22 



COCOA. 



At three yeai*s the trees begin to flower, and a year after they pro- 

 duce some fruit ; but it is not till seven or eight years that it gives 

 any good crop. The age of fruiting varies ; in the interior of Central 

 America, it is about eight years ; in the vale of Guapa, seven ; and 

 about Equador and the banks of the Eio Negro, five years. 



When the trees begin to ripen their fruit they are visited every 

 fortnight, to gather the pods which are ripe and to trim the tree a 

 little. This is done by females and children. The women detach 

 the fruit-pods with a knife or chopper mounted on a long stick, and 

 the children collect and carry them to the store, where the seeds, some 

 twenty-five to thirty-three in each fruit, are extracted. The fruit-pods 

 are of different forms and sizes, some nine inches or more in length 

 are called cows' tongues, others shorter and rounder, but on the whole 

 larger, are called angolitas : these, the most common, are a reddish 

 colour, dark or light. The first kind are considered the best, 

 because the husk is thinner and the fruit contains more seeds. It is 

 generally a light red, but sometimes white at first and turns a palish 

 yellow when ripe. 



When the seeds have been removed from the pod they are placed in 

 a closed storehouse, in order that the viscous pulp may be separated. 

 In dry weather a single night will suffice for this, but in wet 

 weather tliey may be left for two or three days without inconvenience. 

 They are then dried in the open air, exposed to the sun in a courtyard 

 or on drying frames, being turned about from time to time with a rake. 

 Eight or ten hours of sun is generally sufficient ; when this cannot be 

 obtained the operation is repeated on the following day, and they are 

 housed at noon when the sun is at the hottest. They are left in the 

 store to steam or ferment for a day or two. 



If the cocoa is the Trinidad variety, it requires four days or more 

 to ferment, when it assumes the odour, colour, and taste, of Creole 

 cocoa; otherwise it becomes violet-tinged, and acquires a sharp and 

 bitter flavour. Some growers expose the seeds on large sheets to 

 dry, so that they can be quickly and readily housed in case of rain 

 occurring. When properly treated and dried the cocoa assumes in 

 the interior a blackish tint, or somewhat of a deep brick colour ; its 

 characteristic aroma is well developed ; the taste is agreeable and 

 unctuous ; the interior of the seed assumes the colour of the Corinth 

 raisin, and if it is opened with the nail traces of the fat are seen. 



This kind of cocoa was that formerly so much cultivated in these 

 provinces and considered the choicest, being especially demanded 

 of the planters by the Guipuzcuanian (Biscayan) Company. It is not 

 exactly the kind which is now sought after by shippers, who have a 

 prejudice in favour of red cocoa of a natural or artificial colour. 

 This is given either by red earth, brickdust, and occasionally by 

 vermilion. 



Between the appearance of the fruit and its ripening there is an 

 interval of nine months. The average yield of a tree may be taken to 

 be one pound of cocoa, although some assume it to be one and a quarter 

 pound. In a rich virgin and favourable soil the tree will last thirty- 

 five or forty years, in poorer soil only twenty or twenty-five. 



