158 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



taste resembling cocoa. The cocoa flavour is very per- 

 sistent, as many experimenters found to their regret 

 in their efforts to produce a tasteless cacao butter 

 which could be used as margarine or for general pur- 

 poses in cooking. The scarcity of edible fats during 

 the war forced the confectioners to try cacao butter, 

 which in normal times is too expensive for them to use, 

 and as a result a very large amount was employed in 

 making biscuits and confectionery. 



Cacao butter runs hot from the presses as an amber- 

 coloured oil, and after filtration, sets to a pale golden 

 yellow wax-like fat. The butter, which the pharmacist 

 sells, is sometimes white and odourless, having been 

 bleached and deodorized. The butter as produced is 

 always pale yellow in colour, with a semi-crystalline 

 or granular fracture and an agreeable taste and odour 

 resembling cocoa or chocolate. 



Cacao butter has such remarkable keeping properties 

 (which would appear to depend on the aromatic sub- 

 stances which it contains), that a myth has arisen that 

 it will keep for ever. The fable finds many believers 

 even in scientific circles ; thus W. H. Johnson, in the 

 Imperial Institute Handbook on Cocoa, states that : 

 " When pure, it has the peculiar property of not be- 

 coming rancid, however long it may be kept." Whilst 

 this overstates the case, we find that under suitable 

 conditions cacao butter will remain fresh and good for 

 several years. Cacao butter has rather a low melting 

 point (9OF.), so that whilst it is a hard, almost brittle, 

 solid at ordinary temperatures, it melts readily when 

 in contact with the human body (blood heat 98F). 

 This property, together with its remarkable stability, 

 makes it useful for ointments, pomades, suppositories, 

 pessaries and other pharmaceutical preparations ; it 

 also explains why actors have found it convenient for 

 the removal of grease paint. The recognition of the 

 value of cacao butter for cosmetic purposes dates from 

 very early days ; thus in Colmenero de Ledesma's 

 Curious Treatise on the Nature and Quality of Chocolate 



