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CHAPTER X 



THE CONSUMPTION OF CACAO 



The Kernels that come to us from the Coast of Car aqua, 

 are more oily, and less bitter, than those that come from the 

 French Islands, and in France and Spain they prefer them 

 to these latter. But in Germany and in the North (Fides sit 

 penes autorem) they have a quite opposite Taste. Several 

 People mix that of Caraqua with that of the Islands, half in 

 half, and pretend by this Mixture to make the Chocolate 

 better. I believe in the bottom, the difference of Chocolates 

 is not considerable, since they are only obliged to increase 

 or diminish the Proportion of Sugar, according as the 

 Bitterness of the Kernels require it. 



The Natural History of Chocolate, 

 R. Brookes, 1730. 



THE war has caused such a disturbance that the 

 statistics for the years of the war are difficult 

 to obtain. For many years the German publica- 

 tion, the Gordian, was the most reliable source of 

 cacao statistics, and so far we have nothing in England 

 sufficiently comprehensive to replace it, although useful 

 figures can be obtained from the Board of Trade re- 

 turns of imports into Great Britain, from Mr. Theo. 

 Vasmer's reports which appear from time to time in 

 The Confectioners' Union and elsewhere, from Mr. 

 Hamel Smith's collated material in Tropical Life, and 

 from the reports of important brokers like Messrs. 

 Woodhouse. In 19 19 the Bulletin of the Imperial 

 Institute gave a very complete resume of cacao pro- 

 duction as far as the British Empire is concerned. 



