HARVESTING AND PREPARATION 57 



outside the cacao bean on exposure gives off bubbles 

 of carbon dioxide, becomes alcoholic, and later be- 

 comes acid. The acid produced is generally the pleasant 

 vinegar acid (acetic acid), but under some circumstances 

 it may be lactic acid, or the rancid-smelling butyric 

 acid. Kismet ! The planter trusts to nature to provide 

 the right kind of fermentation. This fermentation is 

 set up and carried on by the minute organisms (yeasts, 

 bacteria, etc.), which chance to fall on the beans from 

 the air or come from the sides of the receptacle. One 

 yeast-cell does not make a fermentation, and as no yeast 

 is added a day is wasted whilst any yeasts which happen 

 to be present are multiplying to an army large enough 

 to produce a visible effect on the pulp. Any organism 

 which happens to be on the pod, in the air, or on the 

 inside of the fermentary will multiply in the pulp, if 

 the pulp contains suitable nourishment. Each kind of 

 organism produces its own characteristic changes. It 

 would thus appear a miracle if the same substances 

 were always produced. Yet, just as grape-juice left 

 exposed to every micro-organism of the air, generally 

 changes in the direction of wine more or less good, so 

 the pulp of cacao tends, broadly speaking, to ferment 

 in one way. It would, however, be a serious error to 

 assume that exactly the same kind of fermentation 

 takes place in any two fermentaries in the world, and 

 the maximum variation must be considerable. As the 

 pulp ferments, it is destroyed ; it gradually changes 

 from white to brown, and a liquid (" sweatings ") 

 flows away from it. The " sweatings " taste like sweet 

 'cider. At present this is allowed to run away through 

 holes in the bottom of the box, and no care is taken to 

 preserve what may yet become a valuable by-product. 

 I found by experiment that in the preparation of one 

 cwt. of dry beans about i-J gallons of this unstable 

 liquid are produced. In other words, some seven or 

 eight million gallons of " sweatings " run to waste 

 every year. In most cases only small quantities are 

 produced in one place at one time. This, and the lack 



