The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom by P. L. Simmonds

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CHILLIES AND CAYENNE PEPPER.

Chillies or capsicum are long roundish taper pods, divided into two or
three cells, full of small whitish seeds. When this fruit is fresh, it
has a penetrating acrid smell; to the taste it is extremely pungent,
and produces a most painful burning in the mouth. They are
occasionally imported dry, and form the basis of Cayenne pepper; put
in vinegar when green or ripe, they are an acceptable present in
Europe. In Bengal the natives make an extract from the chillies, which
is about the consistence and color of treacle.

The consumption of chillies in India is immense, as both rich and poor
daily use them, and it is the principal ingredient in all chutnies and
curries; ground into a paste, between two stones, with a little
mustard, oil, ginger, and salt, it forms the only seasoning which the
millions of poor in that country can obtain to eat with their insipid
rice. They are worth in the Bombay market about 40s. the candy of 600
lbs.

Immense quantities of the capsicum are used by the native population
of the West Indies, Africa, and Mexico; the consumption as a condiment
being almost universal, and perhaps equal in quantity to salt. Ten
barrels of these peppers were shipped from Montego Bay, Jamaica, in
the first six months of 1851.

The wholesale price of chillies in the London market is from 15s. to
25s. the cwt., and there is a duty of 6d. per pound on them. Cayenne
fetches 9d. to 2s. the pound.

Chilli is the Mexican name for all varieties of _Capsicum_. They are
natives of the East and West Indies, and other hot climates. _C.
annuum_ is the species commonly noticed, but there seems to be
numerous varieties, which by many are reckoned species. Thus, _C.
frutescens_ is a shrubby plant, which, along with _C. minimum_,
supplies the variety called bird-pepper, it grows to a larger and more
bushy size; _C. baccatum_ has a globular fruit, and furnishes cherry
or berry capsicum. They are all of the simplest culture, and may even
be grown with very little care in England. Culture appears to increase
the size, but to diminish the pungency of the fruit. In capsicums
irritant properties prevail so as to obscure the narcotic action.
Their acridity is owing to an oleaginous substance called capsicin.
Cayenne pepper is used in medicine chiefly in the form of tincture, as
a rubefacient and stimulant, especially in cases of ulcerated sore
throat. It acts on the stomach as an aromatic condiment, and when
preserved in acetic acid it forms chilli vinegar.

Red pepper may be considered one of the most useful vegetables in
hygiene. As a stimulant and auxiliary in digestion it has been
considered invaluable, especially in warm countries. A kind called the
tobacco red pepper, is said to possess the most pungent properties of
any of the species. It yields a small red pod, less than an inch in
length, and longitudinal in shape, which is so exceedingly hot that a
small quantity of it is sufficient to season a large dish of any food.
Owing to its oleaginous character, it has been found impossible to
preserve it by drying, but by pouring strong boiling vinegar on it a
sauce or decoction can be made, which possesses in a concentrated form
all the essential qualities of the vegetable. A single drop of this
sauce will flavor a whole plate of soup or other food.

The "wort" or Cayenne pottage may be termed the national dish of the
Abyssinians, as that, or its basis "dillock," is invariably eaten with
their ordinary diet, the thin crumpet-like bread of teff or wheat
flour. Equal parts of salt and the red cayenne pods are well powdered
and mixed together with a little pea or bean meal to make a paste.
This is called "dillock," and is made in quantities at a time, being
preserved in a large gourd-shell, generally suspended from the roof.
The "wort" is merely a little water added to this paste, which is then
boiled over the fire, with the addition of a little fat meat and more
meal to make a kind of porridge, to which sometimes is also added
several warm seeds, such as the common cress or black mustard, both of
which are indigenous in Abyssinia.--("Johnston's Abyssinia.")

A great quantity of Agi or Guinea pepper is grown in Peru, the natives
being very fond of this condiment. It is not uncommon for an American
Indian to make a meal of twenty or thirty pods of capsicum, a little
salt, and a piece of bread, washed down by two or three quarts of
chica, the popular beverage.

PIMENTO.

The pimento, _Eugenia Pimento_ (_Myrtus Pimenta_), is a native of
Mexico, and the West Indies. It flourishes spontaneously and in great
abundance on the north side of the island of Jamaica; its numerous
white blossoms mixing with the dark green foliage, and with the
slightest breeze diffusing around the most delicious fragrance, give a
beauty and a charm to nature rarely equalled, and of which he who has
not visited the shady arbors and perfumed groves of the tropics can
have little conception. This lovely tree, the very leaf of which when
bruised emits a fine aromatic odor, nearly as powerful as that of the
spice itself, has been known to grow to the height of from 30 to 40
feet, exceedingly straight, and having for its base the spinous ridge
of a rock, eight or ten feet above the surface of the hill or
mountain. A single tree has frequently produced 150 lbs. of the raw,
or 100 lbs. of the dried fruit.

The fruit has an aromatic odor, and its taste combines that of
cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; hence its common name of allspice. The
fruit of _Eugenia acris_ is used for pimento.

The trunk is of a grey color, smooth and shining, and altogether
destitute of bark. It is luxuriantly clothed with leaves of a deep
green, somewhat like those of the bay tree, and these leaves are, in
the months of July and August, beautifully contrasted and relieved by
an exuberance of white flowers. The leaves yield by distillation a
delicate odoriferous oil, which is said to be sometimes passed off for
oil of cloves.

The berries are gathered before they are ripe, and spread on a
terrace, exposed to the sun for about a week, during which time they
lose their green color, and acquire that reddish brown tint which
renders them marketable. Some planters kiln-dry them. Like many of the
minor productions of the tropics, pimento is exceedingly uncertain,
and perhaps a very plenteous crop occurs but once in five years.

In 1800 there were 12,759 bags and 610 casks of pimento imported from
Jamaica; in 1824 there were 33,308 bags and 599 casks shipped from the
island; in 1829 the quantity exported was 6,069,127 lbs.

In the year ending October 1843, the export of pimento from Jamaica
was 29,322 bags and 156 casks; in the year ending October 1844, 12,055
bags and 88 casks; in the year ending October 1845, 233 casks, valued
at 30s. each, and 59,494 bags, valued at 20s.

From 1st January to 1st August, 1851, 128,277 lbs. pimento were
shipped from the port of Montego Bay, Jamaica.

There was a very considerable pimento plantation made in Tobago, some
years ago, by a Mr. Franklin, but it was abandoned by his sons, that
they might attend the more exclusively to sugar culture.

Jamaica exported nearly two millions of pounds of pimento less, in
the three years ending 1848, than she did in the three previous to the
emancipation of the slaves. The number of pounds shipped annually, in
these periods, is shown by the following figures:--

Year. lbs.
1830 5,560,620
1831 3,172,320
1832 4,024,800
1846 2,997,060
1847 2,800,140
1848 5,231,908

Pimento is imported into this country in bags of about 100 lbs. each.
The imports have been:--

Year. Imports. Home consumption.
cwts. cwts.
1848 20,773 4,230
1849 24,994 3,419
1850 20,448 3,467
1851 14,840 3,935
1852 22,708 3,872

The following is a statement of the imports from the West Indies, and
the consumption of the United Kingdom, in pounds:--

Entries for
Year. Imports. home consumption.
lbs. lbs.
1831 1,801,355 305,739
1832 1,366,183 296,197
1833 4,770,255 330,890
1834 1,389,402 320,719
1835 2,536,353 343,942
1836 3,230,978 400,941
1837 2,026,128 383,401
1838 892,974 383,997
1839 1,071,511 309,078
1840 999,068 338,969
1841 797,757 297,201
1842 1,643,318 450,683
1843 2,028,658 378,096

The imports have been, in--

bags.
1843 18,649
1844 2,408
1845 21,092
1847 9,649
1848 18,196
1849 14,108

Pimento is worth in the London market 6d. to 7d. per lb. The duty is
5s. per cwt.

VANILLA.

The fleshy, pod-like, odoriferous fruit of different species of
_Epidendrum_ constitute the substance called vanilla, which is used in
confectionery for giving a delicious perfume to chocolate, liqueurs,
&c. As an aromatic it is much sought after by confectioners, for
flavoring ices and creams; and also by perfumers, liqueurists, and
distillers. The best comes from the forests round the village of
Zurtila, in the intendancy of Oaxaca, on the eastern slopes of the
Cordillera of Anahuac, between the parallels of 19 deg. and 20 deg. N.
All the vanilla which is used in Europe is imported from Mexico,
Venezuela, and Vera Cruz.

It is a native of tropical America, and grows wild in Brazil, Peru,
the banks of the Orinoco, and all places where heat, shade, and
moisture prevail. There are many species indigenous to the Bahamas,
Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominica, Martinique and St. Vincent, which
would produce considerable gain to the inhabitants if they would give
themselves the trouble of cultivating or collecting its fruit.

This parasitical plant has a trailing stem, not unlike the common ivy,
but not so woody, by which it attaches itself to the trunks of trees,
and sucks the moisture which their bark derives from the lichens and
other cryptogamia, but without drawing nourishment from the tree
itself, like the misletoe and loranthus. The Indians in Mexico
propagate it by planting cuttings at the foot of trees selected for
that purpose. It rises to the height of 18 or 20 feet; the flowers are
of a greenish yellow, mixed with white. The plant is subcylindrical
about eight or ten inches long, of a yellow color when gathered, but
dark brown or black when imported into Europe. It is one-celled
siliquose, and pulpy within, wrinkled on the outside, and full of a
vast number of seeds like grains of sand, having when properly
prepared, a peculiar and delicious fragrance. It should be gathered
before it is fully ripe.

Different species of vanilla are natives of Guiana, and it is found in
large quantities along the banks of its rivers, and in the wooded
districts which intersperse the savannahs. The oily and balsamic
substance which the minute seeds possess, may be found to have
medicinal qualities. Its cultivation can be connected with no
difficulties; it needs only to plant the slips among trees, and to
keep them clear of weeds. It would prove therefore a great addition to
a cocoa plantation. In 1825 the price was, in Germany, sixty-six
dollars (equal to L9) per pound, and twenty-five to thirty dollars are
paid for it in Martinique.

Humboldt states that the annual value of vanilla exported from the
state of Vera Cruz was 40,000 dollars, L8,000 sterling. Some vanilla
is exported from Maranham. The cultivation of vanilla, which was
introduced into Java in the year 1847, is said to have made
considerable progress, there being now no fewer than thirty
plantations.

The fruit of this orchideous plant is entirely neglected in the
province of Caracas, though abundant crops of it might be gathered on
the humid coast between Porto Cabello and Ocumare, especially at
Turiamo, where the pods attain the length of nearly a foot. The
English and American merchants often seek to make purchases at the
port of La Guayra, but with difficulty procure it in small quantities.

In the valleys that descend from the chain of coast towards the
Caribbean sea, in the province of Truxillo, as well as in the mission
of Guiana, near the cataracts of the Orinoco, a great quantity of the
vanilla pods might be collected, the produce of which would be still
more abundant, if, according to the practice of the Mexicans, the
plant were disentangled from time to time from the other creepers,
with which it is intertwined and stifled.

When collected to prepare it for the market, about 12,000 of the pods
are strung like a garland by their lower end, as near as possible to
their foot-stalk; the whole are plunged for an instant into boiling
water to blanch them; they are then hung up in the open air and
exposed to the sun for a few hours. By some they are wrapped in
woollen cloths to sweat. Next day they are lightly smeared with oil,
by means of a feather or the fingers, and are surrounded with oiled
cotton to prevent the valves from opening. As they become dry, on
inverting their upper end they discharge a viscid liquor from it, and
they are pressed several times with oiled fingers to promote its flow.
The dried pods, like the berries of pepper, change color under the
drying operation, grow brown, wrinkled, soft, and shrink to one-fourth
of their original size. In this state they are touched a second time
with oil, but very sparingly, because with too much oil they would
lose some of their delicious perfume.

They are then packed for the market in small bundles of 50 or 100 in
each, enclosed in lead foil, or tight metallic cases.

There are four local varieties, all differing in price and excellence;
viz., the vanilla _fina_, the _zacate_, the _rezacate_, and the
_vasura_.

One pod of vanilla is sufficient to perfume a pound and a half of
cacao. It is with difficulty reduced to fine particles, but it may be
sufficiently attenuated by cutting it into small bits, and grinding
these along with sugar.

As it comes to us, vanilla is a capsular fruit, of the thickness of a
swan's quill; straight, cylindrical, but somewhat flattened, truncated
at the top, thinned off at the ends, glistening, wrinkled, furrowed
lengthwise, flexible, from five to ten inches long, and of a reddish
brown color. It contains a pulpy parenchyma, soft, unctuous, very
brown, in which are embedded black, brilliant, very small seeds.

The kind most esteemed in France is called _leq_ vanilla; it is about
six inches long, from one-fourth to one-third of an inch broad,
narrowed at the two ends and curved at the base; somewhat soft and
viscid, of a dark reddish color, and of a most delicious flavor, like
that of balsam of Peru. It is called vanilla _giorees_, when it is
covered with efflorescences of benzcoin acid, after having been kept
in a dry place, and in vessels not hermetically closed.

The second sort, called _vanilla simarona_, or bastard, is a little
smaller than the preceding, of a less deep brown hue, drier, less
aromatic, destitute of efflorescence. It is said to be the produce of
the wild plant, and is brought from St. Domingo.

A third sort, which comes from Brazil, is the _vanillon_, or large
vanilla of the French market; the _vanilla pamprona_ or _bova_ of the
Spaniards. Its length is from five to six inches, its breadth from
one-half to three-fourths of an inch. It is brown, soft, viscid,
almost always open, of a strong smell, but less agreeable than the
_leq_. It is sometimes a little spoiled by an incipient fermentation.
It is cured with sugar, and enclosed in tin plate boxes, which contain
from 20 to 60 pods[52]. The average annual import of vanilla into
Havre, in the five years ending 1841, was about 16 boxes; in 1842 it
was 30 packages.

TONQUIN BEANS.--The seeds of the Tongo tree (_Dipterix odorata_), a
native of Guiana, are the well-known tonquin beans used to give a
pleasant flavor to snuff.

TURMERIC.

This article of commerce is furnished by the branches of the rhizome
or root-stock of the _Curcuma longa_, and _C. rotunda_, plants which
are natives of Eastern Asia, but have been grown in England and the
West Indies. They thrive well in a rich light soil, and are readily
increased by offsets from the roots.

In the East Indies, where it is known as Huldee, turmeric is much
employed in dyeing yellow, principally silks, but the color is very
fugitive. It is also used medicinally as an aromatic carminative, and
as a condiment; it enters into the composition of curry sauce or
powder, and many other articles of Indian cookery. It is cordial and
stomachic, and considered by the native doctors of India an excellent
application in powder for cleansing foul ulcers.

It is grown in, and exported chiefly from, Bengal and Malabar, Madras,
Java, and China. The turmeric of Java is in high estimation in the
European markets, ranking next to that of China, and being much
superior to that of Bengal. The seeds of _Anethum Sowa_, from their
carminative properties, form an ingredient in curry powder.

The price of turmeric in London is from 12s. to 20s. per cwt.,
according to quality. The entries for home consumption are about 4,000
to 5,000 cwts. annually. It is better shipped in casks or cases than
in bags.

A kind of arrowroot is prepared from _C. angustifolia_, another
species of this tribe of plants.

_Amaranthus gangiticus_, and another species, are much cultivated by
the Hindoos for their stews and curries.

The quantity and value of the curry stuff imported into Ceylon,
chiefly from India, has been in the last few years as follows:--

Quantity.
Years. cwts. packages. Value.
1847 6,866
1848 9,981
1849 26,347 109 9,664
1850 24,396 300 7,267
1851 32,550 9,446
1852 9,039

What is comprised under the term "curry stuff," I am not aware, but
it appears to be a bulky article, for it was imported to the extent of
32,000 cwt. in 1852.

There are two varieties of turmeric usually sent into Europe from the
East (whence all the turmeric imported into Europe is obtained), the
"long" turmeric (_Curcuma longa_), and the "round," or as it is better
known the "Chinese turmeric." The latter description is very rare, the
former is the common article of commerce. According to one of my
correspondents, Mr. Hepburn, chemist, of Falmouth, Jamaica, the common
or long turmeric is indigenous to that island, growing luxuriantly in
the mountainous districts, in rather damp soils, its locality being in
the vicinity of rivers, water-courses and springs. In this respect it
differs from ginger, which requires a rather dry soil for its culture.
I am not aware that this plant possesses the property of impoverishing
the soil like the ginger. From the general habits of the plant in its
natural state, we may gather the following rules for our guidance in
its culture. The plants should be laid down in rows of five or six
inches distant from each other, in a soil moderately damp, of an
aluminous or clayey nature, and free to a great extent of the more
soluble alkalies, potash and soda, as these, by absorption, may
destroy the coloring matter of the plant, and so diminish its value as
a dye-stuff. Finally, in preparing the roots for exportation, they
should be cleansed from all earthy particles, exposed for drying in
the shade, and without any further preparation bagged for shipment.

The coloring matter of turmeric is of an orange yellow color
exceedingly delicate and capable of change, either from the action of
light or of alkalies, which turn it to a dark brown color. It is
slightly soluble in water, and readily soluble in an alkaline
solution, becoming dark brown. Alcohol extracts the coloring matter.
The uses to which turmeric is applied are two: as an ingredient in the
curry powder and paste, and as a dye for silk. It was some time ago
used as a medicine; but though retained in the "Pharmacopoeias" of the
present day, it is entirely discarded by the practitioner as a
curative agent. The best Bengal and Malabar turmeric fetches a price
nearly as high as that of ginger, and I see no reason why the West
India planter could not send it into the British market quite as cheap
as the East India trader. According to Dallas, 397 bags of turmeric
were exported from Jamaica in 1797.

Turmeric is grown about the city of Patna and Behar. It is much
cultivated about Calcutta and all parts of Bengal. One acre yields
about 2,000 lbs. of the fresh root. It is also grown on the central
table land of Afghanistan. The exports from Calcutta in 1841 were
11,000 Indian maunds, and 28,137 in 1842. The value of that exported
from Madras in 1839 was 40,000 rupees, or L4,000; in 1840, L4,200. The
quantity shipped from that Presidency in 1850 was 6,877 bags.

In the neighbourhood of Dacca about 200 lbs. of seed is sown to the
beegah, measuring 80 cubits by 80, and the yield is from 640 to 800
lbs.

140 tons were imported into Liverpool in 1849, for dyeing and for
curries; 414 tons in 1850; 11,554 bags and packages in 1851; and only
3,595 ditto in 1852. The price in January 1853 was, for Bengal, 10s.
to 12s.; China, 12s. to 14s., and Malabar 9s. to 12s. the cwt. The
imports into London were 18 tons in 1848, 191 in 1849, and 980 in
1850. The deliveries for consumption, 192 tons in 1848, 270 in 1849,
and 870 tons in 1850.

In China turmeric is used with Prussian blue in coloring and facing
tea.

GINSENG

The produce of this plant, as an article of commerce, is confined to
our transatlantic neighbours, who have the monopoly of the supply to
China.

The root of _Panax quinquefolium_, the American ginseng, is much
esteemed by the Chinese, for certain supposed beneficial effects upon
the nerves, and for other presumed virtues; but our physicians have
not discovered any proofs of its efficacy in Europe. The plant is an
herbaceous perennial, growing upon the confines of Tartary and China,
near the great wall. It is found wild, flourishing in moist
situations, and attains the height of from two to three feet; it is
also now produced largely in the northern, middle, and western States
of the Union, particularly Virginia, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, and
a considerable trade is carried on with it to China. A variety of the
plant was discovered, a few years ago, in the Himalaya mountains, and
small quantities have been thence sent to Canton. It is also found
growing in Canada. The root is about three or four inches in length,
and one inch in thickness. It resembles a small carrot, but not so
taper at the end, and is sometimes single, sometimes divided into two
branches. The stem is striated, without branches, and of a red color
near the root. The leaves, from four to six of which surround the stem
where they form sheaths (bracteal), are simply pinnate. The flower
stalk is long and green, the inflorescence a simple umbel. The fruit
is a berry of a red color, and contains two seeds of the size of
mustard seed. The officinal root differs in appearance, according to
the country from which it is brought. In Korea and China it is white,
corrugated when dry, and covered with a powder resembling starch. In
Mandscharia and Dauria it is yellow, smooth and transparent, and when
cut resembles amber. The taste of the root is bitter. Crude ginseng
now sells in the Canton market at 70 to 80 dollars per picul of 133
lbs., and cured or clarified root at 130 to 140 dollars.

The stem of the plant, which is renewed every year, leaves, as it
falls off, an impression upon the neck of the root, so that the number
of these rings or marks indicates the age of the plant, and the value
of the root increases accordingly. The Chinese government were
formerly in the habit of sending out annually 30,000 Tartar soldiers
to search for the plant, and each was obliged to bring home two ounces
of the root gratis, and for all above that quantity he was paid its
weight in silver. The Asiatic ginseng is said to be obtained from the
root of _P. Schinseng_ of Nees von Esenbeck, _P. Pseudo ginseng_ of
Wallich. This root might be procured in Prince Edward's Island and
some of the other British North American colonies.

I have been able to trace, after some labor and research, the
progressive exports of this curious article of trade from the United
States.

In 1790, 813 casks, of the value of 47,025 dollars, were exported; and
in 1791, 29,208 lbs. From 1803 to 1807, the annual value of ginseng
shipped was about 123,000 dollars, and from 1820 to 1830, it averaged
157,000 dollars.

The following figures show the value of the article in subsequent
years:--1831, 115,921 dollars; year ending 30th September, 1835,
94,960 dollars; 1837, 212,899 lbs., valued at 108,548 dollars; 1840,
22,728 dollars; 1841, 437,245 dollars.