Cocoa and Chocolate: Their History from Plantation to Consumer

aste, and the art of combining milk with chocolate, so as to retain the full flavour of each, has engaged the attention of many experts. At present there is no general method o

s, or other branch of the chocolate industry, to the following En

Chemistry and Manufacture

t, by Fritsch (Scienti

Chocolate, by Dr. P

PTE

THE COCOA AND C

cao B

en it is dry, rough, or shrivel'd, without making it appear either fat or shining

ry of Chocolate,

cao S

aravello at breakfast. This is nothing but

fectionery Manufa

o Bu

cture of cocoa, and is consumed in large quantities in the manufacture of chocolate. When, during the war, the use of sugar for chocolate-making was restricted and little chocolate was produced, the cacao butter formerly used in this industry was freed for other purposes. Thus there was plenty of cacao butter available at a time when other fats were scarce. Cacao butter has a pleasant, bland taste resembling cocoa. The coc

utter, which the pharmacist sells, is sometimes white and odourless, having been bleached and deodorized. The butter as produced is al

cacao butter will remain fresh and good for several years. Cacao butter has rather a low melting point (90° F.), so that whilst it is a hard, almost brittle, solid at ordinary temperatures, it melts readily when in contact with the human body (blood heat 98° F). This property, together with its remarkable stability, makes it useful for ointments, pomades, suppositories, pessaries and other pharmaceutical preparations; it also explains why actors have found it convenient for th

eat that substitutes have been found and offered for sale. Until recently these fats, coconut stearine and others, could be ignored by the reputable chocolate makers as the confection produced by their use was inferior to true chocolate both in taste and in keeping pr

the analytical figures for genuine cacao butter,

IGURES FOR C

99° C. to water at

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Refractometer) at 4

tion Value

94°C.

Meissel

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and Knapp V

ble matter

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oleic acid)

eally be considered as exporters of cacao butter; in other words, there were only two countries, namely, Hollan

OF CACA

1000 ki

191

4,657 5,

3,611 3,

9,05

ory as an exporter of cacao butter. Hitherto she was one of th

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ungary 1,

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xpressed in English tons) into the

OF CACAO

913 1914 19

912 1512

per pound, and was fixed in 1918 by the Food Controller at 1/6 per pound (retail price 2/- per p

o Sh

has a pleasant odour in which a little true cocoa aroma can be detected. The small pieces of shell look like bran, and, if the shell be powdered, the product is wonderfully like cocoa in appearance, though not in taste or smell. As the raw cacao bean contains on the average about twelve and a half per cent. of shell, it is evident that the world production must be considerable (about 36,000 tons a year), and since it is not legitimately employed in coco

usion for drinking. Although this "cocoa tea" is not unpleasant, and has mild stimulating properties, it has never been popular, and even during th

her means almost impossible, the manufacturers of cocoa and chocolate were unable to get the shell away from their factories, and had large accumulations of it filling up valuable store space. In t

results given are encouraging, and experiments were made at Bournville. At first these were only moderately successful, because the shell is extremely stable and decomposes in the ground very slowly indeed. Then the head gardener tried hastening the decompositio

butter" so obtained is very inferior to ordinary cacao butter, and as usually put on the market, has an unpleasant taste, and an

to be a profitable industry. Ordinary commercial samples of shell contain from 1.2 to 1.4 per cent. of theobromine. Those interested should study the very ingenious process of Messrs. Grousseau and Vicongne (Patent No. 120,178). Many other uses of cacao shell have been mad

ong time, and is indicated in the following analysis by Smetha

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Carbohydr