138 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



that it is necessary to do to obtain cocoa from the press 

 cake is to powder it. 



(j) Breaking Down the Press Cake to Cocoa Pozcder. 



The slabs of press-cake are so hard and tough that 

 if one were banged on a man's head it would probably 

 stun him. They are broken down in a crushing mill, 

 the inside of which is as full of terrible teeth as a giant's 

 mouth, until the fragments are small enough to grind 

 on steel rollers. 



(k) Sieving. 



As fineness is a very important quality of cocoa, the 

 powder so obtained is very carefully sieved. This is 

 effected by shaking the powder into an inclined rota- 

 ting drum which is covered with silk gauze. In the 

 cocoa which passes through this fine silk sieve, the 

 average length of the individual particles is about 

 0.001 inch, whilst in first-class productions the size of 

 the larger particles in the cocoa does not average more 

 than 0.002 inch. Indeed, the cocoa powder is so fine 

 that in spite of all precautions a certain amount always 

 floats about in the air of sieving rooms, and covers 

 everything with a brown film. 



(/) Packing. 



The cocoa powder is taken to the packing rooms. 

 Here the tedious weighing by hand has been replaced 

 by ingenious machines, which deliver with remarkable 

 accuracy a definite weight of cocoa into the paper bag 

 which lines the tin. The tins are then labelled and 

 packed in cases ready for the grocer. 



