July 1, 1902. J 
SvppUmcni to the " Tropical Agriculturist. 
69 
is 110 cocoa ill the market wliicb is not nbsolulely 
pure? Neither (lie rigour of the law nor the 
vigiliuicc of officials has yet succeeded in su])- 
pressiiig liclulteralion. and indeed we have to take 
our cucoa on Irint very much a* ^ve do our lea, 
tliout^h wiUi l egal d to the latter article Ihe absence 
of aUmyslevy alout it, and the absence of all 
necessity to adulterate it at the present day, lias 
given it a consumption which is not likely to be 
reached by cocoa so long as the public continue 
to take their cocoa without a guaranteed analysis. 
The fact is, the public kuow very little about 
cocoa, far less than they know abo.ut the fermeu- 
taiion of wine or the brewing of ale ; and tlieii as 
it is quite a common practice among manufac- 
turers to add flavouring agents . to cocoa and 
cliocolnte, ii is by no means a simple task for the 
ordinary consumer to pick out a genuine brand 
of cocoa from a host of sophidicated Hues found 
ou the market. And so a confection made soluble 
through chemicals, and bearing a glorified label 
ou an attractive packet concealing a large per- 
centage of starch and other "wholesome " ingre- 
dients, may upon analysis appear to be a verit- 
able whited sepulchre. And hence the shyness of 
the public in approaching cocoa. 
There is one test, however, which seldom 
misleads, and that is the test of colour. Where 
cocoa deteriorates and falls off in quality and 
brightness of colour, nothing will brn g it back. 
There is no sophistication possible here, and you 
could recognise it as readily as you would an 
Australian aborigine. 
The London brokers' highest quotations are for 
■what is known in the trade as " bright bold," and 
witli this brightness is invariably associated flavour, 
freshness, perfect curing, &c. 
On every plantalion there are -well-cured and 
ill-cured samples. There are beans picked up 
from under the treeB by the bushel— daily drop- 
ped by squirrels, and already black before they 
C'.ai be handled by the planter, There are also 
siunples spoiled by rain, as well as hard unripe 
beans from "cankered" pods. To nil these no art 
can give back tlieir lost colour, although benzoin 
and vanilline may substitute a flavour. Yet these 
are sold and shipped, and what follows is all 
a mystery. 
Ask the doctor and he will explain the reason 
why he recommends the cocoa "nib" to his 
patients, and directs them to make their own 
decoction. Solubility of a powdered cocoa may be 
secured at the cost of quality and wholesome- 
iiesp, for it is well known to the initiated that 
with the aid of tartaric acid and carbonate of 
potash, coupled with the retention of a part of 
the butter in the cocf a, a thick, creamy and most 
attractive sample may be produced. But the 
eminent scientist, Dr. Hart, referiing to such a 
prodacr, has told us that we should remember 
potiish combined with fat is commonly called 
soap. And no wonder that, what lietween starch 
on the one hand and chemicals on tiie other, 
consumers are often heard to assert that they like 
cocoa but tliey get bilious over it, and have to 
discontinue the use of it after a while. 
Ignorance regarding I his most wholesome food is 
Upt couliued to the general public alone, Th.! 
most educated and enlightened may be often 
found in the ranks of the deluded. Once an 
amiable but credulous piiysician of some dis- 
tinction, speaking to the writer about cocoa in 
Ceylon, and the superiority of the article prepared 
by the Spanish and Portuguese, was relating how 
a Catholic jiriest in Ceylon had offered liim such a 
luscious bowl of cocoa that the spoon might have 
been made to stand in it. The writer unguard- 
edly interjected " Chiefly starch ! " for it was 
that, or botii starch and the fat of an indifferently 
cured sample that gave it the consistency. The 
physician and the writer have never met since, 
but the Jiriest who holds to his particular gruel 
as he upholds the dogmas of his creed, and the 
doctor who is by now the guardian of that jovial 
monk's liver, are disseminating tlie gospel of 
their own " Societas de propaganda fide" from 
high places. 
A well-known confectioner, who may be said to 
hold in his hands the four corners of Western 
Australia in that time, expressing his opinion on 
a sample of Ceylou cocoa sent to him at his 
request, wrote back : "its flavour is moot excellent, 
but it io not dark enough for this market.'" 
It was soon explained to him that colour and 
flavour are correlative, and went together or 
disappeared together, and he is now ordeiiug his 
supplies largely from Ceylon, and doubtless edu- 
cating the Australian eye to the true colour, and 
tlie palatt) to the genuine flivonr of pure cocoa, 
One more illustration. A Ceylon newspaper, 
referring last week to the " German Export 
Iteview " says : "A recent number contains an 
excellent paper on the manufacture of chocolate 
with a series of very interesting illustrations so 
far as the m: c '. ei j' &c. go, but there is also the 
inevitable " L^c ja jjlantation, and instead of this 
being a grove of Theobrnma Cacao, it is simply 
a coconut palm garden." 
Ye gods and little fishes ! W liat confusion 
is here. For when the oil of the coconut is ex- 
pressed, what is left is " poonac," the favourite 
food in Ceylon of cart bulls and pig-', and when 
the fa J is taken out of the other what is left is 
the food of the gods ! 
Tiiese illustrations are intended to show the 
public how \\ idespread is the general ignorance 
which prevails all ihe world over with regard to this 
remarkable article of diet, and it is deploi-able to 
think that its popularity in many cases is retarded 
one way or another by the makers themselves. 
The general unwillingness to partake of it as 
liberally as we do tea or coffee no doubt arises 
out of this ignorance, and the doubt and suspicion 
in the public mind as to tlie purity and genuine- 
ness of the article offered for sale. 
One may, however, venture to ,T.ssert that if 
the public were made better acquainted with the 
manufacture of cocoa, and the makers agreed 
among themselves to drop their mysterious declar- 
ations and rival claims for specical preparations, 
and sub;tituted instead a simple certificate of 
the chemical aualyjis of their produce, cocoa 
may speedily become as popular a drink at our 
breakfast table as is the homely Ceylou tea, about 
which there is uo mystery, aud to which uobodj 
