This section is from the "Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas Recipes Processes" encyclopedia, by Norman W. Henley and others.
Press the juice from cucumbers, mix with an equal volume of alcohol and distil. If the distillate is not sufficiently perfumed, more juice may be added and the mixture distilled. It is said that the essence thus prepared will not spoil when mixed with fats in the preparation of cosmetics.
Fill into separate paper bags:
Medium finely powdered gelatin...... 18 parts
Medium finely powdered citric acid.... 3 parts Likewise into a glass bottle a mixture of any desired
Fruit essence........ 1 part
Spirit of wine........ 1 part
and dissolve in the mixture for obtaining the desired color, raspberry red or lemon yellow, 1/10 part.
For use, dissolve the gelatin and the citric acid in boiling water, adding
Sugar............. 125 parts
and mixing before cooling with the fruit essence mixture.
The following is an excellent method of preparing a soluble essence or extract of ginger:
Jamaica ginger..... 24 ounces
Rectified spirits, 60
per cent......... 45 ounces
Water............. 15 ounces
Mix and let macerate together with frequent agitations for 10 days, then percolate, press off, and filter. The yield should be 45 ounces. Of this take 40 ounces and mix with an equal amount of distilled water. Dissolve 6 drachms of sodium phosphate in 5 ounces of boiling water; let cool and add the solution to the filtrate and water, mixing well. Add 2 drachms of calcium chloride dissolved in 5 ounces of water, nearly cold, and again thoroughly shake the whole. Let stand for 12 hours; then filter.
Put the filtrate in a still, and distil off, at as slow a temperature as possible, 30 ounces. Set this distillate to one side, and continue the distillation till another 40 ounces have passed, then let the still cool. The residue in the still, some 18 ounces, is the desired essence. Pour out all that is possible and wash the still with the 30 ounces of distillate first set aside. This takes up all that is essential. Finally, filter once more, through double filter paper and preserve the filtrate— about 40 ounces, of an amber-colored liquid containing all of the essentials of Jamaica ginger.
 
Continue to: