Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

_______________________... 64 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY 1.060 and it contains about 14-5 per cent of solid sub-stances in solution. The folio wing is the average composition of sweatings from Trinidad cacao. The figures were determined in Messrs. Cadbury’s Research Laboratory— CACAO SWEATINGS Water _________________________..... Cane sugar ____________________.... Other sugars (reducing sugars) Jelly (mucilage and pectin) ’ Acids (acetic, etc.) Salts (potash, calcium, and magnesium carbonate) Albuminoids (N. = 0-05%), tannins, alcohol, etc. Per cent 85-0 trace 10-0 2-0 1-0 0-5 1-5 100-0 Besides the above there are traces (-03 per cent) of theobromine. Its composition shows that, suitably treated, it might yield an alcoholic beverage, a vinegar or a jelly. fhat none of these are being produced on a commercial scale is partly due to its unstable character which renders it difficult to maintain a standard article, and partly because the quantity produced per day by each fermentaiy is small. These objections would be diminished if, by co-operation among the planters in one district, a central factory could be established. Drying. The processes of fermenting and drying are referred to collectively as curing. The bean contains about one-third (33 per cent) of its weight of water, and to obtain a stable product this must be reduced to 5 or 6 per cent. The great bulk of the cacao produced is dried by spreading it in a thin layer and turning it over and over in the sun for at least three days. In Ecuador this operation is performed on matting, made of split bamboos, which lies on a flat stretch of sandy soil.