Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

J S I <1__ | ■:# >-s •:3 ■'.< ;a S ■-J w fl 114 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY CACAO SHELL Analysis and Food Units f Water. Oil. Albu-minoids. Digestible carbolt yd rat es. W oody fibre. Mineral matters. Sand and silita. Food Units. 9-30 3-83 18-81 46-01 13-85 8-20 0-85 102 9-50 8-97 17-13 39-35 16-60 8-45 1-00 104 from all other feeding stuffs by the presence of 0 2 to 3-0 per cent of theobromine. The theobromine is a valuable stimulant, but its presence makes it advisable to avoid an excessive proportion of cacao shell in a diet. Cacao shell should therefore be used chiefly as an appetiser, and the best results will be obtained if the daily quantity fed is small; thus for a cow it should not exceed 3 Ibs. (b) Cacao Nibs. While the complete removal of the shell is well-nigh impossible, in good factory practice not more than 1 per cent is left in the nib. The nibs were once an important article of commerce, and to this day doctors sometimes recommend their patients to prepare a drink by making a water infusion of the nibs, a costly and wasteful method of preparing a thin beverage. The losses on cleaning (0-5 per cent) and roasting (7 per cent) have already been noted. In obtaining the nib a further loss occurs due to the removal of the shell, about 10-5 per cent of which is readily separated as coarse shell. When all the fractions have been sorted, about 80 parts of usable nib are obtained from every 100 parts of raw beans. 4. Grinding the Nib. This is accomplished by means of a grinding mili consisting of several pairs of French burr stones. One stone is revolved on the top of another which is stationary, the nib being automatically fed into the plane of contact down a central hole in the