THEOBROMA 



CACAO 



Chocolate 



THE CACAO PLANT 



D.E.F., 



vi., pt. iv., 



43-5, 



Cacao. 



Oil. 



Nibs and 

 Chocolate. 



Trade . 



49 : Garcia de Orta, 1563, Coll., xxxvii. ; also in Ball, Proc. Roy. Ir. Acad., 

 3rd ser., 1889-91, i., 654 ; Acosta, Tract. De las Drogas, 1578, 274 ; Clusius, Hist. 

 Exot. PL, 1605, 194-6 ; Vesling, Notes on Prosper Alpinus, De PL Mgypti., 1640, 

 61-2 ; Tavernier, Travels, 1676 (ed. Ball), i., 72 ; Herbert, Travels, 1677, 336 ; 

 Thevenot, Travels in Levant, Indostan, etc., 1687, pt. iii., 57 ; Breyne, Prod. Rar. 

 PL, 1739, 18, t, iv. ; Forster, PL Esc., 1786, 52 ; Hunter, As. Res., 1795, iv., 41 ; 

 Roxburgh, Trans. Soc. Arts, 1801, xix. ; 1805, xxiii., 408-12 ; Buchanan- 

 Hamilton, Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 1833, 150-1 ; Liotard, Memo, on Dyes and Tans, 

 1881, 17-23; Watt, Select. Rec. Govt. of Ind., 1888-9, i., 53-8; Ind. For., 1890, 

 xvi., 359-64 et seq. ; Pharmacog. Ind., ii., 1-5 ; iii., app., 153-4 ; The Bower 

 Manuscript (Hoernle, trans'!.), 1893-7 (many references) ; Cameron, For. Trees 

 of Mysore and Coorg, 134-5; Rev. Imp. For. Admin, in Ind. (shows exports of 

 mvrobalans from the forests) ; Monographs, Dyes and Dyeing : Duncan, Assam, 

 1890, 53 ; Banerjei, Beng., 1896, 31 ; Hadi, U. Prov., 1896, 80 ; Russell, C. Prov., 

 1896, 5, 11-2, 14, etc. ; Fawcett, Bombay, 1896, 13; Holder, Madras, 1896, 4 ; 

 Hob son- Job son (ed. Crooke), 1903, 60710 ; Monographs, Tanning and Working 

 in Leather: Walton, U. Prov., 1903, 24; Chandra, Bengal, 6; Martin, Bombay, 

 1903, 7 ; Dutt, Mat. Med. Hind., 160-2 ; Ponder and Hooper, Mat. Med. Ind., 

 1901, 75 ; Hooper, in Agri. Ledg., I.e. 39 ; Ghosh, Mat. Med. and Therap., 1904, 

 490-9.] 



THEOBROMA CACAO, Linn. ; Ha.yne,Gewachse, 1825, ix., 35; 

 Bentley and Trimen, Med. PL, 1880, i., 38 ; Kohler, Med. Pflanzen, ii., 

 157, tt. a and b ; Morris, Cacao, How to Grow and How to Cure It, 1882, 

 1887 ; Hart, A Treatise on Cult, and Curing, etc., 1892 ; Lecomte et 

 Chalot, Le Cacaoyer et sa Cult., 1897 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 93 ; 

 Brandis, Ind. Trees, 79 ; STERCULIACE.E. The Cacao (sometimes also 

 written Cocoa) and Chocolate. A small tree indigenous to Central and 

 South America, now largely cultivated in many moist tropical countries. 



Oil or Butter. A light-yellowish opaque, solid oil, known as "Cacao Butter," 

 is expressed from the warmed seeds. This has the pleasant odour of chocolate, 

 melts in the mouth with a bland, agreeable taste, has a specific gravity of 0-961, 

 and fuses at 20 to 30 C. Recently a large trade has been organised in the 

 less expensive solid oil or butter prepared from Cocoanut Oil (see p. 359-60), 

 which has unfortunately also come to be sometimes described as " Cocoa 

 Butter." 



Cacao Nibs and Chocolate. The chief product of this plant is the CACAO BEANS 

 or NIBS the specially prepared seeds from which Chocolate is manufactured. 

 The tree is raised from seed, is grown at distances of 15 to 20 feet apart, comes 

 into full bearing in the fifth to seventh year, and fruits for a number of years 

 subsequently. The flowers, which are very small, are formed on the naked 

 stems and older branches ; the fruits become 6 to 9 inches long, and each contains 

 40 or more large seeds the beans or nibs of commerce. A tree will yield from 

 1 to 10 Ib. dry nibs in the year, according to climate, soil, and treatment to which 

 the plant has been subjected. The seeds are removed from the pods, conveyed 

 to the fermenting-house, and subjected to a process of "sweating" for three 

 days. They are then examined, their positions changed, and repacked for a 

 further fermentation of three days. Next comes the process of rubbing or 

 washing to free them from dirt and the ruptured seed-coats, lastly the drying 

 or "curing." To accomplish the final treatment, they are subjected to the 

 sun, the while being protected from rain or dew, and the term of exposure 

 extended each succeeding day until they are quite dry ; but a too rapid drying 

 is regarded as injurious. The nibs are now ready and are in consequence packed 

 and dispatched. In the production of chocolate the nibs are usually roasted, 

 ground to a fine powder and flavoured with sugar, vanilla, etc., etc. In estimating 

 for trade purposes the various confectionery, the proportion of chocolate they 

 contain is stated, as also the amount of alcohol present, if any. A singular feature 

 of this branch of the trade is the very large quantity procured from Belgium 

 (404,844 Ib., valued at 36,818 in 1906). 



TRADE. The tree has been repeatedly introduced into India (Kew Rept., 

 1873, 7 ; 1881, 28). It is grown to some extent in Malabar, the Nilgiri hills, etc., 

 but not with the success attained in Ceylon ; there seems, however, no good 

 reason why this should be so. The imports of " Raw Cocoa " mentioned in the 



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