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GUARANA (so called from the Guaranis,...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 651 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GUARANA (so called from the See also:Guaranis, an aboriginal See also:American tribe)  , the plant Paullinia Cupana (or P. sorbilis) of the natural See also:order Sapindaceae, indigenous to the See also:north and See also:west of See also:Brazil . It has a smooth erect See also:stem; large pinnate alternate leaves, composed of 5 oblong-See also:oval leaflets; narrow panicles of See also:short-stalked See also:flowers; and ovoid or pyriform See also:fruit about as large as a See also:grape, and containing usually one See also:seed only, which is shaped like a See also:minute See also:horse-See also:chestnut . What is commonly known as See also:guarana, guarana See also:bread or Brazilian See also:cocoa, is prepared from the seeds as follows . In See also:October and See also:November, at which See also:time they become ripe, the seeds are removed from their capsules and See also:sun-dried, so as to admit of the ready removal by See also:hand of the See also:white aril; they are next ground in a See also:stone See also:mortar or deep dish of hard See also:sandstone; the See also:powder, moistened by the addition of a small quantity of See also:water, or by exposure to the dews, is then made into a See also:paste with a certain proportion of whole or broken seeds, and worked up sometimes into balls, but usually into rolls not unlike See also:German sausages, 5 to 8 in. in length, and 12 to 16 oz. in See also:weight . After drying by artificial or See also:solar See also:heat, the guarana is packed between broad leaves in sacks or baskets . Thus pre-pared, it is of extreme hardness, and has a See also:brown See also:hue, a See also:bitter astringent See also:taste, and an odour faintly resembling that of roasted See also:coffee . An inferior See also:kind, softer and of a lighter See also:colour, is manufactured by admixture of cocoa or See also:cassava . Rasped or grated into See also:sugar and water, guarana forms a beverage largely consumed in S . See also:America . Its manufacture, originally confined to the Mauhes See also:Indians, has spread into various parts of Brazil . The properties of guarana as a See also:nervous stimulant and restorative are due to the presence of what was originally described as a new principle and termed guaranine, but is now known to be identical with See also:caffeine or theme . Besides this substance, which is stated to exist in it in the See also:form of tannate, guarana yields on See also:analysis the See also:glucoside saponin, with See also:tannin, See also:starch, See also:gum, three volatile See also:oils, and an acrid See also:green fixed oil (See also:Fournier, Journ. de Pharm. vol. xxxix., 1861, p .

291) .

End of Article: GUARANA (so called from the Guaranis, an aboriginal American tribe)
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