Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/332

 Hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid is usually employed for this purpose. The action of the acid converts the starch into fermentable sugar, namely, dextrose, a form of sugar differing in its quality and character from that produced by malt known as maltose. Both sugars, however, are fermentable to the same degree and produce, for equal quantities of sugar, the same quantity of alcohol. When the starch is converted into sugar by one or the other of these methods it is subjected to fermentation by an appropriate quantity of yeast which is of the same family as that used in the alcoholic fermentation of other saccharine products.

—(Courtesy Department of Agriculture.)

Special characters of yeast, however, are reserved for special purposes, since the variety of yeast determines to a certain extent the character of the secondary products which are formed during fermentation and thus determine the character, flavor, and aroma of the finished product. After the fermentation has been completed the residue is technically known as beer, and is subjected to distillation for the separation of the spirit,

A description of the process of distillation will be found in the second volume of this manual and is therefore omitted here.

Radish.—The botanical name of the radish is Raphanus sativus L. The French name is radis; German, Radies; Italian, ravanello; Spanish, rabanito.

The radish is a vegetable which is found throughout the whole year in all the principal markets of the United States, being grown under cover during the cold weather. It is ready for market within a short time after sowing, so that crop after crop can be grown during the year on the same soil. It is most highly prized when it is young, as it tends to acquire a pungent and bitter taste as it approaches maturity. The two principal varieties grown, as respects the roots, is the one having a long, tapering root, and the other a short, spherical