CHAPTER XVI 



WASHING AND SUN-DRYING COCOA 



IN properly fermented cocoa beans the white parenchy- 

 raatous layer of tissue with which they were originally 

 enveloped has considerably decreased in volume, and 

 consists of a shrunken, discoloured, uneven mass of slimy 

 matter. The beans must now be dried to convert them 

 into marketable condition, and this may be done without 

 the removal of the slime or after it has been washed away. 



Washing Cocoa. The advisability of removing the slime 

 tissue from fermented cocoa beans is often questioned. 

 In some cocoa-growing countries it is removed by washing 

 the beans in cold water, while in others this is neither 

 considered necessary nor advisable. Cocoa beans are 

 generally washed in Ceylon, and less generally in Samoa, 

 Guatemala, Salvador, and West Africa. The principal 

 advantages accruing from washing cocoa beans are : 

 (1) they dry more rapidly, (2) contain a higher percentage 

 of the substances required by the manufacturer, (3) have 

 a cleaner and brighter appearance. 



The most important objections advanced against 

 washing cocoa are that extra labour is entailed, and the 

 weight of the produce is reduced. Some growers main- 

 tain that the integuments of washed beans are more 

 brittle than those of unwashed beans, and are therefore 

 more liable to be broken. The dried slime has both 

 strengthening and elastic properties which undoubtedly 

 protect the beans from breakage ; at the same time 

 it is more hygroscopic than the washed and dried in- 

 teguments, and the beans are therefore more susceptible 

 to mould attacks. 



Experiments which were conducted in the Gold Coast 

 by the writer, to ascertain the actual loss in weight 



153 



