70 The Fermentation of Cacao 



results at the same time, has still to be decided, 

 but that is outside the present discussion. 



The cotyledons also turn brown, and the 

 bitter taste is removed if the green cacao, freed 

 from the surrounding pulp, is ground into a 

 pulp or jelly. This treatment also kills the 

 germs, but leaves the enzymes intact. At 

 this point it will not be out of the way to 

 compare the behaviour of the sloe (Primus 

 spitiosa), which has a strong resemblance to 

 cacao in certain points. Left to itself the sloe 

 has such a bitter taste that it is unfit to eat, 

 but after a frost the pulp cells die off and the 

 enzymes make their action felt, with the result 

 that the acidity disappears, and the fruit 

 becomes palatable. Here, again, the reduc- 

 tion and final disappearance of the acidity 

 is also accompanied by the appearance of a 

 brown colouration which is likewise caused by 

 the oxidation of the tannic contents (perhaps 

 after a previous separation of the glucoside). 

 The supposition that an oxydase plays a part 

 in bringing about the fermentation of cacao 

 beans (by an oxydase is meant an enzyme 

 which hastens oxidation) has been stated more 

 than once, and that it is so can be easily 

 proved. The oxidation of the tannic sub- 

 stances in other fruits containing tannin is 



r" 



attributed to the assistance of oxydases. If 

 cacao beans are heated in water at 75 C. and 

 then ground, no change of colour and no 

 reduction in the bitter taste of the mass takes 



