FERMENTATION. 



37 



& 



.**< An examination by the author, of beans fresh from the pod 

 showed the following : 



ozs. 



Total weight from inside pod No. I 777 ..7 =375 



Weight of pulp and testa or skin of seed removed =1-65 

 Kernel (clean) ... ... ... ... =175 



3-40 



Loss daring operation ., ... '..; *35 



Ozs: 



Total weight from inside pod No. 2 777 ... =5'4<5 



Weight of pulp and testa or skin of seed removed =2-40 

 Kernel (clean) ... ... * ... ... =2-40 



- 4-80 



Loss during operation 777 777 777 '60 



The pods were ripe pods, the entire contents were removed 

 from the shell after it was opened, and then carefully weighed. 

 After weighing the pulp, the testa or skin of the seed was 

 removed and the waste and cleaned bean again weighed as above. 

 It will be seen that the pulp surrounding the bean, with the 

 placenta, weighs 'nearly the same as the cleaned kernel, and 

 therefore if Mr. McCarthy's analysis was taken from the fresh 

 bean, pulp included, it is no wonder that he did not get a 

 higher percentage of fat than 18 and 28 per cent. Taking the 

 average between these and allowing the difference of 100 per 

 cent, for the weight of waste on the fresh beans, we have 46 per 

 cent, of fat in the fresh bean according to that analysis 

 which approaches that of an average sample of cured Cacao 

 Church's analysis. The difference in the percentage found by 

 Professor McCarthy in his two samples would be easily 

 accounted for, by the moisture contained in the bean, or in the 

 mucilage surrounding the bean bein^, greater in the one case 

 than in the other. It will I think be evident that we are well 

 on the way to ascertain the " cause of the change" once we have 

 digested the elaborate and careful analyses made by Professor 

 Harrison. These analyses necessitated over three hundred 

 operations, many of which had to be repeated, and he is to be 

 highly congratulated on his valuable contribution to our 

 knowledge of the Chemistry of Cacao. 



j$h. General Results. 



If we examine carefully the underlying principle (often 

 unknown to the operator) which leads to certain results in all 

 the old methods of sweating or fermentation, we shall find that 

 although the detail of procedure is somewhat different in each 

 case, yet there is a decided similarity in the result, We find 



