Dr. Oscar Loew 55 



similar to that of coffee, and is different from 

 that of tea. With tea the aroma is the result 

 of the action of a hydrolizing enzyme, yielding 

 the volatile tea oil, as was shown by Katayama. 



That the aroma of the cacao is chiefly pro- 

 duced during the gentle roasting process is the 

 opinion of manufacturers of chocolate from the 

 fermented beans. The fermentation seems, 

 indeed, to have nothing at all to do with the 

 production of aroma. Seeds simply dried in 

 the sun and then gently roasted may yield 

 an especially rich and aromatic chocolate, as 

 Safford 1 has also indicated. Hart says : 



" No adulteration ... is equal to the 

 flavour of the virgin cacao, provided the 

 essential oil has not been destroyed during 

 the process of roasting, during which process 

 it appears to be developed." 2 



The question now arises : which compound 

 yields the aroma in the cautious roasting of 

 the fermented cacao beans? It is certainly 

 not a glucoside, for neither the testa nor the 

 cotyledons of the beans develop anything like 

 a cacao flavour upon being boiled for some 

 time with dilute sulphuric acid (3 to 6 per cent.). 

 The same negative result was obtained by 



1 Compare the quotation in the introductory remarks 

 to this article on p. 34. 



2 "Cacao." Trinidad, 1900, 2nd ed., p. in. These 

 words, however, contradict his previous opinion already 

 quoted in regard to the influence of fermentation on 

 aroma. 



