150 The Fermentation of Cacao 



imparts to the cacao its irritating and bitter 

 characteristics. 



So far the cacao-red has been considered to 

 be the substance which gives the manufactured 

 cacao its characteristic aroma and taste, and in 

 order to ascertain whether this was correct, the 

 cacao-red was prepared in the manner indicated 

 by Hilger and Lazarus. On doing so, how- 

 ever, it proved to be a perfectly odourless and 

 tasteless powder, so that one cannot ascribe the 

 aroma and taste of the manufactured cacao to 

 this substance. 



What did appear was that the aroma of the 

 cacao was considerably increased by the process 

 of fermentation. Fresh unfermented beans, 

 when subjected to boiling, do not smell. It 

 must, therefore, be concluded that the aroma 

 is caused by a substance which, like the cacao- 

 red, first originates with the fermentation process. 



The fact that fermented cacao, when sub- 

 jected to boiling, smells strongly, led to the 

 supposition that the substance in question was 

 an ethereal oil, since ethereal oils have the 

 peculiarity of evaporating with steam. 



In order to trace this, a large quantity of 

 ground cacao that had been fermented was 

 distilled by steam. The distillation was again 

 distilled to a smaller volume, and this opera- 

 tion was repeated several times. In this 

 manner a drop of oil was obtained, which 

 strongly resembled cacao in its peculiar smell 

 and taste. 



