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CHAPTER III. 

 BY DR. FICKENDEY. 



IT was originally intended to follow up the 

 question of cacao fermentation to its final 

 conclusion before publishing any report on 

 what had been done towards that end. As, 

 however, the investigations and experiments 

 carried out so far have yielded results likely 

 to be of use to planters and others if tried on 

 a commercial scale, I feel justified in publishing 

 the following details, without waiting for the 

 final conclusions to be arrived at. 



When preparing green cacao (i.e., the beans 

 as taken from the pods), two different pro- 

 cesses are necessary, and must be distinctly 

 recognized by those having to carry out the 

 operation of turning such beans into the cacao 

 of commerce. On the one hand, there is the 

 fermentation of the pulp which surrounds the 

 beans that slimy, sugary mass in which 

 the beans are embedded in the pods ; whilst, 

 on the other hand, we have those processes 

 which go on inside of and affect the bean 

 itself, and which, on the .whole, are only 

 indirectly caused by agencies arising as one 



