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Adulterations (Ground ginger is largely)

Ground ginger is largely adulterated with starch, wheat-flour, ground rice, mustard, husks, etc., in various proportions. In a young state the rhizomes are tender, fleshy, and mildly aromatic, at which time, preserved in syrup they form the conserve known as preserved ginger. West India gingers are preferred to those from the East Indies.

XVIII. Capers-True and Spurious Kinds.

The true caper of commerce is known botanically as Capparis spinosa, a creeping plant, a native of the south of Europe. The flower-buds, and in some parts of Italy the unripe fruit, are pickled in vinegar, and form what are known as capers. An African species, C. sodada, furnishes berries with a pepper-like, pungent taste, and when dried are used as food. The flower-buds of Zygophyllum fabago, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, are used instead of capers, or substituted for that condiment. Z. coccineum has aromatic seeds, which are used by the natives in place of pepper. These and several other species are possessed of vermifuge properties. The leaves of Z. simplex are used for diseases of the eye. The smell of this plant is said to be so detestable that animals will not eat the foliage. XIX. The Tamarinds.

TAMARINDS are the fruit pods of one of the handsomest of tropical trees, the Tamarindus Indica having beautifully pinnated foliage. There are varieties of this tree, distinguishable chiefly by the size of the pods. The pods vary in length from three to six inches, and are slightly curved. They consist of a brittle shell, inclosing a soft, acid, brown pulp, traversed by strong woody fibers; the seeds are again immediately invested by a thin membranous covering. They owe their grateful acidity to the presence of citric, tartaric and other vegetable acids. Tamarinds form an important ingredient in the cookery of Eastern nations, as in the curries of the East Indies. CHAPTER XXXV.