Syrup
Only a word to explain that it is necessary to be accurate in the use of it-there are so many possible degrees of sweetness. There is a simple little instrument to measure these degrees known by the name of its inventor, Beaume. It is a sort of glass buoy with a measured Tart, Tartlet mast. In the bottom there is a bulb containing a certain weight of mercury. When this buoy is floated in pure water, it sinks to the top of the mast, and marks the highest, which is in fact the lowest degree. In syrup, according to its thickness, it rises; and when the mast is entirely above the surface of the liquid the syrup is at its strongest. Cetti and Co., of 11, Brooke Street, Holborn, supply these useful instruments for three shillings.
APIOCA is one of the best flavoured of the arrowroots. It is got from the same root which yields the so-called Brazilian arrowroot and the cassava bread. It would seem that Nature, when she planned the American continent for the use of savages, must have been thinking a good deal of the over-civilised invalids of Europe-she has provided in the vegetation of the western world so much medicine, and so much nourishment for the ailments of the east. It is a common belief that from America must come the regeneration of the world, and here at least is its tapioca admirable in giving substance to the soups and puddings of our invalid cookery.
TARRAGON is one of the most odoriferous of the potherbs, and belongs to the same family as Southernwood and Wormwood. The name is said to be equivalent to Dragon-the tortuous form of its roots suggesting the dragon's tail. It is a dragon much esteemed, and wagging its tail most agreeably in a green Mayonnaise, in a Béarnaise sauce, in a dish of chicken à l'estragon, and in the ravigote which brightens many a salad.