256 The Fermentation of Cacao 



dissolved substances (sugar and acid), which 

 can be clone by mechanical means without 

 any difficulty. 



The various methods consist of : 



(1) Mechanical Means. The beans are 

 crushed and then dried. A brown mass com- 

 pletely free from bitter taste would thus be 

 obtained, but buyers are very unlikely to buy 

 such a powder. 



(2) Chemical Means. For commercial pur- 

 poses only non-poisonous and volatile chemi- 

 cal substances can be used here. Alcohol 

 fulfils both these requirements. The beans 

 are laid for ten minutes in 96 per cent, alcohol, 

 and then kept for five to six days over alcohol. 

 They are then placed for one minute in water, 

 and afterwards dried. A large cacao manufac- 

 turer in Germany has expressed the following 

 opinion about cacao prepared in this manner : 

 " This alcohol treatment denotes a great 

 advance in Cameroons cacao, as compared 

 wrth beans prepared by the ordinary process." 



(3) Change of Temperature. The vitality of 

 the cacao bean depends on its being kept 

 within definite limits of temperature ; over- 

 stepping these limits in either direction leads 

 to the death of the bean i.e., of the germ. 

 From a practical point of view it would appear 

 that the easiest way to kill the germ is by heat. 

 The protoplasm, the real life-bearing substance, 

 is devitalized in the cacao bean at a temperature 

 that lies below that which destroys the enzyme. 



