10 The Fermentation of Cacao 
system of the three tanks is seldom met with. 
Most of the planters ferment their cacao in 
covered heaps, and, thanks to this and the care 
they take in drying, the cacao is of excellent 
quality. Let me describe in detail the entire 
process of preparing the cacao as practised on 
the Gangaroowa plantation near Peradeniya :— 
The ripe cacao’ pods are opened by the 
Tamil women as they are brought in. This is 
done by first cutting the pods crossways by 
means of small knives fixed in a clumsy wooden. 
handle, after which they are broken by light 
blows, and the contents collected in baskets. 
The empty pods are then taken to the compost 
or manure heaps. The various qualities met 
with (Forastero, Criollo, and wild varieties) are 
not separated, but the fruits attacked by canker, 
or otherwise diseased, are carefully picked out 
and fermented apart. As soon as about 100,000 
pods are opened, their contents are placed to- 
gether in a heap on a covered-in cement floor, 
which has a slight gradient and outlet. The 
latter is like a truncated cone, and is formed and 
polished by beating with short wooden spades. 
Then the heap is at once covered with 
double layers of banana leaves; over these 
damp jute mats are spread, and the whole is 
then covered with a layer of moist earth, 
3.cm. to 5 cm. thick. The mats and the earth 
are used again and again until it is necessary 
to renew them. Thus heaped up, the cacao is 
left from five to seven days to ferment, but 
