ALUM
Moisten a piece of the bread with water, and then with a logwood solution (5 grams logwood digested in 100 cc. of alcohol). If alum is present the bread will become lavender blue in two or three hours. Pure bread would have a red-brown tint. To prove the presence of alum, the blue color must be permanent at the temperature of boiling water. (The logwood used in this test must be pure.)
Blyth’s Test.—Macerate 150 grams of the sample for 45 or 50 hours in a couple liters of water; after straining through muslin, evaporate to a small volume over a low flame. Immerse a strip of gelatin in this liquid, and then in a logwood solution (same as in last test), and if alum is present it will acquire the lavender color.
If the bread in either of these tests is sour, the following modification (Vanderplanken) must be made. Reduce 15 grams of the sample to a paste with water and some pure chlorid of sodium, adding 10 drops of a fresh alcoholic solution of logwood, after which add 5 grams of pure potassium carbonate. Mix well, and after washing with 100 cc. of water into a vessel allow to settle. If alum is present the liquid will soon become reddish-violet, and if not present it will be blue.