The Last Word 281 



possesses an intense odour of cacao, and the 

 flavour was clearly perceptible in a dilution of 

 i in 50 million parts of dilute syrup. The 

 flavour is most nearly akin to that of coriander 

 oil. It is pointed out that in the method of 

 preparing cacao beans in the Tropics by fermen- 

 tation and slow drying, a number of possible 

 ethereal substances are added naturally to the 

 crude oil. To explain this, a description is 

 given of the different fermentation changes, 

 as investigated by one of the authors in the 

 West Indies. 



The first runnings from the fermenting box 

 contain alcohol, invert sugar and tartaric acid. 

 Part of this liquor penetrates into the beans, 

 but the shell membrane is fine enough to pre- 

 vent the micro-organisms, which lead to the 

 production of these substances, from percolat- 

 ing to the kernels. 



During the first twenty-four hours of fermen- 

 tation the temperature rises to 35 or 40 C., 

 varying with the exact position of the box. 

 Within forty-eight hours it rises to 40 to 45 C., 

 and if the fermentation is continued for five 

 or six clays, the temperature will be found to 

 rise to a maximum of 45 to 50 C. Higher 

 temperatures are occasionally noted when the 

 fermentation is continued for an exceptionally 

 long period, for instance, ten to eleven days, as 

 in Trinidad. In this case, however, the tem- 

 perature will fall towards the close. 



The bi-chemical nature of the different 

 changes is explained as follows : 



