Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

S; ß: £ i -X a a <:a :=f i 58 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY moulds and mildews. It will be realised from this that a hole in the ground is not a satisfactory fermentary and, happily, this primitive method of making a receptacle is now little practised even on the Gold Coast. A great variety of vessels is used, but boxes are the most populär. The planter calls them “ sweating boxes,” an expression which is descriptive if not beauti-ful. They are made of slate, stone, cement, or more usually of some hard native wood. They vary greatly in dimensions, a convenient size being a four foot cube. The floors of the wooden boxes are either perforated or made of slats fixed about | in. apart. This allows the juice to drain away. The same result is obtained in vats by having a sloping floor. The boxes are raised about 1 ft. from the floor on blocks ; this allows the air to circulate freely beneath the boxes, and the juice to drop into the channels and run out of the building. The beans, which have been freshly scooped out of the pods, are put in the boxes to a depth of 2 ft. to 3 ft. They are levelled down and covered with one or two layers of freshly cut plantain or banana leaves. This covering prevents the heat produced by fermentation from escaping, and the rising temperature causes an acceleration of the speed of fermentation. In a box containing 5 cwts. to 10 cwts. of Forastero cacao, the temperature will rise in 24 hours to 89° F., 48 hours to 98° F., and 72 hours to 115° F. After that period the temperature is maintained and preferably should not rise above 120° F. Of fermentation, as we commonly think of it, accompanied by a vigorous evolution of bubbles of carbon-dioxide, one sees little, although on the top of the mass of beans a few bubbles can be found here and there. One would naturally expect if a large heap or boxful of beans were allowed to remain undisturbed,