COCOA PREPARATIONS. 



By ERVIN E. EWELL. 



THE NATURE, SOURCE, COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE, ETC., OF THE 



COCOA BEAN. 1 



The raw material from which the cocoas and chocolates of commerce 

 are manufactured is the "cocoa bean," the seed of the cocoa, or cacao, 

 tree (Theobroma cacao). While this tree has been successfully intro- 

 duced into various warm countries, tropical America, its native land, 

 still furnishes the larger and more highly valued portion of the world's 

 supply of cocoa. From Mexico to Peru on the west coast, Mexico to 

 Bahia, Brazil, on the east coast, and on the West India Islands, the most 

 favorable conditions for its cultivation are met. 



The tree, 6 to 12 meters in height, blooms continuously and yields two 

 crops a year. The lemon yellow, fleshy fruit, 10 to 15 centimeters long, 

 5 to 7 centimeters in diameter, resembles in general appearance a cucum- 

 ber, constricted at the upper end, tapered to a point at the lower end, 

 and having ten longitudinal ridges. Twenty-five to forty, sometimes 

 more, seeds are arranged in the fleshy pulp in five longitudinal rows. 

 When first removed the seeds are colorless, fleshy, and covered with 

 mucilage. On drying, with exposure to air and light, they become 

 golden yellow to red or brown in color, and hard and brittle. They are 

 egg-shaped, somewhat compressed, 1.2 to 2 centimeters long, and 0.6 to 

 1 centimeter broad. 



1 For more detailed information concerning cultivation, preparation for market, 

 manufacture, etc., of cocoa, see the following works: Cultivation, harvesting, etc. : An 

 anonymous article on the cultivation of the cocoa tree in Colombia, Phar. Jour. 

 Trans., [3] 970, 591; Boussiugault, Compt. Rend., 96, 1395; Jour. Chem. Soc., 1883, 

 44, 933; Boussingault, Ann. Chim. Phys., [5] 28, 433; Jour. Chem. Soc., 1884, 46, 

 202; Chem. Ztg., 1883, 203 and 902; Holm, American Chem., 5, 320; Jahresb. d. 

 Chem., 1875, 1121; Smith, Dictionary of Economic Plants. Manufacture: Bern- 

 hardt, Chein. Ztg., 1889, 32; Saldau, Die Chokolade Fabrikation, 1881; Trcscn, Les 

 Mondes, July 22, 1869. General description of tree, cultivation, harvcnli{/, manufacture, 

 etc.: Blyth, Foods: their Composition and Analysis; Hassall, Food: its Adultera- 

 tion and the Methods for their Detection; Konig, Die ineiisi-lichen Nahrungs- und 

 Genussmittel, ihre Herstellung, Zusammensetzung und Beschaffenheit, ihre Verfal- 

 schungen und deren Nachweisung; Mace", Les substances alimeutaires e"tudie"es au 

 microscope ; Moeller, Mikroskopie der Nahrungs uud Genussmittel aus dem Pflanzen- 

 reiche; Schaedler, Die Technologie der Fette und Oeledes Pflanzen- und Tliierreichs. 



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