COCOA BY-PRODUCTS 27 
that cocoa cake, with its 4 per cent of nitrogen equivalent to 25 per 
cent of crude protein, would attract the attention of feed manu- 
facturers as a possible new source of protein for their mixtures. 
In at least one case a consignment of the low-fat cake was pur- 
chased for use in a commercial mixed feed, of which it was to con- 
stitute 5 per cent, replacing higher-priced coconut cake as one of 
the protein-furnishing concentrates. The consignment of cocoa cake 
not only brought a higher price than would have been paid by the 
fertilizer trade, but in addition the cost of shipping it to the Pacific 
coast was paid. With the brokerage commission, this cocoa cake 
cost the feed manufacturer close to $30 per ton. Although cocoa 
is not being generally used in mixed feeds, the transaction cited 
illustrates the fact that when an organic ammoniate is wanted as 
a source of protein for mixed feeds, it commands a price well in 
excess of what the fertilizer manufacturer can afford to pay for it. " 
By-product cocoa, especially the dry-pressed or low-fat-content 
cake, containing around 3 per cent of theobromine, appears to be a 
very satisfactory raw material for the preparation of the alkaloid. 
For this purpose, however, the cocoa does not command as high 
a price as one might expect, considering the market quotation for 
the drug. 28 During 1924 the price paid for the dry-pressed cake 
by manufacturers of theobromine was reported to have been on 
a par with what the cake would have brought if sold for use 
as fertilizer material. Early in 1925, however, the writers were 
informed that the price asked for dry-pressed cake was getting 
above the maximum figure that the producers of theobromine could 
afford to pay. Irrespective of the selling price, however, the quan- 
tity of cocoa that can be consumed by drug manufacturers for the 
prejoaration of theobromine is limited by the demand for the alka- 
loid. Probably 1,000 to 2,000 tons of cocoa cake would yield all of 
the theobromine that the domestic market absorbs in a year. Inci- 
dentally it may be pointed out that the theobromine in ordinary 
cocoa cake, containing 18 per cent of fat, would be worth more 
than the cacao butter if both could be completely extracted and sold 
at current market prices. 
The feasibility of extracting and recovering both the cacao fat 
and the alkaloids at one operation from by-product cocoa has been 
studied, and a method for accomplishing this was developed by 
a manufacturer of theobromine. The cacao fat recovered by this 
process was suitable only for soap stock, however, and as the method 
was not entirely satisfactory for the production of theobromine 
it was discarded and is not in use in the United States at the pres- 
ent time. The producers of theobromine do not now recover the 
cacao fat, and the concern engaged in extracting and preparing the 
fat from by-product cocoa cake is not extracting the alkaloids at 
the time of writing. An ideal system, economically, for the utili- 
zation of by-product cocoa cake would not only provide for the re- 
covery of both the alkaloids and the fat in a pure condition, but 
would permit the retention in the extracted residue of the protein 
and other valuable constituents of the cocoa. Such a cocoa residue, 
from which the fat and alkaloids had been removed, but from which 
28 The quoted market price of theobromine alkaloid fluctuated between $3.60 and $4 per 
pound during the first quarter of 1925. 
