COCOA BY-PRODUCTS 9 
Of course, the yields of butter and press cake per 100 pounds of 
average raw beans yielding from 79 to 82 per cent of roasted nibs, 
would be from 79 to 82 per cent of the weights given in the table. 
These data all refer to butter and cake made from straight nibs- 
The feasibility of increasing the yield of cacao butter, where this 
is the sole consideration, by pressing whole beans has been consid- 
ered by at least one manufacturer. The following data furnished 
by him were obtained from a factory test on the pressing of "fair 
fermented " Accra beans. One hundred pounds of the raw beans 
yielded 81 pounds of roasted nibs containing, of course, some shells. 
The loss on roasting was about 5 pounds, leaving 14 pounds of shells, 
germs, fines, etc. From 218 pounds of the ordinary roasted nibs 
liquor 94 pounds of cacao butter and 124 pounds of cocoa press 
cake were obtained, or 43.12 pounds of butter and 56.88 pounds of 
cocoa press cake per 100 pounds of nibs. The material is stated to 
have been pressed for 40 minutes. From 228 pounds of liquor or 
mass resulting from grinding the roasted shells and germs fraction 
with the nibs 91.5 pounds of butter and 136.5 pounds of whole-bean 
cake were obtained — a butter yield of 47.07 pounds per 100 pounds 
of the nibs fraction present. The increased yield of butter is be- 
lieved to have been due to the more fibrous and presumably more 
porous cake obtained from whole beans. Also the pressing time was 
10 minutes longer than for the nibs test. 12 
The results of this isolated experiment, however, can hardly be 
interpreted as conclusively establishing the proposition that the 
yield of cacao butter is increased by pressing the whole beans. 
DISPOSAL OF THE PRESS CAKE 
Probably the most important factor in the disposal of low-grade 
cocoa cake and the one which determines the channels open for profit- 
able disposal is the fat content of the product. Obviously it is the 
less well pressed, higher fat type of cake that is in demand by the 
concern engaged in recovering the fat through solvent extraction. 
This type of cake also is worth more as fuel than dry-pressed cocoa. 
On the other hand, low-grade cocoa has been used as the raw 
material in the manufacture of theobromine, a valuable drug, 13 
and for this use a high fat content in the cake is very undersirable. 
Theobromine and caffeine occur in the pressed cake in small quan- 
tities, usually to the extent of from 2 to 3 per cent, and the presence 
of much fat interferes with the extraction of these bases. The dry- 
pressed cake therefore commands a premium as raw material for 
this industry. 
For use as fertilizer material, also, the less fat there is in a 
product, the better, as fats and oils not only have no plant-food 
value, but large quantities of oily substances are believed to be 
inimical to plant growth. Removal of fat from a given material 
also raises the percentage content of the other constituents; for ex- 
ample, removal of the fat from cocoa increases the percentage of 
nitrogen or " ammonia," potash, and phosphoric acid. Furthermore, 
12 The manufacturer who submitted these data remarks: "The speed of pressing scorns 
to us to depend almost entirely on the strength of the filtering i press i pad used The 
writers are not able to vouch for the general relevancy of this observation, however. 
'•"Thousands of pounds of theobromine are used annually in Hie preparation of 
diuretics. 
86091°— 26 2 
