EXAMINATION OF COCOA POWDERS. 



943 



and besides, by saponification of the fat, because experience shows that the soap is 

 notagreeable to the stomach. Contrary opinions are asserted from the standpoint of 

 sanitary police. By application of alkalis, the ash content is considerably raised 

 [to over 9 per cent against 4 per cent in cocoa], which, according to the Deutschen 

 Reichs-Gesundheitsamtes, is to be considered an adulteration. Recently, May 24, 

 1884, a process for making cocoa preparations soluble was patented by Lobeck & Co. 

 In this process the material is heated, with or without water, in a closed vessel for 

 thirty minutes at 150 C.) The cocoa beans are soaked several hours in water in 

 which potassium or sodium hydrate (2 per cent to 4 per cent) and magnesia are dis- 

 solved, then dried and pulverized. 



All good cocoa preparations should be made from the cotyledons only. For this 

 purpose the seeds are always husked and the husks, under the name of "cocoa tea," 

 constitute an independent article of commerce. The husks serve for the preparation 

 of cheaper kinds of chocolate and for adulteration ; when, in consequence of the 

 small amount of theobromiue contained therein, the addition of husfes is usually 

 considered unallowable. 



The most general preparation of cocoa is chocolate. For its preparation the husked 

 seeds, with the addition of sugar (50 per cent or more) and spices, are ground to a 

 paste at an elevated temperature and pressed into forms. 



Results of the . examination of four cocoa powders by Stutzer 1 for the purpose of determin- 

 ing the effect of the process of manufacture on the chemical constituents. 



[I is composed of 40 per oeiit Ariba, 40 per cent Machala, and 20 per cent Bahia cocoa, and was made 

 in Wittekop & Co.'s factory in Braunschweig, without the use of chemicals. II is a sample of Hol- 

 land cocoa. Ill and IV are German cocoas, and, in Stutzer's opinion, were prepared by use of am- 

 monia.] 



1 Op. cit., note 3, p. 939 of this work. 



