Condiments
Such substances as spices, essential oils, vanilla, vanillin, coumarin and other volatile aromatic compounds which are pleasant to the sense of smell and taste are condiments. A detailed description of the growing, gathering and grinding of the different spices, the producing of essential oils and other aromatic compounds used as condiments, would be by far too lengthy and cannot be given in a book of this kind.
Roughly it might be said that spices are produced by grinding the different kinds of seeds, herbs and roots. These different kinds of spices possess volatile aromatic oils which give them their peculiar odor and taste. Lemon oil and orange oil are obtained by extracting these oils from the skins and peels of the respective citrous fruits. The highly refined oils are further treated to remove the harsh and undesirable terpenes.
Vanilla is obtained by crushing and extracting the vanilla bean. Vanillin is a coal tar product and is obtained synthetically. Coumarin can be obtained from the tonka bean and also synthetically.