COCOA 123 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Collection and Preparation of Cocoa 



Picking. The picking of Cocoa involves little 

 labour compared with the amount involved in 

 Coffee picking, but more skill is required for the 

 former kind of labour than for the latter. It is 

 not an easy matter in the case of many of the 

 varieties to tell just when a Cocoa pod is ripe. 

 Some varieties change colour in ripening, others 

 do not. 



The pods must not be gathered before they have 

 become ripe, or a bad sample of Cocoa will result. 

 If left on the tree too long the beans will germinate 

 inside the pod, and a mass of roots will be found 

 on opening it. The Cocoa bean has a most incon- 

 venient habit of germinating or dying when it 

 reaches the full state of ripeness. Picking must 

 therefore be regularly attended to in the ripening 

 season. We have found that picking once a week 

 ensures that there will be no loss from over- 



