THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892. 
3*8 
consumers,  and  especially  the  poor,  are  being  grossly 
deceived.  Very  little  pure  ground  coffee  is  sold,  and 
even  whole  ooffee  roes  not  escape  sophisti- 
cation. The  purchase  of  green  coffee  for  home 
roasting  does  not  insure  a pure  product,  since 
even  the  green  coffee  is  imitsted.  Stringent 
laws  are  certainly  needed  to  suppress  these  frauds. 
That  there  is  a large  demand  fer  imitation  coffee 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  of  its  importation  from 
Germany.  The  manufacture  of  tbeso  coffees  in 
imitation  of  the  form  of  the  genuine  bean  should 
be  interdicted,  even  if  the  product  is  said  to  be 
sold  as  a substitute. 
Of  greater  interest  than  the  analyses  of  tea  and 
coffee  is  the  report  on  cocoa  preparations.  Sixty- 
four  samples,  inoluding  leading  foreign  and  domes- 
tic brands,  were  examined.  This  report  is  of 
so  much  importance  that  we  reproduce  the  main 
table,  with  copious  extracts  from  the  report,  as 
follows : 
On  account  of  the  peculiar  properties  of  the 
cocoa  bean,  its  prepartions  merit  a place  on  our 
tables  for  two  reasons : In  addition  to  beiDg  like 
tea  and  coffee,  the  material  for  the  preparation  of 
a pleasant  and  exhilarating  beverage,  it  is  a valu- 
able food  material.  Not  only  is  it  much  richer  in 
nutritive  substances  than  tea  cr  coffee,  but  both 
the  soluble  and  insoluble  portions  become  a part 
of  the  beverage,  while  only  the  constituents  solu- 
ble in  hot  water  are  obtained  in  the  beverages 
prepared  from  tea  and  coffee.  The  investigations 
of  Stutzer  and  otherB  clearly  prove,  however,  that 
the  food  value  of  cocoa  preparations  has  been  greatly 
overestimated  and  that  many  of  the  present  modes  of 
preparation  do  not  develop  in  the  highest  possible 
degree  the  pleasing  aroma  and  flavor.  The  inventive 
energy  of  many  manufacturers  seems  to  be  spent  on 
tbe  production  of  a highly  nutritive  and  easily  diges- 
tible preparation;  the  valuable  fat  is  removed  and  the 
delioions  aroma  and  flavor  destroyed  by  chemicals  for 
the  ostensible  purpose  of  rendering  more  digestible 
a residue  of  doubtful  food  value. 
The  more  important  constituents  of  the  husked 
cocoa  bean  are  fat,  theobromine,  the  non-alkaloidal 
nitrogenous  substances,  starch,  the  coloring  matter 
called  oocoa  red,  and  the  mineral  matter. 
The  fat,  coooa  or  oacao  butter,  in  consequence  of  its 
quantity  and  peculiar  excellence,  is  Unquestionably  the 
constituent  of  the  cocoa  bean  possessing  highest  food 
Value.  It  usually  forms  46  to  55  per  cent  of  the  husked 
bean,  rarely  fells  below|45  per  cent,  and  only  one  recent 
analysis  shows  as  low  as  36  per  oeDt. 
The  commercial  importance  of  theobromine  at 
present  offers  no  temptation  to  remove  it  from  oocoa 
preparations  before  placing  them  on  the  market. 
Small  percentages  of  oaffeine  have  been  found  in  cocoa 
beans,  especially  in  the  shells.  It  is  separated  from  the 
theobromine  by  solution  in  cold  benzol,  in  which  the 
theobromine  is  practically  insoluble. 
Tbe  aroma  of  oocoa  is  considered  to  be  due  to  the 
presenoe  of  minute  quantities  of  an  aromatic  volatile  oil. 
Boussin  gault  proves  its  presence  by  distillation  of  the 
roasted  grains  with  water. 
The  preparations  of  oocoa  are  so  numerous  that 
more  or  less  confusion  of  terms  naturally  arise. 
Most  American  manufacturers  prepare  a plain  choco- 
late (known  in  Europe  as  cacao  masse),  made 
by  reducing  the  roasted  and  husked  beans  to  a 
paste  and  pressing  into  the  form  of  cakes.  When 
this  is  combined  with  much  or  little  sugar  (gener- 
ally much),  vanilla  and  spices,  the  various  “sweet,” 
“vanilla  sweet,”  “vanilla,”  “spioed,”  efc.,  choco- 
lates are  produced,  These  are  also  usually  met  in 
the  form  of  cakes,  but  are  sometimes  pulverized  and 
sold  as  “powdered  chocolates.”  The  high  percen- 
tage of  fat  renders  a permanent  powder  impossible 
without  its  partial  removal  or  the  addition  of  some 
diluent,  as  sugar,  starch  or  flour.  Tbe  preparations 
in  powder,  known  as  “cocoas,”  “bromas,”  etc.,  are 
prepared  in  accordance  With  once  or  the  other,  or  a 
combination  of  these  methods. 
The  chemist  Stutzer,  who  has  made  a careful 
ttudy  of  the  effect  of  different  processes  of  manu- 
facture on  tbe  chemical  constituents  of  cocoa,  the 
quality  of  the  product,  etc-,  states  that  many 
roasting  processes  hitherto  used  are  faulty,  the 
duration  of  the  roasting  being  too  long.  The 
faults  disappear  when  new  double  roasting  apparatus  is 
used.  He  regards  it — 
Fcr  the  interest  of  thepublioand  of  the  manufac- 
turers that  the  artificial  perfuming  of  cccoas  be  aban- 
doned in  future,  and  that  only  such  preparations  be 
brought  into  the  market  as  contain  the  natural  cocoa 
aroma  in  pure  unadulterated  condition.  The  technical 
arrangement  of  roasting  apparatus  and  the  methods  of 
preparation  heretofore  iu  use  seem  to  render  this  arti- 
ficial perfuming  necessary.  This,  as  well  as  the  addi- 
tion of  alkalis  or  ammonia,  becomes  unnecessary  when 
Salomon’s  apparatus  is  used. 
The  value  of  oocoa  as  a mere  pleasant  addition  to  the 
table  depends  entirely  upon  the  content  of  the  natural 
aroma.  Tbe  finer  it  is  the  higher  the  prioe  that  will  be 
paid  for  tbe  product.  The  manner  of  preparation,  es- 
pecially the  manner  of  roasting,  in  a marked  degree  in- 
fluences the  development  and  maintaining  of  the  aroma. 
The  quantity  of  the  physiologically  important  con. 
s’ituent  appears  to  vary  only  slightly  with  the 
different  kinds  of  cocoa  and  different  methods  of 
preparation. 
The  value  of  cocoa  as  a nutritive  material  is  essen- 
tially dependent  on  the  content  of  the  cocoa  powder 
in  digestible  albumeD.  Tbe  amount  of  cocoa  batter 
should  not  exceed  30  per  cent,  as  a rule.  The  diges- 
tible albumen  can  easily  be  rendered  ingestible  by 
too  high  a temperature  in  roasting.  By  examination 
of  a well-prepared  cocoa  powder,  we  found  the  rela- 
tion of  the  quantity  of  degestible  albumen  to  the 
quantity  of  indigestible  nitrogenous  substances  to  be 
nearly  4:3.  If  too  high  a temperature  be  used,  this 
relation  rises  to  4:4,  or  even  to  4:6.  In  the  four  samples 
investigated,  No.  1,  which  was  roasted  iD  C.  Salomon’s 
apparatus,  shows  in  this  regard  the  most  favourable 
and  the  Holland  cocoa  the  most  unfavourable  relation. 
There  is  probably  no  more  misleading  or  more 
abused  term  in  the  English  language  than  the 
term  “soluble  oocoa.”  No  cocoa  in  the  market 
contains  a very  considerable  pecentage  of  matter 
soluble  in  water,  unless  the  material  so  dis- 
solved is  foreign  soluble  material  that  has  been 
added  during  the  process  of  preparation.  Tbe 
term  seems  to  be  used  to  denote  a preparation  that 
allows  none  of  the  insoluble  matter  to  deposit  from  tbe 
beverage  prepared  from  it.  This  purpose  may  be  ac- 
complished in  two  ways — the  material  may  be  so  finely 
divided  that  a very  long  time  will  be  required  for  its 
deposition,  or  foreign  substances  (as  starch  or  sugar) 
may  be  added  to  render  the  liquid  of  so  high  a specific 
gravity,  or  so  pasty,  that  the  insoluble  matter  will  not 
deposit.  The  first  method  is  decidedly  to  be  preferred; 
it  accomplishes  the  object  in  view  and  puts  the  pre- 
paration in  better  condition  for  the  action  of  the 
digestive  juices — all  this  without  the  addition  of  a 
cheap  diluent  that  is  always  at  hand  in  every  kitchen, 
should  its  use  be  desired.  Any  additions  of  this  kind 
should  be  considered  adulterations  unless  their  nature 
and  quantity  are  accurately  stated. 
The  husk,  because  of  its  coarse  nature  and  consequent 
tendency  to  act  as  an  irritating  substances  in  the  ali- 
mentary caDal,  and  in  consequence  of  its  poverty  in  the 
constituents  that  render  cocoa  valuable,  is  regarded  as 
an  adulterant  when  not  removed  or  when  added  to 
increase  the  weight  or  bulk  of  the  preparation. 
Of  sixty-four  samples,  twenty-seven  contained 
large  additions  of  starch  and  flour  ; fourteen  con- 
tained large  amount  cocoa  husks.  This  was  true 
of  eight  out  of  thirty  samples  of  sweet  chocolate  and 
six  out  of  twenty-eight  samples  of  cocoas,  bromas,  etc. 
Determinations  to  show  the  solubility  of  cocoa  and 
its  constituents  rn  water  show  great  variation.  Of 
seven  samples,  the  total  ash  v riesfrom  3T7  percent,, 
the  lowest,  to  8'64,  the  highest,  the  former  an  Ameri- 
can brand,  the  latter,  European.  The  total  matter 
soluble  in  water  varies  from  11.28  per  cent,  for 
American  made  to  19.84  for  foreign,  these  latter  all 
running  high.  One  American  made  rises  to  18,27  per 
cent, 
