Acetic acid extracts of some of the spices are being used to a certain extent, but they have a peculiar harsh flavor that makes them undesirable. The oil extracts can be used to only a very limited extent, as they impart a flavor suggestive of the drug store.
One method of making a nearly complete extraction of the spices is to place them in their proper proportion in vinegar a few weeks before the ketchup season begins and then add the spiced vinegar in the proper proportion to each batch. The result is different from that obtained by cooking, and the method is not recommended for first grade goods.
The waste of spices in the usual process of manufacture is indicated by some work done by Mr. H. E. Bishop of the laboratory of the Indiana State Board of Health. He found that in making ketchup, when the boiling was kept up for thirty minutes, that only 27.8 per cent of the oil of cassia, 11.5 of the oil of cloves, and 33.3 per cent of the oil of allspice were extracted. (Unpublished report.)
Paprica rosen, Hungarian, or sweet paprika, is used for coloring purposes, though it parades as a spice. This is a mild variety of Capsicum annuum, one of the species of the genus Capsicum, from which cayenne pepper is made. The variety offered to manufacturers has a more intense red color and much less pungency than the ordinary paprika. This paprika can be obtained as the bright fruit, ground dry, or in oil. In the latter, it is said, that part of the capsicin is removed, also that the oil sets the color in inferior material. The oil is of a reddish-yellow color and the large number of globules and irregular masses serve to distinguish it from cayenne pepper. It fulfills the claims of the importers—“coloring the ketchup, not adding materially to the pungency, and coming inside the laws in being one of the regular ingredients.” It requires just about sixteen times as much as would be required of ordinary paprika to get the same flavor. Considering the cost, in the relative proportion required, there can be little doubt of its real purpose. It will conceal inferiority to ordinary observation in that it gives a red color where otherwise a muddy color might be present. The color does not have durability, and it is easily recognized under the microscope.