936 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



ever, that the food value of cocoa preparations has been greatly overes- 

 timated and that many of the present modes of preparation do not de- 

 velop in the highest possible degree the pleasing aroma and flavor. The 

 inventive energy of many manufacturers seems to be spent on the pro- 

 duction of a highly nutritive and easily digestible preparation; the 

 valuable fat is removed and the delicious aroma and flavor destroyed 

 by chemicals for the ostensible purpose of rendering more digestible a 

 residue of doubtful food value. 



The more important constituents of the husked cocoa bean are fat, 

 theobromine, the nonalkaloidal nitrogenous substances, starch, the color- 

 ing matter called cocoa red, and the mineral matter. 



The fat, cocoa or cacao butter, in consequence of its quantity and 

 peculiar excellence, is unquestionably the constituent of the cocoa 

 bean possessing highest food value. It usually forms 45 to 55 per cent 

 of the husked bean, rarely falls below 45 per cent, and only one recent 

 analysis shows as low as 36 per cent. At ordinary temperatures it is a 

 white, or slightly yellowish, brittle solid, having a pleasing taste and 

 odor, and showing but little tendency to become rancid. Its melting 

 point being below the temperature of the body, insures its being pre- 

 sented in liquid form to the action of the digestive juices. Chemically, 

 it is a mixture of the glycerides of stearic, palmitic, oleic, and arachidic 

 acids. 1 It is readily soluble in ether, acetic ether, chloroform, oil of 

 turpentine, and hot absolute alcohol, but only per cent remains in 

 solution when the alcohol becomes cold; 2 fully soluble at ordinary 

 temperatures in 2 parts ether, part of benzol, 100 parts of cold and 20 

 parts of hot alcohol. 3 



The physical and chemical constants of value in investigations for 

 identity and purity have been arranged in tabular form in the table 

 given on page 938. In addition to numbers there given, Yaleuta 4 has 

 found the temperature at which the solution in hot glacial acetic acid 

 becomes turbid to be 105 C. 



The low melting point, the little tendency to become rancid, and other 

 properties render cocoa butter peculiarly suitable for the basis of many 

 pharmaceutical preparations. This by-product of the manufacture of 

 cocoa preparations has, therefore, a well-established place in commerce. 

 The Shipping and Commercial Lint and New York Price Current for 

 October 7, 1891, quotes foreign cocoa butter at 31 to 37 cents per pound 

 and domestic at 40 to 42 cents per pound. 



Schaedler 2 thus describes the process of extraction on the large 

 scale: 



In earlier times the ground and roasted beans were boiled with ten parts of water, 



1 Benedikt, Analyse der Fette und Wachsarten. Schaedler, Die Technologie der 

 Fette und Oele des Pflanzen- nnd Thierrciclis. 



2 Schaedler, Die Technologic der Fette und Oele des Pflanzen- und Thierreiehs. 



3 Blyth, Foods: their Composition and Analysis. 



* Dingler's polyt. Jour., 252, 296; Zeitsch. f. anal. Chem., 24. L'iC,. 



