482 COCOA CHAP. 



Generally the dark sorts have a bitter taste, while the 

 lighter coloured are generally sweeter. 



Not only in appearance, but also in fragrance and 

 aroma, each sort has its own character. 



The finest sorts, as " Caracas " and " Porto Cabello " 

 (Venezuela) and "Arriba" (Ecuador), have a distinct 

 and pleasant chocolate-aroma, but in most other sorts, 

 and especially in the more ordinary ones, this aroma is 

 wholly, or almost wholly, concealed by the acid odour 

 of fermentation, or, more correctly, of acetic acid. 



In this book there is no space for the description 

 of the microscopical characters. It will be sufficient 

 to refer to special books, in which this subject is treated. 1 

 Only one well-known microscopical character may be 

 mentioned here, the so-called " corpuscules of Mitscher- 

 lich." 



The outer cell-layer, the so-called epidermis, of the 

 seed-lobes shows under the microscope little multicellular 

 outgrowths or trichomes, which are more or less club- 

 shaped, while the contents of its cells are dark coloured. 

 These " corpuscules of Mitscherlich " are so character- 

 istic for the cocoa-seed, not occurring in any other 

 vegetable produce, that they are of great use in detect- 

 ing whether or not a certain material contains cocoa. 



THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL COCOA-SORTS 



In Chapter IX. the several cocoa countries were 

 dealt with, and a few observations were made about 

 the produce of each one. 



Here the different commercial kinds of cocoa may 

 be treated a little more in detail. 



Ecuador 



This country produces the three important com- 

 mercial sorts : " Arriba," "Balao," and " Machala," and 

 the less important " Manabi." " Arriba" is by far the 



1 Zipperer, Die Schokoladen-fabrikation, p. 11 ; Schimper, Anleitung zur 

 mikrosTcopischen Untersuchung der Nahrurtgs- und Genussmittel (Jena, 1886). 



