62 COCOA : ALL ABOUT IT. 



termed " broken down." The now crisp roasted nuts travel 

 on to a hopper and are afterwards raised by an elevator, and 

 passed through a machine which gently cracks them, dis- 

 engaging the hard thin skin, which by this means can be 

 separated from the nutritive portion of the nut, viz., the rich glossy 

 kernel, known in the market as Cocoa-nibs. The separation is 

 effected by a winnowing machine. From the outlet of the crack- 

 ing machine the husk and nut are carried to a point over the 

 winnower, and as the cracked nuts fall, the powerful blast of this 

 machine blows away the husks, and the latter fall into 

 a receptacle in the form of nibs, which are afterwards sorted by 

 a diviseur. The husk or shell is sent off to Ireland and else- 

 where to be used as a light, but by no means unpalatable, table 

 decoction, under the designation of " miserables." In the year 

 1770 a law was enacted that "Cocoa-nut shells or husks may 

 be seized and destroyed ; and the officer who seizes them 

 rewarded with any sum not exceeding 20s. per cwt." 



The mill room, into which we now pass, is a very spacious 

 and well-arranged apartment, in which numerous machines are 

 employed in the manufacture of Cocoa and Chocolate, the most 

 approved modern mechanical appliances having been introduced. 

 In this room three long lines of millstones are at work crushing 

 the nibs, which are fed into a hopper, whence they pass 

 between granite millstones. The nibs are hard and brittle before 

 being crushed, but after a few minutes' grinding, the oil they 

 contain is disengaged by the heat, and it flows from the stones 

 as a creamy fluid, but when cold solidifies into a hard, brittle cake. 

 From this fluid the Cocoa-butter is extracted by means of a 



