Dr. A. Schulte im Hofe 1 1 9 



The still warm beans must then at once be 

 transferred to boxes or made up into large 

 heaps, to prevent the beans from cooling, and 

 when this -is done the cacao should be pro- 

 tected from cooling down too rapidly. In 

 order that the heat may be retained as long- 

 as possible, it would, perhaps, be best to post- 

 pone disturbing the heaps until the second 

 day, when they may be turned over with 

 shovels, as doing so lessens the danger of 

 over oxidation owing to the cooling of the 

 beans, provided that oxidation has not already 

 set in to any considerable extent in the drying 

 drum. 



The process of oxidation at moderately high 

 temperatures may be more prolonged without 

 running too great a risk, when the drying is 

 carried out in drying-houses on two trays 

 placed one over the other, and, as is done when 

 malting, the partially dried cacao on the upper 

 tray is allowed to fall through to the lower one 

 to complete the drying process. As soon as 

 the cacao is found to contain only 15 per cent, 

 of moisture, it is spread out so as to form a 

 layer about 15 to 20 cm. (6 to 8 in.) deep, and 

 as far as possible the temperature is kept at 

 40 to 45 C. (104 to 113 F.). Doing this 

 enables one to maintain an even temperature 



Again, as soon as the amount of moisture in the beans 

 is excessive, they go mouldy during the process of 

 oxidation : a sufficient indication of their containing 

 too much moisture. 



