5 COCOA AXD CHOCOLATE. 



in the pervasive fragrance of the cheese and kerosene. But perhaps 

 it is not so widely understood that some of these very teas and coffees 

 had been artificially flavored or corrected before they reached their 

 destination in this country. 



Cacao lends itself very readily to such preliminary treatment. In a 

 first-class article, the beans should be of the highest excellence ; they 

 should be carefully grown on the plantation and there prepared with 

 great skill, arriving in the factory in good condition. In the factory, 

 they should simply receive the mechanical treatment requisite to 

 develop their high and attractive natural flavor and fragrance. They 

 should be most carefully shelled after roasting and finely ground 

 without concealed additions. This is the process in all honest 

 manufactories of the cacao products. 



Now, as matter of fact, in the preparation of many of the cacao 

 products on the market a wholly different course has been pursued. 

 Beans of poor quality are used, because of their cheapness, and in 

 some instances they- are only imperfectly, if at all, shelled before 

 grinding. Chemical treatment is relied on to correct in part the odor 

 and taste of such inferior goods, and artificial flavors, other than the 

 time-honored natural vanilla and the like, are added freely. The 

 detection of such imposition is easy enough to the expert, but is diffi- 

 cult to the novice : therefore the public is largely unable to discriminate 

 between the good and the inferior, and it is perforce compelled to depend 

 almost entirely on the character and reputation of the manufacturer. 



Pure cacao-products are characterized by extreme delicacy of flavor. 

 But they possess another feature of attractiveness, a beautiful rich 

 red-brown color which is so truly characteristic, that its name, 

 " chocolate," has passed into many languages as denoting this charm- 

 ing shade. When the cacao product is pure, this shade is not a very 

 dark brown, it inclines rather to a dark red. When the color of a 

 cacao-product is so dark as to appear almost black it is a sure sign that 

 it has been tampered with in the process of manufacture or else that 



