Copper Coloring: