Concluding Remarks. The oil of turpentine for this purpose should be of the best quality, and not that usually vended for painting, which always contains resin and often fixed oil. Juniper berries, bitter almonds, and the aromatic seeds, may be used instead of the essential oils; but the latter are the most convenient. Turpentine conveys a plain-gin flavour,—juniper berries or oil gives a Hollands flavour,—creasote imparts a certain degree of smokiness, or whiskey flavour,—lemon and the other aromatics, a creaminess, fulness, and richness. The flavour imparted by cardamoms, when used judiciously, is peculiarly agreeable and appropriate. That from caraways is also in general esteem. Cassia in extremely small proportions also tells well. Fusel oil gives a whiskey-gin flavour; and in conjunction with creasote or crude pyroligneous acid, a full whiskey flavour. The only danger in the employment of all these articles is using too much of them. When this misfortune happens, the remedy is to add sufficient plain spirit to reduce the flavour to the proper standard. The creaminess and smoothness so much admired in ‘foreign geneva’ results chiefly from age. The English rectifier endeavours to imitate this by the addition of a little sugar. A rich mellowness, that combines well with gins turning on the ‘Hollands flavour,’ is given by a very small quantity of garlic, and with Canadian balsam or Strasburg turpentine. The peculiar piquancy, or the property of ‘biting the palate,’ regarded as a proof of strength and quality by the ignorant gin-drinker, is imparted to the liquor by the addition of a little caustic potassa. Sliced horseradish gives piquancy as well as mellowness. Grains of paradise, cayenne pepper, and sulphate of zinc, are also commonly added by fraudulent dealers.
Although gin is always prepared on the large scale by distillation, it may also be made by the simple solution or digestion of the flavouring ingredients in the spirit; but it is, of course, better for distillation. If made in the former way, no salt must be employed. The gin produced by the above formulæ is that denominated in the trade ‘UNSWEETENED GIN,’ ‘GROG GIN,’ &c.; but the gin usually sold in the metropolis is a sweetened spirit, and hence is technically distinguished by the terms ‘SWEETENED,’ or ‘MADE UP,’ The generality of London gin-drinkers prefer the latter article, even when weaker and inferior, which it usually is, as the addition of sugar permits adulteration and watering to an enormous extent with absolute impunity. Sweetened spirit cannot be easily tested for its strength, and is taken by the Excise at the strength which it is declared to possess by the dealer. To ascertain whether gin is sweetened or not, a little may be evaporated in a spoon, over a hot coal or a candle, when, if it is pure, it will leave the spoon scarcely soiled; but if, on the contrary, it has been sweetened, a small quantity of syrupy liquid, or sugar, will be obtained, the sweetness of which may be easily recognised by tasting it.
The whole of the casks and utensils employed for gin should be perfectly clean, and properly prepared, so as not to give colour; as, if this spirit acquires the palest coloured tint, its value is lessened, and if much coloured it is rendered unsaleable. When gin has once become much stained, the only remedy is to re-distil it; when it is only slightly stained, the addition of a few lbs. of acetic acid (B. P.) to a pipe or butt, a spoonful or two to a gallon, or a few drops to a decanterful, will usually decolour it, either at once or as soon as it is mixed with water to make grog. See Alcoholometry, Casks, Distillation, Hollands, Spirits, &c., and below.
Gin, Cor′dial. This is gin sweetened with sugar, and slightly aromatised.
Prep. Good gin (22 u. p.), 90 galls.; oil of almonds, 1 dr.; oils of cassia, nutmeg, and lemon, of each 2 dr.; oils of juniper, caraway, and coriander, of each 3 dr.; essences of orris root and cardamoms, of each 5 fl. oz.; orange-flower water, 3 pints; lump sugar, 56 to 60 lbs.; dissolved in water, 4 galls. The essences are dissolved in 2 quarts spirit of wine, and added gradually to the gin until the requisite flavour is produced, when the sugar (dissolved) is mixed in, along with a sufficient quantity of soft water, holding 4 oz. of alum in solution, to make up 100 galls. When the whole is perfectly mixed, 2 oz. of salt of tartar, dissolved in 2 or 3 quarts of hot water, are added, and the liquor is again well rummaged up; after which the cask is bunged up, and allowed to repose. In a week, or less, it will have become brilliant, and may be either ‘racked,’ or drawn from the same cask. Product. 100 galls., about 30 u. p.
Gin, Sweetened. Prep. From unsweetened gin (22 u. p.), 95 galls.; lump sugar, 40 to 45 lbs., dissolved in clear water, 3 galls.; mix well, and fine it down as above. Product. 100 galls., at 26 u. p. This, as well as the last, is usually ‘permitted’ at 22 or 24 u. p., which is also done when the gin has been further lowered with water so as to be even 30 or 35 u. p. See Spirits, and above.
GIN′GER. Syn. Ginger root; Zingiberis radix, Zingiber (B. P.), L. “The scraped and dried rhizome” (rootstock or underground stem) of “Zingiber officinale”—(B. P.). Ginger is an aromatic stimulant and
stomachic, very useful in flatulence and spasms of the stomach and bowels, and in loss of appetite and dyspepsia, arising from debility, or occurring in old or gouty subjects. A piece chewed an hour before dinner tends to provoke the appetite; as a masticatory, it often relieves toothache, relaxation of the uvula, tender gums, and paralytic affections of the tongue. Made into a paste with warm water, and spread on paper, it forms a useful and simple ‘headache-plaster,’ which frequently gives relief when applied to the forehead or temples. As a condiment and flavouring ingredient, it is perhaps one of the most wholesome of the aromatic kinds, and is less acrid than the peppers.—Dose, 10 gr. to 1⁄2 teaspoonful, stirred up in any simple liquid.
Pur., &c. The best is that known in commerce as ‘unbleached Jamaica ginger,’ which is an uncoated pale variety, occurring in large, bold, fleshy pieces (‘RACES’), which cut soft, bright, and pale-coloured. The inferior varieties occur in smaller pieces, and are darker-coloured, flinty, and shrivelled. The dealers frequently ‘dress up’ the common dark-coloured gingers by washing them in water, drying them, and then ‘rouncing’ them in a bag with a little calcined whiting or magnesia (WASHED GINGER); or they bleach them by dipping them into a solution of chloride of lime, or by exposing them to the fumes of burning sulphur (BLEACHED GINGER); or they dip them into a milk formed of quicklime or whiting and water (WHITE-WASHED GINGER). The last has a chalk-white surface, which cannot be mistaken for the natural one. Powdered ginger is with difficulty obtained pure and good. The common adulterants are wheat-flour, or East Indian arrow-root, and plantain-meal. The first may be detected by the microscope, the others by the flavour and action of hot water. See Lozenges, &c.
GINGERIN. Syn. Oleoresina Zingiberis. Prep. (Pharm., U. S.) Put 1 lb. (Troy) of ginger in fine powder into a percolator, and pour on it 12 ounces (old measure) of pure ether. When this has been absorbed, add rectified spirit until 12 ounces (old measure) have been obtained. Recover the greater part of the ether by distillation over a water bath, and expose the residue in a porcelain dish until the volatile part has evaporated. Keep it in a stoppered bottle.