Caraway Seed (Carum carvi L.).—The plant is a native of Europe, and is cultivated in many countries. The seeds yield on distillation an essential oil which contains a substance called "carvol" (C10H1406). They are used for flavoring and in cooking.

Celery Seed (Apium graveolens L.).—The seeds of this plant are often used for flavoring purposes, and have considerable medicinal value. (See Celery p. 184.)

Coriander Seed (Coriandrum sativum L.).—The coriander is a native of Italy, grows wild in some parts of Europe and is readily cultivated. The volatile oil has an agreeable odor.

Cumin Seed (Cuminum cyminum L.).—Cumin is a native of Egypt, and at present cultivated largely in southern Europe. This is an annual umbelliferous plant, which produces a seed quite similar to the coriander in flavor. It is used in flavoring. In Germany the peasants are fond of bread and cake flavored with cumin, and in Holland it is used to flavor cheese.1

Dill (Anethum graviolens L.).-The dill is a native of Spain, Portugal and southern France, and is cultivated in gardens in Europe and America. The seeds are used in the United States for flavoring, and in preparing a special pickle known as the "dill pickle." The flavor is not as agreeable as that of fennel.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare L.).-Fennel is a plant which is a native of Europe, and is common in all temperate climates. The seed yields four or five per cent. of volatile oil, which has a sweet aromatic taste. It has escaped from cultivation in California, and grows so abundantly that the seeds are gathered and used for making oil.

Grains of Paradise (Amomum melegueta).-These seeds are grown in West Africa and the West Indies, and are used as a condiment. As they have a pungency similar to black pepper they are used to give a "fiery" taste to various liquors as beer, wine and gin.

Mustards (Sinapis arvenis, var. nigra and alba L.).—The mustards are probably indigenous in Europe and belong to the 1 Foods, Origin, Comp. and Manufacture, Tibbles, p. 764.

family Cruciferæ. They are cultivated in gardens and in fields. and in some places grow wild. Both the black and white mustard are important condimental substances. The plant is an annual, bearing yellow flowers, and the seeds may be separated from the pods when ripe by threshing. Mustard contains a fixed oil which is present to the amount of from 20 to 30 per cent. This may be expressed from the powdered secds, after warming. It is a bland oil, with very little taste, and forms an excellent salad oil. (See Fats and Oils.) Much of the fixed oil is frequently removed before the seeds are prepared as "ground mustard." Mustard also yields, when the seeds are moistened, under the influence of the myrosin an enzyme, a volatile or essential oil, but this does not exist ready-formed in the seeds. The active principle of black mustard is sinigrin, and that of white mustard is sinalbin. These are the substances which break up to yield, among other products, the volatile oil. The strongest 'ground mustard" is obtained by mixing the two varieties of seeds. As starch is not a constituent of mustard, adulteration with this substance is easily detected. Formerly the "prepared mustard" put upon the market in the United States, was grossly adulterated. Charlock' or "wild mustard" which grows abundantly in the grain fields of the Northwest, is one of the common adulterants of mustard. The uses of mustard in medicine, as a condiment, and to stimulate the appetite are well known.

Nutmeg-Mace (Myristica fragrans Houttuyn) and other varieties. Nutmegs grow on a tree about 30 feet high, which somewhat resemble the orange tree. It is a native of the Molucca and neighboring islands, and is cultivated especially in the East Indies, Madagascar and the West Indies. The trees are started from the seed, but when they are about two years old they are cut down and grafted with branches of the female tree to insure fruitfulness. A few male trees are left in the orchard to insure fertilization. The trees continue bearing for seventy or eighty years.

1 Bailey and Burnett. J. I. E. C. Vol. 8, p. 429.

2 U. S. Dispensatory, p. 797•

Although there is an abundance of salt in the United States, considerable quantities are imported, especially for salting meats.

In some countries as Australia, Italy and China, the manufacture and sale of common salt in a government monopoly, and the salt is sold at a high price in order to produce revenue for the Government. In France, Germany and India, salt to be used for food is subject to a tax, and salt used for other purposes is "denatured," by the addition of some foreign material so that it shall not be fit to use for seasoning food.

Dietetic Use of Common Salt

The amount of sodium chloride taken with the food is so large that the chlorine contained in foods in the form of mineral salts, is of no importance. It is interesting to note that among animals the herbivora require salt in their food, while the carnivora do not. In discussing the natural craving for salt experienced by man and the herbivorous animals, Bunge1 (Physiological and Pathological Chemistry) explains it about as follows: "Most vegetables are rich in potassium which is ultimately eliminated in the form of mineral salts, largely as sulfate. Potassium sulfate in the blood reacts to some extent with sodium chloride forming potassium chloride and sodium sulfate, both of which are rapidly eliminated by the kidneys. Hence the greater the amount of potash in the food, the greater the loss of sodium and chlorine from the blood, and the greater the necessity for salt to keep up the normal sodium chloride content of the body." Bunge in continuing this discussion concludes that while one might live without the addition of salt to the food, even on a diet largely vegetarian, without salt he would have a disinclination to eat much of the vegetables rich in potassium, such as potatoes, so the use of salt tends to enable us to utilize a larger variety of the earth's food products. Use of excessive amounts of salt is probably injurious as it overstimulates digestion, and may overtax the organs concerned in its elimination.

1 Chemistry of Food and Nutrition, Sherman, p. 263.

CHAPTER XIX

NON-INTOXICATING BEVERAGES

From very early times man has prepared mildly stimulating non-intoxicating beverages from various vegetable substances. It is rather remarkable that people of different nationalities, living under entirely different conditions of civilization, some earlier and some later in the history of the development of the race, should have felt the necessity, or should have appreciated the satisfaction to be derived from the use of this class of beverages, and that they selected for making them plants that contained, in a general way, similar constituents.

The most important principle contained in these beverages is the alkaloid, a nitrogenous substance which has stimulating properties. Tea, coffee, and cocoa contain also a volatile oil, which gives an agreeable odor and taste to the beverage, and a considerable amount of an astringent principle related to tannin, which modifies the taste and has also a physiological action on the system. Other plants, used more generally in South America, Africa and the East Indies than in North America and Europe, are the Maté, Khât, Kola, Guarana and Coca, and these contain similar constituents.

TEA (Thea chinensis)

History

The tea plant grows in sub-tropical regions which have a rainfall of 60 inches or more. The species found growing wild in Assam and Burmah is supposed to be the progen'tor of the modern tea plant. Some species still grow wild in the moun

tainous regions of China and India. The natives of China relate a legend that is supposed to account for the origin of tea. A Buddhist priest came from India to China, and as he was a devout man, he wanted to spend much time in prayer, but was hindered by the fact that he was overcome by sleep. In despair he cut off his eyelids and threw them on the ground, and the next day he found growing in the same spot the tea plant, the leaves of which furnished a beverage that would prevent sleep. Tea has been used in China for four thousand years or more.

The tea plant was introduced into Japan in the thirteenth century1 and was imported in commercial quantities into England in 1673, although a tea-house had been established in 1657 in London. At first it sold at the rate of $50.00 per pound. Besides China, Japan, and Assam, tea is also grown in Ceylon and Java, and to some extent in Brazil. The first plantation in Ceylon was opened up in 1867, and so rapidly has the industry grown, that in 1909 over 192,000,000 pounds was raised.

1 Foods, Their Origin, Composition and Manufacture, Tibbles, p. 779.