FERMENTATION. 35 



opinion that the changes of a certain kind take place, while 

 others hold that changes of an opposite charater are developed, 

 as was clearly shown by the Essays of 1889. All are however 

 fairly agreed that a change of some kind is necessary and 

 different operators disagree only as to the exact manner of 

 bringing about such a change. One object of the operator is to 

 change as far as possible the colour of the bean from a harsh 

 purple to a chocolate or cinnamon colour by fermentation, 

 and this change is brought about by the process in a varying 

 degree. The original colour of the interior of the beans has 

 however much to do with the final colour of the finished article. 

 Tho white seeded Cacao of Nicaragua takes only 48 hours to 

 become a fine " cinnamon" brown in colour, and the strains of 

 Cacao that have light coloured seeds are always those in which 

 the finest colour and break is produced. The true Creole of 

 Trinidad, as found wild in our forest has white seeds and 

 compares well in shape and form with the Ceylon and Java 

 produce with which it is now said to be identical. Mr. J, R. 

 Martin, reporting on Cacao to the Planters' Association of 

 Ceylon in 1891, has a paragraph as follows: " The break of 

 West Indian growths, so far as I had an opportunity of observing, 

 was invariably very dark brown or purple ; which indicates 

 that the Cacao is of the Forastero variety, and every Cacao 

 planter knows that no care or curing will alter this characteristic. " 

 Mr. Martin here refers to the colour of the interior of the bean. 

 Jt is very clear that no preparation can ever produce the colour 

 from a purple bean, which can be obtained from the white 

 seeded varieties but still the purple colour of Forastero can in a 

 great measure be controlled by properly managed fermentation. 



Another change which : - Bought about by fermentation is 

 the hardening or toughening o- 1* shell of the bsan. This is 

 desirable from the point of view that it preserves the interior 

 when the shell is kept entire. If the shell of the bean is brittle, 

 it suffers much during transport ta market, and the interior 

 becomes liable to rapid deterioration in consequence. It has 

 been held that the operation of sweating or fermenting is simply 

 one of " malting" (i e.) on,, by which the starch of the bean is 

 changed into sugar by the act of germination, but I cannot find 

 that this theory has found much favour, and I am of the opinion 

 that it is impossible to make a high class product from ger- 

 minated Cacao. 



3rd. What cause the Ctianges. 



This is a difficult question to answer, and in fact can only 

 be answered after a full study of the Chemistry of Cacao. There 

 was until recently no accurate data at hand on this most 



