go The Fermentation of Cacao 



104 F.), but that in the latter case the cacao 

 assumes a better colour. 



To determine what exact percentage of 

 moisture the beans should contain was a 

 difficult matter to decide. It must be clear 

 to anyone having even only a slight knowledge 

 of bacteriology, that we are here dealing with 

 conditions exceedingly favourable to the growth 

 of micro-organisms, this being particularly the 

 case at temperatures ranging from 30 to 50 C. 

 (86 C to 122 F.). The object of my experiments 

 in this connection was, from the first, to 

 determine the lowest possible degree of 

 moisture at which oxidation was still possible ; 

 for, the lower the amount of water present, 

 the less favourable are the conditions for the 

 growth of micro-organisms. On the other 

 hand, I found that the lower the amount of 

 humidity, the slower the process of oxidation 

 became. On the plantations it is necessary to 

 dry the acidified cacao even if only to help 

 the air to obtain access to the interior 

 of the beans. At a percentage of humidity 

 amounting to 20 per cent., the conditions for 

 oxidation to occur were still fairly favourable, 

 but butyric acid fermentation and the develop- 

 ment of moulds still occurred very frequently. 

 The latter were practically excluded when 

 the percentage of humidity decreased to 15 

 per cent. 



Having determined the changes taking 

 place in the beans by means of laboratory 



