Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

60 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY the accidental presence of yeast cells would cause a brisk fermentation in isolated patches and not evenly throughout the mass. That this actually happens can be easily tested by plunging in the hånd, for the fermentation causes an increase in temperature, and the fermenting beans will feel quite hot while the others are cool. In order that all the cacao beans may be equally fermented, the planter usually mixes them by turning the heap, or transferring the cacao frdm one box to another, once a day. Turning the beans in the hot atmosphere of the fermentary is a laborious process, and planters are still waiting for some ingen ious person to invent a cheap fermentary which enables the beans to be easily mixed. In the illustration of the fermentation of cacao in Java the boxes are arranged in steps, an arrangement which reduces the labour of turning. Different kinds of cacao require different periods of fermentation, the delicate, fine and thin-skinned kind (Criollo) requiring only two days, while seven days is often necessary for the more hardy and harsher varieties (Forastero and Calabacillo). The fermentation of the pulp, which contains sugars, proceeds in somewhat the same way as the fermentation of grape or apple juice when it is freely exposed to the air : at first alcohol is produced, and later the pulp and juice develop acid and become sour. The production of acid is due to the presence of the well-known bac-teria which produce vinegar, and their distribution is said to be effected by a minute fruit fly (Drosophilia). In the vicinity of the fermenting beans one perceives on the first day a faint fruity odour, which in two or three days becomes stronger and more reminiscent of alcoholic beverages, and toward the end of the fermentation the odour begins to resemble that of sour cider. During the same period one sees the pulp