3330 



THEOBROMA 



THEOBROMA 



very different plant: see Erythroxylon.) The beans are 

 washed or fermented, or both, to remove the mucilag- 

 inous substance with which they are surrounded or 

 coated with clay to make them moisture-proof, to pre- 

 vent decay, and preserve the aroma. 



The common cacao is T. Cacao, Linn., native appar- 

 ently in Cent, and S. Amer. It is a wide-branching 

 evergreen tree, reaching 20-25 ft. in height (or some- 

 what more in the wild), with pubescent twigs and 

 alternate oblong-oval or elliptic-oblong entire short- 

 petioled Ivs., the blade 6 in. long more or less, rounded 

 at base and abruptly acuminate at apex, with strong 

 midrib and paired or somewhat alternate arching side 

 veins: fls. small, in fascicles directly on the bark of the 

 trunk and main branches, about %in. across when 

 expanded, on slender pedicels Yiva., or more long; 

 calyx rose-colored, with acuminate segms.; corolla 

 yellowish, the long petals with a stalk-like claw and 

 expanded blade: fr. or "pod" 1 ft. or less long and 

 mostly 4 in. or less in diam., about 10-ribbed, red, 



3793. Theobroma Cacao, chief source of chocolate, a, b, flowers, enlarged 

 c, fruit, much reduced. 



yellow, purplish, or brown, elliptic-ovoid in form, the 

 rind thick, hard, and leathery; cells 5, each with 5-12 

 "beans" in a row imbedded in a white or pinkish acid 

 pulp; the pods will average about 20-40 good beans; 

 these flat brown or purple beans or seeds, each an 

 inch or more across, constitute the commercial cacao, 

 from which the products are manufactured. For an 

 account of the cult, of cacao, see Cyclo. Amer. Agric., 

 Vol. II, pp. 224-6. There is a large literature on the 

 subject. 



The estates devoted to the culture of the plant are 

 usually known as "cacao plantations" and are largely 

 on the increase in all suitable climates, owing to the 

 increased demand for the manufactured article in the 

 different forms in which it is now prepared for con- 

 sumption. The larger proportion of commercial cacao 

 is produced by Theobroma Cacao (Fig. 3793). Other 

 species native to Central America and the West Indies 

 are T. pentagona, T. speciosa, T. angustifolia, and the 

 closely related Tribroma bicolor. 



In vigor of growth and productive capacity, Theo- 

 broma pentagona resembles to a very large degree the 

 generally cultivated varieties of T. Cacao, but it differs 

 in the flowers, in the size of the beans, and especially 

 in the shape of the pods. The beans are larger in size 



than those of T. Cacao, fully equal if not superior in 

 flavor, and are capable of being worked up in the same 

 way as the commoner species. This kind is known on 

 the mainland as "Alligator" cacao, from the fancied 

 resemblance of its skin to the hide of an alligator. The 

 outside of the pod is soft and easily broken, and does 

 not afford such good protection to the interior as the 

 harder shell possessed by T. Cacao. In Nicaragua, T. 

 Cacao and T. pentagona are grown together, and the 

 produce is mostly a mixture of the two species. From 

 the presence of T. pentagona, it is possible that hybridi- 

 zation has taken place between two species. It has been 

 noted that the pods of T. Cacao produce much larger 

 seeds or beans in Nicaragua than in countries where 

 this species is not grown in company with T. pen- 

 tagona: and the beans of the two species are almost 

 impossible to distinguish when cured together. The 

 product of Nicaraguan plantations also requires much 

 less time for fermentation than the produce of Grenada, 

 Trinidad, or Venezuela, some forty-eight hours being 

 the usual period, while more than four times that 

 number of hours will be required for the proper fer- 

 mentation of the produce of the last-mentioned coun- 

 tries. 



The "Monkey cacao" of the mainland is produced by 

 Theobroma speciosa. This is never made into market 

 cacao, as it is very inferior in quality and has a dis- 

 agreeable flavor. The pods are hard, much 

 corrugated, warted, and of a dirty brown 

 color when ripe. 



Many names have arisen for the varieties 

 of Theobroma Cacao which are in cultiva- 

 tion, as many as forty having been listed 

 by a Trinidad cultivator of large experi- 

 ence. Looking at the matter from a practi- 

 cal point of view, all these are merely 

 strains of the one species, produced by 

 natural cross-fertilization of the older 

 types. According to Hart's "Cacao," 

 Trinidad, 1900, there are but three major 

 strains or classes of T. Cacao, respectively, 

 "Criollo," "Forastero," and "Calabacillo." 

 The type of the first is found indigenous 

 in Trinidad and various places on the 

 mainland, its distinctive character being 

 its bottle-necked pod, with a thin skin and 

 finely ribbed exterior, together with its 

 white or whitish seeds or beans, which 

 are mild in flavor and somewhat rounded 

 in form. 



The characters of "Forastero" are its 

 roughly corrugated or verrucose pod, containing large 

 flattish seeds of a purplish color. It is a tree having 

 greater vitality than "Criollo," and gives a much larger 

 crop. "Forastero" means foreign, and this type is said 

 to have been found on the mainland of South America, 

 whence it was imported to Trinidad by Arragonese 

 Capuchin Fathers about 1757. (De Verteuil, "History 

 of Trinidad," 1884.) 



"Calabacillo" is the third form, its chief characteris- 

 tics being the vigor of its growth and its small flat and 

 strongly flavored bean. By some it is considered as a 

 degraded form of Forastero. 



While the above gives a brief sketch of the chief 

 characters of the principal types, it must be understood 

 that there are varieties intermediate between the forms; 

 in fact, on the larger number of estates it is impossible 

 to find any two trees exactly alike in all their botanical 

 characters, occurring, without doubt, from the unin- 

 terrupted cross-fertilization which has taken place. 

 Still, each country appears to maintain certain charac- 

 ters more permanent than others, and thus secures for 

 itself a- name upon the markets of the world. It is 

 probable that this is due, in a measure, to the uncon- 

 scious preference taken by some to distinctive features 

 of the produce by the continuous cultivation of a fairly 



