BEVERAGES 77 



the full yield is reached at about 7 or 8 years. The maximum 

 yield occurs perhaps at about 12 years of age. The Criollo 

 varieties, however, begin bearing at 5 years. The yield of 

 cacao ranges from 100 to nearly 1,000 pounds per acre and 

 500 pounds may be considered a good acre return. Individual 

 trees sometimes bear as many as 400 pods, but an average of 

 50 pods per trees is satisfactory. It requires about 15 pods to 

 make one pound of cocoa. 



The fresh cacao beans as they are removed from the pod 

 are large, somewhat flattened seeds about ^4 inch in width. 

 They are of an ivory white or delicate violet color. The beans 

 are at once placed in boxes and covered with banana leaves or 

 other suitable material. The boxes used for this purpose are 

 of such size as to allow the beans to be packed in to a depth of 

 6 or 7 feet. While held in these boxes the beans undergo a 

 process of heating and of fermentation. They are transferred 

 daily into other boxes for a period of 4 to 6 days in order to 

 equalize the temperature throughout the mass of beans. Dur- 

 ing this process the slimy pulp around the beans ferments into 

 a vinegar-like liquid and flows away. During the process, also, 

 the red color and the characteristic aroma develop in the beans. 

 The fermentation process with cacao beans is, however, not 

 adopted in all countries. In Ecuador, the beans are not fer- 

 mented at all and are dried at once and packed for shipment. 

 On some plantations the beans are washed after fermentation, 

 but washing is hardly to be recommended since the beans lose 

 flavor in this process. After fermentation, beans are dried 

 in the sun or in an artificial drying apparatus. On account of 

 the trade demand for a rich red color in cacao beans, this 

 color has been given to the beans on some plantations by 

 the process called dancing and claying. In this process a 

 small quantity of clay of a rich red color is sprinkled over 

 the beans, after which the beans are trampled by the bare feet 

 of natives. 



Loss of weight in fermenting and drying cacao beans is 



