CACAO FERMENTATION 157 



and upon opening a bean, instead of its being hard or 

 " cheesy," as is the case with unfermented material, the 

 interior will have the appearance of leavened bread, i.e. 

 having air spaces separating the cotyledons of the seed 

 and traversing the entire bean. It is thought by some that 

 to ferment for eight or ten days is somewhat risky, but 

 the practice has beenfollowedfor several years with uniform 

 success on the Trinidad Government estate. It should 

 be noted that a well-fermented sample has less mucilage 

 and moisture about it and takes only about half the time 

 to dry required for an unfermented one. 



As soon as the cacao is placed upon the drying floor 

 from the fermenting bins, the " 6ands " should be started 

 to clean it, picking out all waste and removing all inferior 

 material. When this is complete it is left with the dryers, 

 whose duty it is to keep constantly walking bare-footed 

 through it, turning it with their feet in a simple manner, 

 thus allowing each bean to get its share of sun, the beans 

 covering the floor in a layer of not less than three, nor more 

 than four inches in depth, so that they do not dry too 

 rapidly. In wet weather the planter is compelled to take 

 every opportunity to dry his beans as quickly as possible, 

 unless artificial appliances are available. One of the chief 

 points in drying is to take especial care to see that the 

 floor is well dry before spreading cacao upon it, for if the 

 planter has a dry floor to work upon, the cacao can remain 

 longer in cloudy weather without danger of spoiling. As 

 the operations proceed, the floor should be repeatedly dried 

 by moving the beans to heaps every two or three hours 

 in order to allow the sun to dry the uncovered spaces, for 

 if the floor is permitted to remain daihp from contact with 

 the cacao, fungi or mildew is sure to be produced. 



In fair weather, the second day after first exposure 

 on the drying floor, is the best time to apply clay ; as the 

 pulp surrounding the beans will have become somewhat 

 sticky, but not too dry to prevent the clay adhering. The 

 red clay used for this purpose is found in quantity on 

 several estates. It should first be wgU dried in the sun, 



