LARD
Lard is very often adulterated with cottonseed oil, cottonseed stearin and beef stearin. Their being very much cheaper accounts for the sophistication.
Cottonseed Oil
Halphen’s Test.—Dissolve 1 per cent of sulfur in a given volume of carbon bisulfid. Add an equal volume of amylic alcohol. Mix 3 to 5 cc. of this reagent with an equal volume of the melted lard in a test tube. Close with a cotton stopper and boil for 15 minutes in a bath of saturated brine. The presence of cottonseed oil is indicated by a deep-red or orange color, little or no color resulting in its absence. Lard from hogs fed on any of the various cottonseed products may give a faint reaction when this test is applied.
Cottonseed Stearin
Since cottonseed stearin is only the more solid portions of cottonseed oil, the above test may be applied, but to distinguish it from the latter it is necessary to make determinations quite beyond the scope of this set of tests.
Beef-Stearin
It is very difficult to identify beef-stearin by chemical tests. It is usually detected by use of the microscope. Leach gives the following method: Make a solution of 2 to 5 grams of the fat in 10 to 20 cc. of ether. Let stand a half day, at about the room temperature. Loosely stopper the tube with cotton to prevent too rapid evaporation of the ether. It is well to vary the conditions of heat, amount of solvent, and rate of crystallization, to get the best possible results. It may often be well to separate the crystals thus obtained by filtering and recrystallizing from ether. Separate the crystals that form at the bottom of the test tube from the liquid portion by pouring on a small filter. Wash them several times with ether, but not sufficient to remove the mother liquor entirely. In case it is all removed, and the crystals are too fragile to mount, add a drop of alcohol. Crystals of lard stearin are flat rhomboidal plates, one end being oblique to the sides, and they do not appear to be regularly grouped. Beef-stearin crystals are rod-shaped, or needles often apparently curved with pointed ends, and are arranged in clusters like the ribs of a fan, the crystals radiating from a common point. Under certain conditions the lard crystals are not irregularly grouped, but are arranged like the parts of a feather, where one part seems attached to another close at hand. Considerable experience is necessary to use this test with absolute certainty.