Vol. XIII. No. 315. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



175 



THE PRACTICE OF CACAO FERMENTA- 

 TION. 



A short account was given in the last issue of 

 this journal of Mr. W. Knapp's first article on cacao 

 fermentation. The second (which, like the first, 

 appears in Tropical Life) is reproduced in full: — 



THE BEANS. When the beans are scooped out of the 

 pod, those from diseased pods should be put on one side. 

 These must be treated separately. The rest should be freed 

 from the placenta, "guts', or 'heait'. The 'guts' should now 

 be mixed with the beans, and the whole transferred imme- 

 diately to the boxes. 



DEPTH. The beans should be put in the boxes to 

 a depth of from 2 J feet to 3 feet. 



COVERING. They should then be levelled down, and 

 covered with several layers of fresh-cut banana or balissier 

 leaves. These may be pressed close to the beans by a few 

 boards. 



TURNING. Every day they are shovelled into an empty 

 box. It should be remembered that the principal object of 

 this turning is to mix, and the beans on the outside of the 

 box should be transferred to the centre of the empty box. 

 Wooden shovels should be used to prevent damage to the 

 beans. 



DURATION OF TEEMEKTATioN. The time necessary to 

 obtain a good fermentation varies with the kind of beau and 

 the season of the year. With Trinidad beans, in which 

 Forastero predominate, the shortest period is five days and 

 the longest nine. If fermentation proceeds correctly, after 

 three or four days the internal changes which give to 

 cacao its characteristic rich colour and fine aroma and taste, 

 are produced; but the bean is still flat, and to produce 

 a plump bean we must continue the fermentation for another 

 two to three days. 



RISE OF TEMPERATURE. If fermentation proceeds 

 properly, then in Trinidad the temperature of the mass will 

 be as follows; — 



were asked to give a rule, I should say: Do not remove from 

 the box before the beans are plump, brown without, and 

 juicy within. The following observations on this should 

 prove useful: — 



The external appearance of the beau gradually changes 

 from almost white to a rich brown. It should be a deep 

 brown before removal from the box. By that time the beans 

 will have become plump and round, and the external pulp, 

 •now of the consistence of thick paste, easy to remove. 



The internal appearance of the bean alters also. If the 



beans are fermented properly a notable change is observed 

 after sixty-four hours, or, roughly, after three days. From 

 being mottled and heliotrope, the interior has become more 

 red, and the colour is smooth and even. From being dry 

 inside the bean has become wet. When a bean has been 

 juicy for two or three days, and becomes wetter inside than 

 out, and so full of juice that it spurts out when cut, thea 

 it is well fermented. It will be noticed then that there are 

 spaces (between the two cotyledons forming the bean) filled 

 with a purple or brown sticky liquid. 



The odour of the mass during fermentation changes 

 from a delicate melon-like odour to a heavy, sharp, fragrant 

 acid odour (apparently ethyl and amyl esters with a little 

 acetic acid). At the end the odour develops also a suggestion 

 of sour barm. 



REMOVAL Fi:oM THE BOX. The beans should now ba 

 removed at once from the box to the drying houses and 

 spread in a thin layer in the sun. The first two nights they 

 should be made into small heaps, and covered with clean 

 banana leaves to allow fermentation to continue. That 

 fermentation (mainly oxidation) occurs is shown by the rise 

 in temperature. (Thus some beans, after seven days' 

 sweating in box and one day's sun-drying on floor, were 

 heaped 18 iiichea high and covered with plantain leaves. 

 The following morning their temperature was 42°C., or 108°F). 



Of the art of drying I do not know sufficient to 

 speak. The science of drying is to expose the beans for 

 a long time to warm air. It is to be regretted that the 

 temperature of the beans is permitted to fall at sundown, 

 as the night periods are thus practically wasted from the 

 point of view of colour change in the interior. Where 

 artificial heat cannot be applied, an attempt might be made 

 to retain this heat both by covering the beans with leaves, 

 and by having the underside of the platform protected form 

 the cool air by being double, with an air space of 6 inches. 



Holding Back Cotton. — Schemes for holding back 

 raw cotton make some present headway in the United States. 

 The Louisiana legislature has devoted £600,000 to build 

 warehouses to hold one million bales in New Orleans, and 

 the authorities in South Carolina are entertaining similar 

 proposals. Meantime private enterprise is active, and a 

 tobacco magnate has fathered a scheme for spending 

 £800,000 upon buying and building warehouses at central 

 points. It is true that bale cotton is shockingly mishandled 

 at present, and is left stacked on the bare ground exposed 

 to the risks of fire and water by the week together, but 

 there is very little reason to connect these schemes with any 

 other intention than that of inflating prices. Cotton is 

 among the most marketable of commodities, and holders 

 have never any difiiculty in converting it into cash. PubHc 

 warehouses are advocated as a means of retarding sales 

 and facilitating finance, and were there not already a highly 

 organized market the case in favour of the creation of deal- 

 ings in warehouse receipts might be a strong one. As both 

 bull and bear transactions might be expected in certificate 

 cotton, it does not follow that the effect of warehousing 

 would always be to raise prices. Granting the maintenance 

 of a free market in cotton warrants, buyers have not much 

 to fear. The danger of these warehousing schemes is that 

 they will put more control of the market into the hands of 

 speculators whose operations are carried on at the expense of 

 producer and consumer. It is only too much to be feared 

 that warehousing will make conditions worse rather than 

 better for the small cultivators who produce the great bulk 

 of the American crop. (Journal of the Royal Society oj Arts^ 

 April 24, 1914.) 



