54 » COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 
the original cacao-seed was of poor quality. The uninformed person 
naturally thinks that the deeper shade means strength. This it never 
means. The black color simply shows that the manufacturer has seen 
fit to employ harmful alkaline additions at some stage of the process, 
or perhaps has preferred to color his goods artificially with coal-tar 
dyes or with the less injurious lampblack. It may be said, once for 
all, that black cacao-products must be looked upon with suspicion. 
They contain foreign matters or else they have been maltreated by 
chemicals during manufacture. Pure products of the cacao-seed pre- 
serve their fine delicacy of flavor from start to finish: black prod- 
ucts are impure. Discriminating purchasers know this and recognize 
the fine reddish-brown as characteristic of a pure product, while it is 
only among those who do not give proper attention to the matter that a 
market can be found for the cacaos and chocolates to which alkalies, 
coal-tar dyes, or lampblack have given an unwholesome darkness. 
There are few articles in common use where so simple a test for 
purity exists. 
The addition of alkali during the process of manufacture has been 
recognized by the United States Treasury Department as an adul- 
teration and the Department has ruled under the Pure Food Lawthat 
such products when put upon the market must be labeled as contain- 
ing a certain percentage of added ‘‘ mineral matter.”’ 
A well-known medical expert has said: ‘‘ The recent tendency to 
interfere with the natural properties and constituents of such a valu- 
able food as cocoa is deeply to be deplored. The removal of the 
fiber and the excess of fat is all that is necessary to produce the most 
perfect food beverage known to physiologists, and the best cocoa 
from the dietetic standpoint is undoubtedly that which is perfectly 
pure without addition of any kind whatsoever. Some manufacturers 
add starch or sugar in the mistaken idea that starch properly replaces 
the fat removed. But in no case can starch take the place of fat in 
a food, and the result is simply to lower the flesh-forming qualities 
