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/407

 be preserved. Coal tar dyes, under various names, and an animal dye, cochineal, have been used for this purpose. The practice of artificial coloring is reprehensible and may, in the case of some colors, be harmful to health. By observing the precautions already mentioned, the natural color of the cherry may be preserved without artificial color, and in general this is desirable. The consumer should at all times demand canned cherries which have not been artificially colored.

Maraschino Cherries.—A very common method of treating cherries is to bleach them in a brine of common salt and sulfurous acid until all the natural color has disappeared. The cherries are then thoroughly washed for the removal of the salt and sulfurous acid and at the same time the juice and soluble portions of the cherry are removed, so that at the end of the washing there is little left but the cellular structure. The cherries are then saturated with sugar or sugar and glucose and colored a deep artificial red by coal tar dye or cochineal. If the natural flavor of cherries has been destroyed by the bleaching an artificial flavor is often added. The product is a cherry of an even deep red tint, more or less sweet, according to the use of greater or less quantities of sugar or glucose, and having a flavor of almond oil. When cherries of this kind are preserved in a solution of alcohol, flavored or unflavored, they are called maraschino cherries. The name is taken from a kind of cherry first used in making the product. They are used to a very large extent with certain beverages such as cocktails, soda water, mint juleps, etc., and also in ice cream and other preparations for the table. Little can be said in praise either of the taste or wholesomeness of these preparations and they are valuable chiefly for their supposed attractive appearance. The offense which is committed against the æsthetic taste of the individual in the preparation of such a product probably offsets any good effect which comes from attractiveness or ornamentation. The product cannot be regarded in any sense as resembling even in color the natural fruit, since practically the whole of the natural fruit, except its cellular structure, has been withdrawn and artificial substances substituted in place thereof.

Canned Peaches.—A great industry in this country is the canning of peaches. Some of the finest and most perfect varieties are used for this purpose. Peaches may be canned whole or by slicing in half or quarters and removing the pit. The principles of sterilization are not different from those which have already been described. Since the peach is a fruit which decays easily and is thus difficult of transportation, the establishment of canning factories in the vicinity of large peach orchards renders it possible to preserve this delicate fruit in a condition practically as good as that of the natural article, and thus makes it accessible to the people in all parts of the country at all seasons of the year.

Adulteration of Canned Peaches.—Fortunately in this case there is no