58 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
folded over all, and the lid put on. The boxes are 
put into halves of wine-barrels, which are filled with 
water up to the lids of the boxes, care being taken 
that no water gets into the boxes. The barrel is then 
covered with a piece of sacking and left for the night. 
Next morning the pods are taken out and exposed 
to the air to dry, and then for two or three days kept 
under woollen coverings in full sunlight. 
Now the pods are ready for the drying process, 
which is effected by the use of closed boxes of galvanised 
iron containing chloride of calcium. The boxes are 1 
metre square, with a hinged door, closing on an india- 
rubber edging to ensure air-tightness. Each box has 
eleven trays. In the sixth tray and on the bottom of 
the box are placed 18 kilos of calcium chloride. The 
rest of the trays contain 45 kilos of vanilla. The trays 
should not be made of resinous or strong-smelling wood, 
as vanilla absorbs and retains odours it meets with. 
The bottom of the tray is made of split rattan in the 
form of a hurdle. Several layers of vanilla are placed 
in each tray. The calcium chloride is put in double- 
bottomed vessels, the inner one perforated to allow the 
escape of the liquid calcium chloride. Whenever the 
boxes are opened the chloride is examined and replaced 
or added to, as may be required. The doors are 
hermetically closed. 
The vanilla is examined every two or three days, 
and damp pods removed and put aside to be sunned. 
In twenty -five or thirty days the pods will be sufficiently 
dry. 
After being taken out of the box the vanilla is put 
on frames in a covered, well ventilated place for several 
days, and then transferred to tin boxes, each containing 
15 to 20 kilos. There it remains for several weeks, 
being examined every few days, and any pods showing 
mildew are carefully wiped. 
When it is thought that it has reached perfection 
and the perfume is well developed, it undergoes a treat- 
ment to remove any dust and spores of mildew upon it. 
