Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/711

 L I Q L I Q The simplest method of preparing liqueurs is by adding the requisite proportion of essential oil to spirit of known strength, and then mixing this with the necessary amount of clear syrup. In this way, indeed, the greater number of the commoner and cheaper kinds are manufactured. Thus for making (say) 20 gallons inferior quality of ku mmel, there are added to 7 gallons of spirit of wine J ft&amp;gt; of essential oil of caraway seed, 7^ drachms of fennel-seed oil, and 15 drops of bitter almond oil. With this preparation is mixed a syrup containing 40 ft&amp;gt; of refined sugar dissolved in about 12 gallons of water, and when fined with gelatine or with alum and soda solution the liqueur is ready for use. To prepare, on the other hand, 20 gallons of fine kiimmel liqueur, there would be placed in a simple still, with 10 gallons of spirit and 8 of water, 4 ft of caraway seeds, fb of fennel, and 2 oz. of Florentine iris root. This mixture after maceration is distilled, the first portion of the distillate being put aside on account of its rough aroma, after which about 8 gallons of fine kiimmel spirit is obtainable. There still may be procured, by forcing the heat, from 3 to 4 gallons of inferior spirit. To the 8 gallons of fine spirit is added a syrup consisting of GO Ib of refined sugar dissolved in 10 gallons of water, the two compounds being thoroughly incorporated with heat in an open vessel. On cooling, the amount of water necessary to make up 20 gallons is added; the liqueur is fined with isinglass, and stored to mature and mellow. All varieties of liqueurs may be made or imitated by both these methods ; but as a rule it is only the simple-flavoured and commoner varieties which are compounded by the addition of essential oils and alcoholic tinctures. Fine liqueurs are made by macerating aromatic bodies and subsequent distillation ; bitters by maceration and straining. Of trade liqueurs the most highly esteemed in the United King dom are Chartreuse, Curacoa, Maraschino, and Doppel-Kiimmel or Allasch. Of all kinds the most famous ^Chartreuse, so called from being made at the famous Carthusian monastery near Grenoble. Three qualities are made green, yellow, and white, the green being the richest and most delicate in flavour. Chartreuse is said to be a most complex product, resulting from the maceration and distillation of balm leaves and tops as a principal ingredient, with orange peel, dried hyssop tops, peppermint, wormwood, angelica seed and root, cinnamon, mace, cloves, Tonquin beans, Calamus aromaticus, and cardamoms. Curacoa, which is a simple liqueur, is chiefly made iu Amsterdam from the dried peel of the Curagoa orange. The peel is first softened by maceration in water ; then three-fourths of the quantity in preparation is distilled with mixed spirit and water, and the remaining fourth is macerated in a proportion of this dis tillate for two or three days; the tincture is strained off and expressed and added to the original distilled Curagoa spirit. The flavour of Curagoa is improved by the addition of about one per cent, of Jamaica rum. The centre of the Maraschino trade is at Zara in Dalmatia. Genuine Maraschino is prepared from a variety of cherry the Marasca peculiar to the Dalmatian mountain regions. The juice of the cherry fermented and distilled yields the spirit, which is flavoured with the broken cherry kernels themselves. Imitations of Maraschino are easily prepared, a praiseworthy liqueur resulting from raspberry juice, bitter almonds, and orange- flower water. In the preparation of Allasch which is a rich Kiimmel bitter almonds, star-anise, angelica root, Florentine iris root, and orange peel are used in addition to caraway seeds. Gold- water and silver-water are liqueurs to which small quantities of powdered gold-leaf and silver-leaf have been added, on account of their lustre. They are now little used. Gentian root is the fundamental &quot;bitter&quot; in most of the pre parations known as Bitters. These compounds, prepared by macer ation, are very various in their constitution, but the following is a fair typical sample of the composition of a kind largely used. To prepare 20 gallons of bitters there are taken C ft of gentian, 5 ft eacli of cinnamon and caraway seeds, 1 ft of juniper berries, and i ft of cloves. These are macerated in 7 gallons of spirit, 60 over proof, strained and filtered, and to the product is added 10 ft of sugar dissolved in 13 gallons of water, and the resulting liquor is coloured with cochineal. The following list includes the names of the principal commercial liqueurs not already named : Noyeau (white and pink), trappistine (yellow and green) (from the Abbey do la Grace Dieu), benedictine (from Fucamp), peppermint liqueur, French cherry brandy or kirsebaer (from Copenhagen), mandarine, parfait amour, crenie de vanille, creme de rose, the, cafe, menthe, cacao, vanille, pomeran- zen, ratafia (from Dantzic), anisette (from Amsterdam and Bor deaux), kirschenwasser (from Switzerland and the Black Forest), absinthe, and vermouth. (J. PA.) LIQUID AM BAR, LIQUID AMBER, or SWEET GUM, is a product of Liqiddambar styraciflua, L., order Hamamelidese, a deciduous tree of from 30 to 50 feet high and attaining 15 feet in circumference in Mexico, of which country it is a native, as well as of the greater portion of the United States. It bears palmately-lobed leaves, somewhat resem bling those of the maple, but larger. The male and female inflorescences are on different branches of the same tree, the globular heads of fruit resembling those of the plane. This species is nearly allied to L. orientalis, Miller, a native of a very restricted portion of the south-west coast of Asia Minor, where it forms forests. It is from the bark of this latter tree that the storax of the ancients (Herod., iii. 107 ; Diosc., i. 79), the medicinal styrax of to-day, is prepared (Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, No. 107). The earliest record of the tree appears to be in a Spanish work by F. Hernandez, published in 1651, in which he describes it as a large tree producing a fragrant gum resembling liquid amber, whence the name (Nov. Plant., &c., p. 56). In Eay s Ilistoria Plantar-urn (1686) it is called Styrax liquida. It was introduced into Europe in 1681 by Banister, the missionary collector sent out by Bishop Compton, who planted it in the palace gardens at Fulham. The wood is very compact and fine-grained, the heart- wood being reddish, and, when cut into planks, marked transversely with blackish belts. It is employed for veneering in New York. Being readily dyed black, it is sometimes used instead of ebony for picture frames, balusters, &c. ; but it is too liable to decay for out-door work. The principal product of the tree, however, is the resinous gum which issues from between the bark and wood. It is sometimes called white balsam of Peru, or liquid storax, though it is said by Michaux (Les Vegetaux rcsineux, ii. p. 337) to differ materially from the latter. It is considered to be styptic and to possess healing and balsamic properties, being stimulant and aromatic. It possesses nearly the same properties as the balsam of Peru and of Tolu, for which it is often substituted, as well as for storax. Mixed with tobacco, the gum was used for smoking at the court of the Mexican emperors (Humb., iv. 10). It has been long used in France as a perfume for gloves, &c. It is mainly produced in Mexico, little being obtained from trees growing in higher latitudes of North America, or in England. For localities where it has been observed, see Pickering s Chron. Hist, of Plants, p. 741. LIQUORICE. The hard and semi-vitreous sticks of paste, black in colour and possessed of a sweet somewhat astringent taste, known as liquorice paste or black sugar, are the inspissated juice of the roots of a leguminous plant, Glycyrrliiza glabra, the radix glycyrrhizx of the pharma copoeia. The plant is cultivated throughout the warmer parts of Europe, especially on the Mediterranean shores, and its geographical limits travel eastward throughout Central Asia to China, where its cultivation is also prosecuted. In the United Kingdom it is grown in Surrey and in York shire. The roots for use are obtained in lengths of 3 or 4 feet, and varying in diameter from to 1 inch, soft, flexible, and fibrous, and internally of a bright yellow colour with a characteristic sweet pleasant taste. To this sweet taste of its root the plant owes its generic name Glycyrrliiza (the sweet root), of which liquorice is a corruption. According to the analysis of Sestini (Gaz. Chim. Ita/., vol. viii. p. 131), the root dried at 110 C. has the following composition : resin, fat, and colouring matters, 3 220; glycyrrhizin, 6 378; starch, 57 720; cellulose, 19 - 790; albuminoid substances,