60 COCOA 



such as bits of stalk and pod. They do this messy 

 job with their hands. 



FERMENTATION. Fermentation, otherwise known 

 by the highly descriptive name of "sweating," is one 

 of the most important operations in connection with 

 cocoa production, for the quality of the beans is 

 affected to a considerable extent by the care or care- 

 lessness with which it is carried out. During the 

 sweating process the acrid pulp surrounding the beans 

 runs off as a fluid, and the beans undergo a chemical 

 change; further, at the outset of the treatment the 

 beans all look white, because they are wrapped in a 

 jacket of white pulp, but in the course of sweating 

 their bodies emerge in their natural colour, which 

 gradually deepens in tone the pale coloured varieties 

 assume a cinnamon-brown hue, and the purple varieties 

 turn chocolate-brown. 



You notice that the beans which we now see being 

 picked apart are heaped up on plantain leaves. When 

 the picking over is finished, the heap will be covered 

 with plantain leaves and left to ferment. Fermenting 

 beans should be uncovered and turned over once a 

 day, or at least once in two days, whilst they are 

 under treatment, otherwise some will be underdone 

 and others will sweat themselves together into a 

 mildewy mass. 



The length of time necessary for fermentation 

 varies with climatic conditions, but averages about 

 six days. 



Most of the Gold Coast farmers follow the primitive 

 method of fermentation we now see being practised, 

 or some primitive variation thereof they leave the 

 beans on the ground, or in a hole in the ground, piled 

 up on plantain leaves and covered with plantain 



