256 The Fermentation of Cacao 
dissolved substances (sugar and acid), which 
can be done by: mechanical means without 
any difficulty: 
The various methods consist of :— 
(1) Mechanical Means. —,The beans are 
crushed and,.then dried. A brown mass com- 
pletely free from bitter taste would thus be 
obtained, but buyers are very unlikely to buy 
such a powder. 
(2) Chemical Means.—F¥or commercial pur- 
poses only non-poisonous and volatile chemi- 
cal substances can be used here. Alcohol 
fulfils both these requirements. The beans 
are laid for ten minutes in 96 per cent. alcohol, 
and then kept for five to six days over alcohol. 
They are then placed for one minute in water, 
and afterwards dried. A large cacao manufac- 
turer in Germany has expressed the following 
opinion about cacao prepared in this manner: 
“This alcohol treatment denotes a great 
advance in Cameroons cacao, as compared 
with beans prepared by the ordinary process.” 
(3) Change of Temperature.—The vitality of 
the cacao bean depends on its being kept 
within definite limits of temperature; over- 
stepping these limits in either direction leads 
to the death of the bean—z.e., of the germ. 
From a practical point of view it would appear 
that the easiest way to kill the germ is by heat. 
The protoplasm, the real life-bearing substance, 
is devitalized in the cacao bean at a temperature 
that lies below that which destroys the enzyme. 
