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The World's Commercial Products 



STONE DRYING FLOOR WITH MOVEABLE ROOF 



THE MANUFACTURE OF CACAO AND CHOCOLATE 



Until the latter part of the eighteenth century the fabrication of chocolate was chiefly 

 effected by manual labour, the beans being pounded to powder in an iron mortar. Even to 

 this day, the Chinese cook in the Philippine Islands, who makes the cacao-beans which are 

 grown there into chocolate, carries his whole factory about with him. This consists of a 

 small wooden table, made to rest on the knees of the man, who squats down, and on this 

 table the shelled beans are pounded in a small marble mortar with a heated pestle, and the 

 mass is kneaded to chocolate-dough with sugar, pepper and other favourite spices. 



With the exception of such cases as the latter, manual labour has been replaced as a 

 rule by wonderful machines ; the first of which was put into practice in 1778 by M. Doret, of 

 the medical faculty of Paris. These machines have been altered and improved continually, 

 though the purpose which the engineers have in view always remains the same, namely, to 

 grind the beans to a powder of the greatest possible fineness, and to mix it as intimately as 

 possible with substances such as sugar and flavouring materials. 



Whether a chocolate-factory is large or small, the cacao-beans always have to undergo 

 the same essential processes. These chief stages are as follows: — (1) Sorting and cleaning 

 the raw beans. (2) Roasting the cleaned beans. (3) Breaking and shelling the roasted 

 beans. (4) Grinding of the roasted and broken beans and the addition of other substances 

 such as sugar, spices, etc. If cocoa is being made the fat is extracted at this stage. 

 (5) Moulding and packing. 



Sorting and Cleaning the Raw Beans 



The cleaning and sorting of the raw beans is of the greatest importance. The principal 



