Cocoa and Chocolate Part 6

Just as in Java and Ceylon, to a.s.sist drying, they wash off the pulp, so in Venezuela and often in Trinidad, with the same object, they put earth or clay on the beans. In Venezuela it is a heavy, rough coat, and in Trinidad a film so thin that usually it is not visible. In Venezuela, where fermentation is often only allowed to proceed for one day, the use of fine red earth may possibly be of value. It certainly gives the beans a very pretty appearance; they look as though they have been moistened and rolled in cocoa powder. But in Trinidad, where the fermentation is a lengthy one, the use of clay, though hallowed by custom, is quite unnecessary. In the report of the Commission of Enquiry (Trinidad, 1915) we read concerning claying that "It is said to prevent the bean from becoming mouldy in wet weather, to improve its marketable value by giving it a bright and uniform appearance, and to help to preserve its aroma." In the appendix to this report the following recommendation occurs: "The claying of cacao ought to be avoided as much as possible, and when necessary only sufficient to give a uniform colour ought to be used." In my opinion manufacturers would do well to discourage entirely the claying of cacao either in Trinidad or Venezuela, for from their point of view it has nothing to recommend it. One per cent. of clay is sufficient to give a uniform colour, but occasionally considerably more than this is used. If we are to believe reports, deliberate adulteration is sometimes practised. Thus in _How Jose formed his Cocoa Estate_ we read: "A cocoa dealer of our day to give a uniform colour to the miscellaneous brands he has purchased from Pedro, d.i.c.k, or Sammy will wash the beans in a heap, with a mixture of starch, sour oranges, gum arabic and red ochre. This mixture is always boiled. I can recommend the 'Chinos' in this dodge, who are all adepts in all sorts of 'adulteration' schemes. They even add some grease to this mixture so as to give the beans that brilliant gloss which you see sometimes." In Trinidad the usual way of obtaining a gloss is by the curious operation known as "dancing," which is performed on the moistened beans after the clay has been sprinkled on them. It is a quaint sight to see a circle of seven or eight coloured folk slowly treading a heap of beans. The dancing may proceed for any period up to an hour, and as they tread they sing some weird native chant. Somewhat impressed, I remarked to the planter that it had all the appearance of an incantation. He replied that the process cost 2d. per cwt. Dancing makes the beans look smooth, s.h.i.+ny, and even, and it separates any beans that may be stuck together in cl.u.s.ters. It may make the beans rounder, and it is said to improve their keeping properties, but this remains to be proved. On the whole, if it is considered desirable to produce a glossy appearance, it is better to use a polis.h.i.+ng machine.

_The Weight of the Cured Cacao Bean._

[Ill.u.s.tration: SORTING CACAO BEANS IN JAVA.

(Reproduced from van Hall's _Cocoa_, by permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co.).]

Planters and others may be interested to know the comparative sizes of the beans from the various producing areas of the world. Some idea of these can be gained by considering the relative weights of the beans as purchased in England.

Average weight Number of Beans Kind. of one Bean. to the lb.

Grenada 1.0 grammes 450 Para 1.0 " 450 Bahia 1.1 " 410 Accra 1.2 " 380 Trinidad 1.2 " 380 Cameroons 1.2 " 380 Ceylon 1.2 " 380 Caracas 1.3 " 350 Machala 1.4 " 330 Arriba 1.5 " 300 Carupano 1.6 " 280

_The Yield of the Cacao Tree._

The average yield of cacao has in the past generally been over-stated.

Whether this is because the planter is an optimist or because he wishes others to think his efforts are crowned with exceptional success, or because he takes a simple pride in his district, is hard to tell.

Probably the tendency has been to take the finer estates and put their results down as the average.

Of the thousands of flowers that bloom on one tree during the year, on an average only about twenty develop into mature pods, and each pod yields about 1-1/3 ounces of dry cured cacao. Taking the healthy trees with the neglected, the average yield is from 1-1/2 to 2 pounds of commercial cacao per tree. This seems very small, and those who hear it for the first time often make a rapid mental calculation of the amazing number of trees that must be needed to produce the world's supply, at least 250 million trees. Or again, taking the average yield per acre as 400 lbs., we find that there must be well over a million acres under cacao cultivation. At the Government station at Aburi (Gold Coast) three plots of cacao gave in 1914 an average yield of over 8 pounds of cacao per tree, and in 1918 some 468 trees (_Amelonado_) gave as an average 7.8 pounds per tree. This suggests what might be done by thorough cultivation. It suggests a great opportunity for the planters--that, without planting one more tree, they might quadruple the world's production.

The work which has been started by the Agricultural Department in Trinidad of recording the yield of individual trees has shown that great differences occur. Further, it has generally been observed that the heavy bearing trees of the first year have continued to be heavy bearers, and the poor-yielding trees have remained poor during subsequent years. The report rightly concludes that: "The question of detecting the poor-bearing trees on an estate and having them replaced by trees raised from selected stock, or budded or grafted trees, of known prolific and other good qualities is deserving of the most serious consideration by planters."

_The Kind of Cacao that Manufacturers Like._[6]

[6] For further information read _The Qualities in Cacao Desired by Manufacturers_, by N.P. Booth and A.W.

Knapp, International Congress of Tropical Agriculture, 1914.

Planters have suggested to me that if the users and producers of cacao could be brought together it would be to their mutual advantage. Permit me to conceive a meeting and report an imaginary conversation:

PLANTER: You know we planters work a little in the dark. We don't know quite what to strive after. Tell me exactly what kind of cacao the manufacturers want?

MANUFACTURER: Every buyer and manufacturer has his tastes and preferences and----.

PLANTER: Don't hedge!

MANUFACTURER: The cacao of each producing area has its special characters, even as the wine from a country, and part of the good manufacturer's art is the art of blending.

PLANTER: What--good with bad?

MANUFACTURER: No! Good of one type with good of another type.

PLANTER: What do you mean exactly by good?

MANUFACTURER: By good I mean large, ripe, well-cured beans.

By indifferent I mean unripe and unfermented. By abominable I mean germinated, mouldy, and grubby beans. Happily, the last cla.s.s is quite a small one.

PLANTER: You don't mean to tell me that only the good cacao sells?

MANUFACTURER: Unfortunately, no! There are users of inferior beans. Practically all the cacao produced--good and indifferent--is bought by someone. Most manufacturers prefer the fine, healthy, well fermented kinds.

PLANTER: Well fermented! They have a strange way of showing their preference. Why, they often pay more for Guayaquil than they do for Grenada cacao. Yet Guayaquil is never properly fermented, whilst that from the Grenada estates is perfectly fermented.

MANUFACTURER: Agreed. Just as you would pay more for a badly-trained thoroughbred than for a well-trained mongrel.

It's breed they pay for. The Guayaquil breed is peculiar; there is nothing else like it in the world. You might think the tree had been grafted on to a spice tree. It has a fine characteristic aroma, which is so powerful that it masks the presence of a high percentage of unfermented beans. However, if Guayaquil cacao was well-fermented it would (subject to the iron laws of Supply and Demand) fetch a still higher price, and there would not be the loss there is in a wet season when the Guayaquil cacao, being unfermented, goes mouldy. I think in Grenada they plant for high yield, and not for quality, for the bean is small and approaches the inferior Calabacillo breed. Its value is maintained by an amazing evenness and an uniform excellence in curing. The way in which it is prepared for the market does great credit to the planters.

PLANTER: They don't clay there, do they?

MANUFACTURER: No! and yet it is practically impossible to find a mouldy bean in Grenada estates cacao. Evidently claying is not a necessity--in Grenada.

PLANTER: Ha! ha! By that I suppose you insinuate that it is not a necessity in Trinidad, where the curing is also excellent. Or in Venezuela? What's the buyer's objection to claying?

MANUFACTURER: Simply that claying is camouflage. Actually the buyer doesn't mind so long as the clay is not too generously used. He objects to paying for beans and getting clay.

However, it's really too bad to colour up with clay the black cacao from diseased pods; it might deceive even experienced brokers.

PLANTER: Ha! ha! Then it's a very sinful practice. I don't think that ever gets beyond the local tropical market. I know the merchants judge largely by "the skin," but I thought the London broker----.

MANUFACTURER: You see it's like this. Just as you a.s.sociate a certain label with a particularly good brand of cigar so the planter's mark on the bag and the external appearance of the beans influence the broker by long a.s.sociation. But just as you cannot truly judge a cigar by the picture on the box, so the broker has to consider what is under the sh.e.l.l of the bean. One or two manufacturers go further, but don't trust merely to "tasting with their eyes"--they only come to a conclusion when they have roasted a sample.

PLANTER: But a buyer can get a shrewd idea without roasting, surely? You agree. Well, what exactly does he look for?

MANUFACTURER: Depends what nationality the bean is--I mean whether it was grown in Venezuela, Brazil, Trinidad, or the Gold Coast. In general he likes beans with a good "break,"

that is beans which, under the firm pressure of thumb and forefinger, break into small crisp nibs. Closeness or cheesiness are danger signals, warnings of lack of fermentation,--so is a slate-coloured interior. He prefers a pale, even-coloured interior,--cinnamon, chocolate, or cafe-au-lait colour and----.

PLANTER: One moment! I've heard before of planters being told to ferment and cure until the bean is cinnamon colour. Why, man, you couldn't get a pale brown interior with beans of the Forastero or Calabacillo type if you fermented them to rottenness.

MANUFACTURER: True! Well, if the breed on your plantation is purple Forastero, and more than half of the cacao in the world is, you must develop as much brown in the beans as possible. They should have the characteristic refres.h.i.+ng odour of raw cacao, together with a faint vinegary odour. The buyers much dislike any foreign smell, any mouldy, hammy, or cheesy odour.

PLANTER: And where do the foreign odours come from?

MANUFACTURER: That's debatable. Some come from bad fermentations, due to dirty fermentaries, abnormal temperatures, or unripe cacao.[7] Some come from smoky or imperfect artificial drying. Some come from mould.

Unfermented cacao is liable to go mouldy, so is germinated or over-ripe cacao with broken sh.e.l.ls. Some cacao unfortunately gets wet with sea water. There always seems to me something pathetic in the thought of finely-cured cacao being drowned in sea water as it goes out in open boats to the steamer.

PLANTER: You see, we haven't piers and jetties everywhere, and often it's a long journey to them. Well, you've told me the buyers note break, colour and aroma. Anything else?

MANUFACTURER: They like large beans, partly because largeness suggests fineness, and partly because with large beans the percentage of sh.e.l.l is less. Small flat beans are very wasteful and unsatisfactory; they are nearly all sh.e.l.l and very difficult to separate from the sh.e.l.l.

PLANTER: When there's a drought we can't help ourselves; we produce quant.i.ties of small flat beans.

MANUFACTURER: It must be trying to be at the mercy of the weather. However, the weather doesn't prevent the dirt being picked out of the beans. Buyers don't like more than half a per cent. of rubbish; I mean stones, dried twig-like pieces of pulp, dust, etc., left in the cacao, neither do they like to see "cobs," that is, two or more beans stuck together, nor----.

PLANTER: How about gloss?