Growth. The tree grows to a height of 12 to 30 feet. It is a spreading tree which bears leaves, fruit, and flowers during the whole year. The gath- ering season is June and December. The tree bears in three years, but reaches its height of productive- ness in the eighth year. Conditions most favorable to its growth are temperature of 80° F., a moist soil, and a humid atmosphere. The fruit consists of a pod, intermediate in shape between a melon and a cucumber, irregular and angular, from 6 inches to a foot in length and about 3 inches in diameter. The pod consists of a rind — ■ which is about J inch thick, smooth, fleshy, and tough, yellow with a red tinge on the side — and a pap-like pulp or spongy substance, which is mucilaginous and of a sweet, slightly acid taste. This pulp separates from the rind when the fruit is ripe. Imbedded in the pulp are five rows of seeds separated by partitions. One pod contains from twenty to forty seeds. Each seed consists of a brittle husk and the crisp dark inside called the cocoa nibs. The beans or seeds are about the size of an ordinary almond, whitish when fresh but brown when dry. In taste they are disagreeable COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 257 and bitter. The whole pod is green when fresh (though yellow and red in the sun) and later becomes a dark yeUow or yellowish brown. The leaves, located chiefly at the top of the tree, are 7 to 10 inches in length and 2^ to 3^ inches in breadth. Preparation for Market. The ripe fruit is gathered with long poles with two prongs or a knife at the end. As a first step in the preparation for market, the seeds or beans undergo fermentation to soften the mucilaginous pulp so that the seeds may be easily removed from it. They are sometimes heaped upon the ground, or they may be buried in the ground for twenty-four hours, or for a few days. The fruit is then opened and the seeds after removal are cured, or put through a process of sweating, after which they are dried in the sim or before a fire. They are then ready to be made either into cocoa or into chocolate. The process differs somewhat in the two cases. Cocoa. The beans are freed by machines from dust and foreign matter and are then roasted in large revolving cylinders before a charcoal fire to develop the aroma and produce cocoa of full flavor and char- acter. As result of the process of roasting, the flavor is developed. There is a change in color and taste, about 10% of the weight is lost, and the shell is loosened. After the roasting the beans are crushed by machinery into small fragments called nibs, and the husks are loosened by the same process of crush- ing. The nibs and the broken husks are thoroughly separated by winnowing. The bad fragments are removed by hand. The cocoa nibs or broken beans are then ground and a part of the cocoa-butter is 258 DOMESTIC SCIENCE removed by pressure, after which the beans are pulverized so fine that the powder can pass through a sieve that has several thousand meshes to the square inch. Chocolate. The beans undergo the same processes for chocolate as for cocoa until after the winnowing. For chocolate they are then groimd to a perfectly homogeneous mass or paste, and for plain chocolate the mass is then delicately flavored and put into moulds for shaping. For sweetened chocolate a definite amount of the purest sugar, previously pulverized, is added, and the whole thoroughly mixed. Pure vanilla is added, and sometimes cloves and cumamon, and the paste is put into moulds to be cooled into shape and wrapped for shipment. Chemical Composition. Unroasted: moisture, 7.11%, cocoa butter, 51.78, theobromine, .35, starch, 5.78, celliilose, 3.1, other carbohydrates, 2.62, gluco cider, etc., 10.05, protein, 15.61, ash or mineral, 3.60.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Growth. The tree grows to a height of 12 to 30 feet. It is a spreading tree which bears leaves, fruit, and flowers during the whole year. The gathering season is June and December. The tree bears in three years, but reaches its height of productiveness in the eighth year. Conditions most favorable to its growth are temperature of 80° F., a moist soil, and a humid atmosphere. The fruit consists of a pod, intermediate in shape between a melon and a cucumber, irregular and angular, from 6 inches to a foot in length and about 3 inches in diameter. The pod consists of a rind which is about J inch thick, smooth, fleshy, and tough, yellow with a red tinge on the side — and a pap-like pulp or spongy substance, which is mucilaginous and of a sweet, slightly acid taste. This pulp separates from the rind when the fruit is ripe. Imbedded in the pulp are five rows of seeds separated by partitions. One pod contains from twenty to forty seeds. Each seed consists of a brittle husk and the crisp dark inside called the cocoa nibs. The beans or seeds are about the size of an ordinary almond, whitish when fresh but brown when dry. In taste they are disagreeable and bitter. The whole pod is green when fresh (though yellow and red in the sun) and later becomes a dark yellow or yellowish brown. The leaves, located chiefly at the top of the tree, are 7 to 10 inches in length and 2^ to 3^ inches in breadth. Preparation for Market. The ripe fruit is gathered with long poles with two prongs or a knife at the end. As a first step in the preparation for market, the seeds or beans undergo fermentation to soften the mucilaginous pulp so that the seeds may be easily removed from it. They are sometimes heaped upon the ground, or they may be buried in the ground for twenty-four hours, or for a few days. The fruit is then opened and the seeds after removal are cured, or put through a process of sweating, after which they are dried in the sim or before a fire. They are then ready to be made either into cocoa or into chocolate. The process differs somewhat in the two cases. Cocoa. The beans are freed by machines from dust and foreign matter and are then roasted in large revolving cylinders before a charcoal fire to develop the aroma and produce cocoa of full flavor and character. As result of the process of roasting, the flavor is developed. There is a change in color and taste, about 10% of the weight is lost, and the shell is loosened. After the roasting the beans are crushed by machinery into small fragments called nibs, and the husks are loosened by the same process of crushing. The nibs and the broken husks are thoroughly separated by winnowing. The bad fragments are removed by hand. The cocoa nibs or broken beans are then ground and a part of the cocoa-butter is removed by pressure, after which the beans are pulverized so fine that the powder can pass through a sieve that has several thousand meshes to the square inch. Chocolate. The beans undergo the same processes for chocolate as for cocoa until after the winnowing. For chocolate they are then ground to a perfectly homogeneous mass or paste, and for plain chocolate the mass is then delicately flavored and put into moulds for shaping. For sweetened chocolate a definite amount of the purest sugar, previously pulverized, is added, and the whole thoroughly mixed. Pure vanilla is added, and sometimes cloves and cumamon, and the paste is put into moulds to be cooled into shape and wrapped for shipment. Chemical Composition. Unroasted: moisture, 7.11%, cocoa butter, 51.78, theobromine, .35, starch, 5.78, celliilose, 3.1, other carbohydrates, 2.62, gluco cider, etc., 10.05, protein, 15.61, ash or mineral, 3.60.

Domestic science (Clark, Cornell home economics)