Cacao or Cocoa 



125 



Fermenting. The fermentation of the beans is a very important operation and requires 

 considerable care. The modus operandi varies according to the kind of cacao, to the local 

 usages, and to the planter's views. As a rule the wet cacao-beans are put in a sweating-house 

 specially built for the purpose, and divided into small compartments opening on to a common 

 space, by means of movable partitions so that it is readily possible to transfer beans from 

 one compartment to another. The flooring of the house is important — unevenness of any kind 

 is to be avoided as rendering the beans liable to damage by being crushed when shovelled 

 from one place to another. Cement, iron, pitchpine or other resin-containing timbers will not 

 do, owing to the acidity of the juice. A good method is to have an upper flooring of laths 

 placed lengthwise to the direction of shovelling. The juice from the beans escapes between 

 the laths onto a water-tight floor below arranged with a central exit drain. 



The cacao heaped up in the compartments must be turned every twenty-four hours, in 

 order to cause a regular sweating. If this turning can be done twice a day it is still better, 

 for the looser the beans are lying on one another the more regular the sweating, which 

 destroys the slimy substance which covers the beans. Three days are usually quite long 

 enough to complete the fermentation process. 



On some plantations there are no sweating-houses, but the beans are thrown into large 



SURINAM. YOUNG CACAO TREES IN THE SHADOW OF BANANA TREES 



