In the 19th century, sellers of coffee made from plaster and clay were arrested in Nizhny Novgorod. Only a label on which was written "Coffee beans" was saved from the harsh punishment of the fraudsters, and below in small print - "Toy, do not eat." In past centuries, “chemistry” was practically not used to counterfeit products.
They got by with improvised means or very unusual tricks, passing off one product after another …
"Inflatable" birds
In pre-revolutionary Russia, there was no shortage of poultry for food. In many cities and villages, chickens and geese were sold at fairs at a bargain price. For example, a goose carcass cost only three kopecks. And they bought them very willingly, not even suspecting about the machinations with the unfortunate bird.
Thus, in the “Handbook of a Russian Experienced Hostess”, its author described one trick she noticed on the market. She noticed that the vendors were inflating the carcasses of skinny geese!
A straw was inserted into the rear opening of the bird, and with its help air was driven into the bird. Then they sewed it up "with a little trickery". Thus, geese and chickens added in size, and the seller had extra money from the sale.
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This deception promised only disappointment to the buyer, but not health problems, unlike other shenanigans of dishonest sellers.
Poisonous candy
At one time in Russia it was very popular monpensier - lollipop dragee. Colored sweet balls were usually bought for children. Good lollipops made with natural essences were expensive. Therefore, dishonest sellers quickly came up with a scheme to counterfeit candy.
They made them from regular sugar, and mixed various dyes into the mixture. For example, the red candies contained cinnabar, the blue candies contained azure, and the green candies contained arsenic-derived ragweed. But the blue lollipops were the most dangerous. Copper sulfate was added to them.
By the way, they generously splashed it with green polka dots - for color. Almost a thousand people were injured at one time because of the fake candy. Fortunately, the scammers were quickly identified and sent to hard labor. What can not be said about other counterfeit merchants, many managed to get out.
Tea and coffee with a road dust flavor
Today, having bought a tasteless tea, we jokingly say that it was made from sawdust. And a few centuries ago it was! Sawdust, dried fireweed and dried tea were added to tea, which cost a lot of money. At the same time, very desperate traders put poisonous lead sawdust into tea for weight.
Tea could also be wetted to increase weight, but this was rarely done. There was a risk of spoiling the product, and not cash in on it. But more often than not, people bought fake tea only fake coffee without knowing it.
At the end of the 19th century, traders were identified in Nizhny Novgorod selling fake coffee. They managed to make coffee beans from painted plaster and clay. And then this "coffee" was soaked in a coffee solution that did not change for months.
However, the scammers managed to get out. At the trial, they were able to prove that they were selling not coffee, but toys. This was written on the label. True, according to the law of the genre, in very, very small print. The toy coffee sellers were released.
Other vendors selling ground coffee filled the bags with all kinds of additives. The most common addition was ordinary sifted dust from the nearest road. She took from 30 to 70 percent of the volume of a bag of ground coffee. The profit from one bag of fake coffee was colossal. Only unclean milkmen received more.
"Natural" milk
"Milk! Straight from under the cow! Fresh, just milked this morning! " - such shouts were heard at all Russian fairs. But they were outright lies. Wanting to earn an extra penny, milkmen added lime to milk, increasing its fat content. And chalk was poured into the cream to make it seem thicker than it really is. Only butter was treated worse.
The oil, yellow in color, was considered the fattest, and therefore the most delicious. To achieve this color, milkmen dyed the butter with carrot juice or onion skins. Some cheated more brazenly. For fat content, they could add “natural product” to the butter - melted beef fat or even brains.
Sellers who were very greedy for profit could knead wood glue, soapy water or starch into oil. The butter tasted awful, but buyers found out about it only at home after taking a sample.
Fraudulent sellers were regularly hit by cheated buyers. But they did not stop their business: profit was more important than bruises. Some of their tricks are still used now, but in smaller quantities. With the development of the chemical industry, the need for inflating geese, for example, has disappeared.