Paprika is a rather poor excuse for a coloring matter anyway. The coloring principle in the spice is not soluble in the catsup, and all of the color is retained within the grains of the powder. If this coloring principle dissolved in the catsup, as does cochineal, the effect would be very good. The use of paprika is very easily detected by pouring out a bit of the catsup on a piece of paper, and making a thin layer of it. The grains of paprika then stand out very prominently.
Some catsups are literally “loaded” with paprika, and they have a sort of brick color, which is somewhat different from the color produced by fresh, ripe tomatoes. This catsup would no doubt be brown if so much paprika wasn’t used. As to flavor, such goods are usually not very good, and are often very poor indeed.
Quantities of Spices and Oils per Batch
As to the quantity of spices to use per 100 gallons of catsup, I would suggest 3 oz. of ground cayenne pepper, 1½ lbs. of medium bark, broken Saigon cassia, 1¼ lbs. of whole allspice, and 1¼ lbs. of whole cloves. The cassia, allspice, and cloves go in a sack, and the cayenne goes in direct at the beginning of the cooking. If paprika is used it is put in with the cayenne. If the essential oil of cloves is preferred to the whole spice, 1 oz. of it will give a pronounced clove taste, although not too pronounced.
If it is desired to use essential oils altogether, with the exception of the cayenne pepper, a good mixture is ½ oz. oil of cassia, 1 oz. oil of cloves, and ½ oz. oil of pimento. A good flavored catsup can also be obtained with the amounts of pepper, oil of cassia, and oil of cloves given above, but with no oil of pimento.
It should be remembered that with these oils the most important point is the successful administration of them. Giving proper quantities to use amounts to nothing if they are improperly administered. In fact, any kind of a formula for making a tomato product amounts to very little in itself. It doesn’t make any difference how fine a formula a man has, it by no means assures a good product. When the formula is obtained a bare start is made. In the hands of one manufacturer excellent results will be obtained with the use of a formula, while another man who has practically the same formula will make an absolute failure of his manufacturing.
Essential Oils Economical
The use of spice oils is more economical as far as the actual expense of the formula is concerned, and it is also very convenient, as you have your flavoring in small packages in a highly concentrated form. As these oils are distilled from spices which are wormy, or for some other reason not marketable as whole spices, the spice from which they are distilled can be obtained very cheap. As a rule the oils are distilled where the spices are grown, and only the essential oil is imported. In order to make the oils comply with the regulations of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, it is usually necessary to re-distill them here, as they often contain lead from being transported in lead containers.
Adulteration of Ground Spices
If ground spices are used they should be bought from a concern of very high standing, as their adulteration is by no means an uncommon practice. Deception is, of course, difficult in whole spices. Such adulteration as the use of ten or twenty per cent of ground pepper shells in ground pepper has frequently been discovered by government chemists. Ground olive stones, sawdust, brick dust, ground cocoanut shells, and many other inert substances have also been found in ground spices. Adulteration can almost always be detected by either microscopical or chemical examination, but there have been cases where the adulteration has been so cleverly done that the only way it could be verified was by detective work on the part of government agents.