178 The Fermentation of Cacao 



(6) The preservation of heat and moisture 

 by a thick leaf cover is a most necessary part 

 of the process, but where a pure ferment is not 

 added, the cover can be beneficially omitted 

 from the first and second boxes to allow the 

 " cacao fly " freer access to the beans to deposit 

 fermentation germs on them. 



The actual process of work in the sweating 

 house is small and may be described as follows: 

 The current day's picking of wet cacao in- 

 variably goes into No. i sweating box, and 

 for the sake of clarity we may assume the 

 picking commences on Monday. On Tuesday 

 morning Monday's picking is overturned into 

 No. 2 box, leaving No. i box empty to receive 

 Tuesday's picking. On Wednesday morning 

 Monday's picking is again inverted into No. 3 

 box, Tuesday's picking into No. 2 box, and 

 No. i box is always kept free to receive the 

 current day's picking. This process is con- 

 tinued until Monday's picking reaches the fifth, 

 sixth, seventh or eighth box, and the bottom 

 temperature is found to be rapidly declining 

 when it is removed from the sweating box to 

 the drying house. Where large quantities of 

 cacao are fermented under " Fine Estates" 

 conditions of curing (without the addition of a 

 pure ferment), the first day's picking, say 

 Monday's, will generally come out (from the 

 sixth box) on Saturday morning, and is not 

 unusually the worst fermented batch of the 

 picking owing to the boxes being " cold " 



