RECREATION. 



XXXIX 



CHOCOLATE AND OTHER COCOA 

 PRODUCTS. 



A recent publication of the Connecticut 

 State Experiment Station has an interesting 

 summary of data regarding the cocoa bean 

 and the products made from it. Chocolate 

 and cocoa are made from the beans or seeds 

 of several small trees, natives of tropical 

 America, of which Theobroma cacao is by 

 far the most important Cocoa beans were 

 highly esteemed by the aborigines, especially 

 the Aztecs of Mexico and Peru, who pre- 

 pared from them beverages and foods. They 

 were brought to the notice of Europeans by 

 Cortez and other explorers, but were not 

 extensively imported into Europe until the 

 17th century, about the time tea and coffee 

 were introduced from the East. At present 

 the world's supply comes chiefly from Vene- 

 zuela, Guiana, Ecuador, Brazil, Trinidad, 

 Cuba, Mexico and other regions bordering 

 on the Gulf of Mexico, being gathered in 

 those regions from trees both wild and culti- 

 vated ; and to some extent from Java, Ceylon, 

 Africa and other parts of the Old World, 

 where the tree has been successfully culti- 

 vated. 



The yellow or brown cocoa fruit is 4 to 

 6 inches long, 2 to 3 inches wide and has 10 

 ridges passing from the base to the apex, 

 giving the surface a melonlike appearance. 

 It contains 35 to 75 seeds in 5 rows, em- 

 bedded in a mucilaginous substance. The 

 seeds, after being removed from the fruit 

 and freed from the adhering pulp, are dried 

 at once in some localities, but the better 

 grades are first subjected to a fermentation 

 process, which destroys certain bitter and 

 acrid constituents. 



Cocoa beans as they come into the mar- 

 ket are reddish brown in color, and some- 

 what resemble Lima beans in shape and 

 size, but are not so strongly flattened, nor 

 are they kidney shaped. Like Lima beans, 

 they consist of 2 thickened cotyledons, or 

 seed leaves, connected with a small rootlet 

 and enclosed within a hull, or shell. The 

 dark brown cotyledons are irregularly folded 

 and readily break into angular pieces. 



The first stages in the manufacture of 

 both chocolate and cocoa are the same. 

 After removing stones, chips and other im- 

 purities, the beans are roasted, thus devel- 

 oping a desirable flavor and facilitating the 

 processes of separation from the shell and 

 grinding. The roasted beans are crushed 

 by machinery and separated from the shells. 

 In some factories the rootlets are also re- 

 moved. The broken cotyledons, free of 

 shells, known as "cocoa nibs," are next 

 ground in the chocolate mill. The heat of 

 grinding melts the fat, which makes up 

 about half the weight of the nibs, and the 

 ground product runs out of the mill as a 

 thin paste. This paste, after cooling in 

 moulds, is chocolate, also known as nlain or 

 bitter chocolate to distinguish it from the 

 sweetened product. Tn the factory it is 

 often known as chocolate liquor. Sweet 

 chocolate is prepared by mixing pulverized 

 sugar, vanilla or other flavor, and usuallv 

 cocoa butter with the warm chocolate paste 

 before moulding. 



Cocoa is prepared by removing a portion 

 of the fat from the warm mass by pressure 

 and reducing the residue to a powder, with 

 or without the addition of vanilla flavor. 

 "Dutch process" cocoa is treated with an 

 alkali, usually soda or ammonia, to hinder 

 the fat from collecting on the surface of. the 

 beverage prepared from it. This is some- 

 times called "soluble cocoa." Cocoa butter 

 is the express fat obtained as a by-product 

 in the manufacture of cocoa. Cocoa shells 

 are used to some extent for the preparation 

 of a beverage, but are usually regarded as 

 a waste product and are often ground with 

 cocoa products, spices, etc., as an adulterant. 



The State experiment station at New Ha- 

 ven has made analyses to learn the extent 

 of the adulteration of cocoa products sold in 

 Connecticut. Of 40 samples examined in 

 1903 less than half, that is, 18, were not 

 found to be adulterated; 11 were adulter- 

 ated; 7 were labeled "compound" goods; 

 and 4 were chocolate and cocoa containing 

 milk or casein. 



JOHNNY ON THE SPOT. 



Z. A. SPACE. 



Of all the men 



In all the world 

 Who serve us to a dot ; 



None else can claim 

 One-half the fame 



Of "Johnny on the spot." 



Of all the teachers 



He's the man 

 To tell us- what is what; 



And guide our ways 

 In searching days 



To get what we have not. 



He's run the mines 



And felled the trees 

 And learned the forest ways ; 



He's caught the moose, 

 Why, what's the use 



Denying what he says? 



At every point 



Where work is done 

 He holds the key of knowledge ; 



And breaks- the rule 

 Of every fool 



From district school to college. 



He owns the rank 



Of every class 

 Who honor their profession ; 



Who never shirk 

 To make their work 



Instructive and a blessing. 



Nor don't decry 



The use of books 

 What they contain or not; 



But knowledge gained 

 Must lie sustained 



By Johnny on the spot. 



Willie — Say, why did the bronze bust? 

 Tim — Let it on. 



Willie — 'Cruise the statuette. — London 

 Sketch 



