202 COCOA 



CHAP. 



The fresh beans, with the white pulp, are made into 

 heaps, or put in boxes, and covered with banana leaves. 

 The temperature of the heaps quickly rises, especially 

 in the interior, and no further care is required except 

 to see that it does not rise too high, and that all 

 the beans come sufficiently into contact with the air 

 to finish the process when the beans have acquired 

 the proper heat. 



Different varieties of cocoa, however, have different 

 requirements as regards fermentation. The main rule 

 is that the finer, sweeter varieties, such as all the 

 Criollos and the finer Forasteros (e.g. those of Western 

 Venezuela) require a slight and short fermentation ; the 

 coarser and more ordinary varieties with flat, dark, 

 bitter-tasting beans (e.g. San Thome cocoa, the Samana, 

 the Surinam, the Carupano variety of the Orinoco basin, 

 etc.) need a long and thorough fermentation. This 

 general rule explains many of the differences which exist 

 between the methods adopted in different countries. 



As an example, the method followed in Surinam 

 may first be described. The process takes place in a 

 small house, provided with one row of six or seven 

 fermenting boxes (Fig. 67), or with two rows with a 

 gangway between them. Each box is about 5 to 6 

 feet broad, 6 to 7 feet deep, and 5 to 6 feet high. 

 The boxes, as well as the walls and the roof of the 

 house, are made of wood preferably the wood of the 

 "bolletree" or bullet tree (Mimusops balata), the tree 

 which yields " balata," a sort of wild rubber. 



When the fresh seeds have been put into the first 

 box, so as almost to fill it, and have been covered with 

 banana leaves, the temperature begins to rise slowly, 

 and the following morning it is some 15 to 20 C. 

 higher than the temperature of the air, being about 40 

 C. in the middle of the heap. The beans are then 

 turned over into the second box, being thoroughly 

 mixed in the process, and are again covered with 

 banana leaves. Here the temperature rises a little 

 further, being always highest in the morning when the 



