CACAO FERMENTATION 158 



the constituents of the pulp through the membrg.neous 

 covering in some manner, we shall never properly ferment 

 cacao and certainly cannot improve the character of the 

 interior of the bean. 



The above may be taken as the condition to which the 

 bean is brought by the moist fermentation of cacao, but 

 there are other methods used which produce similar but 

 not equally good results. Dr. Chittenden says also : 

 " The conuquero puts up his beans to drain and forthwith 

 exposes them to the sun for, say, five or six hours ; then, 

 heaped and packed up they sweat afresh until the following 

 day, when they get five or six hours more sun, and so on." 

 Again, " Another contrivance of the small grower is that 

 of bagging the cacao at the end of the day whilst still 

 hot from exposure to the sun and to sweat it during 

 the night." This may be called the dry fermentation of 

 cacao. 



Some kinds of cacao take longer to ferment than others. 

 For instance, theNicaraguanCriollo is completely fermented 

 in forty-eight hours (a well-authenticated character), and if 

 kept longer in the boxes rapidly blackens and spoils. 

 The Calabacillo varieties sometimes are given ten to 

 fourteen days before they are considered to be ready for 

 the drying house. In fermenting, merely to remove the 

 pulp of any variety some forty-eight hours will be sufficient, 

 and the interior of the bean, except in the case of the thin- 

 skinned Criollo, will be little changed, the break will 

 be hard and " cheesy," and the sample will be classed as 

 unfermented. There is little doubt that the difference in 

 the thickness and membraneous texture of the bean bears 

 a material part in influencing the length of time necessary 

 for efficient fermentation. It has already been shown 

 that the testa once pierced by the radicle is injurious as 

 allowing access of fungi when completely cured, and that 

 germinated cacao takes up the juices of fermentation much 

 more quickly than unpierced beans ; yet that the latter 

 have a means of absorption through their testa or covering 

 is apparent from their readily taking up the juices or liquors 



