Section I Bread and Flour
Good bread is light, porous, and spongy; of a sweet nutty smell; and when pressed with the finger is tough and resists the pressure like sponge, recovering with a spring its original texture as soon as the finger is removed: if any fracture appears, it is a sign of adulteration. The more numerous and large the cells or little holes are in it, the more perfectly is the bread made, and the better adapted for digestion.
Bread to be good, should be made of wheat flour; but the adulteration trade in this prime article of human consumption display no less ingenuity in the art of fraud and deception than their rivals in iniquity do in the wine and spirit and beer sophistications: convictions are on record of bakers having used pulverised gypsum or plaster of Paris, whiting, slacked lime, chalk, finely powdered granite, pipe-clay, particularly the white Cornwall clay, the flour of garden peas and horse beans, potatoes, bone-ashes, alum, spirits of vitriol, ammonia, magnesia, &c. They allege that, as they are often supplied by the mealmen with flour made from the worst kinds of foreign damaged wheat, and which is frequently mixed with a variety of other cereal grains in the course of grinding, they cannot produce bread of a sufficient degree of whiteness, lightness, and porosity, to please the caprice of the London palate, without having recourse to the conjoint aid of alum, ammonia, and potatoes.L This is the allegation made by the respectable part of the trade, and those who, with sufficient disposition to wickedness, are deficient in the knowledge of the art of slow and imperceptible poisoning. What excuse the irrespectable part of the trade can make for their nefarious traffic in the remaining portion of the enumerated articles must be left to the tender and honest consciences of those gentry.
“The baker,” says Mr. Accum, in his Preliminary Remarks, p. 11, “asserts that he does not put alum into bread; but he is well aware that, in purchasing a certain quantity of half spoiled flour, he must take a sack of sharp whites, (a term given to flour contaminated with a quantity of alum,) without which it would be impossible for him to produce light, white, and porous bread, from a half spoiled material.
“The wholesale mealman frequently purchases this spurious commodity, (which forms a separate branch of business in the hands of certain individuals,) in order to enable himself to sell his decayed flour.
“Other individuals (namely, the “gentlemen” druggists) furnish the baker with alum mixed up with salt, under the obscure denomination of stuff. There are wholesale manufacturing chemists, whose sole business is to crystallize alum in such a form as will adapt this salt to the purpose of being mixed with crystals of common salt, to disguise the character of the compound.
The mixture called stuff is composed of one part of alum, in minute crystals, and three of common salt.”
I omit to object to the adulteration of flour produced by the sand, which is unavoidably occasioned by the rubbing of the mill-stones together. The author of the “History of Inventions,” vol. i. p. 98, estimates that every person swallows 6lbs. yearly, in the quantity of flour and bread which he consumes.
The foregoing statement of artist ingenuity displayed by the Messieurs “Crust,” must be allowed to be liberal treatment of poor Mr. John Bull, in comparison with the acts of their rivals in the noble art of sophistication, the gin-shop-keeper, the brewer, the publican, and the other “trading interests of the nation.” But it will be better treatment to furnish the old gentleman with a test or two to enable him to detect the frauds of his said good friends, Messieurs les Crust and their compatriots, the mealmen.
The ready tests or methods for ascertaining those adulterations are: If an undue proportion (for bakers contend that the bad quality of the flour sold to them by the miller renders the addition of potatoes advantageous to the purchaser as well as to the baker) of ground or grated potatoes has been used, the bread will be moist, have a sourish smell, and, when stale, if a pressure be made upon it with the finger, a fracture will appear in the bread, that is, it will not recover its texture as sponge will do when compressed. Also, it will not keep, but in a few days become mouldy. Where bean-flour has been used, which bakers generally prefer, on account of the great portion of gluten which it contains, (and for this reason it bears a higher price in the market than flour itself,) the bread will soon dry and crack; or the fraud may be discovered by the smell on toasting a slice of the bread before the fire. The adulteration, by means of flour of peas is more common among bakers, and more difficult of detection than that of beans: the only means for ascertaining the fraud, by inspection, that I am aware of, are those of its drying and cracking soon, and being more heavy and considerably less porous than bread made entirely of wheaten flour. The admixture of clay, gypsum, chalk, whiting, slacked lime, bone-ashes, &c. is to be ascertained by the close texture, brittle or crumbly nature, undue weight, smell, and taste of the article. But analysis in each case is the truest test; and this may be performed in the following manner.
Cut the crust of the loaf into very thin slices, and, breaking these into pieces, put them into a glass cucurbit, with a large quantity of water; set this into a sand furnace, and let it stand therein with a moderate warmth for about the space of twenty-four hours. By this time the foreign ingredients will have separated from the genuine flour; the alum will have dissolved in the water, and may be extracted from it in the usual way. The jalap, if any have been used, (for it is not all the fraternity or brotherhood that have the consideration or humanity to introduce it into their life-destroying compositions,) will swim upon the top in the form of a coarse film; and the other ingredients, being heavy, will sink quite to the bottom, while the genuine flour will remain above them in the consistence of pap, which, being drawn off, will leave the adulterated articles in the form of a white powder at the bottom.
But as cucurbits and sand-furnaces are not “a part and parcel” of every family’s household chattels, if the off-hand tests above mentioned are not satisfactory, slice the loaf as before directed, and, putting the slices, with a sufficient quantity of water, into a pipkin, over a gentle fire, you will find in the course of a little time that the bread will be reduced to a pap, and, on drawing that off, the bone-ashes and other adulterating ingredients may be found in the form of a white powder at the bottom.
The pernicious ingredients, alum and spirits of vitriol, used by bakers in the manufacture of bread, are intended, in the cant phrase of the trade, “as binders and whiteners.” Few persons will credit the fact that this last-mentioned article is made use of in the manufacture of bread; but, if any person feels himself aggrieved by the assertion, I am prepared to verify my information, and point out the culprits. By the insertion of these ingredients, tens of thousands of children, under three years of age, are annually consigned to the grave in this “happy” country; and to their cause, in conjunction with the horrid articles before stated, are to be assigned the number of sudden deaths that are daily occurring, and a large portion of the diseases under which mankind are suffering.
The presence of alum may be detected by immersing a small piece of the crumb of new baked bread in a quantity of cold water sufficient to dissolve it; when, if a pernicious quantity of alum be present in the composition the water will acquire a sweet astringency to the taste; the more astringent of course the greater has been the quantity of alum used. Or a heated knife may be thrust into a loaf before it has grown cold; if the bread be free from alum, scarcely any alteration will be visible on the blade; but, should alum have been made use of, as soon as the knife cools, a slight aluminous incrustation will appear upon it. But this last method is, as Mr. Accum properly observes, but an equivocal test, on account of the impurity of the common salt used in making bread. When spirits of vitriol, diluted with water, have been used, the only test to detect this most pernicious and unprincipled adulteration is by chemically analysing the suspected article.
But the adulteration-trade observing that the insertion of the “horrid array” of pernicious articles, which their diabolical ingenuity substituted in the stead of wholesome meal or flour, had an astringent effect on the human constitution, and, fearing the consequences of a detection, have lately had recourse to the introduction of jalap into their sponge, in order to give their mischievous composition a laxative or purgative effect on the constitution of their deluded customers. The best test of the insertion of this drug is its effects. Others counteract the constipating effects of the alum by the addition of subcarbonate of potash, which neutralizes the excess of the sulphuric acid of the alum, and promotes the disengagement of the carbonic acid gas, whereby the particles of the flour are more minutely divided, and the bread rendered lighter.
Having stated the ready methods of ascertaining the good or bad qualities of bread, it is a necessary consequence that I should not be silent about those of flour.
The following are the usual tests for ascertaining the quality of flour. Grasp a handful briskly, and squeeze it for half a minute; if pure and unadulterated, it preserves the form of the cavity of the hand in one piece when placed upon the table, although it may be roughly set down. Adulterated flour, on the contrary, soon falls down. That mixed with whiting, white clay, or the like materials, is the most adhesive, though it soon gives way; but if the adulteration be ground bones, gypsum, or plaster of paris, it almost immediately falls. Where there is the presence of much bran, the grasped specimen will soon crumble, and this fraud may, also, be discovered by the colour and feel. It may also be observed that genuine flour will retain the impression of even the grains of the skin longer than that which is adulterated, the latter soon throwing off the fine marks. Also, let a person, having a moist hand, rub flour briskly between the palms of both hands; if there be whiting in it, he will find resistance; but none, if the flour is pure. Or, partially dip the fore-finger and thumb into a little sweet oil, and take up a small quantity of the flour between them; if it is pure it may be rubbed for any length of time, and will not become sticky or adhesive, and the substance will turn nearly black; but if whiting is present, it will soon be worked up into the consistence of putty, and its colour but little altered. Lemon juice, or vinegar, dropped upon flour, will also show the presence of whiting or plaster of paris; if the flour is pure it will remain at rest; but if it is adulterated an immediate commotion takes place. Where there is time to try the unsoundness of flour, put a table-spoonful into a basin and mix it with cold water, until it is of the consistence of batter pudding; then set a small pan upon the fire containing half a gill of water, and when the water is hot, pour in the batter just before it boils, and let it boil for about the space of three minutes. If sound, the flour will unite like a good pudding does; if unsound it breaks, curdles, and appears somewhat watery. By observing it while it is warm, some judgement may be formed of its different degrees of unsoundness. The usual test of people in the flour-trade is to knead a small quantity of the article; if good, an adhesive, ductile, and elastic paste is immediately formed, which may be elongated and drawn in every direction, without being entirely separated. The only ready test for the detection of sharp whites and stuff is by the taste.
When the farina of potatoes, or, as it is commonly termed, potatoe-starch, is mixed with flour, the fraud may, according to M. Chevalier, a French chemist, be discovered by sprinkling a little of the suspected article on black paper, when through a powerful lens, or microscope, the farina or starch may be discovered by the brilliancy of its particles.
To ascertain the presence of insects in flour, examine it in a good light, and if your suspicion be correct, you will observe the whole surface in motion, and on a nicer inspection there will be found in it a great number of little animals of the colour of flour, and of an oblong and a slender form. When they have once taken possession of a parcel of this commodity, it is impossible to drive them out; and they increase so fast, that the only method of preventing the total loss of the whole parcel, is to make it into bread as soon as possible. The only known way of preventing those insects from breeding in flour is to preserve it from damp; to effect which it should be always carefully and thoroughly dried before it is put up, and the barrels, also, should be carefully dried before the flour is stored in them, and placed in a room tolerably warm and dry.