Dr. J. Sack 151 



During the distillation the laboratory arid 

 the entire surroundings were pervaded by a 

 strong smell of cacao. The yield was extremely 

 small, and it may be estimated that 20 kilos 

 of cacao will produce i c.c. of cacao oil. This 

 experiment at the same time made it quite 

 clear why the old method, by which the drying 

 was done slowly, yielded a product which far 

 surpassed in quality the cacao that was rapidly 

 dried, for with a slow process of drying the 

 reactions will continue for some considerable 

 time. With rapid drying they will speedily cease. 



The above may be summed up as follows : 



With sweating the beans, an alcoholic fer- 

 mentation in the pulp first takes place through 

 the agency of ferment fungi, whereby the sugar 

 contained in the pulp is split into alcohol and 

 carbonic acid ; the alcohol with the addition 

 of oxygen is further oxydized into acetic acid, 

 which causes a strong rise of temperature. 

 This is the external fermentation. This causes 

 the temperature to rise to about 45 C., when 

 the seeds or beans enclosed in the pulp are 

 killed. After this has taken place, the sub- 

 stances within the bean itself commence work- 

 ing upon each other. This is the internal 

 fermentation. Subject to the influence of an 

 enzyme present, the cacaonine is split into 

 cacao-red, theobromine and dextrose, while at 

 the same time an etherial oil is formed. 



Moreover with the fermentation the useless 

 sugar-containing pulp, which is so detrimental 

 to the keeping of the cacao, disappears. 



