If the whole spices are placed in a sack it is a good idea to cook each sack of spices in two batches. In this way more of the flavor is extracted than would be taken out by one boiling. This can be proven by cooking a batch of catsup with no spice other than a sack of spices which has been previously cooked in a batch of catsup. Note the flavor which is extracted by the second cooking, and you will see where you are losing valuable material when you throw away a bag of spice residue after one cooking. Of course the cook will then have two sacks of spices in each batch—a new one and an old one, and he must mark them in some way so he can tell which is which when the batch is drawn off. A good way is to tie the new sack with a single knot, and the old one with a double knot. This method seems to be less confusing to the cook than any other. It is also important to tie the spices in the sack loosely. If a cook is not instructed about this he will invariably tie a cord around the sack so close to the spices that there is no room for them to move around while the sack is being agitated by the boiling. Undoubtedly a better extraction can be obtained if the spices have freedom of movement in the sacks. What Is Extracted What we really get from the spices is a water extract. The acetic acid of the vinegar probably extracts a little more, but as the vinegar is only cooked in the catsup about three minutes, a great deal of extraction could not be expected from that source. Not only the volatile oils, but organic compounds called esters, and also some of the non-volatile oils are extracted from the spices. The volatile oils produce most of the flavor, however the esters also add to the flavor considerably. The non-volatile or “fixed” oil of cayenne pepper has quite a strong spicy flavor, although not nearly as strong as the volatile oil of cayenne. The fixed oils of cassia, allspice, and mace have no flavor at all. Even though a bag of spices be boiled in two batches of forty-five minutes each, a great deal of their flavor is still left in them. This has been proven by chemical analyses of spice residues. Even quite a large percentage of the volatile oils still remain in the spice residue, and, of course, a larger percentage of the non-volatile or fixed oils. It is a question, however, as to whether the extraction of the volatile oil of these spice residues would be a paying proposition. So far as I know, none of the distillers of essential oils seem to be interested in them. Storing Spices