142 The Fermentation of Cacao 



sweating-boxes is caused by a fermentation 

 process, whereby the sugar present in the 

 fruit pulp changes into alcohol and this again 

 oxydizes into acetic acid. Both the alcohol 

 and the acetic acid were chemically shown. 



Experience shows indeed that when much 

 rain falls 1 during the gathering of the cacao, 

 the sugar is washed out of the cacao and it does 

 not sweat properly ; but we soon also learn 

 that this drawback may be remedied by adding 

 a certain quantity of molasses after the cacao 

 has been taken to the sweating-house. 



During the laboratory experiments the 

 temperature in the baskets could not be raised 

 above 40 to 42 C., while that in the sweating 

 heaps on the plantations usually represents 42 

 to 45 C. ; this is easy to understand, as with 

 the baskets, the surface is too large in pro- 

 portion to the quantity of cacao and there 

 is thus much loss of heat. 



The foregoing relates entirely to the pro- 

 cesses which take place in the pulp during 

 fermentation, and which we may collectively 

 call the external fermentation ; on the other 

 hand, we have the internal fermentation, that 

 is to say the processes enacted in the bean 

 itself. 



1 It should here be remarked that the seeds on most 

 plantations are sent into the sweating-house already 

 stripped of their husks, which is done on the estate, and 

 the contents are then taken in baskets to the fermenta- 

 tion house. 



