160 The Fermentation of Cacao 



towns and villages, there is hardly a chance of 

 fermentation taking place. 



To cacao-buying merchants, then, Dr. 

 Nicholls has pointed a way towards first-class 

 results, by the isolation and preparation for 

 everyday use of a pure cacao ferment con- 

 taining those yeast forms which our experi- 

 ments have proved to be the most vigorous 

 and beneficial ; and further, by providing a 

 prescription (which any chemist should dis- 

 pense for a few pence) of a suitable medium 

 that will enable this ferment to flourish by- 

 spraying or sprinkling the combined ferment 

 and medium on either freshly picked or partly 

 cured cacao. It is not unreasonable to hope 

 that with the co-operation of Government 

 Agricultural Departments in cultivating and 

 distributing this ferment from their laboratories, 

 the preparation of merchant's cacao should 

 be revolutionized, and that of planter's cacao 

 much 'improved. On a very moderate estimate 

 the merchant should, by this process, allied to 

 better drying methods, increase the value of 

 each 1,000 bags he exports by ^300. On 

 the supposition that cacao-buying firms handle 

 half the cacao output of the world, it can easily 

 be seen that the potentialities of Dr. Nicholls' 

 formula would run into larger figures of export 

 values than I care to estimate. 



It is a matter of common belief among cacao 

 men that the manufacturers are not averse to 

 a large quantity of low-class unfermented cacao 



