36 



THE AGRICULIUKAL NEWS. 



February 5, 1910. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



PRODUCTS OBTAINED FROM CACAO. 



The three cacao products known to commerce are: cacao 

 butter, cacao powder, and cake chocolate, the manufacture of 

 chocolate requiring skill and knowledue in special degree. 

 The butter is merely the oil or grease of the kernel, u.sually 

 e.xtracted by pressure, and leaving a residue still containing 

 a certain amount of vegetable fat, which, being ground as 

 will be explained later, is used in making the beverage 

 commonly known as cocoa. When chocolate is intended to 

 be produced, the carefully cleaned kernels are crushed into 

 a mass, flavoured and manipulated according to many methods, 

 and then, after an addition of pure cacao butter has been 

 made to the natural content of the mass, it is pressed into 

 small cakes, and sold. 



The cacao bean is composed, by weight, of 88 per cent. 

 of kernel and husk and 1? per cent, of shell. The shells and 

 husks are treated chemically in Holland for the production 

 of a low-grade butter, the reduction being effected by ether 

 or benzene. The kernel, which contains .50 to 55 per cent. 

 of oil, was formerly treated, when the extraction of butter 

 was contemplated, by boiling, roasting and crushing in ten 

 times its weight of water; the oil then rising to the surface 

 was decanted, and the residue pressed mechanically for the 

 elimination of such butter as it still contained. This method 

 has been abandoned, and the kernels, freed from their envel- 

 opes, are now ground to a mass, brought to a temperature of 

 from 60° to 70° C, placed in coarse linen sacks, and 

 finally pressed in steam-heated machines. After this first 

 application of pressure the cacao cake contains from 20 to 35 

 per cent, of fat; it is then ground and re-pressed until not 

 more than 15 per cent, of the fatty matter remains. The oil 

 or grease which has been extracted is called 'cacao butter', 

 which is used chiefly by chocolate manufacturers, and, in 

 smaller ijuantitie.s, in the .soap, perfumery, and pharmaceu- 

 tical industries, in which, owing to its neutral qualities, it is 

 especially valuable. 



Fresh cacao butter is yellowish white, but if exposed to 

 light, it becomes entirely white, and possesses a mild odour 

 of the cacao and a sweet and agreeable taste. Both taste and 

 odour are eliminated by boiling the fat with absolute alcohol, 

 and in this condition it keeps a long time without becoming 

 rancid. It is firm in consistency and melts at from 32° to 

 35° C, according to quality. Its density varies from 0890 

 to 0-900 at 15^ O. It is very soluble in ether, acetic ether, 

 chloroform and es.sence of turpentine. It is scuiietimes 

 adulterated with a mixture of stearin, paraffin, and beef fat. 

 If it is mixed with fatty oils it melts at a temperature of less 

 than 25° C, and if it is mixed with paraffin and beef fat it 



melts at a temperature in excess of 35° C. If pure, the point 

 of fusion should not be less than 25° nor more than 30° C. 

 The butter having now been withdrawn from the mass 

 there remains an oily cake, which is ground to a fine powder, 

 and commands a very wide sale. The powder is usually pre- 

 pared, according to the Dutch method, by the addition of 

 a solution of chemically pure potash. Less frequently, soda is 

 u.sed instead, or perhaps a solution of ammonium carbonate. 

 In ordinary practice, the raw beans with their shell might be 

 expected to yield from 40 to 45 per cent, of their weight in 

 butter, and 30 i)er cent, of cacao powder. (Monllih/ 

 Consii/ar <(nd 'J'mde Repofts, October 1909.) 



THE DRAINING OF CACAO LAND. 



The following intbrmation in connexion with the 

 dr.-iiiiing of cacao land is taken from the series of 

 articles on cacao, by ]\Ir. J. H. Hart, F.L.S., that are 

 appearing in the \Vrd India Oomniittee Circular. 

 Abstracts from these articles have also appeared in the 

 Agricultural News, Vol. VIII, pp. 260, 292 and 340. 



In draining, as in pruning and road-making, only general 

 principles can be laid down. All land, of course, requires 

 draining of some kind or other, but no one can give definite 

 instructions for draining an area until it is understood what 

 amount of drainage that particular area requires. Land 

 situated at a low level will, of course, require much more 

 attention to rid it of superabundant water than will hillside 

 land, and each area must therefore be treated according to 

 its own requirements. 



The object of drainage is to rid a cacao estate of stag- 

 nant or superabundant moisture. Flood waters from a river, 

 so long as they do not cover an estate for too long a period, 

 do but little practical harm; indeed, in some districts they 

 are looked upon as doing a large amount of good by bringing 

 down, and depositing upon the surface, a certain amount of 

 manurial constituents. 



Drains made in any kind of cultivation should always 

 be V-shaped, with a narrow bottom. The practice of 

 making drains with upright sides, which fall in and choke 

 the drain, cannot be too strongly condemned, and can in no 

 case be recommended; and the depth and width of the drain.s 

 should be regulated by the circumstances of soil and situation. 

 They should never be made straight in coming downhill, as 

 when so made, the wash becomes enormous, especially if the 

 decent approaches an angle of one in twenty; but in flat lain! 

 the straighter they are made the better. 



