COCOA 173 



dry before being bagged. Care must be taken not to 

 over-heat the cacao or to break the shells. In some 

 countries the climate necessitates artificial drying. But 

 in places where the sun's heat can be used, it is always 

 to be preferred, because there is a tendency with the use 

 of artificial heat to speed up the drying process, and our 

 opinion is that such rapidly dried beans are not so well 

 cured as those dried slowly in the sun. 



Cleaning. From a manufacturer's point of view, the 

 freer the beans are from dried placenta, flat beans, and 

 rubbish, the better. Recently the planters on a certain 

 West Indian island have been sending so large a per- 

 centage of shrivelled beans and waste to New York that 

 there seemed some risk of the American market being 

 closed against them. Happily, they have mended their 

 ways, and are now delivering cacao satisfying contracts 

 in which the waste must not exceed J per cent. 



Claying. Claying makes beans look pretty; it is said 

 to materially assist in the drying, and it is generally 

 held that the film of clay protects the beans from attacks 

 of mould, and also strengthens the shell for handling. 

 Personally, we question the last two advantages, and 

 would point out that from the manufacturer's point of 

 view claying increases the cost of production, and that 

 the buyer pays for cacao and obtains clay. However, 

 we do not think that objection would have been raised 

 to claying if the process had not been abused in recent 

 years. One abuse is using above i per cent, of clay. 



A more serious abuse is the taking of black cacao 

 from diseased pods, and claying this so as to give it the 

 appearance of good estate cacao. This use of claying 

 is sufficient to condemn the practice from the manu- 

 facturer's point of view, more particularly if merchants 

 mix this diseased cacao of deceitful appearance with fine 

 cacao. 



Dancing and Polishing. Where dancing is used, not 

 as a method of breaking apart those beans which are 

 stuck together, but simply as a method of applying clay 

 and producing a polish, it has little to recommend it. 

 Dancing improves the appearance of the beans and gives 

 them a very pleasant gloss, but from a manufacturer's 

 point of view we have no evidence that this process is 



